Stylistics of the English Language

They had loved her, and she had loved them. (Caldwell)

Work - work - work!

From weary chime to chime!

Work - work - work

As prisoners work for crime!

Band, and gusset, and seam

Seam, and gusset, and band...

(Hood)

The climax is such an arrangement of a series of clauses or phrases that form an ascending scale, in which each of the sentences is stronger in intensity of expression than the previous one.

We're nice people and there isn't going to be room for nice people any more. It's ended, it's all over, it's dead. (Cheever)

Another device is the anticlimax, also called back gradation, which is a figure of speech that consists in an abrupt and often ludicrous descent, which contrasts with the previous rise. The descent is often achieved by the addition of a detail that ruins the elevated tenor of the previous narration.

Its main stylistic function is to give the thought an unexpected humorous or ironic twist.

I hate and detest every bit of it, said Professor Silenus gravely. Nothing I have ever done has caused me so much disgust. With a deep sigh he rose from the table and walked from the room, the fork with which he had been eating still held in his hand. (Waugh)

Practice Section

1. What are the basic principles of stylistic grammar? How does grammatical metaphor correlate with lexical metaphor?

2. What is the essence of the grammatical gradation theory? Describe the types of grammatical transposition and provide your own examples to illustrate each type.

3. Consider the following sentences and comment on the function of morphological grammatical categories and parts of speech that create stylistic function:

One night I am standing in front of Mindy's restaurant on Broadway, thinking of practically nothing whatever, when all of a sudden I feel a very terrible pain in my left foot. (Runyon)

It's good, that, to see you again, Mr. Philip, said Jim. (Caldwell)

Earth colours are his theme. When he shows up at the door, we see that he's even dressing in them. His pants are grey. His shirt is the same colour as his skin. Flesh colour. (Erdrich)

Now, the Andorrans were a brave, warlike people centuries ago, as everybody was at one time or another - for example, take your Assyrians, who are now extinct; or your Swedes, who fought in the Thirty Years' War but haven't done much since except lie in the sun and turn brown... (Berger)

A gaunt and Halloweenish grin was plastered to her face. (Erdrich)

I walked past Mrs. Shumway, who jerked her head around in a startled woodpeckerish way... (Erdrich)

She's the Honourable Mrs. Beste-Chetwynde, you know - sister-in-law of Lord Pastmaster - a very wealthy woman, South American. (Waugh)

...there are two kinds of people, which we may call the hurters and the hurtees. The first get their satisfaction by working their will on somebody else. The second like to be imposed upon. (Burger)

To hear her was to be beginning to despair. (Jarrell)

But they domanage the building? Mrs. Doubleday said to him. (Cheever)

A band indeed! You' ll be having fireworks next. (Waugh)

I stare down at the bright orange capsules... I have to listen... so we look at each other, up and down, and up and down... Without us, they say, without Loise, it's the state hospital. (Erdrich)

Ah! That must be Aunt Augusta. Only relatives, or creditors, ever ring in that Wagnerian manner. (Wilde)

I got nothing against Joe Chapin, but he's not me. I'm me, and another man is still another man. (O'Hara)

That's not the Mr. Littlejohn I used to know. (Waugh)

I pronounce that the sentence on the defendants, Noelle Page and Lawrence Douglas, shall be execution by a firing squad. (Sheldon)

They are all being so formal. Let's play a game to break the ice. (Bell)

I wondered how the Moroccan boy... could stand meekly aside and watch her go off with another man.

Actors, I thought. They must divide themselves into compartments. (Shaw)

Oh, I guess I love you, I do love the children, but I love myself, I love my life, it has some value and some promise for me... (Cheever)

Let him say his piece, the darling. Isn't he divine? (Waugh)

It never was the individual sounds of a language, but the melodies behind them, that Dr. Rosenbaum imitated. For these his ear was Mozartian. (Jarrell)

They are allowed to have the train stoppedat every cross-roads... (Atkinson)

4. Arrange syntactical expressive means described in Galperin's classification into four groups according to the major principles of stylistic syntax in addition to the illustrations given in the chapter above.

5. Identify syntactical stylistic devices used in the examples below and comment on their meaning in the context:

I should have brought down a more attractive dress. This one, with its white petals gone dull in the shower steam, with its belt of lavender and prickling lace at each pulse point, I don't like. (Erdrich)

I begin my windshield-wiper wave, as instructed by our gym teacher, who has been a contestant for Miss North Dakota. Back and forth very slowly. Smile, smile, smile. (Erdrich)

Except for the work in the quarries, life at Egdon was almost the same as at Blackstone.

