Informality

Informal Purposes

-Encouraging intimacy, solidarity & equality

-Maintain & challenging + & - faceneeds

-Promoting liguistic innovation

-Promoting social harmony, negotiating social taboos & building rapport

-Supporting ingroup membership

Textual Cohesion

Refers to the way we use grammatical & lexical techniques to link words together to create meaning. It is important as it ensures that an aud can easily follow what is happening. Cohesion can be created through ellipsis, rep, substitution & lexical choice, collocation, adverbials & conjuctions, info flow & reference

Lexical Choice

Role of content words in creating texts.

When writing w a purpose selected words will relate to the topic or concept being discussed, creating cohesion.

Lexical choices that r most relevant to creating cohesive text r synonymy, anonymy, hyponymy & hypernomy

Hypernyms & Hyponyms

Lexical Choice

Hypo-word that belongs to a larger category of terms, which are called a hypernym

Hyper-multiple hyponyms & hyponyms can be hypernyms

Analysis (effect):

Hypo & hyper help writer/speaker avoid unnecessary repitition & create variety in texts.

Clear semantic links between the terms, increases cohesion

Elipsis

ommision of words/phrases, part is already known due to contextual info or because they have been reffered to previously or because it is reduntant

Analysis (effect):

Making speech & writing increase nature & efficiency, links elements of the text together through a reference to prior nouns

Repitition

Refers to using the same word throughout text/reiterate idea/topic. Can occur with exact duplicate or with inflectional modifier

Analysis (effect):

Rep serves several common & stylistic purposes including emphasis, coherence, persuasion & emotional expression

In SD, rep helps speakers fill pauses while thinking & hesitating making speech sound natural

In WD rep plays sig role in structuring arg creating coherence & cohesion, reinforcing key ideas, enhancing rhet impact & ensuring aud easily follow what is happening w in text

Inflectional Modification

Refers to change to express grammatical features such as tense, number, mood, or aspect without altering the word's fundamental meaning or category

Typically involve affixes

Substitution

Occurs when alt words, phrases/clauses r used in place of og

Analysis (effect):

Helps reduce unnecessary rep & maintain cohesion

Collocation

Series of words/terms that co-occur more often than would be expected by chance

Analysis (effect):

Stregthens cohesion by allowing readers/listeners to predict next word in sentence/utterance

E.g.

Fast asleep

Synonymy

Lexical Choice

Refers to using pairs/groups of words equal to or sim in meaning

Analysis (effect):

Enhances lexical cohesion by maintaining sematic continuity while avoiding unecessary rep/flows smoothly & remains engaging/variation/more interesting/establish themantic(theme) consistency

E.g.

The player dribbled, manoevered & weaved past the defenders to score a goal

Antonymy

Lexical Choice

Relo of words that are oppo in meaning

Analysis (effect):

Unifies words even tho oppo in meaning, as can be easily contrasted & compared/used for emphasis & persuasion/poetic & literary effect/humour & word play

E.g.

Jerry's game has many ups and downs

Taboo's

What society finds offensive, controversial or a sensitive topic.

E.g.

Death, sex, money, genitalia

Euphemisms & dysphemisms to discuss taboo lang and the ideas they represent

Euphemism

Lang w + connotation, typically used to avoid offense

E.g.

Passed away

Dysphemism

Lang w - connotations, that may be offensive

Can broaden social distance (making a speech, formal setting)

Can reduce social distance (Aus in informal, spoken environment)

When analysing or reffering, use modifiers such as 'potential' to indicate understanding of dysphemistic intent is not always present

Slang

Understood by an 'in group'

Typically do not stay around for long

Understood by teeneagers-'teen speak'

E.g.

Slay, salty, cap

Colloquialisms

Widely understood by most in Aus society, more permanent

E.g.

Servo, slab

+ Face Needs

Desire to be respected, well-liked, 'feel good' about yourself

Attacking + FN: Your outfit is ugly

Respecting + FN: You did a really good speech

- Face Needs

Not be given an imposition; not being told what to do, not having your time taken up

Attacking - FN: Turn on the air-conditioner

Respecting - FN: Can we put the air-con on please?

