Styles of Contemporary English

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I have conducted an intensive survey of the 'Styles of Contemporary English'.In spoken English I have described the salient features of spontaneous conversation, radio and television broadcast interviews and so on. As for unplanned conversation, I have discussed marked disfluency features of conversation, which are in fact indicative of 'relaxation' of the participants of conversational interaction. As for broadcast, I have pointed out a frequent use of some of the features of 'Estuary English'.In written English I have placed an emphasis on the styles of newspapers and prose fiction. As for press writing, I have argued that the quality press and popular press in Britain are significantly different in style, since the former tends to employ abstract expressions while the latter concrete ones. I have also discussed the distribution of repetition and variation in sports reporting in newspapers and television broadcast. Focusing on the representation of conversation particularly in the novels of Kingsley Amis, I have shown that Amis's conversation is much more 'realistic' than his contemporaries.