Talking about Register

Before I came to study TKK at the University of Graz, I had never really paid attention to register. Now that I am an English student, register became an essential issue, especially when you're not writing to friends or relatives.

Firstly, I want to briefly talk about the three different types of register. Afterwards I'll show you what kind of register I've came across in lyrics.

1. Formal register

The register you use always depends on the social setting, the people you are talking to and why. It goes without saying that register also depends on your age and dialect. The formal register is used when talking to business partners or people of a higher status.

When it comes to linking words or sentence adverbials that you use in a writing, you need to be very careful with the appropriate usage of these words. For instance, the words hitherto, by contrast, conversely, nevertheless, nonetheless, accordingly, with reference to, hence, etc. are of a high register. On the contrary, adverbials like Mind you, So, And, I mean, That reminds me, Anyway, Anyhow, By the way, etc. wouldn't be used in a formal register, but rather in spoken English.

2. Informal register

The informal register is very common in spoken English and if you are texting people who are close to you. For example, when I am writing to my Irish friend David, I would start like this: Hey David, how you doing? I would never use these words when writing to my former working colleagues in Zurich, Switzerland or when writing a business letter.

3. Neutral register

The neutral register is, as can be assumed, kind of a middle course between the informal and the formal register. It's generally used when talking to people you don't know very well and still want to be polite with.

There are numerous sentence adverbials of a neutral register and can therefore be used in either a formal or an informal conversation. For example: beforehand, eventually, lastly, subsequently, on the one hand, on the other hand, despite, though, regarding, as a result, and so on and so forth ...
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Let's have a look at the the song Royals by Lorde now. I'm aware that the register of this song is on purpose. The reason why I am searching for informal words and suggest formal ones is because I want to practice it!

For some words and phrases I have found a synonym of a higher register. I've underlined these words in the lyrics and explained them afterwards.
[Verse 1]
I've never seen a diamond in the flesh
I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies
And I'm not proud of my address,
In a torn-up town, no postcode envy

But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom
Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room, We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams.
But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece.
Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash.
We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair.

And we'll never be royals (royals).
It don't run in our blood,
That kind of luxe just ain't for us.
We crave a different kind of buzz.
Let me be your ruler (ruler),
You can call me queen Bee
And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule.
Let me live that fantasy.

[Verse 2]
My friends and I—we've cracked the code.
We count our dollars on the train to the party.
And everyone who knows us knows that we're fine with this,
We didn't come from money.

[...]

Words and phrases that are rather informal

• Several times, contractions appear in the writing such as I've, I'll, we've, etc.
• In the second paragraph, it says trippin' instead of tripping.
• The phrase to not care is quite rough, I think it would be nicer to say to not bother.
• Kind of wouldn't be used in a formal writing, but in spoken language (I guess..)
• The word luxe is normally followed by a noun, but here it isn't.
• To crave sounds also fairly informal to me; I believe that to desire sounds better.
• The word buzz I am not sure about. It doesn't sound formal to me. I guess it depends on the context you're using it. Here, however, the word fits.
• In the first line of verse two, the phrase to crack the code sounds rather informal. Instead we could say to decode.
• The phrase to come from money in the very last line is not of a high register, at least that's what I assume as it can't be found in a dictionary.
• In general, the lyrics don't consist of any (or very little) formal words that derive from Latin or French
• ...

I came up with very little informal words or phrases in these lyrics. This was the first time I took a closer look at lyrics. I will, however, look at some other lyrics every now and then to increase my lexicon and to have a look at the song's register.

For those of you who are now in the mood to listen to this song, here is the link to the YouTube video: