As far as the subject of our analysis is considered, we have decided to discuss a dialogue from the novel A Clockwork Orange by English writer Anthony Burgess. The story is a bizarre and dystopian insight into the near- future town in Britain. The main protagonist, a 14-year-old young boy, Alex de Large, is a leader of a gang of adolescent thugs whose favorite hobby is all-night rides full of beatings and sexual violence. Soon enough, Alex is imprisoned after committing a murder and being in prison he is imposed to the so-called “Ludovico Treatment Therapy” which results in making him feel nauseous whenever he thinks of acting on sexual or violent urge. For our purposes we have chosen an introductory dialogue between Alex and his social worker, Mr. Deltoid, a day after the night when Alex and his friends had beaten up an old man and boys from the rival gang. As far as the setting is concerned, the conversation takes place at Alex’s parents’ place in a supposed-to-be near future:

I heard a goloss shouting through the door: “Come on then, get out of it, I know you are in bed.” I recognized the goloss right away. It was the goloss of P.R. Deltoid, what they called my Post-Corrective Adviser. When I opened up he came shambling in looking shagged, a battered old shlapa on his gulliver, his raincoat filthy. “Ah, Alex boy,” he said to me. “I met your mother, yes. She said something about a pain somewhere. Hence not at school, yes.”
“A rather intolerable pain in the head, brother, sir, “ I said in my gentleman’s goloss. “I think it should clear by this afternoon.”
“Or certainly by this evening, yes,” said P.R. Deltoid. “The evening is a great time, isn’t it, Alex boy? Sit,” he said, “sit, sit,” as though this was his domy and me his guest. And he sat in this starry rocking-chair of my dad’s and began rocking, as if that was all he had come for. I said:
“A cup of the old chai, sir? Tea, I mean.”
“No time,” he said. “No time, yes. Then I said: “To what do I owe the extreme pleasure? Is anything wrong, sir?”
“Wrong?” he said. “Why should you think in terms of there being anything wrong? Have you been doing something you shouldn’t, yes?”
“Just a manner of speech,” I said, “sir.”
“Well,” said P.R. Deltoid, “it’s just a manner of speech from me to you that you watch out, little Alex, because next time, as you very well know, it’s not going to be the corrective school any more.

Next time it’s going to be the barry place and all my work ruined. If you have no consideration for your horrible self you at least might have some for me, who have sweated over you. A big black mark, I tell you in confidence, for every one we don’t reclaim, a confession of failure for every one of you that ends up in the strippy hole.”
“I’ve been doing nothing I shouldn’t, sir,” I said. “The millicents have nothing on me, brother, sir I mean.”
“Cut out this clever talk about millicents,” said P.R. Deltoid very weary, but still rocking. “Just because the police have not picked you up lately doesn’t, as you very well know, mean you’ve not been up to some nastiness. There was a bit of a fight last night, wasn’t there? There was a bit of shuffling with nozhes and bike-chains and the like. One of a certain fat boy’s friends was ambulanced off late from near the Power Plant and hospitalized, cut about very unpleasantly, yes. Your name was mentioned. The word has got through to me by the usual channels. Certain friends of yours were named also. There seems to have been a fair amount of assorted nastiness last night. Oh, nobody can prove anything about anybody, as usual. But I’m warning you, little Alex, being a good friend to you as always, the one man in this sore and sick community who wants to save you from yourself.”
“I appreciate all that, sir, “ I said, “very sincerely.”
“Yes, you do, don’t you?” he sort of sneered. “Just watch it, that’s all, yes. We know more than you think, little Alex. What gets into you all? We study the problem and we’ve been studying it for damn well near a century, yes, but we get no further with our studies. You’ve got a good home here, good loving parents, you’ve got not too bad of a brain. Is it some devil that crawls inside you?”
“Nobody’s got anything on me, sir,” I said. “I’ve been out of the rookers of the millicents for a long time now.”
“That’s just what worries me, “ sighed P.R. Deltoid. “A bit of too long of a time to be healthy. You’re about due now by my reckoning. That’s why I’m warning you, little Alex, to keep your handsome young proboscis out of the dirt, yes. Do I make myself clear?”
“As an unmuddied lake, sir, “ I said. “Clear as an azure sky of deepest summer. You can rely on me, sir.” And I gave him a nice zooby smile.1

In our brief paper we would like to discuss social dimensions in the dialogue.

According to Holmes, there are four typical factors that characterize every text: social distance, status, level of formality, and function. We will try to analyze them in the speech of Alex and Mr. Deltoid. However, it should be mentioned at the beginning that the speech of two characters, as we may have observed, as far as the vocabulary is concerned is rather atypical. The writer, Anthony Burgess, being deeply interested in linguistics (he worked as a lecturer in phonetics and as a grammar school master) created almost a new language. Alex and his friends speak Nadsat language, which is not a standard language, but an onomatopoeic combination of English, slang and anglicized Russian. We are confronted with Nadsat mainly via Alex’s and his friends’ speech, but from the dialogue we can see that also Deltoid uses it (words of Russian origin such as ‘nozhes’, or ‘millicents’), mostly when he wants Alex to take him as his partner, or even a friend, i.e. to get “closer” to him. Since Nadsat language is not the main topic of our paper, we will continue in analyzing the given text, though we may refer to Nadsat vocabulary and style whenever it should appear relevant.
The first of the factors to be analyzed - social distance (or solidarity) shows closeness or distance of a language user. In the dialogue, social distance varies through the time. It is closely connected with the status of speakers. In our case, generally, Mr. Deltoid plays a superior role, while Alex plays a subordinate one. This fact is evidently closely connected with social class or social role. Despite it might seem, from the rest of the information given after having read this book, that Alex belongs to a higher social class (as far as the wealth is considered – regarding the hierarchical position of his parents, or the hi-fi equipment in his room; according to Deltoid: “you’ve got a good home here, good loving parents, you’ve got not too bad of a brain”) than Mr. Deltoid, this observed fact appears to be not so typical in the conversation.
In our text, Mr. Deltoid in his obvious role as a “teacher – adviser – parent – authority” tries to persuade Alex (who is in the role of a “student – juvenile delinquent”) to stop his criminal activities. Deltoid’s social role varies, not surprisingly, which might be explained by the already- mentioned fact that he wants to establish a closer contact with Alex and to receive a positive response from him.

In the dialogue, Deltoid shows a very close involvement, he goes as far as to reveal to Alex that he is “being a good friend to you as always, the one man in this sore and sick community who wants to save you from yourself”, and from this newly-regained friendly position he tries to understand and uncover possible handicaps, problems and questions that might exist in Alex’s mind asking: “Is it some devil that crawls inside you?”.
Hence, Mr. Deltoid shows solidarity to Alex. As we have already indicated, his social distance varies, during the conversation he often switches codes. When he speaks from the position of a parent/teacher, he uses forms of address such as “Alex boy, little Alex” (signs of involvement), while when taking the role of the authority he tries to warn: “I’m warning you, little Alex, to keep your handsome young proboscis out of the dirt”, he even threatens with a prison: “it’s not going to be the corrective school anymore. Next time it’s going to be the barry place.”
It might be also important that while Deltoid tries to achieve a contact with Alex, the boy, on the other hand, tries to keep a distance from the social adviser. Alex is detached from the dialogue, and because he gets into the position of a victim, he attempts to liberate from this pre-given role. As a “weapon” he uses, similarly like Mr. Deltoid, forms of address: “brother”, but most often “sir”, he uses sarcasm and irony: “to what do I owe the extreme pleasure?”, or he evades answering the question: “just a manner of speech”, or “the millicents have nothing on me, brother, sir I mean.” He also shows detachment via impersonal constructions such as: “nobody’s got anything on me, sir.”
What is, however, most evident when analyzing Alex’s speech is the use of Nadsat. Alex’s Nadsat vocabulary is another thing which shows his distance from Mr. Deltoid. This reality is observable not only in the dialogue, but also in Alex’s inner monologue, where he uses words of Russian origin, or onomatopoeic words that does not exist in contemporary English: “goloss, shlapa, gulliver, domy, chai, millicents, rookers, zooby”. The boy’s vocabulary is therefore another “weapon” he uses, when he does not want to play the role of the being-accused any longer.
Generally, the level of formality in our text inclines to be rather informal. This is of course again closely connected with Nadsat, because whenever language users start to speak a kind of slang and not the standard anymore, the language style degrades into an informal one. Mr. Deltoid in the dialogue tends to be more impersonal, while Alex, on the other hand, tends to be more personal – informal. This division is, however, not so clear when considering the forms of address.

There must be no doubt that Deltoid addresses Alex in a personal way, while Alex has to address him “sir” (there were only few exceptions when he addressed him “brother”). When using the word “brother”, Alex evidently wants to lower Deltoid’s social status as a “post-corrective adviser”, which is at variance with Deltoid’s efforts who is showing a kind of intimacy or acquaintanceship when calling the boy by his first name: “little Alex, Alex boy”2. In Alex’s speech, higher level of formality mainly appears in the already-discussed ironic constructions: “I appreciate all that, sir, very sincerely”, and “a rather intolerable pain in the head”, or when using similes in a sarcastic way: “as an unmuddied lake”, “clear as an azure sky of deepest summer”. In the rest of the conversation Alex keeps his informal (meaning “not standard”) way of speaking. For instance, he is very informal in a situation such as offering a tea: “a cup of the old chai, sir?”
Mr. Deltoid’s style is different from Alex’s. He is an adult, there is a high probability that he might be also well-educated, therefore his speech tends to be more formal. Deltoid’s sentences are longer, rather sophisticated: “why should you think in terms of there being anything wrong?”, often compound sentences, he uses verb-nominal predications such as: “have no consideration.” What also evokes impersonal style is Deltoid’s vocabulary. The words like: “confession of failure, ambulanced, hospitalized, assorted nastiness, corrective school, or proboscis” are not very likely to appear in everyday conversation.
What brings Deltoid’s formal style down, is his bad habit of using the word “yes” very frequently. Even though the social adviser puts “yes” in almost every third sentence, in order to highlight his statements, the resulting effect is rather a bad impression on the reader. As an example may serve the sentence: “have you been doing something you shouldn’t, yes?”, where Deltoid makes unclear what the vital role of a question is; we are in doubt if he asks a question, or makes a simple statement, or if it is a rhetorical question, or if it is a question to which we already know the answer. Hence, this “yes-habit” degrades Deltoid’s status, and violates his formal style. The fourth characteristics of a text to be discussed is its function. According to Bühler, there exist three main functions of a text: referential, expressive and conative. Referential function names extralinguistic reality.

In our dialogue it is the fact that Alex may be involved in criminal activities, therefore his social adviser tries to receive information about the previous night Alex had spent with his gang, and to warn him that he is likely to get to prison in future. Expressive function gives standpoints of the speakers, their evaluation of the reality. In our case, Deltoid disagrees with Alex’s activities, he stands on the side of the law; while Alex de Large (A-lex – a man without law) does not want to collaborate with Deltoid, he does not want to reveal any information about the previous night, he is standing on the side of crime (his expressive funstion is very low). Conative, or appellative function attempts to appeal or persuade the hearers/readers of a text. Hence, Mr. Deltoid tries to persuade Alex to accept his standpoint, and vice versa Alex makes an attempt to persuade Deltoid to his point of view. They both want to receive emotional responses from their partners.
Referential content of Deltoid’s speech is very high. He participates on the conversation from more than three quarters. Most information we get from the dialogue is via Deltoid’s words. The social worker also shows a clear standpoint. He definitely disagrees with Alex’s activities. He appeals to Alex for changing his behaviour: “if you have no consideration for your horrible self you at least might have some for me”, he warns him: “just watch out” and threatens him with prison. However, as we may see from the text, Alex gives him only a very slight positive response, balancing on the edge of sarcasm and irony, ending with an insincere statement: “you can rely on me, sir.” Hence, we might consider Deltoid’s persuasive attempts as a failure, despite a very high degree of appealing in his words.
Since Alex is not the leader of the conversation, we don’t have sufficient-enough material to analyze his speech. From what we have, we can conclude that the referential content of Alex’s speech is rather low. He tries to evade answers, he is unclear, sarcastic and ironic, he does not want to tell the truth: “nobody’s got anything on me, sir. I’ve been out of the rookers of the millicents for a long time now.” Similarly, like a low degree of referential function, Alex shows a low degree of expressive function. He does not say exactly what he thinks, he keeps his thoughts in his mind. His insincere politeness and gentlemanly way of speaking only hides disgust and contempt he feels for Mr. Deltoid. He also does not appeal on Deltoid in any special way.

Alex’s short sentences do not show any fear from the incoming future, he stays reserved from the beginning till the end of the conversation not attempting to persuade the adviser about his points of view. To conclude, we tried to come up with an analysis of social dimensions in a dialogue taken from fiction. We observed speech between two characters, an adult – a social adviser, and a young boy – a potential juvenile delinquent. The style of both men differed, which depended on their social status, their mutual social distance, the level of formality they had used in their conversation, and the functional effect they both tried to reach in their discussion. We have found out that depending on their social status (both have been switching between various social roles such as parent/child, adult/youth, teacher/student, authority/subordinate), Deltoid and Alex showed either involvement or detachment from the conversation. Deltoid tended to be more involved, close, while Alex stayed detached and distant. When analyzing their words further, the adviser was likely to be more formal, Alex, on the other hand, was more informal (though only when concerning their style in the line “standard-vernacular”). Deltoid’s speech also resulted in high degree of referential, expressive and conative functional content, while Alex’s brief answers were very weak in giving any excessive information. The referential, expressive and affective (conative) content in his speech tended to be very low.

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Social Dimensions in the Novel A Clockwork Orange By Anthony Burgess