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1、Session-9-Formal-vs-Session-9-Formal-vs-Informal-LanguageInformal-LanguageContents9.1 The interpersonal function of language9.2 Degrees of formality9.3 Functional tenor and degrees of formality9.4 Martin Joos Classification9.5 Speech situation and formality9.6 Formality and linguistic features9.7 Se
2、ts of co-occurring features9.8 Involved vs informational texts9.9 Tenors, field, and mode9.1Theinterpersonalfunctionoflanguage1.Functions of language: the ideational / referential function the interpersonal / social function the textual function2. Tenors of discourse: the relationship between partic
3、ipants in the situation, their roles and status. The participant relations that determine the tenor of discourse range through varying degrees of permanence. Most temporary: at a party, on a trainWell-established: parents and childIntermediate: teacher and pupil labor and management, etc. The number
4、 and types of roles to be played by both addresser and addressee are on a large part determined by the structure of society: by economic status, by education, by occupation, by ethnic group, by gender, etc. What is more, the language an individual uses will redefine each situation. e.g. How do you d
5、o? - relationship as that of stranger to stranger Hello, glad to meet you again. acquaintances9.2 Degrees of formalityFormality: the way in which the style of language will vary in appropriateness according to the social context: the occasion and the relationship between addresser and addressee (s).
6、Personal tenor expresses the various roles assumed by the participants and the degree of formality of their relationship. The address forms people use are probably the most direct and obvious means to indicate roles and relationships. Three most frequently used address forms: 1) the reciprocal excha
7、nge of Title plus Last Name (TLN); 2) the reciprocal exchange of First Name (FN); 3) the non-reciprocal pattern in which one person uses FN and the other TLN. The difference in personal tenor between formal (relatively stiff, cold, polite, impersonal) and informal (relatively relaxed, warm, rude, fr
8、iendly) as shown in corresponding linguistic contrast involving grammar, vocabulary and phonology: 1) Patrons are requested to ascend to the next floor. (formal) 2) OK, guys! Get up to the next floor! (informal) 3) I should most certainly like to attend your ball, Sir Reginald. (formal) 4) Id like t
9、o come to your do, Reg. (informal) 9.3 Functional tenor and degrees of formality Functional tenor tells us the addressers intention of using the language. Different situational types of language are endowed with different predominant functions, e.g. advertising with persuasion a lecture with exposit
10、ion a political speech with agitation a sermon with exhortation and teaching. Certain functional tenors can hit any point on the personal tenor formality continuum, e.g. an expository speech: formal, with many passive constructions and a technical vocabulary; or, informal, in an ad-lib manner, with
11、personal anecdotes, reference to the audience. an insult: formal (formal structure and vocabulary, calm or deliberate delivery) or informal.9.4 Martin Joos classification (Martin Joos, 1967) The range of formality: frozen, formal, consultative, casual, and intimate. The frozen level: In Joos analysi
12、s, the frozen level is used for written legal documents or highly solemn speech which consists of memorized sentences that must be repeated verbatim. These might include quotations from proverbs or ritual expressions which are part of a formal ceremony. nThe formal level is used for public addresses
13、 such as lectures or speeches where the audience is not known to the speaker personally or where personal acquaintance is not acknowledged. This level requires much attention to form (with well-planned thematic structure and phonological, lexical and syntactical coherence), and allows little or no i
14、nteraction. It is typically marked with the use of may place of might , can (in May I present Mr Smith ?). The speaker is usually considered to be an authority and, therefore, has higher status than the hearers for that particular event. nThe consultative level is used at less formal gatherings such
15、 as committee meetings where status is still fairly clearly designated, but where participants interact. There is still considerable attention to form (with rather clear pronunciation, accurate wording and complete sentences), and participants may not know each other well. It may be necessary for sp
16、eakers to elaborate and give a significant amount of background material. nIn contrast, the casual level is used among friends, or peers who know each other well enough that little elaboration is necessary. Participants pay very little attention to form (shown by the use of slang and ellipsis as in
17、Been a good thing if.) and concentrate totally on content and relationship. One of the markers of this level is the use of Come on with the implication Consider yourself among friends. nThe final level identified by Joos is intimate, language used between people who see each other daily (family memb
18、ers for instance) and share the majority of their daily life experiences. As a result, language is unelaborated and conversation may be meaningless to outsiders because of its telegraphic quality. No attention is paid to form. e.g. 1) My beloved parent has just passed to his heavenly reward. 2) My d
