English saq

• Standard English


  The variety of spoken and written English language which represents a common language standard agreed to by the general population and recorded in dictionaries, style guides and grammar manuals
• Characteristics of Standard English (from David Crystal 1995)

  • The standard is understood and used all over the country
  • The standard has distinctive features of syntax, lexicon and orthography (spelling), but not phonology – it can be spoken with any accent
  • It is the most prestigious variety
  • It is the variety used for education and by the government and legal sectors as well as media
  • The standard is used in printed texts, but not often heard spoken (except in the media). People usually speak a regional variety or a variety that combines standard and regional features
• Features of Standard English

  • Spelling norms are observed
  • Standard use of capital letters, commas, full-stops, exclamation marks, apostrophes are used
  • Full sentences are generally used – containing at least an subject (noun) and predicate (verb) and usually an object
  • Irregular nouns and verbs have codified conjugation/pluralisation 'child' and 'children', 'bring' and 'brought'
  • Semantic connotations are widely understood
  • Accent is considered "neutral" or free from regional influences
• Register


  When participating in discourse, writers and speakers make language choices across a range of subsystems thus adopting a register that has a particular degree of formality
• Informal Register


  Informal language is generally concerned with building rapport and narrowing the social distance between participants
• Informal language


  Characterised by a lack of syntactic complexity – this does not mean that it is non-standard language, just that simpler syntactic forms (ex: declarative sentences and contractions) are more likely to be used
• Formal Register


  Formal language is generally concerned with maintaining or increasing the social distance
• Formal language


  Characterised by greater syntactic variety including both complex and simpler syntactic structures
• Formal language maintains the status quo (keeping things the way they are) in a more formal setting whereas increasing social distance generally occurs in situations where the speaker needs to establish expertise or authority
• Function and social purpose are interlinked concepts
• Function


  The communicative goals of a text
• Purpose


  The deeper goals underpinning a text, generally relating to how the participants want to be perceived
• A text can have multiple functions and multiple purposes
• Functions of Texts


  • Emotive (to express, to share)
  • Referential (to inform, to instruct)
  • Transactional (to persuade, to request)
  • Phatic (to share, to connect)
  • Poetic (to describe, to entertain)
  • Metalingual (to analyse, to discuss)
• The same terms that can be used to broadly discuss the overall function(s) of a text can also be used to describe the functions of elements within a text (ex: sentences, paragraphs, phrases, etc.)
• When determining the overall function(s) of a text, you should consider the function of the elements within the text to determine the most prevalent ones
• Purposes of Informal Texts

  • Encouraging intimacy, solidarity and equality
  • Building social harmony, navigating taboo and building rapport
  • Supporting in-group membership
  • Promoting linguistic innovation
• Intimacy


  Fostering a friendly, private and personal connection with someone
• Solidarity


  Expressing unity and support for another person because of alignment in opinions or interests
• Equality


  Being the same in value, status, and expectations
• Ways informal language can encourage intimacy, solidarity and equality


  • Private slang
  • Nicknames
  • Cooperative overlapping: talking together
  • Writing which mimics the spoken work (ex: NS capitalization, underlining, elongation of vowel sounds)
  • Lexical choice that builds on shared knowledge
  • Repetition of key words or "echoing" in a conversation
  • Backchanneling
  • First and second person pronouns
  • Emojis
  • Colloquialisms that enforce shared cultural experiences or values
  • Politeness markers
  • Gender neutral language
• Supporting in-group membership


  Informal language can create a strong sense of in-group membership as lexical terms can be used to include those who use and understand the terms, whilst simultaneously excluding those who do not
• Promoting social harmony


  Involves avoiding conflicting, showing respect towards others' feelings and promoting shared understanding
• Navigating social taboos


  Refers to navigating topics that are often considered sensitive or controversial, or that are typically avoided in social contexts, while still maintaining respect and understanding, and minimising discomfort and offence
• Building rapport


  About forging a positive, close-knit relationship in which those involved can understand each other's feelings and ideas
• All three of these purposes (promoting social harmony, navigating taboo, building rapport) can be achieved in both formal and informal functions
• Promoting linguistic innovation


  Creative word formations such as shortenings, blends and compounding tend to be informal and these processes help to promote linguistic innovation
• The rise of technology has opened up many opportunities and at times the necessity for the language user to be creative
• Changing societal expectations also lead to innovation in language to meet the needs of speakers
• Over time words are created, meanings are broadened or narrowed and phonology changes
• Policy documents


  • The Gulanga Good Practice Guide: Preferences in Terminology when referring to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples
  • The Victoria State Government LGBTQI+ Inclusive Language
• Patterning


  In linguistics, refers to the way that sounds, words, and phrases are organized and arranged in a language
• Patterning does not mean that a feature has to occur multiple times within a text
• The elements of subsystem patterning are also not specific to informal language, but occur more frequently in informal language
• Assimilation


  A process in which sounds change to become more similar to neighbouring sounds
• Assimilation is common in informal language as speakers often shorten or blend sounds together for ease of pronunciation
• Vowel reduction


  A process in which vowels become less pronounced and more neutral in unstressed syllables
• Vowel reduction is a common feature of informal language as it can speed up speech and make it easier to understand
• Elision


  A process in which sounds are left out or deleted in connected speech
• Elision is common in informal language as it can make speech more efficient and natural-sounding