Context, Style and Register

CONTEXT, STYLE AND REGISTER

1.    Addressee as an influence on style.
Example
a.    Excuse me. Could I have a look at your photos too, Mrs Hall?
b.    C’mon Tony, gizzalook, gizzalook.
The first utterance in example 2 was addressed by a teenage boy to
his friend’s mother when she was showing the photos of their skiing holiday to an adult friend. The second utterance was addressed to his friend when he brought round his own photos of the holiday. The better you know someone, the more casual and relaxed the speech style you will use to them. People use considerably more standard forms to those they don’t know well, and more vernacular forms to their friends. In a study in Northern Ireland, for instance, people used more standard English forms with an English stranger visiting their village than they did talking to a fellow villager.
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.
Usually, if we talk to somebody who the close with us, automatically the language style is different than we talk to someone who doesn’t too close with us. For the close friend or intimate, the language style is more relaxed and usually there is either using slang or jargon. The way of greeting even also different, if we compare which with close friend, and acquainted. The ways of conversation either very closes friends, ordinary friend, or acquainted are also different. Either register or intonation is different to them. To the close friend has high intonation if they were doing in a jest or slapsticks, and the friend who as addressee is getting to understand because she/he has been close friend.
In this case, they address each other using multiple names: sometimes using first name or last name, sometimes using praise names or nicknames. These multiple names are used in free variation. Nicknames are only used to address the addressees directly by friends or acquaintances. The other members of the society may only refer to the names in secret. Friends of the younger generation may use the slang version of their first names to show solidarity.
Language varies according to its uses as well as its users.
The addressee affects our choice of code and variety
The better you know someone, the more casual the speech style you use
The speaker’s relationship to the addressee is crucial in determining the appropriate style of speaking.
Who you talk to influences your choice of language:
    A friend à casual style, informal;
    An older person à more formal, polite
    Younger à informal, casual
    A stranger à polite, more standard form
2.    Age of addressee.
Example   
Mrs N    : Oooh, he’s walking already.
Mother    : Oh, yes, he’s such a clever little fellow aren’t you?
Mrs    : Hullo coogieboo. Eeeee. . .loo, diddle dur. Ohh eechy, weechy poo poo. Ohh eechy, peachy poo poo. There look at him laughing. Oh he’s a chirpy little fellow. Yeees. Whoooo’s a chirpy little fellow eh? Yes. Ooooh, can he talk? Can he talk eh eh?
Uttered with high pitch and a sing-song intonation there is little doubt about the appropriate addressee of utterance such as those in example. This example comes, however, from a Monty Python sketch where there utterance are addressed to the speaker’s adult son, who responds with ‘yes, of course I can talk, I’m Minister for Overseas Development’. The humor depends on the audience’s perception of the inappropriateness of addressing a statusful adult in this way.

People generally talk differently to children and adult
The language style used for children usually simple and explicit
Many speakers also use a different style in addressing elderly people, often with the features similar to children, a simpler range of vocabulary and less complex grammar
People generally talk to the very young and to the very old è For example: Baby-talk
Native-speakers simplify their language to non-native speakers
3.    Social background of addressee.
Example
a.    Last week the British Prime Minister Mrs Margaret Thatcher met the Australian Premier Mr Bob Hawke in Caberra . . . Their next meeting will not be for several months.
b.    Las’ week British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher met Australian Premier Bob Hawke in Canberra . . . their nex’ meeding won’t be for sev’ral months.
These utterances illustrate a number of linguistic features which distinguish the pronounciations of newsreaders on different radio stations. In b there is simplification of consonant clusters, so [la:st] becomes [la:s] and [nekst] becomes [neks]. The pronunciation of [t] between vowels is voiced so it sounds like a [d]. hence meeting sounds like melding. The definite article the is omitted before the titles Prime Minister and Premier and the honorifics Mrs. and Mr. disappear. And finally, utterance b contracts will not too won’t.
The way people speak can also based on the social background of the audience
In example, the person reading the news on the middle-level station reads in a very much formal style than on the higher-brow radio station
Variation in linguistic features is patterned or structured in written as well as spoken text
Accommodating to one’s speech style is one way to signal a desire to get on well with him/her and make one’s feel comfortable.
People adjust their style of speech according to the background of the interlocutor.
    How two doctors talk to each other about a patient’s condition?
    How would they explain the same thing to the patient or the patient’s family?
    How would you talk to the President?
    How would you talk to your maid?

