diff --git a/src/it/java/com/google/checkstyle/test/base/BriefLogger.java b/src/it/java/com/google/checkstyle/test/base/BriefLogger.java
index 8de5bea1b..bdd84b39d 100644
--- a/src/it/java/com/google/checkstyle/test/base/BriefLogger.java
+++ b/src/it/java/com/google/checkstyle/test/base/BriefLogger.java
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ class BriefLogger extends DefaultLogger
 {
     BriefLogger(OutputStream out) throws UnsupportedEncodingException
     {
-        super(out, true);
+        super(out, true, out, false, false);
     }
     @Override
     public void auditStarted(AuditEvent evt) {}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/DefaultLogger.java b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/DefaultLogger.java
index 7c7287f3b..4fa2aed05 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/DefaultLogger.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/DefaultLogger.java
@@ -59,6 +59,9 @@ public class DefaultLogger
     /** Close error stream after use. */
     private final boolean closeError;
 
+    /** Print severity level. */
+    private boolean printSeverity = true;
+
     /**
      * Creates a new {@code DefaultLogger} instance.
      * @param os where to log infos and errors
@@ -71,6 +74,24 @@ public class DefaultLogger
         this(os, closeStreamsAfterUse, os, false);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Creates a new <code>DefaultLogger</code> instance.
+     * @param infoStream the {@code OutputStream} for info messages.
+     * @param closeInfoAfterUse auditFinished should close infoStream.
+     * @param errorStream the {@code OutputStream} for error messages.
+     * @param closeErrorAfterUse auditFinished should close errorStream
+     * @param printSeverity if severity level should be printed.
+     * @exception UnsupportedEncodingException if there is a problem to use UTF-8 encoding.
+     */
+    public DefaultLogger(OutputStream infoStream,
+                         boolean closeInfoAfterUse,
+                         OutputStream errorStream,
+                         boolean closeErrorAfterUse,
+                         boolean printSeverity) throws UnsupportedEncodingException {
+        this(infoStream, closeInfoAfterUse, errorStream, closeErrorAfterUse);
+        this.printSeverity = printSeverity;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Creates a new {@code DefaultLogger} instance.
      *
@@ -120,10 +141,11 @@ public class DefaultLogger
             if (evt.getColumn() > 0) {
                 sb.append(':').append(evt.getColumn());
             }
-            if (severityLevel == SeverityLevel.WARNING) {
-                sb.append(": warning");
+            final String errorMessageSeparator = ": ";
+            if (printSeverity) {
+                sb.append(errorMessageSeparator).append(severityLevel.getName());
             }
-            sb.append(": ").append(message);
+            sb.append(errorMessageSeparator).append(message);
             errorWriter.println(sb);
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/Main.java b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/Main.java
index 633f50b61..2329851f4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/Main.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/Main.java
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ public final class Main {
 
         }
         else if (PLAIN_FORMAT_NAME.equals(format)) {
-            listener = new DefaultLogger(out, closeOutputStream);
+            listener = new DefaultLogger(out, closeOutputStream, out, false, true);
 
         }
         else {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/ant/CheckstyleAntTask.java b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/ant/CheckstyleAntTask.java
index 4dfd45288..0cb8724d8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/ant/CheckstyleAntTask.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/ant/CheckstyleAntTask.java
@@ -462,7 +462,7 @@ public class CheckstyleAntTask extends Task {
             if (formatters.isEmpty()) {
                 final OutputStream debug = new LogOutputStream(this, Project.MSG_DEBUG);
                 final OutputStream err = new LogOutputStream(this, Project.MSG_ERR);
-                listeners[0] = new DefaultLogger(debug, true, err, true);
+                listeners[0] = new DefaultLogger(debug, true, err, true, true);
             }
             else {
                 for (int i = 0; i < formatterCount; i++) {
@@ -591,7 +591,8 @@ public class CheckstyleAntTask extends Task {
                     new LogOutputStream(task, Project.MSG_DEBUG),
                     true, new LogOutputStream(task, Project.MSG_ERR), true);
             }
-            return new DefaultLogger(new FileOutputStream(toFile), true);
+            final FileOutputStream infoStream = new FileOutputStream(toFile);
+            return new DefaultLogger(infoStream, true, infoStream, false, true);
         }
 
         /**
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/BaseCheckTestSupport.java b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/BaseCheckTestSupport.java
index 4cabe124e..9803cf0a4 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/BaseCheckTestSupport.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/BaseCheckTestSupport.java
@@ -28,7 +28,11 @@ public abstract class BaseCheckTestSupport {
     protected static class BriefLogger
             extends DefaultLogger {
         public BriefLogger(OutputStream out) throws UnsupportedEncodingException {
-            super(out, true);
+            super(out, true, out, false, false);
+        }
+
+        public BriefLogger(OutputStream out, boolean printSeverity) throws UnsupportedEncodingException {
+            super(out, true, out, false, printSeverity);
         }
 