Politeness Markers

Basic manners

E.g.

Please, thanks, thank you

Analysis:

Politeness markers can reduce an attack on a person +/- FN of the interlocutor, by encouraging a respectful tenor that acknowledges the imposition placed on X

The conventional politeness marker ...mitigates the inherently face threatening nature of the imperative, tending to X - faceneeds

Can also be used sarcastically

Hedging Expressions

Filler words that make the request seem less daunting/demanding

E.g.

like, just, I think, kind of

Analysis:

Reduce imposition on - FN by making the request less authoritative & more suggestive

Pronouns (in relation to - FN)

Plural pronouns signify a shared responsibility, mitigates imposition on - FN

E.g. We

Singular pronouns indicate individual responsibility, more of an attack on - FN

Pronouns (in relation to + FN)

Singular pronoun directly adresses the speaker individually

Tending to + FN by acknowledging it was them who did the good work

E.g. You did it!

Plural pronouns suggests a group effort occurs

Coud negatively impact + FN by disregarding to individual work someone put in.

Address Terms

Metalang denoting how someone else has been reffered to

Can support or challenge FN depending on context

Hypocoristic Use of Suffixes

Characteristic of Aus English in which alt forms of words or names-specifically through use of abbreviation & suffixation-share same form & denotation as og but have diff connotations & levels of formality

E.g.

Mozzie, sickie, tradie

Openings (informal)

Def: Initial phase of DC, speakers establish topic or purpose

Effect (analysis): Create rapport (familiarity & solid) & set stage & signals inteded tenor of convo & helps meet faceneeds & establish approp register

Example: Yo, whats goodie in the hoodie

Closings (informal)

Def: Final phase of DC, participants conclude the conversation (interaction) with finishing remarks, signal end

Effect (analysis): Provide clear end point of convo, allow participants to reflect & leave w sense of satisfaction or res/gives opp to express appreciation, grat or good wishes, helps maintain + FN, social norms, demonstrates politeness & respect

Example: Smiles/hugs & waves

‘laters!’

Adjacency Pairs (informal)

Def: Sequentially linked utterances/turns in convo where one speech acts (question) followed by expected response (answer).

Sequences=one after another in cooperative convo, preferred & dispreferred responses

Analysis (effect): Used to build rapport, ensures participants are included & valued in convo, used to repair issues arisen in convo, protecting politeness & meeting participants faceneeds

Example: Yo, where you at

I’m on my way

Minimal Responces/Backchannels (informal)

Def: Brief replies in convo that ack & encour another speaker & may provide opinions on topic w/o providing signif additional info or indicating intention to take floor, consist of vocalisations, words, phrases & non-verb cues eg: nodding, smiling, thumbs, frowning

Effect (analysis): Help maintain conversational flow & indicate understanding engagment, support & agreement

Short utterances, cues that r used by a listener in convo to ack the speaker w/o taking floor, purpose to maintain convo flow, signal, understanding or show active engagment & interest. Often reflects agreement, support & enthusiasm for topic. Can take form of emotive responses like laughter, or even nonverbal features like shared smiling.

Overlapping Speech

Situation in which 2 or more participants in a convo speak similtaneously. Can be cooperative or uncooperative, depending on context & intentions of interlocutors

Overlapping Speech: Cooperative

When participants engage in similtaneous speech that demonstrates mutual understanding or support.

Often used to show agreement or build the convo

E.g. I really enjoyed those pancakes last night,

[they were delicious]

[oh my gosh they] were so good

Overlapping Speech: Uncooperative

When participants speak over eachother w out regard for the ongoing convo.

Can disrupt the flow of comm, hinder understanding or show disregard

If frequent, this type of overlap signals a hostile relo b/w participants

E.g. I really think we should go to Ryan’s party [tonight]

[no absolutely not.]

I told you why before\

Stop trying to guilt trip me into going.

