What is Register?

Register in the linguistic sense is the style of language that is appropriate in a particular situation. Each and every person uses different registers in their lives, and often we do not even have to think about it. After all, it seems perfectly logical to use different words and grammar when writing a letter to a friend, a job application or when talking to a university professor.

Register affects grammar and style as well as word choice. Some words, for instance, can be categorized as informal, neutral or formal. For example, the words kids (informal), children (neutral) and offspring (formal) refer to the same people, but set up a different general atmosphere for the conversation.

For language students in particular, it is highly important to study the register of new words, since people are usually expected to use the correct register in each situation. Mixing registers or choosing the wrong register might result in amusement, confusion or, in the worst case, misunderstandings and offense.

I found two examples which illustrate the importance of register fairly well.

The first video shows a scene from the movie “My Fair Lady” (starring Audrey Hepburn). The plot is about the young Cockney flower girl Eliza. One day she meets the phonetics professor Higgins, who is disgusted by her accent and declares, he can turn her into a lady by teaching her how to “speak properly”. In the scene I chose Higgins takes Eliza to a horse race in Ascot. He has already taught her polite manners, how to pronounce English perfectly and bought her a beautiful dress, but the words she uses and the topics she talks about give her away and let the members of high society know that she is not one of them.   

In this clip from the TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” Will Smith has an interview for Princeton University. However, he is not really interested in going to Princeton and therefore simply acts naturally. Whereas the representative of Princeton University uses very formal English, Will talks to him as he would talk to a friend, rather than to an authority. 

The Power of Language

Language has power! This video will probably be of particular interest to all the language students out there. It certainly is to me, because it points out how important our choice of words actually is and how language can even influence our attitude.

The point Stephen Fry makes in this video is that the way we refer to issues or people can change our attitude towards them. Throughout history, we can find a lot of negative proof for this. Language was often used to dehumanize a certain group of people. And sadly, it worked. Germans called Jews "ape men", "subhuman", and "rats" and by this made people think that Jews are "not human" or "less worthy than others". And only with this attitude it is possible for "ordinary people" to do horrible things to others. As Stephen Fry mentions in the video, the same tactic was used in the Rwandan Genocide in 1994.

The examples given above are, of course, very extreme cases and  these words would not be used under normal circumstances. However, also in our everyday language there are terms that can be misleading, offending or distorting our awareness of reality, even though we might not mean to do that. For example, talking about “discovering America” implies the idea that Europeans came to America, tried to find out more about it like curious scientists, and eventually had the right to take what they found, because they “discovered” it. However, this ignores the fact that Europeans invaded land that was already occupied by Native Americans and took it from them.

Another example is how black people are referred to in the US. The term “negro” was mainly used before the Civil Rights movement in 1650s and 1960s. Nowadays it is associated with the long history of slavery, segregation, and discrimination, when African Americans were treated as second class citizens or worse. The same applies for the word “colored”, since in times of segregation, black people had to sit in the “colored” sections of busses or restaurants, for example. In essence, the term stirs up painful memories. Nowadays, accepted terms are “people of color”, “African American” or simply “black”.  

Another issue is the use of exclusionary language in terms of gender. It is not such a prominent issue in English, since many occupations only have one term (like teacher, lawyer, dentist…). In other languages, however, male and female versions exist, for instance for occupations. In German, a male teacher is called “Lehrer”, whereas to indicate that the teacher is female the suffix –in is added, therefore it would be “Lehrerin”. Nevertheless, often only the male version is used when talking about a group of people in general. Nowadays, many people oppose to this and try to promote the use of both male and female titles. When I first heard of this concept I was thinking “isn’t this kind of fussy? I’m not offended if somebody uses the male form, I know women are meant as well.” However, I have slowly come to realize that using a universal title or both titles does make a difference. When I hear “stewardess” I automatically think of a woman, although I know men are practicing this profession as well. The term “flight attendant”, however, evokes a much more neutral concept in my mind.

So basically what I am trying to show is that language reflects as well as influences our attitudes. Language not only expresses ideas and concepts, but actually shapes our thoughts and therefore its power should not be underestimated. With this in mind, I think we can become a lot more sensitive and detect manipulations more easily. And, even more importantly, we can reflect on our own choice of words, because they do have an impact on the world around us.

What’s in a word?

In our past few English lessons I became aware of the fact that there is much more to a word than just its obvious meaning. That means that especially when learning a word you cannot simply be satisfied with knowing its translation. In order to really KNOW a word, you have to know several aspects of it, like the following:

• Pronunciation

It is important to know how to pronounce a word correctly in order to be able to use it in spoken conversation or to recognize it when it is used by somebody else.

• Spelling

Obviously you have to know how to spell a word in order to produce it correctly.

• Collocations

Knowing how a word combines with other words or which phrases the word is commonly used in helps you to use it properly.

• Register

Also, you have to know in which situation or context the word can be used. A register that is too formal or informal might lead to misunderstandings or awkward situations.

But where can you find all these aspects of a word? - Ideally in a good dictionary. We compared some monolingual online dictionaries in class and I would like to present my personal top three online dictionaries to you:

-       Thesaurus
      This dictionary is particularly useful if you are looking for synonyms and try to make your text more varied. It also has some really cool extra features, for example you can order the results by complexity or by how common they are.

-       Merriam Webster
      Even though the MW dictionary for native speakers provides a lot of information about a word, like for instance various definitions, example sentences and even facts about the word's origin, some definitions are rather difficult. However, for those who prefer simpler definitions, the MW learner’s dictionary is great. On this site you can also find beneficial pronunciation exercises.

-       Vocabulary.com
      This dictionary provides great definitions and a variety of example sentences. Also, you can listen to the pronunciation of every word. From my point of view, this dictionary can help to get to know a word from many different angles. In addition, you can sign up on this website and create your personal vocabulary lists, take quizzes, etc... Personally, I find this dictionary's layout as well as its content the most attractive.