“Register Theory”

Presented by Abdul Farooq Khan

Assigned byMam Anum

Department of English Language and Literature, Minhaj University Lahore.

Language is code of human communication and there are more than six thousand codes around

the world that could be seen in action. Every code varies from the other one and also has

variation in itself. In linguistics, these variations are termed as

1. Dialect

2. Sociolect

3. Idiolect

4. Accent

5. Slang

6. Jargon

7. Register

1. Dialect

It is a form of a language spoken in a particular geographical area or by members of a particular

social class or occupational group, distinguished by its vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.

2. Sociolect

Sociolect or Social Dialect is a variety of a language that is used by a particular social group.

3. Idiolect

It is the speech of an individual, considered as a linguistic pattern unique among speakers of his

or her language or dialect.

4. Accent

Accent is a distinctive way of pronouncing a language, especially one associated with a

particular country, area, or social class.

5. Slang

Slang is type of language consisting of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal,

are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context or

group of people.

6. Jargon

Jargons are special words or expressions used by a profession or group that are difficult for

others to understand.

Register

It is my concerned topic of presentation so it would be better to look at its origin and

background.

History and Origin

The term register was first used by the linguist Thomas Bertram Reid in 1956, and brought into

general currency in the 1960s by a group of linguists who wanted to distinguish among

variations in language according to the user and variations according to use. Halliday in 1964

and 1976 interpreted the term. And now it could be seen almost in every book, lecture and

notes of the Linguistics when it comes to discuss the language variations.

Definition

A register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting.

Halliday’s Model of Context

Halliday’s in his “Model of Context” explains that there are following three strands that are

crucial to study the register.

1. Field

2. Tenor

3. Mode

1. Field

Field is “what is being talked about” or “What the text is about”. We can say it is the main

theme or topic of the whole discourse. Field could be named according to its subject matter i.e.

Science, Education, Literature or more specifically. When we want to analyze the text for its

field we have to explore the lexical items. These lexical items will help us to tag a field to that

text. Following two questions should be kept in mind when doing the analysis of the text for

tagging a field to the text.

Q1. Which discipline do the lexical words refer to?

Q2. How well known are the lexical words to a general audience and to a specialized audience?

2. Tenor

Tenor is the term used for the people involved in the communication and relationship between

them. It is easy to analyze tenor in spoken discourse than written. Because in spoken discourse

all participants are present and participating but in written discourse writer and participants,

both, are anonymous. Following three variables are considered to study when analyzing tenor.

1. Power Relations

a. Equal

b. Unequal

2. Formality

a. Formal

b. Informal

3. Closeness

a. Distant

b. Close

4. Mode

Mode is the role of the language. It is the part that language plays in discourse. To pin point the

mode, it is studied that “how the text is organized”. Text organization leads to know the mode

of the discourse.

Mode could be written and spoken. These categories could further be divided into sub

categories. Spoken discourse could be spontaneous and non-spontaneous. Written discourse

could be written to be read aloud like speeches, to be sung and to be normal read i.e. News

papers, magazines etc.

Mode of the language plays a crucial role to get the desire outcomes. Mode is chosen very

carefully by the speaker/writer to achieve the impact of his/her concern.