Register

How it is used

Teachers label words as formal or informal and practise switching register, for example from a text message to an email to a manager. Linguists following Halliday describe register in terms of field, tenor and mode.

Example sentences

1. 'Kids' is fine in conversation, but 'children' suits the register of an academic essay.

2. The email was polite, but its register was too informal for a first message to a professor.

Common collocations

• formal register
• informal register
• academic register
• switch register

Related terms

• dialectA variety of a language used by speakers in a particular region or social group, with its own vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.
• sociolinguisticsThe study of how language varies and changes with society: how age, region, social class, gender and situation shape the way people speak.
• discourseLanguage in use beyond the single sentence, such as conversations, lectures or newspaper articles, and the way these stretches of language are organized and connected.
• code-switchingMoving between two or more languages or varieties within one conversation or even within one sentence, a normal practice among bilingual speakers.

More terms: Sociolinguistics

• accent
• bilingualism
• lingua franca
• standard language