Varieties and Registers of

Spoken and Written

Language
Lesson 3
Learning outcomes

 Demonstrate understanding of the concept of the varieties of English in Asian

Contexts ;
 Discuss the importance of the varieties of English in both oral and written
contexts;
 Identify some grammatical, lexical, and syntactic features of post- colonial
varieties of English in Asian context;
 Distinguish the lexicon of some Asian varieties of English;
 Demonstrate knowledge about the concept of registers of English in spoken and
written language;
 Use the appropriate register depending on the communication situation; and
 Title and Content Layout with SmartArt

Varieties of English The Expanding The Outer Circle The Inner Circle
Circle • Bangladesh, Kenya, • USA
• The Expanding Circle • China ,Indonesia Pakistan, Sri Lanka • Australia
• The Outer Circle Korea, South Africa, • Ghana, Malaysia, • UK
• The Inner Circle CIS Philippines, Tanzania • New Zealand
• Caribbean Countries, • India, Nigeria, • Canada
Israel, Nepal, South Singapore, Zambia
America, Zimbabwe
• Egypt, Japan, Saudi
Arabia, Taiwan
Three Concentric
Circles of English
#Acrolect
#Basilect
#Mesolect
#Edulects
 With respect to lexicon, vocabulary words peculiar only to
some English varieties in Southeast Asia can be noted as
seen in the following examples (pp. 189-190):

1. Singapore English: actsy’ show off,’  2. Philippines English: deep ‘puristic or hard to
chop’ rubber stamp,’ Marina kids understand’ as an attribute of language, stick ‘cigarette,
youngsters who spend their leisure time ‘high blood ‘tense or upset,’ blow out ‘treating someone
at or around Marina Square, a with a snack or meal,’ motel’ a hotel used for pre-marital
or extramarital affairs,’ manualize ‘to prepare manuals,’
shopping center,’ graduate mothers ‘
go ahead ‘leave before others with host’s permission,’
graduate (well-educated) married studentry ‘student body,’ Amboy ‘a Filipino perceived to be
women, encouraged to have more too pro- American,’ promdi’ from the province,’ behest
children and accorded certain privileges loan ‘unguaranteed bank loan given to presidential
in Singapore,’ as compared to non- cronies,’ pulot boy ‘ boy who picks up tennis balls in a
graduate mothers (Pakir, 1992, as cited game,’ and balikbayan box ‘ box where Filipinos
in Kachru & Nelson, 2006); returning from abroad put all their shopping,’ among
others (Bautista, 1997, as cited in Kachru & Nelson, 2006)
3. Malaysian English: antilog’ a male hated by agirl,’ popcorn ‘a
loquacious person,’ kachang ‘peanuts, easy,’ slambar ‘relax,’ red spot,
open shelf ‘girls who are popular and those who are not,’ day bugs ‘those
who come to attend school but do not live in residence halls’ (Said &
Ng,2000 as cited in Kachru & Nelson, 2006). bugs ‘those
Language Registers/
Registers of English
Genre Tenor
Register Mode
Style
 According to my Research
 Informal: normally used only in contexts such as conversations or letters between friends
 Vulgar slang: informal language that may cause offence […]
 Formal: normally used only in writing such as official documents
 Technical: normally used in technical and specialist language, though not necessarily restricted to any specific field
 Literary: found only or mainly in literature written in an ‘elevated’ style
 Dated: no longer used by the majority of English speakers […]
 Historical: still used today, but only to refer to some practice or article that is no longer part of the modern world
 Humorous: used with the intention of sounding funny or playful
 Archaic: very old-fashioned language, not in ordinary use at all today […]
 Rare: not in common use”
Field of discourse is defined as “the total event, in which the text is
functioning, together with the purposive activity of the speaker or
writer; it thus includes the subject-matter as one element in it” (Halliday
1994, 22). The field describes activities and processes that are
happening at the time of speech. The analysis of this parameter focuses
on the entire situation, e.g. when a mother talks to her child.
 Tenor of discourse (sometimes also referred to as style; cf. Esser 2009,
78) describes the people that take part in an event as well as their
relationships and statuses. “The tenor refers to the type of role
interaction, the set of relevant social relations, permanent and
temporary, among the participants involved” (Halliday 1994, 22.).
There might be a specific hierarchy between the interlocutors, e.g.
when the head of a business talks to an employee, or they may have
only a temporary relationship, e.g. when a person asks an unknown
pedestrian for the time.
 The mode of discourse refers to “the function of the text in the event, including
therefore both the channel taken by the language – spoken or written,
extempore or prepared – and its [genre], or rhetorical mode, as narrative,
didactic, persuasive, ‘phatic communion’ and so on” (Halliday 1994, 22). This
variable determines the role and function of language in a particular situation.
When analysing the mode of a text, the main question is ‘What is achieved by
the use of language in this context?’ For example, a fairy tale (in written form)
may have a narrative or entertaining function. A spoken conversation can be
argumentative (in a discussion) or phatic (e.g. to contact someone or to keep in
touch with someone).
 The use of the term register was criticized in the 1970s by David Crystal, who
viewed the term as being indiscriminately applied to every possible variety of
language. Since there is no restriction on the range of application for the term
'register', an infinite number of registers can be identified:

 “This term has been applied to varieties of language in an almost

indiscriminate manner, as if it could be usefully applied to situational
distinctive pieces of language of any kind. […] It is inconsistent, unrealistic,
and confusing to obscure these differences by grouping everything under the
same heading […].” (Crystal 1976, 61)
 Language Registers/Registers of English
when it comes to language variation, the terms genre, register, and style are often encountered.
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 First bullet point here Class Group 1 Group 2

 Second bullet point here Class 1 82 95

Class 2 76 88
 Third bullet point here
Class 3 84 90
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Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4

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