Accommodation Theory
1.    How do speakers accommodate?
When people simplify their vocabulary and grammar in talking to foreigners or children, they are converging downwards forward the lesser linguistics proficiency of their addresses. When a complicated technical message is “translated” for the benefit of someone who does not know the jargon, speech accommodations involved
In multilingual countries, such as Singapore, India, or Zaire, with many varieties to choose from, people may accommodate to others by selecting the code that is most comfortable for their addresses.
2.    Speech convergence
The examples in the previous section have demonstrated that when people talk to each other their speech often becomes more similar. In other words, each person’s 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 another, 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 interviewee’s 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.
3.    Speech divergence
Example
A number of people who were learning Welsh were asked to help with a survey. In their separate booths in the language laboratory, they were asked a number of questions by an RP-sounding English speaker. At one point this speaker arrogantly challenged the learner’s reason for trying to acquired Welsh which he called a dying language which had a dismal future. In responding to this statement the learners generally broadened their Welsh accents. Some introduced Welsh word into their answer, while others used an aggressive tone. One woman did not reply for a while, and then she was heard conjugative Welsh verbs very gently into the microphone. 
Though the situation in which this example occurred- A language laboratory- is somewhat artificial; it provides a very clear example of speech divergence. For obvious reasons, the respondents deliberately diverged from the speech style, and even the language, of the person addressing them. They disagreed with his sentiments and had no desire to accommodate to his speech.
Deliberately choosing a language not used by one’s addressee is the clearest example of speech divergence. When the Arab nations issued an oil communiqué to the world not in English, but in Arabic, they were making a clear political statement. They no longer wished to be seen as accommodating to the Western English- speaking powers. Similarity, minority ethnic group who want to maintain and display their cultural distinctiveness will often use their own linguistic variety, even, and sometimes especially, in interaction with majority group member. Giving a speech in a minority language to an audience made up largely of majority group monolinguals is another example of linguistically divergent behavior.
Accent divergence also occurs. Working- class men often respond to the university- educated students who join them just for the summer on the docks, in factories, or in the shearing sheds, by increasing their swearing and using a higher frequency or vernacular forms. On other hands, people who aspire to a higher a social status will diverge upward from the speech of those from the same social class.
Speech divergence does not always reflect a speaker negative attitude towards the addressees. Where the divergent forms are admired, divergence can be used to benefit the diverger. A small difference, such as slight foreign accent can be appealing. A foreign can also elicit help by using an accent or vocabulary which signals inadequate control of the language. If a foreign visitor sounds too much like a native speaker it may work to their disadvantage. And even arouse suspicions.
4.    Accommodation problems
Example
Father    : What’s this? (pointing to picture)
Jo    : [maus] (i.e. mouth)
Father    : [maus] eh.
Jo    : No daddy not say [maus], daddy say [mau0] (i.e. daddy doesn’t say [maus], daddy says {mau0}.
It is possible to overdo convergence and offend listeners. Over- convergent behavior may be perceived as patronizing and ingratiating, as sycophantic, or even as evidence that the speaker is making fun of others. We look for possible reasons for changes in other people’s speech. If the reason appear manipulative, we are less likely to feel positive about convergence.
Listeners also react differently to different types of convergence. Reaction to speech convergence and divergence. If divergence is perceived as unavoidable, for instance, then the reaction will be more tolerant than when it is considered deliberate. Deliberate divergence will be heard as uncooperative or antagonistic. Someone who uses English in Montreal because their French is clearly inadequate will be perceived more sympathetically than someone who, though a fluent bilingual, deliberately chooses to use English to Francophones


Context, Style and Class
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.    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.
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:
1)    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
2)    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.

Context, Style and Class
a.    Formal Context and Social Roles
Forms of greeting or call someone in conversation adapted to social roles or settings place
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 as Your Honour, or Sir, and the Bench 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 appreciate the difficulties you are laboring under, Mr. Hobbs.’
Thus, Mr. Hobbs customizes language according to its place or social roles.
b.    Colloquial Style or The vernacular
It is a style that is worn everyday or local language (dialect). There are strategies other than manipulation of topics that have been used to capture the relaxed style of speech or language of the people of the area. Recording group of people rather than individuals, for example, and choose a very comfortable setting or informal is a strategy that has been found to shift people's vernacular speech. Both increase the number of participants, and choose a very relaxing setting contribute to getting more relaxed speech. Thus, the speech will be more interested participants and delivered his message or meaning that is useful for the community (participants speech).
Example:
Trevor is recounting a dispute over tree-feeling  rights on a patch of leased bush land.
Trev    : …but Frazer and we had a bloody row over some wood…. We was up there cuttin’ and Frazer come on to us you see… ‘Oh well’,’e said, ‘I suppose you can ‘ave ‘im [a tree].’ But we already ‘ad ‘im, all bar a few pieces , cut up and loaded, and Frazer said ‘I suppose you can have ‘im,’ he said, ‘yeah, but don’t touch that one over there.’ But we’d been passing –him with the axe and ‘e was only a bit of – bloody – papery – shell ‘e wasn’t-
Dave     :‘E wasn’t worth it.
Trev     : No. That’s why we left ‘im. We’d had ‘im.
c.    The Interaction of Social Class and Style
The interaction between social classes in the style of language used when communicating person is the higher one's social class, the more well-organized structure of the language used her. The lower a person's social class, the less well-organized structure of the language used, may be likely to be more rugged.
For example, the language used in everyday life - day by teachers, certainly different from the people who work as street vendors on the street. Lecturer uses more formal language than street vendors.
d.    Hypercorrection
An attempt to justify the language in the sentence or phrase, but it leads to incorrect results. Hypercorrection referred to as the use of some rules of pronunciation or grammar rules that many users think language is not correct, but that the speaker or writer uses through misunderstanding of these rules, often combined with a desire to seem formal or educated.
Hypercorrection Linguistics occurs when grammatical or phonetical rules real or imagined is applied in the context of misrepresentation or non-standard, so the effort to be "true" leads to incorrect results: Dealing with exceptions enough to rule.

