Style and Register

Register and style " SociolinguisticsPage 9

STYLE AND REGISTER
"A Sociolinguistics Branches"

RIFQI SYAFIATUL HIDAYAH
Students of Postgraduate Program
Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta
([email protected])

ABSTRACT
This paper assesses the relationship between register and style, the prominent differences between them and how both are responsible for sociolinguistic context. It further argues that register and style in relation to context are 'functional' manifestations or varieties of a given language since they usually mark the changes that occur in language as a result of sociolinguistic and based on the traditional dialectal also social varieties. Language users are usually more conscious of their 'immediate' linguistic environments (contexts) in terms of communication goals than they usually are of their 'remote' regional or social background and this informs a selection of 'appropriate' linguistic items to adjust as it were to those language situations or demands.
Key Word: Style, Register, Sociolinguistics

Introduction
When a study of language in which the linguistic factors are related to the factors beyond the language, such as language use that is done by its speakers in a certain speech community, it refers to sociolinguistics. According to Fishman (1972: 244), for instance, socially, the language use involves "Who speaks, wha
t language, to whom, when and where". When some aspects of sociology are adopted in studying a language, this means it presents an interdisciplinary study; and its name represents a combination of sociology and linguistics. In this relation, some experts call it as sociology of language; and some others call it as sociolinguistics.
In sociolinguistics we study language and society in order to find out as much as we can about what kind of thing language is, and in the sociology of language we reverse the direction of our interest. There are several possible relationships between language and society. The first is that social structure. The second possible relationship is directly opposed to the first: linguistic structure and/or behavior may either influence or determine social structure. Then the third possible relationship is that the influence is bi-directional: language and society may influence each other. And the last possibility is to assume that there is no relationship at all between linguistic structure and social structure and that each is independent of the other.
Socio linguistics divided into three parts focuses Language, such as
Language Variation Focuses on USER include Idiolect, Dialect, Sociolect and Temporal Dialect
Language Variation Focuses on USES include Style and Register
Other language Variation include Accent, Bilingual and multilingualism, Lingua Franca, Pidgin, Creole, Code Switching also come mixing
Here, the writer will discuss about style and register. The style and register are both ways of labeling varieties of language, although they function differently, it use most of the time. These two aspects appear similar because the same person may use different linguistic items to express more or less the same meaning on different occasion and the concept of dialect cannot extend to include such variation (Hudson 1980: 45).
Another point of similarity between these varieties is that they overlap considerably one person's dialect is another person's register, and sometimes may differ by the style of transferring the message for example the items which one person under all circumstances use informally may be used by someone else on the most formal occasions. This is the relation between native speaker of standard and non-standard dialect, form that is a part of the standard speaker dialect is a part of a special register for non-standard speakers shifting according the speaker style. (Spolsky 1998: 33).
Cause the statements above the writer choose this topic to know more detailed about the subs part of register and style, also to understand the differentiation of those topic.

Overview Theory
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF LINGUISTIC
Sociolinguistic appear as dissatisfaction of the experts on structural linguistics. According to several experts, the structural linguistics assessing the structural aspect of language alone. It was certainly not ignoring the social aspect in the study analysis. The actual design of this sociolinguistic has emerged as a result of the existence of Labov's research that is Social Stratification of English in New York City. A linguistic from London, Firth argued that speech has a social aspect as media/communication tool. He also added that these aspects can classify a person into a clan/class/social strata. Thus, study about this speech should heed the speakers and the structure itself, so that consideration of all the things that is possible reasons why this structure or that it was used by someone.
Hymes argued that the term of sociolinguistics has been introduced around the year 1960. It has a sign, namely the birth of a book by Hymes, Language in Culture and Society in 1966. Another expert, Fishman, then launched a collection of writings entitled Reading in the Sociology of Language in 1968. Still in the same year, Fishman collaborated with Das Gupta and Ferguson to present and expose collection of papers. The collection of writings entitled Language Problems of Developing Nations.

