Formality vs Informality (and all that lies between).

Do you agree with this statement?

"A formal style is characterized by detachment, accuracy, rigidity and heaviness; an informal style is more flexible, direct, implicit, and involved, but less informative."

From:


Formality of Language: definition, measurement and behavioral determinants

FRANCIS HEYLIGHEN & JEAN-MARC DEWAELE

...

And later in the same paper:

It is proposed that formality becomes larger when the distance in space, time or background between the interlocutors increases, and when the speaker is male, introverted or academically educated.

I don't know that informality is less informative.

<I don't know that informality is less informative. >

"He's coming to the party."

"Steven Jones is coming to the party of Isabel Davis."

I don't think "he's coming to the party" is necessarily an example of informality.

I always tought that informality consisted in less rigid syntax and grammar. Not being less informative

<I don't think "he's coming to the party" is necessarily an example of informality.>

Of course it is. It contain a "weak" form (he's), a pronoun that refers to someone known only to the speaker and listener/s, and a reference to some party known only to the same.

<I always tought that informality consisted in less rigid syntax and grammar. Not being less informative >

It also consists of more implicit use of language. Formal language is more explicit.

>>I always tought that informality consisted in less rigid syntax and grammar. Not being less informative<<

Not necessarily that either; not following literary forms as strongly does not make less rigid syntax and grammar. One must remember that following *different* grammatical rules does not mean that something has *less rigid* grammatical rules. In this case, at least with the English dialect here, I find that formal speech often allows far more variation in word order than informal speech, which tends to follow a far more strict word order with respect to placement of adverbs, prepositions, predicate adjectives, and like than formal speech. Furthermore, in informal speech here, any variations from basic subject-verb-indirect object-direct object word order outside of normal wh-pronoun, relative pronoun, and auxiliary/modal movement are almost completely forbidden, unlike more poetic formal speech where such can be broken at times.