27) Style, genre and register, principal stylistic factors, social and educational variation in English

**Style**

A term connected to the study of language consisting of exactly five distinct concepts: of a person, of a time, an evaluative meaning, literary language, and a term used in linguistics and stylistics.

**Style of a person**

A stylistic concept consisting of the individual features of an individual's language, strictly representing their unique speech and writing habits.

**Style of a time**

A stylistic concept consisting of language habits shared by people strictly in a certain historical period, such as Old English hero poetry or classicism.

**Evaluative meaning of style**

A concept used in education consisting of teachers evaluating the way students speak or write, distinguishing strictly between an elaborate/refined style and a too simple/low style.

**Literary style**

A concept studied by literary stylistics consisting of analysing novels and poems to focus on good or beautiful writing and specific figures of speech.

**Style in linguistics**

A concept consisting of finding restrictive features for certain types of texts, based strictly on the author's intentional choice of language means (like vocabulary, grammar, and intonation) to suit a particular purpose and context.

**Definitions of style**

A complex theoretical area consisting of multiple approaches completely lacking one universal definition, generally stating that it is the goal-oriented choice, organisation, and way of using language devices according to the speaker's specific intention, effect, form, and communicative situation.

**Prague LC definition of style**

An approach defining style exactly as a choice of language means according to their specific goal, situation, and communicative intention.

**Stylistics**

A linguistic discipline dealing with the study of style and language variation, consisting of analysing different types of discourse and studying how exactly a speaker chooses and arranges language means according to the purpose, context, and intention.

**Context**

A fundamental influence on the final text consisting of exactly two types: the linguistic context (words surrounding a selected word) and the extralinguistic context (the surrounding reality).

**Situational variables**

Extralinguistic contexts consisting of exactly the time, the place, and the social level, which strictly force the user to adopt a certain type of style.

**Communicative goals (aims)**

A stylistic element referring exactly to the author's intention and what they wanted to write.

**Historical development of stylistics**

A chronological progression consisting of Ancient rhetoric (persuading citizens in Rome and Greece), 14th-century manuals for priests and monarchs, 17th/18th-century literary stylistics, and the late 19th/20th-century linguistic stylistics based strictly on structuralism and a synchronic approach.

**Register**

A language variety relating to different circumstances and purposes, consisting of situational characteristics like interactiveness, communicative purpose, topic, grammar, and vocabulary.

**The four basic registers**

A classification of text types consisting exactly of conversation, fiction, news, and academic prose.

**Conversation register**

A strictly interactive register consisting mostly of spoken face-to-face communication, sharing the exact same extralinguistic setting and utilizing nonverbal communication.

**Fiction register**

A mostly written and non-interactive register (including prose, drama, poetry) consisting of an aesthetic function aimed strictly at reading for pleasure rather than reflecting reality.

**News register**

A mostly written and non-interactive register consisting of an informational focus dealing directly with the latest real events.

**Academic prose register**

A mostly written and non-interactive register consisting of a scientific style focusing on specific information and scientific terminology, aimed precisely at a specialized audience.

**Genre**

A concept of French origin meaning "type of text", consisting of communicative events where participants share the same expectations, form, layout, theme, and style, originally coming from literature (prose, poetry, drama) and heavily based on convention.

**Stylistic factors**

Influences and circumstances dictating the choice of language means, consisting of exactly two main categories: subjective factors and objective factors.

**Subjective factors**

Elements influencing a text consisting entirely of the individuality of the author, such as their gender, age, social status, education, character, physical state, opinions, and knowledge of the topic.

**Objective factors**

Elements influencing a text consisting of binary oppositions (e.g., spoken vs. written, formal vs. informal) and categorized strictly into five basic stylistic factors: communicational, regional, social-educational, functional, and topical.

**Communicational factor**

An objective factor consisting of distinguishing between spoken, written, and mixed modes of communication (like social media), characterized by specific features like immediate responses, emojis, and a lack of capital letters.

**Regional factor**

An objective factor consisting of whether the style reflects the author's geographical origin through dialects, accents, or variations like British vs. American English.

**Social-educational factor**

An objective factor consisting of the influence of the speaker's social position and level of education.

**Functional (situational/attitudinal) factor**

An objective factor consisting of the specific situation in which the conversation takes place and the exact purpose of creating a certain kind of discourse.

**Topical (thematic) factor**

An objective factor consisting of the specific topic that strictly forces the author to use a certain style and vocabulary.

**Halliday's parts of discourse**

A functional division of discourse consisting of exactly three elements: the field (ideational function/theme), the tenor (interpersonal function reflecting formality and social status), and the mode (textual function).

**Sociolect**

A social language variety consisting of modifications in vocabulary, accent, and grammar used strictly by specific social or age groups, which develops over time among people sharing the exact same social or educational background.

**Accommodation**

A sociolinguistic process consisting of an individual's language beginning to change strictly because they spend a lot of time with certain people or groups.

**Slang**

A colloquial and emotive variety of language consisting of highly informal expressions restricted to a particular context or group, which is strictly more common in speech than in writing (e.g., "ciggy" for cigar).

**Jargon**

A specialized and technical language variety consisting of expressions used strictly by people in a specific field or occupation, which can be both spoken and written, and remains completely inaccessible to non-specialists.

**Argot**

A secret language variety consisting of expressions used strictly by various groups (often criminals and thieves) to completely prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations.