English Variation in Different Situations

Zhang+Yan

【Abstract】An important aspect of communicative competence is the ability to adapt ones speech to the immediate situation. The way a man talks to his family at home differentiates from the way he talks to an unfamiliar business acquaintance. This article shows how speakers vary their speech to suit the immediate situation and help to create a particular type of relationship.

【Key words】situation； variation； communicative competence

I. Introduction

Its well-known that when a person wishes to express a particular meaning， he can choose from a variety of possible language forms. For example， if he wishes to suggest that he and the hearer have a meal together， some of the many choices include ‘May I suggest that we go and eat something？， ‘Shall we go and have something to eat？， ‘Do you feel like coming for some lunch？， or ‘Come and have a bit to eat！. He selects language which is suitable for the social situation and to the relationship between himself and the hearer. For example， the first expression above would be unusual between two close friends in an informal setting， while the last one would be equally unusual between two strangers in a situation requiring a high degree of formality. An important aspect of communicative competence is the ability to adapt ones speech to the immediate situation in this way. Its not difficult to observe informally how native speakers of English vary their language to suit the situation they are in. The article will present data of this kind. They enable us to see the process of variation at work in the speech for a competent speaker.

II. The situations and the data

In the first situation， the speaker produced a written text without the presence of an audience. Conventionally， the style of written English is more formal than that of speech. In this case since the text was written to be spoken， we might expect this formality to be toned down. In the second situation， the speaker conveyed the same meanings through spoken English in the presence of an audience. We would now expect more informal features. In fact， the two situations are so closely related that if the linguistic changes are consistent， this is a clear illustration of how sensitive speech is to situation.

Below is a representative selection of eight of the changes which occurred， listed in random order. For each pair， the form which was written is given together with the form which was spoken. The changes means that a person who shares the same rules for speaking should be able to determine which of each pair was written and which was spoken.

A B

1. The contextualized material facilitated the remembering The contextualized material did help the remembering

2. Now， later on， at some other time， Id like to go on to the implications for language teaching. At a later date， I should like to explore further the implications of the results in terms of language-teaching methodology itself.

3. One might ask how one could be sure. You can ask ‘How can I be sure？

4. You can do the same with schools. The same may also be done with schools.

5. O.K.， I think thats about enough. Lets sum up. To sum up：

6. Right， lets move on then to data analysis. Data Analysis

7. Looking at the breakdown by tape. Now if you look at the breakdown by tape.

8. The test of which they formed a part the test they were a part of

III. Stylistic features

From the data above， we can see some of the grammatical and lexical features which can mark the movement from written to spoken style， or from a more formal to a somewhat less formal style.

1. The spoken text introduces more references to participants in the speech event. For example， the first person forms “I” and “l(fā)ets” are introduced several times.

2. The discourse markers ‘now， ‘right， and ‘OK. are introduced in order to mark new sections or ideas. In writing， this function can be performed by beginning a new paragraph， as the examples in 2.5.6.

3. As far as vocabulary is concerned， there is a tendency towards words which are shorter， more common， and less specific in meaning. For example ‘help for ‘facilitate in 1.

4. Some grammatical changes will serve to give the speech a less formal flavor. For example in 4， active forms are in place of passives.

IV. Conclusion

The data discussed in this article show how speakers not only apply ‘rules of grammar in order to produce utterances， but also ‘rules for speaking which enable them to change their speech to suit the immediate situation. Conversely， of course， by choosing one kind of language rather than another， speakers help to create a particular type of situation and relationship.

References：

[1]霍鑫紅，張艷.Teaching Language and Cross-Cultural Skills through Drama[J].校園英語，2016（35）.