STYLE, CONTEXT AND REGISTER

2.1       Addressee as an Influence on Style

Addressee is the terminology used by people when they are talking to others and this varies according to their education, their social standing, their profession or their specific kind of work. It can even be determined by their nationality or their ethnicity. According to dictionary addressee is the one to whom something is addressed.

Language varies according to its uses as well as its users, according to where it is used and to whom, as well as according to who is using it. The addressee affects our choice of code and variety. Who is receiving the message, listener or the person we are talking. Usually seen from the listener familiarity, background, meet the speakers to the listener intensity that determines the style or variations of the language we use. If you are already familiar or identify more closely, then the style of language used tends to be more relaxed. Conversely, when we talk to people who have not been too well known, then the style that we use will be more regular.

Many factors may contribute in determining to degree of social distance, solidarity between people related age, gender, social rule, whether people together, or are part of the same family and so on.  These factors may also relevant to people’s relative social study.

Chaer (2004:62) says that the variation of the language we first differentiate on the basis of speakers and users, the explanation of language variation are as follows:

2.1.1        Age of Addressee

People generally talk differently to children and adult – though some adjust their speech style or accommodate more than others. When talking to a child, the grammatical structure of language and style used tend to be more easily understood, the composition used grammatical even simpler. Conversely, when speaking to adults, then the sentence and grammatical structure that is used will be more complex.

Example 1 (addressing children)

a.       Dear Michael

Thank you very much for the letter you sent me. It was beautifully written and I enjoyed reading it. I like the postcards you sent me from your holidays too. What a lovely time you had swimming and surfing. I wish I was there too.

b.      ‘Eh .. Si ganteng udah mandi? Ganteng banget sii kamuu.. Oo.. Cup.. Cup.. Cup..eh liat tuh, ada meong lagi apa ya itu?

( high pitch, sing-a-song intonation, and baby-talk words like meong )

Example 2 (addressing elderly)

a.       Dear paul

Thanks for your last letter and the subsequent postcards from exotic resorts. We were all green with envy over your trip to Rio with all expenses paid! How do you get to be so lucky!

b.      It’s time for our (your) lunch now isn’t it marry. We (you) better wash our (your) hands.*

c.       ‘Ne’ Nenek mau kemana? Kita makan dulu aja yuk.. Abis itu baru deh kita jalan-jalan. Yuk  Ne’ ,yuk..*

*(medium pitch and sing-a-song intonation)

Most of the sentences in the example to the child are short and grammatically simple. The sentences are also more explicit. And the vocabularies are different both of those ages. It uses simple vocabulary and more be understood for children and high vocabulary for adult.

Many speakers also use a different style in addressing elderly people, often with the features similar to those with characterize their speech to children - a simpler range of vocabulary and less complex grammar, in example 2 (b and c).

2.1.2        Social Background of Addressee

Address terms are not static but vary according to the social context, occasion and situation of communication (Brown and Yule 54; Lakoff). The social context affects the choice of forms of address, which are used between people for communicative purposes, or when the addressor wants to attract the attention of the interlocutor, or when communicators want to establish their personal social position in relation to the addressees. (Evans-Pritchard: 1929; Evans-Pritchard: 1964).

Language variation with respect to status, class, and social class of speakers. Variations of this language regarding all personal problems of the speakers, such as age, education, gender, occupation, level of nobility, socioeconomic circumstances, etc. For example, the style of the language we use to ordinary people who were in the streets, in contrast to the way we talk to people who have higher education.

Social intimacy and social distance between members of a speech community vary according to such features as age, sex, social class, and social roles. Terms of address used between people who work together, or who are members of the same family, or who belong to the same social class are not similar to those used with others. These terms identify both participants to the speech event. Terms of address correspond to the individual’s own characteristics. Since forms of address reflect complex social networks, local speech community does not consider naming a person as an arbitrary process of identification, but rather as a means of identifying the social background of the person named. First and full official names, for instance, are considered as address forms, since they enable speakers to identify their interlocutors, or to be identified.

