30. Formal and Informal Styles of Speech

There are two basic types of English input: formal and informal.

Formal English is used in “serious” texts and situations — for example, in official documents, books, news reports, articles, business letters or official speeches. Informal English is used in everyday conversations and in personal letters.

Here is an example of formal English that you might come across in a book:

As the price of five dollars was reasonable, I decided to make the purchase without further thought.

The same thought would be expressed quite differently in informal English. Here’s an actual example that I heard from a young American:

It was, like, five bucks, so I was like “okay”.

You need to know formal English because you want to be able to read a book, give a business presentation or write an official letter. You also need informal English because you want to be able to understand and communicate with English speakers in everyday situations.

People speak and write in different ways on different occasions. There are, however, some words and structures which are mainly used in formal situations  – for example report writing, business meetings, conferences, polite conversations etc.

There are also some words and expressions which are mainly used in informal situations – conversations with friends etc.

In writing, we almost always use formal words and expressions. Speech, on the other hand, is often more informal.

Grammar

Some grammatical structures have two forms – formal and informal.

For example, in informal speech and writing we use contracted auxiliary verbs and negatives.

Formal: It is working. Informal: It’s working. Informal: He‘s gone. Formal: He has gone.

Prepositions

In informal language prepositions often come at the end of certain structures.

Formal: To which nation does he belong? Informal: Which nation does he belong to?

Some determiners are followed by singular verbs in formal language and plural verbs in informal language.

Formal: Neither of us likes him. Informal: Neither of us like him.

Some pronouns have different forms in formal and informal language.

Formal: Whom did they elect? Informal: Who did they elect?

In informal language we often leave out words.

Formal: She said that she would come. Informal: She said she would come. Formal: Have you seen Annie? Informal: Seen Annie?

Vocabulary

Some words are mainly used in informal situations. In formal situations other words or expressions are used.

Informal                                               Formal Fix                                                           Repair Begin / start                                        commence Thanks                                                   Thank you What? / Pardon? / Sorry?              I beg your pardon?

THEORETICAL PHONETICS

3. The classification of the English consonant phonemes. (Articulatory classification of English consonants). Articulatory phonetics is the study of the way the vocal organs are used to produce speech sounds. It studies speech from the point of view of their articulation. It studies the way the air is set to motion, the movements of speech organs and coordination of these movements. Articulatory investigation is done on the basis of a good knowledge of physiology. It makes use of such instruments and devices as a hand mirror, laryngoscope, graphical representation of sounds, photographs, X-ray photographs, tape-recorders, TV and video.Consonants are contoids which function as syllable margins, e.g. [p], [b], and sometimes [l] (in words like "lip", "lot", but not the final segment in "little", where the [l] is syllabic.This definition of vowels and consonants leaves two other possible classifications:

nonsyllabic vocoids, such as [j], [w] and [ ];

syllabic contoids, such as English syllabic [l] and syllabic [n], or the syllabic fricative [s] in "s'pose", or e.g. syllabic [z] in Chinese [sz] "four".

 According to the work of the vocal cords and the force of exhalation the English consonants are subdivided into voiced and voiceless.Voiced consonants are: /b, d, g, z, v, ?, 3, m, n, ?, 1, r, j, w, d3/.Voiceless consonants are: /p, t, k, s, f, ?, h, ?, t?/.

The force of exhalation and the degree of muscular tension are greater in the production of

voiceless consonants therefore they are called by the Latin word “fortis”, which means “strong,

energetic”. Voiced consonants are called “lenis”, “soft, weak”, because the force of exhalation

and the degree of muscular tension in their articulation are weaker, e.g. The English consonants /h, m, n, ?, 1, w, j, r/ do not enter into fortis-lenis opposition which can

be represented by the following minimal pairs:

Pat-bat, tip-dip, come-gum, etc. According to the position of the active organ of speech against the point of articulation (the place of obstruction) consonants are classified into: 1) labial, 2) lingual, 3) glottal.

4. The classification of the English vowel phonemes.(The articulatory classification of English Vowels) The first linguist who tried to describe and classify vowels for all languages was D. Jones. He devised the system of 8 Cardinal Vowels. The basis of the system is physiological. Cardinal vowel No. 1 corresponds to the position of the front part of the tongue raised as closed as possible to the palate. The gradual lowering of the tongue to the back lowest position gives another point for cardinal vowel No.5. The lowest front position of the tongue gives the point for cardinal vowel No.4. The upper back limit for the tongue position gives the point for cardinal No.8. These positions for Cardinal vowels were copied from X-ray photographs. The tongue positions between these points were X-rayed and the equidistant points for No.2, 3, 6, 7 were found. The IPA symbols (International Phonetic Alphabet) for the 8 Cardinal Vowels are: 1 -i, 2 - e, 3 - ε, 4 - a, 5 - a:, 6 - , 7 - o, 8 - u. The system of Cardinal Vowels is an international standard. In spite of the theoretical significance of the Cardinal Vowel system its practical application is limited. In language teaching this system can be learned only by oral instructions from a teacher who knows how to pronounce the Cardinal Vowels.Russian phoneticians suggest a classification of vowels according to the following principles: 1) stability of articulation; 2) tongue position; 3) lip position; 4) character of the vowel end; 5) length; 6) tenseness.