Language Registers

Users of most languages alter the way they address others according to social backgrounds, intentions, geography, gender, and age. Other factors, such as occupation, may also influence register. When we speak, we sometimes shift registers to communicate effectively and appropriately with others. When we speak of language registers, we are generally referring to the variations that speakers or writers use in their language when addressing interlocutors other than in the expected mode or level of formality. Register shifts may be horizontal or vertical. Horizontal shift implies language variations used within the same group as the speaker's. Vertical shift relates to the degree of formality, ranging from frozen to intimate. Register is a broad concept; it may imply variations in all aspects of language, including phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics. Shifts may involve both verbal and nonverbal elements. This entry describes why people shift language registers, theories of language registers, variations in language use, and implications for second-language users.