19、ear father has just expired. 3) My father has just passed away. 4) My dad has died. 5) My old man just kicked the bucket. - by Martin Joos nJoos categories present an efficient way of looking at degrees of formality. It is fairly easy to distinguish the frozen style of (written) legal documents with
20、 their Latinate diction and impersonal syntax, from the intimate style of (spoken) interchanges between close friends, with their slang and elliptical syntax. But it is not easy to categorize the intervening degrees, or relate them to linguistic features. So most linguists agree that the situation i
21、s more complex than Joos imagined and see the range as a continuum from the most formal to the most Situation and Formality informal/intimate, with an infinite number of stopping places in between. 9.5 Speech situation and formality The speech situation: the setting, purpose, audience, social relati
22、ons, and topic. Variation of registers may shift the level of formality. e.g. The introductory sentences of a speech in four different styles: a. the solemn tone and the elaborate way of opening the speech; b. the formal way of opening the speech; c. the casual way; d. the intimate way.nThe solemn t
23、one and the elaborate way of opening the speech can really make the audience feel frozen: Madame Chairman, Mrs Vice-president, Honoured Guests, Faculty and Friends: I feel most deeply honoured to have been invited to speak to such an illustrious gathering tonight and to be given the priviledge of pr
24、esenting to my distinguished colleagues, especially Dr Monrovia, what we have recently found in a demanding research project in the field of sociolinguistics, an area of study that, we feel, may have great potential for your profession also. nThe formal way of opening the speech signals that the mee
25、ting is going to be formal, which allows little interaction: Ladies and Gentlemen, I am exceedingly grateful to have been asked by your chairperson, Dr Jean Monrovia, to present our recent findings on the topic of Research and Development in Sociolinguistics, which I hope will prove useful to those
26、of you engaged in the teaching of English. nThe casual way shows that the speaker is talking to friends, and so both speaker and hearers can feel relaxed: Good evening, Friends, Your chairperson, Jean Monrovia, asked me to share some of my current research in sociolinguistics. I hope it will be usef
27、ul to you in your English teaching. nThe intimate way implies that the speaker is among close friends: Hi, everyone- Jean asked me to come over and rap a little about the stuff Im into in sociolinguistics. Maybe itll help those teaching English, and I hope you wont be turned off with some of the tec
28、hnical jargon and stuff. 9.6 Formality and linguistic features 1) Formal vs informal in terms of vocabulary e.g. buy purchase skirt, female, woman, lady law enforcement officer, policeman, cop, fuzz Generally speaking, formal style is characterized by the use of formal words, mainly learned words an
29、d technical terms. Colloquialisms are usually simple words. And Slang expressions are transitory words. nLearned words are mostly loan words of Greek and Latin origin which may find their synonyms in common words, such as accommodation (rooms), bear (carry), commence (begin), deem (think), endeavor
30、(try), partake (share), veritable (true). Technical terms are words for the various disciplines of science and technology, such as cerebral episode for stroke, pulpit for feel in medical English. Informal style is characterized by the use of informal words which include colloquialism, slang, vulgari
31、sm, etc. nColloquialisms are usually simple words such as thing, business, nice, well, really; and active phrasal verbs such as make up, let down, carry on ; also words of back formation or abbreviation such as baby-sit, ad, bike, exam, gas, fridge ; and also emphatics such as awfully, terrific, won
32、derful, superb . nSlang expressions are used by special groups for special effects; such words are transitory. Here are some teenagers slang around the middle of the 1980s: Bagging Z s (sleeping), chill out (relax), dog juice (cheap liquor), fag (homosexual), hammered/twisted (intoxicated), main squ
33、eeze ( a girl friend), parallel parking (having sex ), suck face (kiss), T-banes (virile man), unreal (good), zod (a person who is out of style). nVulgarisms are non-standard, such as nowheres, aint and haint . nOnce a register has been chosen, lexical items will all come from the same stylistic lev
34、el. One would not use skirt and law enforcement officer in the same context, for example. If vocabulary levels are mixed, the speaker is violating co-occurrence rules. 2) Formal vs informal in terms of phonology Formality is marked not only by word choice but also by phonology. For example, speakers
35、 using English formally will usually pronounce the -lng endings as /i?/. However, in informal speech, the pronunciation changes to/in/. Elisions, represented by contractions (as she s, cant , wouldnt ) in writing are another marker of informal speech. One study found, for example, that speakers in i