'Slops outside,' chapel, privacy. (Waugh)

ft was for this reason the rector had so abjectly curled up, still so abjectly curled up before She-who-was Cynthia: because of his slave's fear of her contempt, the contempt of a born-free nature for a base-born nature. (Lawrence)

The warder rang the bell - Inside, you two! he shouted. (Waugh)

- Old man, Miles said amiably, if I may say so, I think you're missing the point.

- If I may say so, sir, Philippe said, I think I am missing nothing. What is the point? (Shaw)

You asked me what I had going this time. What I have going is wine. With the way the world's drinking these days, being in wine is like having a license to steal. (Shaw)

How kind of you, Alfred! She has asked about you, and expressed her intention - her intention, if you please! - to know you. (Caldwell)

When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. (Wilde)

- There are lots of things I wanted to do - I wanted to climb the Matterhorn but I wouldn't blame the fact that I haven't on anyone else.

- You. Clime the Matterhorn. Ha. You couldn't even climb the Washington Monument. (Cheever)

There was no Olga. I had no consolation. Then I felt desperate, desolate, crushed. (Cheever)

- You get cold, riding a bicycle? he asked.

- My hands! she said clasping them nervously. (Lawrence)

If the man had been frightening before, he was now a perfect horror. (Berger)

My dear fellow, the way you flirt with Gwendolen is perfectly disgraceful. It is almost as bad as the way Gwendolen flirts with you. (Wilde)

Trouble is, I don't know if I want a business or not. Or even if I can pay for it, if I did want it. (Shute)

A man has a right to get married and have children, and I'd earned the right to have a wife, both in work and money. A man's got a right to live in his own place. A man has a right to make his life where he can look after his Dad and Mum a bit when they get old. (Shute)

...already we were operating five aircraft of four different types, and if we got a Tramp we should have six aircraft of five types...

A Tramp it would have to be, and I told them of my money difficulty.

(Shute)

Damrey Phong, though healthy, is a humid place. (Shute)

He's made his declaration. He loves me. He can't live without me. He'd walk through fire to hear the notes of my voice. (Cheever)

That's the foolest thing I ever heard. (Berger)

Chapter 4

The Theory of Functional Styles

The notion of style In functional stylistics. Correlation of style, norm and function in the language. Language varieties: regional, social, occupational. An overview of functional style systems. Distinctive linguistic features of the major functional styles of English

4.1 The notion of style in functional stylistics

The notion of style has to do with how we use the language under specific circumstances for a specific purpose. The notion of using English, for instance, involves much more than using our knowledge of its linguistic structure. It also involves awareness of the numerous situations in which English can be used as a special medium of communication with its own set of distinctive and recognizable features. The various branches of linguistics that investigate the topic, such as sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, pragmatics, discourse analysis, textlinguistics, and stylistics present a remarkable range of methodologies and emphases. We'll be interested in how stylistic research treats of the subject.

Linguistic literature gives various definitions of the notion 'style' that generally boil down to the following three meanings of this term:

A variety of the national language traditionally used in one of the socially identifiable spheres of life that is characterised by a particular set of linguistic features, including vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. These are chiefly associated with the social and regional varieties, such as educated, colloquial, low colloquial, dialectal, uneducated, etc. From this point of view the most broad and well known subdivision in many national languages today usually describes these varieties as neutral, literary (high) and colloquial (low): e.g. Cockney, upper-class, educated English.

Generally accepted linguistic identity of oral and written units of discourse, such as public speech, a lecture, a friendly letter, a newspaper article, etc. Such units demonstrate style not only in a special choice of linguistic means but in their very arrangement, i. e. composition of a speech act, that creates a category of text marked by oratory, scientific, familiar or pubhcist style.

Individual manner of expression determined by personal factors, such as educational background, professional experience, sense of humour, etc.: e.g. personal style of communication, the style of Pushkin's early poetry.

Style is our knowledge how language is used to create and interpret texts and conversational interactions. It involves being aware of the range of situations in which a language can be used in a distinctive and predictable way and of the possibilities available to us when we want to produce or respond to creative uses of the language.

Stylistic features relate to constraints on language use that may be only temporary features of our spoken or written language. We often adopt different group uses of language as we go through our day; we may use a different style speaking with our children in the family, reporting to our boss at work or practicing sports. We change our speaking or writing style to make a particular effect: imitating somebody's accent when telling a story, giving a humorous account of events in an informal letter and so on. Style is first and foremost the result of our choice of content of our message and the appropriate range of language means to deliver the message effectively.

