Language Registers!!

Yet another important topic! You really need to know this because you WILL get it in an exam.

The register refers to the kinds of English appropriate to a particular purpose or situation. It refers to the level of formality or informality and tone that are correct for a specific context.

 A few things affect register, so when doing a question about suitability of register (it will come - probably)  please keep in mind the following:

1. The audience - that is who the communication is intended for. Who are you speaking or writing to? How old are they? What's their level of education or social status? 
2. The subject matter - what are you really speaking or writing about? Are you speaking about poverty in India, nuclear proliferation, building a highway through someone's house or leprechaun rights? 
3. The medium - how are you getting the message across? Is it a public speech? Are you on television, are you writing a letter to the president, are you texting your best friend? 
4. The writer's attitude - What are your views on the topic you're speaking or writing about? 

Once you answered those questions you can figure out which language register you wanna use. CAPE would like you to familiarize yourself with the 5 following language registers:

1. Formal or Academic - you use this register in a formal setting. Lectures, ceremonies, talking to a stranger (with candy of course). You almost ALWAYS use Standard English here. 
• grammar is closely organized and complex sentence structures are used
• clear pronunciation (meticulous even), 
• no contractions of words (eg. don't, can't, won't etc.),
• neutral intonation 
2. Informal or Casual - you use this one when you're talking to friends and acquaintances in a non-formal setting, like when you're just liming wherever using yuh slang and ting.  
• sentence fragments, fillers (you know, well i mean, uhhh, huh, eh?) 
• meaningless word fillers (semantically empty words) (eg. thingamajig, and stuff)
• slurred or even elided forms of pronunciation 
• varied intonation  
3. Consultative - this is used when the listener is expected to give some feedback based on the information provided by the speaker. Like a doctor's visit or therapy session with your shrink.
• complete grammatical forms and sentences
• avoidance of elaborate terms and slang
• clear pronunciation
• friendly intonation 
4. Intimate - used between people who are very close, like close friends, lovers, teammates, sister from another mister, bro from another h- well you get the point. 
• non-verbal communication (shrugs, eyebrow raising, elbow nudging, chin pointing)
• private vocabulary (inside jokes)
• minimal sentence structure
• ellipsis 
• heavy use of stress and intonation, sometimes exaggerated 
5. Frozen - this is basically used for things that don't change, they're the same each time you read/speak them. They're frozen. Stuck. Not moving. Examples are like treaties and wedding/funeral services (dearly beloved we are gathered here today....)
• no response from listener is expected
• sentence structure is often archaic (well I mean if these things were created hundreds of years ago and haven't changed...) you get some Latin in there, some dead expressions
• pronunciation is meticulous 
• intonation neutral, pitch is usually raised