| Definition:
A variety of a language that is used on certain occasions or in certain situations.
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| Example:
An English speaking male in his 20s might refrain from using the F-word and other swear words when eating Sunday dinner with his relatives, whereas he might not hesitate to use them when having beers in a pub with his buddies.
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| Etymology:
The term was coined by linguist Thomas Bertram Reid in 1956.
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Oxford English Dictionary: Its first citation is from 1956: "He will on different occasions speak (or write) differently according to what may roughly be described as different social situations: he will use a number of distinct ‘registers’."
(T. B. W. Reid in Archivum Linguisticum VIII. 32) |