2.2       Accommodation Theory

Accommodation theory is a theory about how to adjust when communicating between speaker and listener. As for effects, ways and problems in communication, including:

2.2.1    Speech Convergence

The example in the previous section has demonstrated that when people talk to each other their speech often becomes more similar. In other words, each person speech converges towards the speech of the person they are talking to. This process is called speech accommodation. It tends to happen when the speakers like one other, or where one speaker has a vested interest in pleasing the other or putting them at ease. So the travel agent wanted to gain her customers orders, and the interviewer wanted to gain his interviewers cooperation.

Converging towards the speech of another person is usually a polite speech strategy. It implies that the addressee’s speech is acceptable and worth imitating. Using the same pronunciation and the same sort of vocabulary, for instance, is a way of signaling that you are on the same wavelength.   

The previous example shows that when people talk to each other their conversations often become more similar. In other words, when communicating, everyone is united with the conversation of the person they are talking to. This process is called speech accommodation.

The meaning of speech convergence is the effect which the current talks, the listener can catch the messages conveyed by the speaker. In other words, speech convergence is another word for communication disjointed no missed communication. To get the speech convergence, between speaker and listener must have shared the same knowledge.

Example: When P1 (speaker) spoke to P2 (listener) about "Mega mind". If P1 or P2 alone who has the concept of Mega mind, then when speak about Mega mind, will not be convergence.

2.2.2    Speakers Accommodate

At the party when you respond to and develop a topic introduced by your addressee, you are converging in the content of your speech. When people simplify their vocabulary and grammar in talking to foreigners or children, they are converging downwards towards the lesser linguistic proficiency of their addressees. When a complicated technical message is ‘translated’ for the benefit of someone who does not know the jargon, speech accommodation is involved. When, in an interview with the hospital matron, a nurse adopts some of the matron’s pronunciation features, she is converging upwards in her speech.  

The way speakers to match the language with the capability to whom listener. So that the intended message or meaning that can be accepted by listener and missed communication does not occur in the talks. So the speaker must be well-adjusted when communicating with listener. For example, in the state - a multilingual country, like Singapore, India or Zaire, with variations language, people there choose a language that is comfortable to use when communicating with its addressee.

2.2.3    Speech Divergence

Speech divergence is the effect where when making conversation, the listener cannot grasp the significance, meaning or message of the speaker. So there is no convergence of communication in the conversation and lead to missed communication.

Example: When the speaker talks about "Joger", listener did not knowing what it jogger, with the circumstances, the divergence of their communication.

2.2.4    Accommodation Problems

There are several examples of problems in communication, including missed communication. Circumstances where the message of the speakers can not be captured by listener for not having shared the same knowledge and concepts. If the case is not disconnected communication occurs in the text or spoken conversation, the listener can ask the speaker, how to convey your message in it. But if the case of incoherent communication occurs in a written text for example when we read the book, then to find the content of the message intended by the writer is to look for shared knowledge by searching on the internet or reading books.

 

2.3       Context, Style and Class

2.3.1    Context

The language context in English is same with language context in Indonesia.

Example:

Yesterday in the wellington district court….the all black captain, Jock Hobbs, appeared as duty solicitor. Presiding was his father, Judge M.F Hobbs.

Etiquette required Mr. Hobbs to address his father young honour, or sir, and the beach had to address counsel as Mr. Hobbs.

(Mr. Hobbs) could not remember the last time he had to call his father sir, said the father to son, when the son announced his appearance on all matters as duty solicitor: “I appropriate the difficulties you are labouring under, Mr. Hobbs.

People who were very close to her used a short form of her first name (Meg), or an endearment. People who were less close and socially subordinate used her title and last name (Mrs. Walker). In the example, the choice of appropriate form is influenced not by personal relationship between the participants, but by the formality of the context and their relative roles and situates within that setting.

