DELTA STATE POLYTECHNIC OTEFE-OGHARA

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE LABORAORY TECHNOLOGY

ND 2

ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT

BY

GROUP C

TOPIC:

EXPLAIN THE FOLLOWING TERMINOLOGIES:

A. REGISTER

B. JARGON

C. SLANGS

D. COLLOQUIALISM

E. STANDARD ENGLISH

S/N NAME MATRIC. NO TEXT BOOK NO

1
1 EMPEROR EJIRO 43856 427
2 ONORIODE 42216 100
OGHENEFEJIRO FAITH
3 OVWIGHOSE A. GRACE 43716 398
4 ONOME OGHALE 43535
5 OKONKWO 42088 61
SOPURUCHUKWU JUSTINA
6 GAIGBE GIFT
OGHENERUKEVWE
7 ONOFERE AVWEROSUO 43514 349
VIVIAN
8 ODIRI OKE 42536 171
9 EZE SUCCESS OGHALE 43502 345
10 ONUOHA IMMACULATE 44027 456
CHIOMA
11 OTOGBONO TRACY 44874 593
EROVWHOSELE
12 MAYOR OGHENEFEJIRO 43344 322
13 AFISI JAMIU 42150 74
14 AISABORUIOKPIA ODION 43220 303
15 ONOGHORO VERA 42767 217
URINRINOGHENE
16 OHWOFASA KESSIENA 43615 373
17 JOHN EHI GRACE 42078 57
18 AMIGHO M. 44103 460
JESUTEKEVWE
19 OSAZUWA SARAH IVIE 43890 433
20 OLOKPA NAOMI 44246 5

A. REGISTER
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In linguistics, the register is defined as the way a speaker uses language differently

in different circumstances. Think about the words you choose, your tone of voice,

even your body language. You probably behave very differently chatting with a

friend than you would at a formal dinner party or during a job interview. These

variations in formality, also called stylistic variation, are known as registers in

linguistics. They are determined by such factors as social occasion,

context, purpose, and audience.

Registers are marked by a variety of specialized vocabulary and turns of phrases,

colloquialisms and the use of jargon, and a difference in intonation and pace; in

"The Study of Language," linguist George Yule describes the function of jargon as

helping " to create and maintain connections among those who see themselves as

'insiders' in some way and to exclude 'outsiders.'"

Registers are used in all forms of communication, including written, spoken, and

signed. Depending on grammar, syntax, and tone, the register may be extremely

rigid or very intimate. You don't even need to use an actual word to communicate

effectively. A huff of exasperation during a debate or a grin while signing "hello"

speaks volumes.

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Types of Linguistic Register

Some linguists say there are just two types of register: formal and informal. This

isn't incorrect, but it is an oversimplification. Instead, most who study language say

there are five distinct registers.

1. Frozen: This form is sometimes called the static register because it refers to

historic language or communication that is intended to remain unchanged,

like a constitution or prayer. Examples: The Bible, the United States

Constitution, the Bhagavad Gita, "Romeo and Juliet."

2. Formal: Less rigid but still constrained, the formal register is used in

professional, academic, or legal settings where communication is expected

to be respectful, uninterrupted, and restrained. Slang is never used, and

contractions are rare. Examples: a TED talk, a business presentation, the

Encyclopaedia Brittanica, "Gray's Anatomy," by Henry Gray.

3. Consultative: People use this register often in conversation when they're

speaking with someone who has specialized knowledge or who is offering

advice. Tone is often respectful (use of courtesy titles) but may be more

casual if the relationship is longstanding or friendly (a family doctor.) Slang

is sometimes used, people may pause or interrupt one another. Examples:

the local TV news broadcast, an annual physical, a service provider like a

plumber.

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 4. Casual: This is the register people use when they're with friends, close

acquaintances and co-workers, and family. It's probably the one you think of

when you consider how you talk with other people, often in a group setting.

Use of slang, contractions, and vernacular grammar is all common, and

people may also use expletives or off-color language in some settings.

Examples: a birthday party, a backyard barbecue.

5. Intimate: Linguists say this register is reserved for special occasions,

usually between only two people and often in private. Intimate language

may be something as simple as an inside joke between two college friends or

a word whispered in a lover's ear.

B. JARGON

Jargon refers to the specialized language of a professional group, from ER nurses

to bureaucrats. This language is often useful or necessary for those within the

group but can be meaningless to outsiders—though there are many jargon

examples that we use in daily life, such as MIA (missing in action, originally

military jargon). Some professions have so much jargon of their own that even the

jargon itself has a name; for example, lawyers use legalese and academics

use academese. Jargon is also sometimes known as lingo or argot. A passage of

text that is full of jargon is said to be jargony.

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List of Jargon Examples

Jargon can be found in a variety of fields, from law to education to engineering.

Below are some examples of jargon that have permeated daily life, outside their

original context:

 Due diligence: A business term, "due diligence" refers to the research that

should be done before making an important business decision or transaction.

 AWOL: Short for "absent without leave," AWOL is military jargon used to

describe a person whose whereabouts are unknown but who is believed to

have abandoned post.

 MIA: Very similar to AWOL, this is also military jargon that means

"missing in action", but to describe someone who may have been lost in

battle.

 Hard copy: A common term in business, academia, and other fields, a "hard

copy" is a physical printout of a document or book (as opposed to an

electronic copy).