DEFINITION OF SOCIOLINGUISTIC
A term sociolinguistics is a derivational word. Two words that form it are sociology and linguistics. Sociology refers to a science of society; and linguistics refers to a science of language. A study of language from the perspective of society may be thought as linguistics plus sociology. While, sociolinguistics is defined as:
The study that is concerned with the relationship between language and the context in which it is used. In other words, it studies the relationship between language and society. It explains we people speak differently in different social contexts. It discusses the social functions of language and the ways it is used to convey social meaning. All of the topics provide a lot of information about the language works, as well as about the social relationships in a community, and the way people signal aspects of their social identity through their language (Holmes, 2001).
The study that is concerned with the interaction of language and its setting (Eastman, 1975: 113).
The study that is concerned with investigating the relationship between language and society with the goal of a better understanding of the structure of language and of how languages function in communication (Wardhaugh, 1986 : 12).
The study of the characteristics of language varieties, the characteristics of their functions, and the characteristics of their speakers as these three constantly interact, change and change one another within a speech community (Fishman 1972:4).
The part of linguistics which is concerned with language as a social and cultural phenomenon. It investigates the field of language and society & has close connections with the social sciences, especially social psychology, anthropology, human geography and sociology (Trudgill 1974: 32).
STYLE
Definition of style
In Crystal & Davy (1969), the word style is used in the way most other people use register: to refer to particular ways of using language in particular contexts. The use of register had become too loosely applied to almost any situational variety of language of any level of generality or abstraction, and distinguished by too many different situational parameters of variation. Using style in the same loose fashion, however, hardly solves anything, and goes against the usage of style by most people in relation to individual texts or individual authors/speakers. Another thing that complicates the study of dialect is the fact that speakers can adopt different styles of speaking depending on the circumstances speakers can speak very formally or informally. The level of speaker formality can be chosen to a variety factors such bellow:
Kind of occasion
The various, social, age and other differences that exist between participants.
The particular task is that it involves; speaking, writing
Emotional environment of one or more of the participants.
All these levels help define the appropriateness and the inappropriateness of how we say something. Thus according to Hudson (1996: 46) your dialect says who you are while your register says what you are doing, Style is the dress of thoughts; and let them be ever so just, if your style is homely, coarse, and vulgar, they will appear to as much disadvantage, and be as ill received, as your person, though ever so well- proportioned, would if dressed in rags, dirt, and tatters. Coulthard (1985: 40) says the concept of style may seem very close to that of register but there is a crucial difference since register mainly defined and recognized by the topic and context specific lexis. E.g.: the register of sermons is the language used in giving sermons.
However style as the rules of alternative emphasize are not mechanically connected to particular situation speakers may choose among style and their choice has social meaning. One of the relatable ways of making people laugh is to adopt style in appropriate particular context or message. Linguistic variety are linked to the formality of the situation are called style. Therefore Style and register become the basic principle in sociolinguistics scope.
E.g.: the register of football called co-occurs with a formal style as in a report in high newspaper or with informal style as in discussion in a bar.
The connotation of English address forms such as Sir, Mr. Smith, John are all different each has its stylistic implication and the rules of usage as well as the frequency for usage. Varying from class to class, age, group and place
E.g.: used of sir in Britain and American. In other languages, the problem may be complicated by the problem of personal pronouns selection.
E.g.: (most European and the other languages) unlike English which has only you, distinguish, especially in the singular between polite and familiar second-person.
As been argued the familiar pronoun were the normal forms of address for single individual and the polite forms were either second person (plural) or third person pronouns. This effect can be referred to as power another thing that can affect it is called solidarity which not only signifies power but also social differences distance.
A number of elements affect the style interview, style of social context and social class. Speaker either move along a scale of formality of style according to situation or switch from separate style of dialect to another, the situational varieties are clearly sub varieties of one regional or social dialect. Bloomfield (1927) provide the popular explanation of ''correct and ''incorrect'' as solidification that reduces the matter to one of knowledge versus ignorance, there is such a thing as correct English and an ignorant person may not know the correct for he cannot help using the incorrect ones.
Verbal hygiene: introduces by Cameron (1996:36) as the authoritarian promotion of elite varieties as norms of correctness through campaign for plain English spelling reforms.
Dialect and language preservation.
Nonsexist and non-racist language.
Self-improvement activities such as; accent reduction, Neuro linguistic programming, assertive training and communication skills training.
Verbal hygiene was produced to eliminate certain believes and pass judgments on issues of the language (1999, viii) linguists know that many popular beliefs about language are false and that much we taught about language is misdirected, they also know how difficult it is to effect change.
Style is related to dimension of formality, the varying level of alternation to variety forms a natural continuum, the various levels of which can be divided in different ways, but what's on that continuum or the level of that continuum are not important as much as most accounts of language make reference to levels of stylistic variations it is a language variation which reflects changes in situational factors, such as addressee, setting, task or topic. Style is often analyzed along a scale of formality, the level of formality is influenced by some factors like the various differences among the participants, topic, emotional involvement, etc. (Janet Holmes, 2001)
Labov found evidence in his sociolinguistics interviews conducted in New York about the form or the type being used at certain point when a person was interrupted or offered a cup of coffee or became excited about the story. He would elicit more formal use by asking the subject to read a passage or a list of words, for more casual speech he asked for emotionally significant story, which gave him three or four levels and possibility of company change.
Principles of style
William Labov first introduced the concept of style in the context of sociolinguistics in the 1960s, though he did not explicitly define the term. Labov primarily studied individual linguistic variables, and how they were associated with various social groups (e.g. social classes). He summed up his ideas about style in five principles:

