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Register Switching | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| LilleOSC Senior Member United States lille.theoffside.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6691 days ago 545 posts - 546 votes  4 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 1 of 12 21 January 2008 at 10:30am | IP Logged | ||
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Is register switching usually subconscious or do people intentionally switch?
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| ilanbg Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6410 days ago 166 posts - 189 votes Speaks: French, English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (classical), Persian | Message 2 of 12 21 January 2008 at 1:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't want to derail the thread, but what is register switching?
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 Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6894 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 12 22 January 2008 at 5:10am | IP Logged | ||
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Registers are whether you speak formally, informally, slang, familiar, child-speak, dirty language, or whatever else. Whenever you adapt your way of expressing yourself to a certain group of listeners or to a situation, you are changing into a different register. This includes choice of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation, arguably even body language I suppose.
I can't say what is statistically more frequent but personally I do both. I switch consciously as well as subconsciously. And sometimes you can't help switching randomly out-of-register for isolated points that you want to get across that just can't be expressed clearly enough in the current register. You can also surprise the listeners by speaking out-of-register on purpose, as a technique for added emphasis and impact. Register awareness and control is much harder in a non-native language, even at an advanced level, or perhaps especially at advanced levels, since at lower levels you couldn't and wouldn't be expected to have more than a very vague idea of registers. Edited by Hencke on 22 January 2008 at 5:16am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ElfoEscuro Diglot Senior Member United States cyworld.com/brahmapu Joined 6289 days ago 408 posts - 423 votes Speaks: Portuguese, English* Studies: Japanese | Message 4 of 12 22 January 2008 at 10:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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For me, I think I mostly intentionally switch.
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| Ruan Diglot Groupie BrazilRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6181 days ago 95 posts - 101 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English | Message 5 of 12 23 January 2008 at 7:17am | IP Logged | ||
It is always intentional. Once you understood the social struture of the society speaking your target language, it becomes natural. Foreign people stays always at the higher registers of the language, and they exaggerate when trying to turn it down. Thats why immersion in native environments is so important. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6894 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 12 02 February 2008 at 8:03am | IP Logged | ||
It may be for you, but for me it is automatic and subconscious most of the time, and only rarely requires a conscious decision. The better you know a language the more automatic it becomes. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Gilgamesh Tetraglot Senior Member England Joined 6242 days ago 452 posts - 468 votes 14 sounds Speaks: Dutch, English, German, French Studies: Polish | Message 7 of 12 02 February 2008 at 10:44am | IP Logged | ||
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I agree with you, Hencke. Whether in my mother tongue or other languages, I unconsciously switch. In Dutch, I will not use the same manner of speech towards older people as to my friends; and even then it depends on what kind of friends you're talking to. It is definitely a subconscious thing. When I think about it, there is sometimes a huge difference between some of the registers I tend to use, in no matter which language. Edited by Gilgamesh on 11 February 2008 at 3:56pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| alfajuj Diglot Senior Member Taiwan Joined 6211 days ago 121 posts - 126 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin Studies: Taiwanese, French | Message 8 of 12 05 May 2008 at 4:50am | IP Logged | ||
The best way to learn to control register in a non-native language is by interaction in the target language environment. It gets modeled for you enough and you begin to intuitively figure it out. It then comes naturally, just like with your native language. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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