Stylistic Features of Informal texts o Phonological Patterning o Lexical choice and semantic patterning o Morphological patterning o Grammatical (syntactic) patterning

Phonological Patterning 1. Elision; the deletion of sounds in connected speech. E.G ‘nough’ instead of ‘enough’ or ‘Febri’ instead of ‘February’ 2. Assimilation; when sounds are altered to become more like the neighbouring sound. E.G ‘sandwich becomes ‘sanwich’ 3. Addition of sounds between words or syllables to make words easier to pronounce. E.G ‘idea-r-of it’, instead of ‘idea of it’ or ath-e-lete instead of athlete

Lexical choice and semantic patterning The use of slang; colloquial or informal language that is peculiar to distinctive social or age groups Features of slang are; metaphor, ellipsis and word play (creative word formation) and shortenings. The use of swearing. It has four purposes that can overlap: as an expletive, as a way to abuse or insult, to express social solidarity, and as a stylistic choice (to mark an attitude to what is said)

Morphological patterning Diminutives; a suffix added to a common or proper noun that indicates smallness and expresses affection. Usually ‘o’, y/ie (as in Tassie or smoko). Common in Australian English. Rhyming constructions; such as hankey-pankey and chickflick often used in the media to give writing a lively, upbeat sound.

Grammatical patterning Use of non-standard sentence structures (syntax) and non-standard word structures (morphology) Use of interrogative tags, for example ‘isn’t it?’ and ‘init?’, ‘bettern’t I?’ ‘I had nice garden’, ‘youse all’, ‘he won’t do no harm’ ‘That’s real good’