Stylistic variation

More interesting to sociolinguists is variation within a single geo­graphical area. This is of two main types: variation within the speech of

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a single person, and variation between people. These two interact, and it is not always possible to separate them. Let us begin by considering the stylistic variation which exists in the speech of any one person.

Every native speaker is normally in command of several different language styles (sometimes called registers) which are varied accord­ing to the formality of the occasion, the medium used (speech or writ­ing), and the topic under discussion. The same person might utter any of the following three sentences, depending on the circumstances:

I should be grateful if you would make less noise. Please be quiet. Shut up!

Here the utterances range from a high or formal style, down to a low or informal one - and the choice of a high or low style is partly a matter of politeness (Chapter 9).

But politeness is just one component of a more general skill, the appropriate use of language. Knowing what to say when is sometimes known as communicative competence. Native speakers just 'know' it would be odd to say 'Kindly refrain from smoking' to a 10 year-old puffing at a stolen cigarette; or rude to say 'Put that fag out' to a duchess. Both utterances are equally inappropriate. Children and for­eign learners have to acquire this skill over a longish period. Lack of this type of knowledge often makes a speaker sound very funny, so much so that the use of an inappropriate register is one source of humour in English, as in:

Scintillate, scintillate, globule lucijic, Fain would I fathom thy nature specific.

This seems amusing because of the use of a fonnal style to 'translate' a rhyme associated with an informal nursery setting:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star How I wonder what you are.

In England, the use of an inappropriate level of formality is not con­sidered a serious social blunder in most instances. In any case, there is often a considerable amount of overlap between the use of the different styles. It would not matter whether you said 'Hallo' or 'Good morning' to your neighbour. In some other cultures, however, the social situa­tion requires a far greater degree of rigidity. An extreme example is found in Java, where society is divided into three distinct social groups. At the top are the aristocrats. In the middle arc the townsfolk, and at the bottom are the farmers. Each of these groups has a distinct style of

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speech associated with it. The top level of speech is used primarily between aristocrats who do not know one another very well, but also by a townsman if he happens to be addressing a high government official. The middle level of speech is used between townsmen who are not close friends, and by peasants when addressing their social superi­ors. The lowest level is used between peasants, or by an aristocrat or townsman when talking to a peasant, and between close friends on any level. Furthermore, it is the form of language used by parents to their children, so it is the style learned first by all Javanese children. However, as they grow up, children are expected to shift to addressing their parents in a more formal style, even though their parents con­tinue to speak to them in the lowest style!

The formality-informality scale overlaps with other stylistic consid­erations, in particular the medium used. Let us now consider this.