36、nformal conversations used 60 contractions in a conversation of l000 words. In contrast, a television broadcast used only 20 contractions in l000 words, and a legal document of l000 words had no contractions. This evidence supports the claim that contractions mark informal English. nAssimilation, as
37、 in good morning where the sound/d/changes to/b/because of the/m/sound following it occurs extremely frequently in informal speech. Other examples are: bread and butter /bredmbAta/ corn beef /ko: mbi:f/ tin peaches /timpi:tliz/ n3) Formal vs informal in terms of syntax Syntax also varies according t
38、o formality. For example, English textbooks caution speakers and writers never to end a sentence with a preposition, and this convention bas become a marker of formal English. A study similar to that mentioned above found English speakers ending sentences with prepositions 58 times out of l000 prepo
39、sitions used when speaking with friends; 39 times out of moo in television broadcasts and i time out of l 000 in an official document. nIn addition, varieties of formal English have their own unique uses of syntax, such as longer sentences, complex sentence structure (with subordination - as subordi
40、nate clauses and participial or absolute structures); impersonal constructions (predicator in passive voice; use of forma it as subject); nominalization (as the performance of a jet in place of bow a jet performs ); complex nominal groups with heavy modification (as Heathrow bullion robbery trial ve
41、rdict ).nIn contrast, informal varieties are marked by shorter sentences, simple sentence structure (without much subordination), use of sentence relatives (as in, He lied, which bothered her a lot ), participial and absolute structures replaced by clauses, elliptical sentences (as You OK ?. ), tag
42、questions, involved construction (use of first and second person pronoun as subject), etc. 4) Formal vs informal in terms of semantics Semantically formal style differs from informal in terms of cohesion. Informal texts are inclined toward the frequent use of anaphora and ellipsis, and the informal
43、kind of transitional words/phrases such as and, so, to start with, for another thing, on top of that, in any case, whereas formal texts rely on frequent lexical reiteration and the formal kind of transitional words/phrases such as however, consequently, firstly, secondly, furthermore, in conclusion,
44、 etc. Informal texts are loosely organized, showing lack of planning, while formal texts are compact and well-knit. 9.7 Sets of co-occurring features The identification of a formal or informal register is based on the interaction of variants in vocabulary, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics
45、. Sets of linguistic features drawn from these resources tend to appear together in creating registers, and computers have made it possible for linguists to examine large bodies of data in order to understand the underlying dimensions of tenor variation (see Biber, 1988). nA simple model helps to il
46、lustrate their findings. One set of features which commonly occurs together includes:nSetA first and second person pronouns ( I, me, we, us; you ) that deletion from noun clauses used as direct objects (she said he lied) private verbs ( think, consider, assume ) demonstrative pronouns (this, that, t
47、hese, those ) emphatics ( really, for sure ) hedges ( kind of, more or less, maybe ) sentence relatives (Then he lied, which bothered her a lot.) sentence-final prepositions (This is the room he once lived in .) These features may be used to define the informal end of the continuum. A contrasting se
48、t may be used to define the formal end:nSetB frequent nouns and prepositions longer words lexical variety attributive adjectivesnFeatures from Set A and Set B rarely appear in the same context. This is what is called co-occurrence restriction. Rather, features from Set A most commonly occur in conve
49、rsation in which stress is placed on interaction and personal involvement-the involved end of the continuum. Features from Set B occur in language used to convey information with little or no personal involvement-the informational end of the continuum. The more involved the text is, the higher the d
50、egree of informality; the more informational the text, the higher the degree of formality. 9.8 Involved vs informational texts Using the features just indicated as indexes of involved vs informational focus, the locations of several hundred texts of different kinds have been calculated along the inv
51、olved/informational continuum. In the following figure conversation of two kinds are at the involved /informal end of the scale, while official documents (which would include legal documents like trust deeds) are at the opposite end the informational/formal end. Involved vs informational dimensions:
52、 telephone conversation, personal letters, romantic fiction, professional letters, biographies, academic prose, official documents. 9.9 Tenors, field, and mode Though tenors of discourse are primarily related to the interpersonal function of language, they are closely associated with the ideational function by way of field of discourse: different fields have different functional and personal tenors. In addition, tenors are related to the textual function by way of mode of discourse: they will vary with the mode used. TheEnd 结束结束