 Cache: In computing, "cache" refers to a place for short-term memory

storage.

 Dek: A journalism term for a subheading, usually one or two sentences long,

that provides a brief summary of the article that follows.

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  Stat: This is a term, usually used in a medical context, that means

"immediately." (As in, "Call the doctor, stat!")

 Dark horse: This is originally a political term for a relatively unknown or

underestimated person who seems unlikely to succeed but then does.

 Holistic: Another word for "comprehensive" or "complete," "holistic" is

often used by educational professionals in reference to curriculum that

focuses on social and emotional learning in addition to traditional lessons.

 Magic bullet: This is a term for a simple solution that solves a complex

problem. (It is usually used derisively, as in "I don't think this plan you've

come up with is a magic bullet.")

 Best practice: In business, a "best practice" is one that should be adopted

because it has proven effectiveness.

C. SLANGS

Slang is an informal nonstandard variety of speech characterized by newly coined

and rapidly changing words and phrases. In his book Slang: The People's

Poetry (OUP, 2009), Michael Adams argues that "slang is not merely

a lexical phenomenon, a type of word, but a linguistic practice rooted in social

needs and behaviors, mostly the complementary needs to fit in and to stand out."

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The Characteristics of Slang

 "The most significant characteristic of slang overlaps with a defining

characteristic of jargon: slang is a marker of in-group solidarity, and so it is a

correlate of human groups with shared experiences, such as being children at

a certain school or of a certain age, or being a member of a certain socially

definable group, such as hookers, junkies, jazz musicians, or professional

criminals. (Keith Allan and Kate Burridge, Forbidden Words. Cambridge

University Press, 2006)

 Some examples of internet slang include letter homophones,

abbreviations, initialisms, and onomatopoeic spellings.

D. COLLOQUIALISM

A colloquialism is an informal expression that is used more often in

relaxed conversation than in formal speech or writing. These develop in language

through years of casual communication between familiar speakers.

Colloquialisms are not "substandard or illiterate speech," says Maity Schrecengost.

Rather, they are "idioms, conversational phrases, and informal speech patterns

often common to a particular region or nationality. Not found

everywhere, colloquialisms are words and phrases that we learn at home rather

than at school," (Schrecengost 2010).

Etymology: From the Latin "colloquium", meaning "conversation"

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Colloquialisms Examples

Colloquialisms can take on any form and be about anything—there is no set of

rules that governs the creation of a new colloquialism. Because of this, it's almost

impossible to summarize what one of these expressions might look like, so the

concept is perhaps best illustrated through a series of examples. Some of these

quotes comment on colloquialism in metalinguistic fashion, and some of them

simply utilize the informal tools in context.

 "Friends of the chancellor revealed that he had described Labour MPs as

disappointing 'numpties,' a colloquialism meaning idiots," (Rafferty 2004).

 "Latinas are in oppressive structures. We can fool ourselves, but we'd still be

getting dumped on," (Padilla1997).

 "Over and over, I would read her account of the turning point in her career--

the night she got her first standing ovation, hours after being dumped by her

fiance because she wouldn't quit acting," (Miller 2003).

 "Anyway, the baby calf was standing right underneath its mother, just kind

of walking around, and the mother cow took a 'dump' on the baby calf's

head," (Chbosky 1999).

 "Howard Wolowitz [on the phone]: Sweetie, uh, listen, I need to go, but I'll

see you tonight? Bye-bye. Bye-bye. No, you hang up first. Hello?

Raj Koothrappali: Dude, I'm glad you finally got a girlfriend, but do

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 you have to do that lovey-dovey stuff in front of those of us who don't?

Sheldon Cooper: Actually, he might have to. There's an economic concept

known as a "positional good," in which an object is only valued by the

possessor because it's not possessed by others. The term was coined in 1976

by economist Fred Hirsch to replace the more colloquial but less precise

"neener-neener," (Helberg et al. 2010).

E. STANDARD ENGLISH

Standard English is a controversial term for a form of the English language that is

written and spoken by educated users. According to Tom McArthur in The Oxford

Companion to the English Language (1992), the term Standard English "resists

easy definition but is used as if most educated people nonetheless know precisely

what it refers to."

Examples and Observations

 "The term Standard English refers to both an actual variety of language and

an idealized norm of English acceptable in many social situations. As

a language variety, Standard English is the language used in most public

discourse and in the regular operation of American social institutions. The

news media, the government, the legal profession, and the teachers in our

schools and universities all view Standard English as their proper mode of

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 communication, primarily in expository and argumentative writing, but also

in public speaking.

 "Standard English is thus different from what is normally thought of as

speech in that Standard English must be taught, whereas children learn to

speak naturally without being taught." (The American Heritage Guide to

Contemporary Usage and Style. Houghton Mifflin, 2005

 "We need to know Standard English, but we need to know it critically,

analytically, and in the context of language history. We also need to

understand the regularity of non-standard variants. If we approach good and

bad grammar in this way, the study of language will be a liberating factor—

not merely freeing learners from socially stigmatized usage by replacing that

usage with new linguistic manners, but educating people in what language

and linguistic manners are all about." (Edwin L. Battistella, Bad Language:

Are Some Words Better Than Others? Oxford University Press, 2005

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