12. Style, Context, and Register

Identify how language variation correlates with social situations

People’s styles of speech and written communication reflect and express not only aspects of their identity such as their ethnicity, age, gender, and social background -- they also indicate the contexts in which language is being used. Formality and status are at play here.

What aspects of language vary across speakers, setting, attitude, and other contextual factors?

Language varies according to use and users and according to where it is used and to whom, as well as according to who is using it. The addresses and the context affect our choice of code or variety, whether language, dialect or style.

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Accommodation Theory

 
Speech converges: each person's speech converges towards the speech of the person they are talking to. It tends to happen when the speakers like one another, or where one speaker has a vested interest in pleasing the other or putting them at ease.

Speech diverges: deliberately choosing a different language style not used by one's addressee, it tends to happen when a person wants to show his cultural distinctiveness, social status, ethnic identity, etc.
Hypercorrection: it is the exaggeration of some lower class speakers in imitating middle class standard speech. For example: the use of 'I' rather than 'me' in constructions such as 'between you and I'.

Register: occupational style using specialized or technical jargon, it describes the language of groups of people with common interests or jobs, or the language used in situations associated with such groups, such as the language of doctors, engineers, journals, legalese, etc.



The Communication Accommodation Theory explores the reasons why people use speech in order to emphasize or minimize the social differences between themselves and their listener. It evolved from the Accommodation Theory and was developed by Howard Giles, professor of linguistics and psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The roots of the theory trace back to the Social Identity theory, which explores how a person’s identity is tied to his/her social identity.

Definition of Style

Sociolinguists generally define notions of language style and register primarily as “sets of linguistic features with a particular social distribution.”

What is the difference between style and variety?

Style is "the range of variation within the speech of an individual speaker." Just as there is code-switching, there would be "style-shifting" – this would be within a monolingual society. Style could mean the personal “social dialect” of a speaker based on the relatively permanent aspects of his/her identity (ethnicity, region etc.) and is therefore a very individual set of linguistic features. Register seems to be determined by less permanent aspects of identity (student to teacher, salesman to customer, etc.). Register is seen as falling within the larger idea of style.

Some sociolinguists concerned with style are Halliday, Romaine, Labov. 

Michael Halliday

Suzanne Romaine

William Labov

Labov was interested in characterizing a set of linguistic forms, and in relating them to social factors beyond the individual. "By style” clarified Labov, “we mean to include any consistent… [set of] linguistic forms used by a speaker, qualitative or quantitative, that can be associated with a… [set of ] topics, participants, channel, or the broader social context." 

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Functions of Speech

• Referential function: to convey information and this is done through different forms of speech, such as declarative or interrogative statements.
  
  Declarative statements (You will love this gift.)
  Interrogative statements using Wh-questions (What do you think of this gift?)
  Interrogative statements using yes/no questions (Do you like this gift?)
  Alternative questions with answer choices (Do you like this gift or this one?)
  
  
  
• Directive function: giving orders or making requests by using imperative statements. An imperative statements may express a strict demand such as saying (open the gift) or it can seem less demanding by using the politeness strategy such as saying (please open my gift) or through using question tags.
   
• Expressive function: to express personal feelings, thoughts, ideas and opinions, with different choice words, intonation, etc. These expressions are submissive to social factors and to the nature of the expression as negative (I'm so sad and lonely) or positive (I feel great tonight).
   
• Phatic or Social function: it is one of the most common speech acts in everyday interactions; it consists of greetings, complements, gossip, and so forth.
   
• Metalinguistic Function: it is used to describe parts of language such as grammar, or words that describe language itself.
   
• Poetic Function: using poetic features such as rhyming words, alliteration or paronomasia / puns and antithesis (Time flies like the wind but fruit flies like bananas).
   
• Heuristic Function: Halliday identified this function of language which concerned with learning, the main concentration of researching this function of speech is to identify the spoken language of learning children.
   
• Commissives: it involves using threats and promises (I promise I'll finish my work).

Politeness: it is the consideration of social factors (social distance in terms of solidarity or formality), social status, type of situation or context, intonation, etc when communicating with others.

[One may ask somebody to sit down by using different utterances:
Sit down / please sit down / I want you to sit down / won't you sit down / you sit down / why don't you make yourself more comfortable?]

Positive politeness: a type of politeness based on solidarity between speakers and hearers who share values and attitudes, and in which formal expressions in addressing are avoided.

Negative politeness: a type of politeness based on formality between speakers and hearers in which formal expressions in addressing are used in order to protect hearers' face and avoid intruding on them.

Mrs. Obama's politically incorrect moment?

Political Correctness

It has been often said that "all politics is local." Speaking in the context of sociolinguistics, that might be amended to -- all politeness is local. Local involves both regional and personal dimensions. What's polite in Washington, DC may not be in London, England -- and polite conversation between two buddies in a locker-room is quite different than a polite talk at a lunch meeting between a male boss and a new female hire.

Politeness is not the same as polity. Polity can be defined as the shrewd or artful managing of public affairs. Polite talk connotes a mere formality -- the perfunctory 'please and thank-yous' pasted to the ends of sentences. But political correctness in speech is a rejection of the lingua-centric, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" top-down perspective. To be politic implies that both the speaker and the addressee have the responsibility to be culturally competent.




"One man's frankness is another man's vulgarity."
-- Kevin Smith