There are no single style speakers.
Style-shifting occurs in all speakers to a different degree; interlocutors regularly and consistently change their linguistic forms according to context.
Styles can be ranged along a single dimension, measured by the amount of attention paid to speech.
Style-shifting correlates strongly with the amount of attention paid to speech. According to studies conducted by Labov, this was one of the single most important factors that determined whether or not an interlocutor would make a style-shift.
The vernacular, in which the minimum attention is paid to speech, provides the most systematic data for linguistic analysis.
Labov characterized the vernacular as the original base mode of speech, learned at a very young age, on which more complex styles build later in life. This "basic" style has the least variation, and provides the most general account of the style of a given group.
Any systematic observation of a speaker defines a formal context where more than the minimum attention is paid to speech.
In other words, even formal face-to-face interviews severely limit a speaker's use of their vernacular style. An interlocutor's vernacular style is most likely displayed if they do not perceive outside observers, and are not paying immediate attention to their own speech.
Face to face interviews are the only means of obtaining the volume and quality of recorded speech that is needed for quantitative analysis."
Style shifting
In bilingual community's stylistic levels may be marked by switching from one variety into another, the commonly accepted explanation for this stylistic variation can be the care that speakers and writers take with their expression. The more formal the situation, this explanation goes we should more pay attention to our language and so the more we are likely to conform the favored and educated norm of society. (Trudgill, 1992: 50). Style shifting refers to a single speaker changing style in response to context. The norms in which the attention of care is more focused upon since it does not deal with the possibility of conscious choice of a less or more formal style. One idea to explain that is the notion of audience design which is a speaker who can control more than one variety chooses a level of speech according to the audience he or she is addressing in relation to unconsciousness accommodation.
E.g.: we may choose an informal style when speaking to a stranger in order to seem friendlier.
This contributes to the social identity of the speaker and establishes social relations. Audience design can also be defined as recognition of stylistic levels as being appropriate to specific social situation.
The kind of style
Frozen style. It is the most formal style used in formal situations and ceremonies. Exp: In written form (historical documents, and formal documents).
Formal style. It is used in formal speech, formal meeting, office correspondence, lesson books for school, etc.
Consultative style. It ordinary conversation held at school, in meeting or conversation that leads to result and production. It is the most operational one between casual and formal.
Casual style. It is used to speak with friends, family or relatives, during the leisure time, while break or recreation, etc.
Intimate style. It used with people who have close relationships with the speaker. By using this style those people do not need to use complete sentences with clear articulation, they just simply use short words.

