SF Linguistics

1. SF Linguistics Lecture 4 Medium and Register

2. Medium and register • Language may be transmitted via two highly contrasting media: speech and writing. • There are important differences between spoken and written French: • Speech is naturally acquired whereas writing requires deliberate learning • Speech and writing also differ in respect of convenience and availability • i.e. writing is relatively permanent & speech is relatively transitive

3. MediumGrammatical and lexical differences between spoken and written French: Grammatical differences: • Use of the past historic tense • Expression of number

4. Grammatical differences between spoken and written French • Verb forms: many distinctions made in written French are obscured in spoken French (e.g. certain verb forms): • phonetic transcription reveals redundancy of many written grammatical distinctions when it comes to the spoken medium.

5. Grammatical differences between spoken and written French • A partial solution is the use of liaison in the spoken medium • elle arrive vs elles arrivent • quelque homme vs quelques hommess

6. Grammatical differences between spoken and written French • However, liaison is decreasing in ordinary spoken usage and it is only applicable in a small number of cases.

7. Grammatical differences between spoken and written French: past participle agreement • Past participle agreement: • In the written medium, the agreement between a preceding direct object and the past participle relating to it is apparent. • In the written medium, the agreement between a female speaker or a number of female speakers and the past participle relating to them, is visually apparent.

8. Grammatical differences between spoken and written French: past participle agreement • In the spoken medium the situation is not so clear-cut. • e.g. la lettre que je lui ai écrite or les lettres que je lui ai écrites: • whereas: la lettre/les lettres que je lui ai envoyée(s), there is no such indication.

9. Grammatical differences between spoken and written French: the use of conjunctions • The use of conjunctions: this is more a matter of complexity of sentence structure than pronunciation reflecting spelling.. • Spoken French quite frequently consists of strings of clauses without any explicit link between them: relationships of cause and effect are ignored and have to be inferred by the hearer

10. Grammatical differences between spoken and written French: the use of conjunctions • e.g. J’étais occupée dans ma cuisine, je ne me suis rendu compte de rien, j’ai seulement entendu une explosion, j’ai cru que c’était un accident, je n’ai pas pensé que ça pouvait être une bombe’

11. Register • Register: the way in which a speaker adjusts his or her speech in order to respond to the nature of the occasion prompting that speech.

12. Register • Factors affecting adjustment of register: • Age, sex and socioeconomic status of the addressee • Degree of intimacy between participants in conversation • Formality of situation

13. Linguistic expression of register • Linguistic expression of register: • Awareness of register differences has a long history in France. • In 17th century, writers declared that certain words were appropriate for particular genres and styles and not for others

14. Linguistic expression of register • In 18th century, this concept was taken a stage further and formalised into a hierarchy of ‘styles’: • e.g. sublime/poetic style • mediocre / historical • familiar/conversational • comic/burlesque

15. Linguistic expression of register e.g. ‘face’ • face (sublime) • visage (du stile mediocre), • garbe, frime, frimouse (du stile burlesque)

16. Degrees of formality • Joos (1962) suggested 5 degrees of formality in language: • Frozen • Formal • Consultative • Casual • Intimate

17. Formality in language