Style in Non- Western Societies
o    Japanese has a special set of grammatical contrasts for expressing politeness and respects for others.
o    They assess their status on the basis of family background, gender, age, and the formality of context.
o    Similarly, Javanese has different levels of its language to mark the different relations between the speakers and the listeners.
If the indigenous culture of a non-Western society were incompatible in its overall tenor with Western cultures, this society's attempt to adopt Western institutions would be traumatic. Thus an examination of similarities and dissimilarities between Western and non-Western cultures is indispensable for the study of non-Western societies' responses to Western cultures. In this sense the studies searching for cultural compatibility are of considerable merit.
The crux of the matter, however, is that international diffusion of culture has been characterized for the past century or so by a massive flow of culture from the West to the rest of the world. Western cultures have had such a great appeal to many non-Western societies that these societies have tried to import Western cultures, whether Western cultures are compatible with their own cultures or not. This fact alerts one to the danger of focusing exclusively upon similarities and dissimilarities between Western and non-Western cultures. Furthermore, this fact suggests that to arrive at a better understanding of non-Western societies' responses to Western cultures, it is necessary to take into account the relation of force between Western and non-Western cultures.
The reductionist studies deal with power relations between Western and non-Western cultures, and put forward a convincing account of the reason why the former came to dominate the latter. Their view-that the vicissitudes of a society's culture are ultimately related to those of this society's national power-explains effectively how this cultural asymmetry has historically come about. This view also sensitizes us to the link between cultural and material domains. Nevertheless, these studies do not address the interaction between Western and non-Western cultures. As a result they tend to offer an overly simplified picture of non-Western societies' responses to Western cultures.
Nevertheless, the model presented herein does not provide a complete explanation of non-Western societies' responses to Western cultures. Above all, it is because the model does not reckon with the popular masses' responses to messages from the West. One may conjecture that these responses would be the same as, or similar to, the popular masses' responses to the elite's messages analyzed above. Yet such conjecture is simplistic. Foreign messages are usually relayed to the general populous by intellectuals. The problem is that intellectuals might intend to use foreign messages either to sustain the existing sociopolitical order or to undermine it. This possibility makes the popular masses' reception (or rejection) of foreign messages extremely difficult to analyze. All in all, the popular masses' responses to Western cultures are too complicated an issue to be dealt with in this paper.
Despite this weakness, however, the model helps to a considerable extent explain non-Western societies' responses to Western cultures. First of all, it is normally intellectuals who make contact with foreign messages for the first time in a society. Furthermore, intellectuals are more capable than other social groups of articulating their understandings of foreign messages. Consequently, intellectuals' interpretations of foreign messages have the best chance of spreading throughout society. This means that the general populous cannot but deal with such foreign messages as intellectuals have already interpreted. In short, intellectuals' understandings of foreign messages represent the first responses a society makes to foreign messages. In addition, the intellectuals' understandings set the terms of popular responses to foreign messages. Therefore, an analysis of non-Western intellectuals' understandings of Western cultures is of crucial importance in the study of non-Western societies' responses to Western cultures.
Finally, it is necessary to call attention to the range of applications of the model. It is designed to account mainly for non-Western societies' responses to Western political ideas and religions. As discussed above, the introduction of these elements of Western cultures into non-Western societies is highly likely to arouse a deep cultural strain and conflict in these societies at both societal and individual levels. Therefore, the model does not explain non-Western societies' responses to other elements of Western cultures, such as popular music, that do not give rise to such a cultural distress.