Overlapping Speech in Informal Texts

Def: two or more participants in convo speak similtaneously can be co-op or unco-op, depending on context & intentions

Effect (analysis): demo mutual understanding or support, shows agreement or build convo, reduce social dist,speaking from more equal status, used to indicate exitement or agreement, meeting participants faceneeds

unco-op overlapping use for purp of disrupting comm & reflect disregard for speaker, signal hostile relo

Co-op overlaps r more common in informal contexts, as the participants typically have reduces social distance & r speaking from a more equal status. Often used to indicate exitment or agreement, as a way of meeting participants’ faceneeds.

Unco-op overlaps r used for purpose of disrupting the comm & often reflect disregard for other speaker

Discourse Markers/Particles (informal texts)

Def: linguistic units that can organise & maintain flow of convo but have very little meaning on their own

Effect (analysis): Used to organise speakers thoughts & buy time to think, very common in unplanned/spontaneous informal convos, used to emph a point, express opinions, indicate uncertainty & manage topics

Example: anyway/so/like/well/you know

Non-Fluency Features

Def: Linguistic features which impact a texts clarity such as pauses, filled pauses/voice hesitations, false starts, repitition & repairs.

Analysis (effect): typical of spontaneous & informal speech, often signalling a lack of planning & preparedness, as speakers formulate their speech on the spot, can be utilised by speakers as a method to hold the floor, make sure their conversational turn is maintained while they think of their next statement, rather than another speaker taking over

Cohesion

Def: How the text is ‘strung’ together/internal consistensy

Elements: Lexical choice, collocation, informal flow: clefting, front focus, end focus, dietics, ellipsis, repitition, conjuctions & adverbials

Lexical Choice

Synonymy, antonymy and hyponomy

Contributes to cohesion by: avoiding unnecessary repitition, emphasising a specific topic or idea

Information Flow

Prevalent in longer, usually written texts

Relates to the order in which information is provided, and hence how it combines together

It-Cleft (Information Flow)

Uses the third person singular pronoun ‘it’ to move a phrase to the front of a sentence

E.g. It was the dog that I walked last night

Pseudo Cleft (information Flow)

Or wh-cleft): Moves the most important part of the sentence to the end

E.g. What I walked last night was the dog

Front Focused (Information Flow)

In a complex sentence structure, the information that is most important is presented first

E.g. On the desk there was a laptop

End Focused (Information Flow)

In a complex sentence, the info that is most important is presented last

E.g. It was a good book, the Hunger Games

Deictics

words/phrases in which the exact meaning is reliant on contextual factors-could be referring to anything

E.g. this, that

Referencing

How the elements of the text are reffering to one another, specifically in Eng Lang, the order in which this occurs

Anaphoric Referencing

E.g. Mary watched the movie. She enjoyed it.

Anaphoric referencing contributes to cohesion of the text because it requires reference to what was written to understand the deictic pronouns

Potentially aids coherence because the info is presented in a logical way

Cataphoric Referencing

E.g. She found it dark. The room was pitch black whilst Emma slept.

Creates suspense and interest, encouraging the audience to read further

Conjunctions

Aids cohesion because they explicitly link ideas in the form of linking clauses together

Paratactic Style

When many clauses are strung together using conjunctions (usually and)

Adverbials

Similar to function to conjunctions, link together ideas between sentences

E.g. I like apples and bananas. Nevertheless, I believe pears are the best fruit

Coherence

How clarity is promoted in the text-how clear it is

Elements: Inference, logical ordering, cohesion

Inference

Relates to substitution, ellipsis etc.

Is the ‘final product’- the audiences ability to infer things

Logical Ordering

‘common sense approach’

Bolded headings, paragraphing etc.

Note: this is very much based on format, but you must still remember to be linguistic

Elided Subject

Lowers register

Reflects social distance

E.g. Hope you feel better

‘I’ is elided

Hypocorism

Hypocorisms are essentially nicknames or diminutive forms of names used to express affection or familiarity. 

A hypocorism is a term of endearment or a pet name, often a shortened or modified form of a word or name, used to show affection or closeness. It can also refer to the practice of using such names. 

Hypocorisms are used to create a more intimate and friendly connection between individuals. 

While often associated with names, hypocorisms can also extend to other words or expressions, especially when used in a playful or endearing manner. 

E.g. Common examples include "Izzy" for "Isabel", "Bob" for "Robert", or "Sweetie" for a pet.