A law court is a formal setting where the social rules of participants over ride their personal relationship in determining the appropriate linguistics form. In classroom where a child’s mother or father is the teacher, the same pattern is usually found. Children call their parents Mrs. Grady and Mr. Davis rather than Mom and Dad. A catholic priest will be addressed as Father even by his own father during a religious ceremony. People’s rules in these formal contexts determine the appropriate speech form.

Example:

Judge               : I see the cops say you were pickled last night and were driving an old jalopy down the middle of the road. True?

Defendant        : Your honour, if I might be permitted to address this allegation, I should like to report that I was neither inebriated nor under the influence of an alcoholic beverage of any kind.

The formal and Latinate vocabulary appropriate to very formal setting inebriated, alcoholic, beverage, and allegation - contrast with the inappropriately informal vocabulary used here for humorous effect. Words such as pickled and jalopy are heard much more casual contexts.

2.3.2        Style

a)      Definition of style

According to Janet Holmes, 2001 the definitions of style are:

1.      Style is language variation which reflects changes in situational factors, such as addressee, setting, task or topic.

2.      Style is often analyzed along scale of formality.

3.      The level of formality is influenced by some factors like the various differences among the participants, topic, emotional, involvement, etc.

b)      Addressee as an influence on style

·         Age of addressee

People generally talk to very young and to the very old.

·         Social background of addressee

People talk differently to the higher class and to the lower class.

2.3.3        Class

Language can show the class of someone in the society. High class people are people who have high education, politeness, important people, or maybe sometimes they are rich people. Besides, low class people are opposite it. People who have high class will different with people who have low class in their language. For example:

a)         In Indonesia

Example:

        When someone shows what he wants to do in the restroom to his friend.

Low Class                   : “Jack, Saya sakit perut nih ingin Berak”

High Class                   : “Jack, saya sakit perut nih ingin Buang air besar”

        High class people speak polite than low class and it is better to be heard.

b)         In English

Example:

      There is a person in a Hotel, he wants to go to the restroom but he does not know where is it and he asks someone the direct to there.

High Class             : “excuse me, would you like to show me the direction to go restroom?”

Low Class             : “excuse me, would you like to show me the direction to go to toilet?”

            The dialogue seems same each other because use formal language, but the diction shows their class naturally. High class people call “restroom” for water closet but low class people call “toilet” for it.

2.4      Register 

Register is the language used at any given moment; and depend on: what do you do, by whom and by what means. Register indicates the type of social process is going on.

Registers can simply be described as variations of the language according to its use, while the dialect as a language variation based on users registers on this concept is not limited to the choice of words (such as the notion registers in the traditional theory) but also includes the choice of the use of text structure, and texture: cohesion and teksikogramatical , as well as phonology or graphology choice. Because the register covers all aspects of language or linguistic choices, many linguists refer to registers as a style or a style of language. Variations in language choice of the register depend on the context of the situation, which includes three variables: field (domain), tenor (context) and mode (infrastructure) which works simultaneously to form a configuration or configures contextual meaning.

2.4.1        How to study Register 

In their book Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Register, Douglas Biber and Edward Finegan provide an analytic framework to follow when studying register.  Biber begins with his definition of register as being “a general cover term for all language varieties associated with different situations and purposes” (32).  The framework should include and distinguish between characteristics of linguistic and non-linguistic factors and should use these differences for a classification of register

In The communicative characteristics of participants involved in the situation taking place must be taken into consideration, beginning with the addressor(s), which can be the writer or speaker.  This will be a singular person; several people, as in a co-authored work; or institutional, as in departmental or government document.  The addressee(s) will be singular, as in a dyadic conversation or a letter; plural, as in a classroom; or unremunerated, such as in a novel or a magazine.  Next, we must examine the relations between the addressor and addressee, taking into account the social role each participant maintains. Age, occupation, and shared knowledge, whether on the topic and/or personal background, all play important parts in determining this relationship.  In regards to relative status and power, it is necessary to determine which one has the most power or if they share an equal status.

