1. Formal:

a) formal-official (public speeches, official talks, etc.)

E.g.: A public speech

Mr. Higgins: I declare the meeting open and call upon the secretary to read the minutes of the last meeting.

Miss Jones: There are the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held at 4 p.m. on Friday 7^th October… and the meeting closed at 5.25 p.m.

Mr. Higgins: Is it your wish that I sign these minutes as a correct record?

All: Yes.

b) formal-neutral (a lecturer, a teacher’s explanation, a business talk or an exchange of information between colleagues with variations depending on the status of the partners, a report on one’s work or research before a small group of people, etc.)

E.g. A business talk

– Good morning. Is this Mr. Howard’s office?

– John Howard?

– Yes. I was wondering whether Mr. Howard could see me. My name is Martell.

– Oh, yes, Miss Martell. Mr. Howard has a letter from your manager. He said you’d be writing to make an appointment.

– I decided to come instead. I was rather hoping that perhaps Mr. Howard would be able to see me this morning.

2. Informal:

a) informal-ordinary (a conversation on a train, bus, etc.; an exchange of remarks in a shop, café, post office, railway station, etc.; an everyday talk between friends, neighbours, schoolmates, etc.)

E.g. A talk in a shop

Assistant: You know, madam, I think the next size will be better.

Customer: Yes, it looks like it. But I’ve always taken a 36 hip size before. Have I really started putting on weight?

Assistant: You shouldn’t worry. You can’t trust sizes. Nowadays they seem to vary enormously. I’ll just get you the size above.

b) informal-familiar (everyday conversation between intimate friends, relatives)

E.g. A talk between mother and daughter

– Look, what a lovely bag I’ve bought.

– Not again! Why, you’ve got a collection of them.

– But you’ve no idea how cheap it was. A real bargain.

– Bargain my foot. You know we must save money.

– Getting good value is saving money.

– Oh, come on. Be your age.

This classification is, of course, very tentative and not at all complete. One could also outline further distinctions within each of the above-mentioned varieties. If, for example, we consider a dimension such as the number of people addressed it will be necessary to discriminate between public speeches at a big gathering (such as an open air meeting) and those made at a comparatively small gathering (such as a speech pronounced in a hall). The kind of the audience is also an important factor as far as phonetic modifications of speech are concerned. Thus, a teacher’s explanation meant for adults will differ phonetically as well as lexically and grammatically from that spoken to children.

Oral speech is a very complicated phenomenon, where too many factors are involved. Phonetic styles are related to social setting or circumstances in which language is used. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a person speaks differently on different occasions (e.g. when chatting with intimate friends or talking to official persons, when delivering a lecture, speaking over the radio or giving a dictation exercise). In other words, the choice of a speech style is determined by the situation. Moreover, the problem of speech typology and phonetic differences conditioned by such extra-linguistic factors as age, sex, personality traits, status, occupation, purpose, social identity (or ‘class dialect’) and the emotional state of the speaker also bear on the issue.

QUESTIONS:

1. Speak on linguistic and extra-linguistic factors. What is the difference between them?

2. Why do phonetic modifications play the most important role among distinctive features of each style?

3. What is the main and most widely recognized division of English speech?

4. What are characteristic features of formal and informal styles?

5. Speak on the subdivision of formal and informal speech in terms of the degree of formality and familiarity. Give examples.

6. Why does a person speak differently on different occasions?

7. What determines the choice of a speech style?