The Benefits of the CEG Typology Framework for Learners, Teachers, Researchers, and Textbook Writers

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is five-fold:1) to shed light on how traditional grammar has failed to describe spoken language and highlight many important colloquial expressions; 2) to describe the differences between spoken and written language and summarize a wide range of previously identified linguistic traits of colloquial language; 3) to illustrate how physical and psychological conditions affect the way people speak or write in casual settings by identifying some of the physical and psychological constraints and factors peculiar to casual (quasi-) face-to-face oral and written interactions and how they affect the way people produce messages; 4) to propose a typology framework to clarify and give shape to lexicogrammatical and discourse features pertaining to colloquial English; 5) to exemplify the benefits of the framework for learners, teachers, researchers, and textbook writers (materials developers).