As Becca suggests, being more formal can add distinction, but in general that is a tactic often used to show someone not conversant with the language - a foreigner or alien perhaps. You might try going to the other way, and being distinctly less formal, or using unusual phrasing - not to suggest the backwards talk so many Sci-Fi aliens, but something overly familiar, a tendency to appear less well educated perhaps. Maybe invent some relevant slang that can become part of his identity.
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