         @Override
@@ -58,6 +62,22 @@ public abstract class BaseCheckTestSupport {
         return checker;
     }
 
+    protected Checker createChecker(Configuration checkConfig, boolean printSeverity)
+        throws Exception {
+
+        final DefaultConfiguration dc = createCheckerConfig(checkConfig);
+        final Checker checker = new Checker();
+        // make sure the tests always run with english error messages
+        // so the tests don't fail in supported locales like german
+        final Locale locale = Locale.ENGLISH;
+        checker.setLocaleCountry(locale.getCountry());
+        checker.setLocaleLanguage(locale.getLanguage());
+        checker.setModuleClassLoader(Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader());
+        checker.configure(dc);
+        checker.addListener(new BriefLogger(stream, printSeverity));
+        return checker;
+    }
+
     protected DefaultConfiguration createCheckerConfig(Configuration config) {
         final DefaultConfiguration dc =
                 new DefaultConfiguration("configuration");
@@ -84,6 +104,11 @@ public abstract class BaseCheckTestSupport {
         verify(createChecker(aConfig), fileName, fileName, expected);
     }
 
+    protected void verify(Configuration aConfig, boolean printSeveriy,
+                          String filename, String... expected) throws Exception {
+        verify(createChecker(aConfig, printSeveriy), filename, filename, expected);
+    }
+
     protected void verify(Checker checker, String fileName, String... expected)
             throws Exception {
         verify(checker, fileName, fileName, expected);
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/DefaultLoggerTest.java b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/DefaultLoggerTest.java
index 9b6643f87..2049e9c60 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/DefaultLoggerTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/DefaultLoggerTest.java
@@ -37,4 +37,12 @@ public class DefaultLoggerTest {
         dl.addException(new AuditEvent(5000, "myfile"), new IllegalStateException("upsss"));
         dl.auditFinished(new AuditEvent(6000, "myfile"));
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testCtorWithTwoParameters() throws UnsupportedEncodingException {
+        OutputStream infoStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+        DefaultLogger dl = new DefaultLogger(infoStream, true);
+        dl.addException(new AuditEvent(5000, "myfile"), new IllegalStateException("upsss"));
+        dl.auditFinished(new AuditEvent(6000, "myfile"));
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/MainTest.java b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/MainTest.java
index 151f25fa2..a490d483b 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/MainTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/MainTest.java
@@ -253,9 +253,9 @@ public class MainTest {
                     + "/src/test/resources/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/InputMain.java"
                     .replace("/", File.separator);
                 assertEquals(String.format("Starting audit...%n"
-                        + "%1$s:3:14: "
+                        + "%1$s:3:14: error: "
                         + "Name 'InputMain' must match pattern '^[a-z0-9]*$'.%n"
-                        + "%1$s:5:7: "
+                        + "%1$s:5:7: error: "
                         + "Name 'InputMainInner' must match pattern '^[a-z0-9]*$'.%n"
                         + "Audit done.%n"
                         + "Checkstyle ends with 2 errors.%n", expectedPath), systemOut.getLog());
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/WriteTagCheckTest.java b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/WriteTagCheckTest.java
index 52a411c27..c600b22de 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/WriteTagCheckTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/javadoc/WriteTagCheckTest.java
@@ -80,14 +80,27 @@ public class WriteTagCheckTest extends BaseCheckTestSupport {
     }
 
     @Test
-    public void testTagSeverity() throws Exception {
+    public void testTagPrintSeverityTrue() throws Exception {
         checkConfig.addAttribute("tag", "@incomplete");
         checkConfig.addAttribute("tagFormat", "\\S");
         checkConfig.addAttribute("tagSeverity", "warning");
         final String[] expected = {
             "11: " + getCheckMessage(WRITE_TAG, "warning: @incomplete", "This class needs more code..."),
         };
-        verify(checkConfig, getPath("InputWriteTag.java"), expected);
+        final boolean printSeverity = true;
+        verify(checkConfig, printSeverity, getPath("InputWriteTag.java"), expected);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testTagPrintSeverityFalse() throws Exception {
+        checkConfig.addAttribute("tag", "@incomplete");
+        checkConfig.addAttribute("tagFormat", "\\S");
+        checkConfig.addAttribute("tagSeverity", "warning");
+        final String[] expected = {
+            "11: " + getCheckMessage(WRITE_TAG, "@incomplete", "This class needs more code..."),
+        };
+        final boolean printSeverity = false;
+        verify(checkConfig, printSeverity, getPath("InputWriteTag.java"), expected);
     }
 
     @Test