Uses of English in numerous situations that require definite stylistic features are studied by the theory of functional styles.

This theory involves consideration of such notions as norm and function in their relation to style.

4.2 Correlation of style, norm and function in the language

Any national language uses the notion of 'correct language' which involves conformity to the grammatical, lexical and phonetic standards accepted as normative in this society. The favoured variety is usually a version of the standard written language, especially as encountered in literature or in the formal spoken language that most closely reflects litterary style. It is presented in dictionaries, grammars and other official manuals. Those who speak and write in this way are said to be using language 'correctly', those who do not are said to be using it 'incorrectly'. Correct usage is associated with the notion of the linguistic norm. The norm is closely related to the system of the language as an abstract ideal system. The system provides and determines the general rules of usage of its elements, the norm is the actual use of these provisions by individual speakers under specific conditions of communication.

Individual use of the language implies a personal selection of linguistic means on aU levels. When this use conforms to the general laws of the language this use wiU coincide with what is called the literary norm of the national language.

However the literary norm is not a homogeneous and calcified entity. It varies due to a number of factors, such as regional, social, situational, personal, etc.

The norm will be dictated by the social roles of the participants of communication, their age and family or other relations. An important role in the selection of this or that variety of the norm belongs to the purpose of the utterance, or its function. Informal language on a formal occasion is as inappropriate as formal language on an informal occasion. To say that a usage is appropriate is only to say that it is performing its function satisfactorily. We shall use different 'norms' speaking with elderly people and our peers, teachers and students, giving an interview or testimony in court. This brings us to the notion of the norm variation.

The norm of the language implies various realisations of the language structure that are sometimes called its subsystems, registers or varieties.

I. V. Arnold presents these relations as a system of oppositions:

Structure : : norm : : individual use National norm : : dialect

Neutral style : : colloquial style : : bookish style Literary correct speech : : common colloquial

Functional styles are subsystems of the language and represent varieties of the norm of the national language. Their evolution and development has been determined by the specific factors of communication in various spheres of human activity. Each of them is characterised by its own parameters in vocabulary usage, syntactical expression, phraseology, etc.

The term 'functional style' reflects peculiar functions of the language in this or that type of communicative interaction. Proceeding from the generally acknowledged language functions Prof. I. V. Arnold suggested a description of functional styles based on the combination of the linguistic functions they fulfil.

Function Style	intellectual communicative	pragmatic	emotive	phatic	aesthetic
oratorical	+	+	+	+	+
colloquial	+	+	+	+	-
poetic	+	-	+	-	+
publicist and newspaper	+	+	+	-	-
official	+	+	-	-	-
scientific	+	-	-	-	-

The table presents functional styles as a kind of hierarchy according to the number of functions fulfilled by each style, oratorical and scientific being almost complete opposites.

Language varieties: regional, social, occupational

However not all texts have boundaries that are easy to identify in the use of distinctive language. For example, the oratorical style has a lot. of common features with the publicist one, which in its turn is often comparable with the style of humanities, such as political science, history or philosophy.

The point of departure for discerning functional styles is the so-called neutral style that is stylistically non-marked and reflects the norms of the language. It serves as a kind of universal background for the expression of stylistically marked elements in texts of any functional type. It can be rarely observed in the individual use of the language and as Skrebnev remarked, perhaps, only handbooks for foreigners and primers could be qualified as stylistically neutral (47, p. 22).

4.3 Language varieties: regional, social, occupational

The particular set of features, which identifies a language variety, does not represent the features of the language as a whole. Variety features depend on the presence of certain factors in a social situation. Classifications of these factors vary, but we may group them into two types according to most general dimensions: sociolinguistic and stylistic factors.

Sociolinguistic factors are connected with very broad situational constraints on language use. They chiefly identify the regional and social varieties of the language. They are relatively permanent features of the spoken and written language, over which we have comparatively little conscious control. We tend not to change our regional or social group way of speaking in every-day communication and usually we are not aware of using it.

Stylistic factors relate to restrictions on language use that are much more narrowly constrained, and identify individual preferences in usage (phraseology, special vocabulary, language of literature) or the varieties that are associated with occupational groups (lawyers, journalists, scholars). These are features, over which we are able to exercise some degree of conscious control.

As David Crystal, a famous British linguist puts it, regional language variation of English provides a geographical answer to the question 'Where are you from, in the English-speaking world?'

