An analysis of speech variations in Stephen Crane's novel: the red badge of courage

In everyday life the writer observes that members of a speech community use a certain speech variety in relation with whom they are interacting. They carefully choose the variety they will be using depending on the person they are talking to, the situation which they are in, and also the topic they want to convey. Thus, language may indicate social relationships in an arena of interaction which can be seen in a literary form such as a novel. The linguistic variations express and reflect social factors of the speakers in the novel. She takes "The Red Badge of Courage" written by Stephen crane for analysis with the problems (1) What are the speech variations used in the novel? (2) What factors motivate the characters to use the speech variations in the novel? The research method used in this analysis is the descriptive research study which is designed to describe the data. The qualitative approach is used as a research design to produce descriptive information on what social factors which motivate the use of these speech variations. The findings of the analysis of the five communications under study show the following registers and dialects: (1)Formal and informal registers are appropriate to the topics or subject matters, function or purpose, participants, and settings of the communications. (2) The dialects used in the dialogs are standard and nonstandard speech variations. (3) Both the formal and informal registers and the standard and non-standard speech variations are used in overlapping manner. (4) The overlapping use of these speech variations are in accordance with the social dimensions that govern the choice of the speech variations. (5) The novel represents as a unity of a speech community where there is a very close connection between the social factors and the speech variations. The appropriate speech variations are motivated by the social aspects as topic and functions, settings and participants which are the dimensions or parameters. On the other hand, a speech variation identifies the user or reveals the social aspects variations concerning the users. The writer sees that communication is made possible through language eventhough there are many kinds of speech variations. Besides conveying meaning, language also reveals other things concerning its speakers and listeners, in this thesis, the focus of which is their social aspects. By the choice of a certain speech variation, the communicators understand not only the meaning, but also their background, their relationship, their situation and so on. Language Shows the society and thus, the writer suggests that one should choose the right speech form according to the right topic, function, occasion, and participants in communication