Register
Definition of Register
In the Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, Crystal (1991, p. 295) defines register as "a variety of language defined according to its use in social situations, e.g. a register of scientific, religious, formal English.''
Register is widely used in linguistics to refer to ''varieties according to use''.
In contrast to dialect defined as varieties according to user (Cheshire 1992, Downes 1994, Beiber 1988), they are also are a set of language items associated with discrete occupational or social group (Wardhaugh, 2001: 48).
In other hand, we can say that saying jargon is an alternative term for register that is sometimes used for this kind of language as in terms used by surgeons, air plane captions, bank managers, sales clerks or jazz fans (Splosky, 1998: 33). As Ferguson (1994: 20) states: "people participating in recurrent communication situations tend to develop similar vocabularies, similar features of intonation and characteristics bit of syntax and phonology in these situations". He also added that its special items for recurrent objects and events and formulaic sequences or routine seem to facilitate speedy communication, other features apparently serve to mark the register such as establish feeling of support, and serve other services similar to the accommodation that influence dialect formation.
Holmes (2001:246) states that it refers to the language of groups of people with common interests or jobs, or specific situations. The different registers can be seen in the language used by legalist, auctioneers, race-callers, sports commentator, airline pilots, criminals, financiers, and politicians, disc jockeys, in the courtroom and the classroom, journalist.
In brief, "Register" refers to the level of formality of the speech. In a casual conversation with friends, you will likely use more colloquialisms, contractions, and incomplete sentences than you would talking to, for example, a judge in court. The first is an informal register, the second a very formal one. Meanwhile "Jargon" refers to the specific lexicon used in a profession or other community of practice. That is, words that outsiders wouldn't understand, or who would use differently sailors, for example, talk about "port" and "starboard" instead of left and right. Those terms are not used outside of a maritime context.
Registers are characterized by vocabulary differences either by the use of particular words or by the use of words in particular kind of language being produced by the social situation, other factors connected to the situation in which language is being used, over and above occupation will also have linguistic effects. The factors effecting register use such as:
Whether written or spoken as informal or formal.
Literal variety and colloquial variety.
Kind of subject matter; physical setting and occasions of language activity.
Functions of register:
There is a strong tendency among individuals and co-communicators to develop register variation along many dimensions.
One person can control variety of registers.
Each register help one express his identity at specific time and place.
You may be judged to speak better or worst that another speaker who has the same background as you.
There seems to be some subtle bias into the way people tend to judge dialects, sometimes not always people tend to exhibit preferences for rural dialect over urban ones.
Sometimes the notion of better and worse solidify into those of correctness and incorrectness according to Bloomfield words (1927).
Register differences
Register differences can be identifies in terms of the model of acts identity as much as the way of dialect differences. Each time we speak or write we not only locate ourselves in relation to the rest of the society, but we also relate our act to the rest of the society but we also relate out act of communication itself to complex classificatory scheme of communication. This scheme takes the form of the multidimensional matrix just like the map of our societies which we build our minds, So dialect shows who we are, whilst register show what we are doing (Hudson, 1996:47).
The dimensions on which an act of communication may be located are no less complex than those relevant to the circumstance of the speaker. Halliday (1978: 33) distinguish the three genres types of dimension:
Field: which refer to the purpose of the subject matter of communication; why and about what the subject is.
Mode: a mean by which communication takes place speaking or writing; (how).
Tenor: refers to the relationship between participants; (to whom).
E.g.: I am writing to inform you that I just wanted to let you know.
These examples only differ in terms of to whom (i.e. how the speaker views the person addressed). The first being impersonal (addressed to someone with whom the writer only has formal relations, the second is personal.
Another model has been proposed by Dell Hymes (1971) in which no less that thirteen separate variables determine the linguistic items selected by the speaker, each one of these models provide a framework within which any relevant dimension of similarity and difference can be located.
E.g.: the relations between speaker and addressee involve more than one dimension.
Power (addressee in subordinate, equal or superior position than the addressor). Solidarity relatively in terms of relation form distance. In English speakers between themselves on these dimensions in relation to addressee largely by choosing among the alternative ways of naming the addressee; Mr. Smith, John, Sir, Mate, etc.
Distinctive Terms of Register
Hunt & Jones (1999) asserts several distinctive terms of register, such as register, slang, jargon, and situational switching, all are elaborated as follows:
Register (Style)
Register is the level of formality used in speaking and writing. Most speakers of a language know how to use many dialects, using one with friends, another when on a job interview or presenting a report in class, and another with talking with family. These are situational dialects, also called registers or styles.
Slang
Slang is an informal style of speech, combining old words to elicit a more current meaning which often creates slang terms. Spaced out, right on, hang-ups, and rip off, have all gained acceptances as slang terms. Slang terms may also introduce an entirely new word to the language; examples include "barf" and poop. Finally, slang often ascribes totally new meanings to old words. Some examples of these type of slang words are as follows; grass/pot=marijuana, pig= police officer, sticks = legs. Words such as rap, cool, dig, stoned, and split have extended their semantic domain as well.
Jargon
Jargon is collected words peculiar to a professional realm, science, trade, or occupation. Words such as ROM, RAM, modem, bit, and byte were once computer jargon and only understood by computer jargons, but they are now understood by a large segment of the population.
Situational Switching
Situational switching is the act of changing one's register to match the setting, situation, addressee, or topic.
Registers Classification
Register stands for language (which is used by the user which considers about words choice, purposes, style, and media in which language use is occurred). Therefore, Hunt & Jones (1999) classified register as presented below:
Formal register
Formal register is a type of register that incorporates Standard American English and it's used by professionals or in situations where people are not familiar with one another
Informal register
Informal register is defined as a type of register used with more familiar people in casual conversation. In the informal style of register, contractions are used more often, rules of negation and agreement may be altered, and slang or colloquialisms may be used. Informal register also permits certain abbreviations and deletions, but they are rule governed.
For example: deleting the "you" subject and the auxiliary often shorten questions. Instead of asking, "Are you running in the marathon a person might ask, "Running the marathon?"
Over formal register
Over formal register means a type of register that can be characterized by the use of a false high pitched nasal voice.
For example, a woman might approach another woman whom she does not really like and ask her cordially in a high-pitched voice, ''what are you doing?''.
Register as formality scale
One of the most analyzed areas where the use of language is determined by the situation is the formality scale. Writers (especially in language teaching) have often used the term "register" as shorthand for formal/informal style, although this is an aging definition. Linguistics textbooks may use the term "tenor" instead (Halliday, 1978). While defining "registers" more narrowly as specialist language use related to a particular activity, such as academic jargon. There is very little agreement as to how the spectrum of formality should be divided. (Trudgill, 1992) In one prominent model, Martin Joos (1968) describes five styles in spoken English:
Frozen: Also referred to as static register. Printed unchanging language, such as Biblical quotations, often contains archaisms. Examples are the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States of America and other "static" vocalizations that are recited in a ritualistic monotone. The wording is the same every time it is spoken.
Formal: One-way participation; no interruption; technical vocabulary or exact definitions are important; includes presentations or introductions between strangers.
Consultative: Two way participation; background information is provided prior knowledge is not assumed. "Back-channel behavior" such as "uh huh", "I see", etc. is common. Interruptions are allowed.
E.g.: between teacher/student, doctor/patient, etc.
Casual: In group friends and acquaintances; no background information provided ellipsis and slang common, interruptions common. This is common among friends in a social setting.
Intimate: Non-public; intonation more important than wording or grammar; private vocabulary. Also includes non-verbal messages. This is most common among family members and close friends.
CONCLUSION
From the explanation above we can conclude that:
Style
In style we are discuss about:
Definition of style
Holmes (2001:223) states that style is related more with the situations than with the speakers themselves. When we want to talk about style, it means that we talk about the same speakers who talk in different ways on different situations. It refers to language variation which reflects changes in situational factors (Kind of occasion, The various, social, age and other differences that exist between participants, The particular task is that it involves; speaking, writing, Emotional environment of one or more of the participants).
Principle of style
According William Labov There are five principle of style there are:
There are no single style speakers
Styles can be ranged along a single dimension
The vernacular, in which the minimum attention is paid to speech, provides the most systematic data for linguistic analysis
Any systematic observation of a speaker defines a formal context where more than the minimum attention is paid to speech
Face-to-face interviews are the only means of obtaining the volume and quality of recorded speech that is needed for quantitative analysis
Style Shifting
Style shifting refers to a single speaker changing style in response to context. The norms in which the attention of care is more focused upon since it does not deal with the possibility of conscious choice of a less or more formal style.
E.g.: we may choose an informal style when speaking to a stranger in order to seem friendlier.
The kind of style
In general, there are five kind of style such:
Frozen style. It is the most formal style used in formal situations and ceremonies. Exp: In written form (historical documents, and formal documents)
Formal style. It is used in formal speech, formal meeting, office correspondence, lesson books for school, etc
Consultative style. It ordinary conversation held at school, in meeting or conversation that leads to result and production. It is the most operational one between casual and formal
Casual style. It is used to speak with friends, family or relatives, during the leisure time, while break or recreation, etc
Intimate style. It used with people who have close relationships with the speaker. By using this style those people do not need to use complete sentences with clear articulation, they just simply use short words.
Register
Holmes (2001:246) states that it refers to the language of groups of people with common interests or jobs, or specific situations. The different registers can be seen in the language used by legalist, auctioneers, race-callers, sports commentator, airline pilots, criminals, financiers, and politicians, disc jockeys, in the courtroom and the classroom, journalist.
For example, Language of journalism (journalistic) has specific characteristics; it is simple, communicative and brief. The language is simple because it has to be understood easily, communicative because it has to deliver news appropriately, and brief because of the limited space (in printed media) and limited time (in electronic media).
Besides, Hunt asserts several distinctive terms of register, such as register, slang, jargon, and situational switching. In register part we can found Register stands for language (which is used by the user which considers about words choice, purposes, style, and media in which language use is occurred. That are:
Formal register
Over formal register
Informal register
According Martin Joos (1968) in register as formality scale, there are five style spoken English
Formal: One-way participation; no interruption; technical vocabulary or exact definitions are important; includes presentations or introductions between strangers.
Consultative: Two way participation; background information is provided prior knowledge is not assumed. "Back-channel behavior" such as "uh huh", "I see", etc. is common. Interruptions are allowed.
E.g.: between teacher/student, doctor/patient, etc.
Casual: In group friends and acquaintances; no background information provided ellipsis and slang common, interruptions common. This is common among friends in a social setting
Intimate: Non-public; intonation more important than wording or grammar; private vocabulary. Also includes non-verbal messages. This is most common among family members and close friends.













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