Chapter 3: Varieties and

Registers of Spoken and

Written Language
Prepared by:
Alliyah Fiel De Castro
Jhonas C. Ramos
Kaysel Ann Bedei
OBJECTIVES
 Discuss
various issues in local and global
communication in multicultural settings;
 Determine culturally appropriate terms,
expressions and images;
 Distinguish varieties and registers of spoken and
written languages;
 OBJECTIVES
 Useculturally appropriate terms,
expressions and images in oral and written
communication; and
 Adoptcultural and intercultural awareness
and sensitivity in communicating ideas.
INTRODUCTION
Communication knows no boundaries.
Whether such communication takes place in the
home, in the street, at a business meeting, or
inside the classroom, an individual uses
techniques and strategies to be able to put
message across.
 Communication has to become fluid
(Davies 2014)
 Communication became boundless (Yagmur,
2011)
International communication
referred as transnational
communication practices continually
occur across borders. That’s why
multimodal and multicultural tasks
among learners need to be reintroduced
and strengthened.
 As an individual and a learner, you
are expected to communicate your ideas
appropriately especially when confronted
with culturally diverse situation.
In this chapter, you are expected to
determine culturally appropriate terms,
expressions, and images, and to adopt
cultural and intercultural awareness and
sensitivity in communicating your ideas.
Lesson 1: Diversity in
Culture, Language and
Communication
 Diversity
Is reality.
It is increasingly affecting traditional and digital trade,
labour practices, and even casual conversation.

Types if Diversity
This are associated with injustice and inequality
where not every person or group is treated equally because
of them.
a) Socially excluded groups
b) Nationality

c) Ethnicity

d) Race

e) Gender

f) Sexual preference
g) Social class
h) Religious beliefs and practices
i) Physical or mental disability

 Effected drastic changes in the way individuals communicate and use

linguistic resources.
 Clark’s (2014)
Study suggests that people are increasingly and
deliberately using English in a way that identifies them in
particular place.
Example, In West Mindlands people may
pronounce ‘you’ as ‘yow’, use ‘brum’ for ‘Birmingham’ and
‘cor’ for’ cannot’ or ‘can’t’.
By using these they emphasizes their place of
origin over other factors such as age, gender, social class and
ethnicity, education style, family status, customs, occupation,
and socioeconomic status, among others.
 Barry Tomalin
Culture is the fifth language
skill in addition to listening, speaking,
reading and writing.
According to him also, There
are another way of understanding culture.
This is how you develop cultural
sensitivity and cultural skills.
This is referred to ‘cultural
1942
competence” English Teacher
 Lesson 2: Varieties and
Registers of Spoken and Written
Language
In the foregoing discussion, you may have assumed that if you
learned the language of others, you also learned their culture.
You can learn a lot of cultural features but it does not necessarily
teach you sensitivity and awareness or even how to behave in
certain situations.
What the fifth language skill, ‘cultural competence,’ teaches you is
the mindset and techniques to adapt your use of English to learn
about, understand and appreciate the values, ways of doing things
and unique quality of cultures.
It involves understanding how to use language to accept
difference, to be flexible and tolerant of ways of doing which
might be different to yours.
 In this section, you are expected to learn to
adopt cultural and intercultural awareness and
sensitivity in communicating your ideas.
Because of Globalization, people live in
world where varieties of spoken and written
language cross national boundaries, and
migration brings people together from different
backgrounds and cultures.
 Language
 The method of human communication, either spoken
or written, consisting of the use of words in a
structured and conventional way.
 Is a system of communication which consists of a set
of sounds and written symbols which are used by the
people of a particular country or region for talking or
writing.
 Spoken Language
 Is a language produced by articulate sounds, as
opposed to a written language.
 Spoken text is more informal and longer than written
text, and uses more words and more sentences
 Spoken sentences also tend to be shorter than those
found in essays.
 Characteristics of Spoken Language
 The situation in which the spoken variety of language
is used and in which it develops presupposes the
presence of interlocutor.
 Is mostly maintained in the form of dialogue.
 Utilizes the human voice and all kinds of gestures
which give additional information.
 Is spontaneous but momentary. It vanishes after
fulfilled its purpose, which is to communicate the
thought, no matter how trivial or important.
 Cannot be detached from the user of it.
 Widely uses intensifying words. This are interjections
and words with strong emotive meaning, as oaths,
swear-words and adjectives which have lost their
primary meaning.
 Is characterized by the insertion into the utterance of
words without any meaning, which are called “fill-
ups” or empty words (as well, and all)
Five types of Spoken Language
1. Interactional- this make use of informal type of
speech which aims to develop relationship between
interlocutors
2. Referential- providing the listener some information
referring to objects or abstract concepts
3. Expressive- showing the speaker’s judgments or
feelings about a person, event or situation
4. Transactional- getting information or making a deal
5. Phatic- The Speaker and listener use minimal amount
of language to engage in the conversation
Written Language
 Is the representation of a spoken or gestural language
by means of a writing system.
 Is often more articulate and sophisticated than spoken
language
 Is the written form of communication which includes
both reading and writing.
Characteristics of Written Language
 Variety presupposes the absence of the interlocutor
 Is mostly maintained in the form of monologue
 Is more carefully organized and more explanatory,
most often the word choice is more deliberate
 Is able to live forever with idea it expresses
 Can be detached and objectively looked at. The writer
has an opportunity to correct and improve what has
been put on paper
 Bears a greater volume of responsibility that its
spoken counterpart.
Both varieties, however, may be different in terms of
their phonetics, morphology, lexicon and syntax.
Colloquial Neutral Literary

Daddy Father Parent

Get out Go away Retire

Go on Continue Proceed

Chap Fellow Associate

Guys Friends Comrades

 Spoken
 Face to face conversation
with reciprocity between
speaker and listener
 Narrative-like
 Action-oriented
 Event-oriented
 Story-oriented
 Here and now
 In given space and time
Written
 Face to text with limited
reciprocity between
author and the reader
 Expository-like
 Idea-oriented
 Argument-Oriented
 Explanatory
 Future and past
 Not space-or time- bound
 Culturally Responsive, Engaging and Appropriate Language
“Calling an illegal alien an undocumented immigrant is like
calling drug dealer an undocumented pharmacist.”- Anon

“ When words lose their meanings, people lose their freedom.”

–Confucius
 Ways on how to choose appropriate language
(Hogan-Garcia,1999)
1. Notice and reflect on disrespectful language, thoughts and actions.
2. Respect people of different races.
3. Use language that includes LGBTQIA+ people.
4. Avoid exclusionary, gender-specific language.
5. Avoid using explicitly religious terms in mixed religious company.
6. Avoid expressions that devalue people with physical or mental
disabilities.
7. Refrain from language that groups people into one large category
 Some Politically Correct Words and Expressions
 Is an important purpose, promotes equality by
demonstrating an understanding that all people and groups
are valuable to society regardless of race, culture, religion,
gender, or sexual orientation.
 The next slide will shows some Politically correct words and
phrases.
Non-Politically Correct Politically Correct
Housewife Domestic, engineer

Global warming Climate Change

Broken Home Dysfunctional Family

Slum area Economically deprived area

Foreign Food Ethnic cuisine

Wanted criminal Person of interest

Lazy Motivationally deficient

 Culturally (In) Appropriate Images

 Cultural Appropriation of images Is the adaptation of

the iconography of the another culture, and using for
purposes that are unintended by the original culture or
offensive to their culture’s mores.
 Cultural sensitivity is an attitude and way of behaving in
which you are aware of and acknowledge cultural
difference.
Thankyou!