When and where the communication takes place is referred to as setting.  Biber identifies settings with a particular context of use or domain.  He distinguishes six primary domains: “Business and workplace, education and academic, government and legal, religious, art and entertainment and domestic/personal” (43).  Within each of these areas, there exists a public and a private setting.  Technology such as TV, radio, or any type of mass media can be used to represent or present these domains. It must be taken into account that a difference among registers may arise when the time of communication and place are shared, as in direct conversation in the presence of each other.  Participants can share time and be familiar with, but not actually share place, as in a telephone conversation.

And also, how the addressor presents the information and how the addressee receives it should also be considered. Another factor important in differentiating among registers is the different purposes, intents, and goals of the addressor.  At one extreme are registers that attempt to explain or describe facts.  At the other end of the spectrum are registers that are completely fictional or overtly imaginative.  Between these two extremes are a variety of registers such as position papers, historical fiction, editorials, philosophical arguments, and theoretical position papers.  As for purpose, Biber characterizes it along four parameters: “‘persuade’ (or sell), ‘transfer information’, ‘entertain’ (or edify), and reveal self".

Lastly, the topic or subject being discussed--whether popular, generalized, or specialized--needs to be considered.  If the subject is specialized, it must be noted accordingly, examples being science, finances, politics, sports, and law. 

2.4.2         Some Types of Registers 

• Formal Register: A type of register that incorporates Standard American English and is used by professionals or in situations where people are not familiar with one another.
• Informal Register: A type of register used with more familiar people in casual conversation.  In the informal style of register, contractions are used more often, rules of negation and agreement may be altered, and slang or colloquialisms may be used.  Informal register also permits certain abbreviations and deletions, but they are rule governed.  For example, deleting the "you" subject and the auxiliary often shorten questions.  Instead of asking, "Are you running in the marathon," a person might ask, "Running the marathon?"
• Over-formal Register: A type of register that can be characterized by the use of a false high-pitched nasal voice.  For example, a woman might approach another woman whom she does not really like and ask her cordially in a high-pitched voice, "How are you doing?"
• Motherese: A type of register characterized by high-pitched, elongated sounds and "sing-song" intonation.  It is used when people speak to infants, young children, or pets.
• Reporting Register: A type of register characterized by easily observable verbal and non-verbal cues:  flat intonation, rapid rate of speech, relatively low pitch, absence of marked facial expressions, and gestures.

CONCLUSION

           People’s speech reflects not only aspects of their identity such as their ethnicity, age, gender, and social background; it also reflects the contexts in which they are using the language. The way people talk in court, in school, at business meetings and at graduation ceremonies reflect the formality of those context and the social roles people take in them.

Style, Context and Register is continuity. So, if we only discuss one of them, such as Context or Style, the understanding will not occur. In this chapter is concerned with language users and to whom that language users use language. Automatically, it can be seen the context and style registers in the talks. Actually, the understanding about the context and style has already in our activity, so we have just improved it well by learning from the environment and education. Variations in language, which is a variation of the diversity of backgrounds and languages. So, people will absorb the language of others who are considered attractive, but still within the scope of understanding.

REFERENCES

Holmes, Janet. 1992. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. London: Longman.

Hunt, Ellen. Register. Available at: http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/1914-/language/register/register.htm. Accessed on 21 November 2011.

Kirana, Nanda. LCS – Addressee. Available at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/45680599/LCS-Addressee. Accessed on 21 November 2011.

Kushartanti, Untung Yuwono. 2007. Pesona Bahasa: Langkah Awal Memahami Linguistic. Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Umum.

Maharani, Made Ayu Winda. 2011. Style, Context and Register. Available at:

http://madeaiu-winda.blogspot.com/2011/04/style-context-and-register.html. Accessed on 21 November 2011.