Informal And Informal Language

People communicate for a number of reasons, for example, to express emotions (i.e. sadness, happiness and anger), pain, personal opinions, to relay information with regards to an individual’s health, personal preferences such as religion, sexual or culture and also to obtain knowledge or information on any given subject; communication can also be viewed as a learning experience. Communication can be informal or formal depending on the circumstances. For example; formal communication would occur in professional settings,

I am originally from Puerto Rico, which is a country in which communication is an integral part of society. The cultural norm of the Puerto Rican culture is to speak up when necessary and communicate clearly if we want things to be done. At the same time, I believe that in order to produce results, the manner in which communicating takes place, is an extremely important component. My culture also showed me how the emotions used when communicating, such as the use of the hands and body language, will dictate the tone and flow of the communication. The literature suggests that the majority (as much as 76%) of the message we gibe to another person during conversations is carried by non-verbal or para-verbal communication. Thus, we must be very careful and strategic in our use o non-verbal communication (Van Acker, 1997).

There are two main contexts in which we communicate; formal and informal. In the context of communicating formally we communicate using; Standard English, correct grammar, corrects posture, eye contact and good pronunciation. We often communicate formally when communicating with someone of a higher authority; this shows that you respect their higher position; this is more likely to be in a formal setting such as a work place or educational establishment. However when communicating informally we use different skills such as; use of slang (informal English), more relaxed posture and general chit chat. We often communicate informally when communicating with someone who is familiar e.g. a friend. This is more likely to be in an informal and relaxed setting such as in the playground or in town.

Another type of verbal communication is selection of appropriate language. This is the use of formal language, informal language, avoiding slang or regional word as appropriate. If you were just talking with your friends or colleagues then you may use informal language because you are familiar with the people but, if you were talking to a service user or client then you would use formal language because you have to be professional within the workplace. You would not use slang with them or regional words because they may not be able to understand what you are saying and it is not professional to use this type of language. Another form of verbal communication is age

The audience receiving communication makes a different in the way you engage with others and how they interpret your communication. You must understand the level of formality for your contributions for example a business presentation will require formal

People communicate in different ways to help social interaction. Communication is not just though words it can also be though touch, facial expressions and body movement as well as written electronic messages.

Anthropologists and sociologists agree that people commonly learn communication skills in younger years specifically in “sex-separate peer groups” (Tannen 345). Young girls are typically more reserved and generally confide their feelings and ideas in smaller groups with close friends. On the contrary, boys enjoy competing for attention in larger groups. The article mentions, “boys are expected to use language to seize center stage: by exhibiting their skill, displaying their knowledge, and challenging and resisting challenges” (Tannen

= I was half joking [Max: At least] whenever I say that. (2.4) I was.

However, they do when they write letters, reports, or other kinds of document. Some people do not expect informal language in a book that discuss about economics. The writers take advantage of this point to engage the readers by quoting some informal dialogue from real situation. In the example of wearing seat belts, they quote McNamara, the one who brings seat belts to cars, when he went to test new cars. “I buckled my seat belt, and he said, ‘What’s the matter, you afraid of my driving?’” (148). Those sentences that are informal pull the readers out of the book, illustrating real situation in their mind. The readers then have the similar feeling to the people mentioned in the text. Moreover, the writers use informal language to emphasize puzzling questions. They ask “Why on earth was the death rate in the doctors; ward more than twice as high?” (136).

For this project I recorded a 30 minutes conversation between two couples (two males and two females) dining at a restaurant after the movies. The first couple is Stephen (22) and Lina (21), and the second couple is Daniel (24) and Chue (21). Stephen and Daniel are brothers while Lina and Chue are co-workers. With this, there is at least a comfortable level. Stephen and Lina sat next to each other which is also across from Daniel and Chue. For this recording, I observed four different language device used: I’m sorry, I’m not apologizing (Tannen), Women’s language: powerless language (Lakoff), Relationship miscommunication (Tannen), and lastly “Informal talk: Girl talk and boy talk (Eisikovitis).”

Although not typically acknowledged, discourse markers are prevalent in daily and spontaneous conversation. Meaningless fillers are placed in conversations typically as filler words. These words serve "to either act as an unconscious sign of speech disfluency or serve as a signal sent by speakers to convey a certain message.” (Laserna et al 2014 329). In attempting to contribute productively to the conversation, time may be needed to effectively articulate their thoughts to the listener. Laserna et al. (2014) investigated the use of various filler words and its correlation to gender and age (see Table 2). Their results found that um and uh was used more frequently in females and the younger participants (Laserna et al 2014 333). I will be using examples that are related to a conversation that my partner and I had discussed about our thoughts on Donald Trump. Our observers of our conversation had noticed that we used a large amount of words such as um, uhm, yea, mmhm etc.

Furthermore, perhaps the greatest contrast and the most evident of how language works differently in various types of writing is the discussion blog post. The blog post allowed the class to engage in different types of formality of language. The formality of the language one uses should match the formality of the situation and the relationship between the writer and reader. Therefore, as the public audience was a class of online students taking a required writing course in the summer, the formality of my writing has often been very informal. For example, in my blog post addressing my concern over the unworthy power of Beyoncé I wrote, “It was the year 2008 when the world was blessed with the images of Beyoncé (unapologetically) dancing around in a leotard. Not only is Beyoncé’s single lady video one of her most notable hits it begins her what is now a decade long relationship ending spree” (Marquis, 2016 ). The formality

Nowadays the use of informal learning has gradually increase in adult education for some reason. Individual experience flexibility and freedom by learning through informal learning. According to Eraut,(2004) it also can be considered as advantage to learn from experience, which is usually constructed more in terms of personal than interpersonal. Proponents of informal state that over 70% of learning in life and work is through informal learning. Learners are gained more in informal setting rather than in formal classrooms. Besides that, education philosopher Dewey (1938) state that individual’s experiences, lifelong learning and the role of reflection thought in education is where learning is takes place in his theory formulation about informal

Common people who use formal language described this as informal, frustrating and confusing. On the other hand, some say that jejelanguage attracts readers and looks at it as amusing and stylish way to learn the "new" language. Again, because of contradicting points the researchers have read, this study investigated and confirmed truthfulness of these statements given by eminent researchers and educators. This study could possibly be bridging gaps between contradicting

One expects to find formal language in any place of work and authority such as businesses, court, parliament, newspapers etc. Any profession which is associated with a high level of education and order. Formal language is also known to reflect on the speaker’s social class. It shows what type of school you attended, how you were raised and your heritage. Informal language is more commonly heard in a social environment. For example when you are at a braai or attending a family function. The people present usually know each other so the atmosphere is more relaxed and there is not an essential requirement for formality. Informal language is usually used on social media platforms or instant messaging.