Speech Comm

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

[She's in costume, dressed as a Gypsy] Happy Halloween. I brought chocolate...eat it.

[adjusts her glasses] Ok, gang. I had a lovely weekend meeting your parents. Chip, Parker, Anya...I think I now know yours best. I'm sure we're all glad it's over, let's move on.


301--Register

Register is the level of formality with which we communicate. We do it everyday, and it's both hardwired and learned social behavior. We are social creatures, and as such we accept the concept of status. Other things factor into our register choices, such as trust, respect, and influence, and even intimacy...

For example, you all know I'm dating the Doctor. Why might I call him Doctor in the lounge here at school, and Ten at home? For that matter, why do I call all of you Mister or Miss in the classroom, and by your name when we are out and about? Consider how you communicates depending on both person AND setting.

What do you think about this? Let's take the concept and roll it around on our tongues like a Jujube of Justice until it sticks to our teeth of understanding explore what it means to speak differently to different people.

Comments

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

But you don't. Call me Mister anything. You call me Chip, except for when you're truly pissed at me, and then you call me Jack.

Jack thinks, but does not say: And the Doctor, for another instance, is stuck on my name being "Ja-er, Mr. Harkness".

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

((I so slipped and called you Jack today, zomg.))

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

{{Yeah, but timing being what it was, did it happen *before* or *after* this class. ;)}}

[ten-and-chips.livejournal.com]

(([grins] Whenever you like. Actually, Speech Comm is bright and early, isn't it? So probably it happened after. Our Doctor is a bit...emotionally edgy today.))

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Well, it depends on what I'm talking to you about, right? I went through all three that Friday...[coughs] ...and when I talk about you to other people, I call you Mr. Harkness...for example, your guardian. Why do you imagine I change a personal reference like that?

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

My... guardian? Who... oh. *looks shell-shocked*

*tries to rally* Because on a daily basis, we're casual. On a oh-shit-what's-happened-now basis, we're less casual. And formality is for... speaking to someone I don't know but who knows me.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Language, Chip. Profanity has no place in my class. I think we need to speak after class. [Her expression begins stony, but relaxes] Tell me about casual versus formal...with examples please.

[anextimeagent.livejournal.com]

Sorry, teach. Um... wasn't there something in the reading about how some languages have totally different words for "you", depending on whether the relationship between the people talking was equal to equal or greater to lesser? So I'd never call you, "you," because that would be too informal. I'd call you, I don't know, thou who art the teachiest of teachers. Something like that.

So some languages have that hardwired in, this distinction between casual and formal.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

Right, Chip! I'm glad to see the text is sinking in. The easiest example of that is nosotros and vosotros in Spanish. One is, essentially, "Hey gang" and the other means "Most distinguished people I am addressing." Good...very good.

Teachiest of all teachers?