Core Concepts Lecture 7 Register

Source McCarthy, Michael. Vocabulary. Oxford: 1990. Oxford University Press. pp. 61-65 §4.4: Register

Introduction “…someone saying ‘We talked about the problem and some of the issues involved and he suggested an approach that might lead to a solution’ would hardly be likely to be talking about a puncture in a bicycle on their village street-corner, unless they were being deliberately pompous, or witty.

Introduction “Clearly, vocabulary choice is significantly governed by who is saying what, to whom, when, and why. It is this relationship between the content of a message, its sender and receiver, its situation and purpose and how it is communicated, which is often called register.” (61)

Introduction ‘Intuitively’, we know that this is true. However, the implications for language teachers and learners are quite significant.

Introduction “We talked about the problem and some of the issues involved and he suggested an approach that might lead to a solution.” These lexical items are especially notable: What is interesting about them? The context has clearly affected the speaker’s choices. What do you think the context is?

Register “Vocabulary choice is probably the major feature which characterizes registers.” (62) This means, simply, that in some registers we might choose the word children but in others, kids might be more appropriate. What are some other examples?

Register: 3 Components The 3 components of register: Field: The subject matter (topic) and purpose of the message. A travel agent’s brochure selling holidays abroad Tenor: The relationship between sender and receiver. (friend to friend, boss to employee, etc.) Mode: The channel of communication. (phone call, written report, sign, formal essay, email, text message, etc.)

Register changes everything Scientific writing is very different from casual conversation. Newspaper articles are very different from political speeches. And so on.

Vocabulary Choices “Vocabulary choice is probably the major feature which characterizes registers. Apparent synonyms may often be distinguished on the grounds of register alone.” This does not mean that words can only appear in one register, but that pairs of words are often distinguishable by which register(s) they are more likely to be found in.

Examples and Discussion Where would you expect to read/hear (or not!) the following words? Try to think of more than one register for each example. booze – alcohol kids – children daddy - father

So, changing any one of the 3 components (field, tenor, mode) may result in drastically different vocabulary choices (not to mention collocation selection, grammatical structures, tone of voice, and so on).

Examples Example: This changes a lot about that conversation: Imagine changing the Tenor (the relationship between participants) of a conversation (Mode) about buying a new house (Field). This changes a lot about that conversation:

Examples Example: Mode Field Tenor Or: Conversation  Buying a new house  Friend-to-friend Conversation  Buying a new house  Employee-to-boss Conversation  Buying a new house  Buyer-to-seller Or: Conversation  Cancer Surgery Doctor-to-patient Conversation  Cancer Surgery  Employee-to-boss Conversation  Cancer Surgery  Friend-to-friend

Examples If we change the Field, we can imagine huge differences in conversations (Mode): Conversation  Vacation plans  Friend-to-friend Conversation  Funeral plans  Friend-to-friend Conversation  Borrowing money  Friend-to-friend

Examples Of course, changing the Mode will also necessarily alter our vocabulary choices, grammatical structures, and so on: Conversation (face-to-face)  Vacation plans  Employee-to-boss Conversation (telephone)  Vacation plans  Employee-to-boss E-mail (letter)  Vacation plans  Employee-to-boss Text message  Vacation plans  Employee-to-boss

Examples Additionally, certain modes are more appropriate than others as well: Would it be appropriate to send a text message about funeral plans to one’s boss? Maybe … the tenor may include a very informal/friendly relationship with one’s boss. Relationships are complex, and it is not always easy to know what is appropriate!

Discussion In small groups, discuss how register changes (either field, tenor, or mode) affect your choices. In your discussions, use specific examples of changes you would make in specific registers (word choices, grammatical structures, tone-of-voice, etc.)