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In linguistics, a register is a subset of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, an English speaker may adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal (e.g. "walking", not "walkin'") and refrain from using the word "ain't" when speaking in a formal setting, but the same person could violate all of these prescriptions in an informal setting.

The term was first used by the linguist Thomas Bertram Reid in 1956, and brought into general currency in the 1960s by a group of linguists who wanted to distinguish between variations in language according to the user (defined by variables such as social background, geography, sex and age), and variations according to use, "in the sense that each speaker has a range of varieties and chooses between them at different times" (Halliday et al, 1964). The focus is on the way language is used in particular situations, such as legalese or motherese, the language of a biology research lab, of a news report or of the bedroom.

Halliday (1964) identifies three variables that determine register: field (the subject matter of the discourse), tenor (the participants and their relationships) and mode (the channel of communication, e.g. spoken or written). Any or all of the elements of language may vary in different registers — vocabulary, syntax, phonology, morphology, pragmatic rules or different paralinguistic features such as pitch, volume and intonation in spoken English, or size and speed of sign production in a sign language. Registers often also have non-linguistic prescriptions such as appropriate dress codes, body language, and proximity of speakers to one another.

As with other types of language variation, we tend to find register continua rather than discrete varieties — there is an endless number of registers we could identify, with no clear boundaries. Discourse categorisation is a complex problem, and even in the general definition of "register" given above (language variation defined by use not user), there are cases where other kinds of language variation, such as regional or age dialect, overlap. As a result of this complexity, there is far from consensus about the meanings of terms like "register","field" or "tenor"; different writers' definitions of these terms are often in direct contradiction of each other. Additional terms such as diatype, genre, text type, style, acrolect, mesolect and basilect among many others may be used to cover the same or similar ground. Some prefer to restrict the domain of the term "register" to a specific vocabulary (Wardhaugh, 1986) (which one might commonly call jargon), while others argue against the use of the term altogether. These various approaches with their own "register" or set of terms and meanings fall under disciplines such as sociolinguistics, stylistics, pragmatics or systemic functional grammar.

One of the most analysed areas where the use of language is determined by the situation is the formality scale. Writers (especially in language teaching) have often used the term "register" as shorthand for formal/informal style, although this is an aging definition. Linguistics textbooks may use the term "tenor" instead (Halliday 1978), but increasingly prefer the term "style" — "we characterise styles as varieties of language viewed from the point of view of formality" (Trudgill, 1992) — while defining "registers" more narrowly as specialist language use related to a particular activity, such as academic jargon. There is very little agreement as to how the spectrum of formality should be divided.

In one prominent model, Joos (1961) describes five styles in spoken English:

• Frozen: Printed unchanging language such as bible quotations; often contains archaisms.
• Formal: One-way participation, no interruption. Technical vocabulary; "Fussy semantics" or exact definitions are important. Includes introductions between strangers.
• Consultative: Two-way participation. Background information is provided — prior knowledge is not assumed. "Backchannel behaviour" such as "uh huh", "I see", etc. is common. Interruptions allowed.
• Casual: In-group friends and acquaintances. No background information provided. Ellipsis and slang common. Interruptions common.
• Intimate: Non-public. Intonation more important than wording or grammar. Private vocabulary.

• Diatype and dialect — intra-speaker vs inter-speaker variation
• Sociolect — a socially defined variety of language
• Idiolect — an individual's variety of language
• Acrolect, Mesolect and Basilect — terms used to describe different "registers" in creole languages
• Diglossia — used to describe a speech community where a high-prestige language variety is strongly marked against a low-prestige variety.
• Argot — slang used by various groups to define themselves from outsiders.
• Discourse community
• Speech community
• Genre
• Literary language
• Universe of discourse, technical terminology and jargon — three terms for a specialised vocabulary set
• Post-creole speech continuum
• Cryptolects — "secret code" language registers or sociolects

• Leet
• Polari

• Registers:

• Christianese — a dialect, sociolect or register
• Baby talk — adults use this register with children
• Legalese — register of the legal profession
• Category:Terminology — lists of specialised vocabulary such as sports terminology and Star Trek terminology.
• Category:Slang — lists of slang terms and registers such as medical slang and gay slang.

• Stylistics
• Variety (linguistics)
• Vernacular

• Halliday, M.A.K. (1964), Comparison and translation. In M.A.K. Halliday, M.McIntosh and P. Strevens, The linguistic sciences and language teaching. London: Longman.
• Halliday, M.A.K. (1978), Language as Social Semiotic: the social interpretation of language and meaning. Edward Arnold: London.
• Joos, M (1961), The Five Clocks, New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.
• Quirk, R., Greenbaum S., Leech G., and Svartvik J. (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman, Harcourt.
• Reid, Thomas Bertram (1956), Linguistics, structuralism, philology, Archivum Linguisticum 8.
• Swales, J. (1990), Genre Analysis. English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Trosborg, A. (1997), Text Typology: Register, Genre and Text Type. In Text Typology and Translation: 3-23. (ed: Anna Trosborg), John Benjamins.
• Trudgill, P. (1992), Introducing language and society. London: Penguin.
• Wardhaugh, R. (1986), Introduction to Sociolinguistics, (2nd ed.), Cambridge: Blackwell
• Werlich, E. (1982), A Text Grammar of English. Heidelberg: Quelle & Meyer.