Social language variation provides an answer to a somewhat different question 'Who are you?' or 'What are you in the eyes of the English-speaking society to which you belong?' (33, p. 393). Actually social variation provides several possible answers, because people may acquire several identities as they participate in the social structure. One and the same person may belong to different social groups and perform different social roles. A person may at the same time be described as 'a parent', 'a wife', 'an architect', 'a feminist', 'a senior citizen', 'a member of Parliament', 'an amateur sculptor', 'a theatre-goer'; the possibffities may be endless.

Any of these identities can have consequences for the kind of language we use. Language more than anything else will testify to our permanent and temporary roles in social life.

Some features of social variation lead to particular linguistic consequences. In many ways our pronunciation, choice of words and constructions, general strategy of communication are defined by the age, sex and socio-economic aspects. Choice of occupation has a less predictable influence, though in some contexts, e. g. medicine or law it can be highly distinctive.

Adopting a specific social role, such as making a congratulatory speech or conducting a panel talk, invariably entails a choice of appropriate linguistic forms.

Across the world attitudes to social variation differ a lot. All countries display social stratification, though some have more clearly defined boundaries than others and therefore more distinct features of class dialect. Britain is usually said to be linguistically more class-conscious than other English-speaking countries.

For example, in England one accent has traditionally dominated over all others and the notion of respectable social standing is usually associated with Received Pronunciation (RP), considered to be the 'prestige accent'.

However today with the breakdown of rigid divisions between social classes and the development of mass media RP is no longer the prerogative of social elite. Today it is best described as an 'educated' accent which actually has several varieties. Most educated people have developed an accent, which is a mixture of RP and various regional features that sometimes is called 'modified RP'.

This is one example that shows a general trend in modern English-regionally modified speech is no longer stigmatised as 'low', it can even be an advantage, expressing such social values as solidarity and democracy. A pure RP accent, by contrast can even evoke hostility, especially in those parts of Britain that have their own regional norms, e. g. Scotland and Wales.

Occupational varieties of the national language are normally associated with a particular way of earning a living. They belong to the group of stylistically determined varieties and differ from both regional and social sublanguages.

Features of language that identify people's geographical or social origins, once established can hardly change over a short period of time. It would be very difficult to change your accent if you move from one part of the country to another with a different regional norm; it is equally difficult to transform the linguistic indicators of our social background (vocabulary and structural expression).

Occupational varieties are not like that. Their linguistic features may be just as distinctive as regional or social features, but they are only in temporary use. They 'go with the territory' - adopted as we begin work and given up as we finish it. People who cannot stop 'talking shop' even when they are not at work are rather an exception to the rule.

Any professional field could serve as an illustration of occupational linguistic identity. There are no class distinctions here. Factory workers have to master a special glossary of technical terms and administrative vocabulary (seniority labels, term of service, severance pay, fringe benefits, safety regulation) in order to carry out professional communication. To fulfil their tasks they develop jargon and professional slang, which set them apart from outsiders. The more specialised the occupation and the more senior or professional the position the more technical the language. Also, if an occupation has a long-lasting and firmly established tradition it is likely to have its own linguistic rituals which its members accept as a criterion of proficiency. The highly distinctive languages of law, government and religion provide the clearest cases, with their unique grammar,

vocabulary, and patterns of discourse. Of course, all occupations are linguistically distinctive to a certain degree. In some cases it involves only special terms; in others it may be a combination of linguistic features on different levels as will be shown in the last section of this chapter.

4.4 An overview of functional style systems

As has been mentioned before there are a great many classifications of language varieties that are called sublanguages, substyles, registers and functional styles that use various criteria for their definition and categorisation. The term generally accepted by most Russian scholars is functional styles. It is also used in this course. A few classifications of the functional styles in modern English will be considered in this chapter.

Books by I. R. Galperin on English Stylistics (1958, 1971, 1977) are among most acknowledged sources of stylistic research in this country.

Galperin distinguishes 5 functional styles and suggests their subdivision into substyles in modern English according to the following scheme:

1. The Belles-Lettres Style:

a) poetry;

b) emotive prose;

c) the language of the drama.

2. Publicist Style:

a) oratory and speeches;

b) the essay;

c) articles.

3. Newspaper Style:

a) brief news items;

b) headlines;

c) advertisements and announcements;

d) the editorial.

4. Scientific Prose Style.

5. The Style of Official documents:

a) business documents;

b) legal documents;

c) the language of diplomacy;

d) military documents.

Prof. Galperin differs from many other scholars in his views on functional styles because he includes in his classification only the written variety of the language. In his opinion style is the result of creative activity of the writer who consciously and deliberately selects language means that create style. Colloquial speech, according to him, by its very nature will not lend itself to careful selection of linguistic features and there is no stylistic intention expressed on the part of the speaker. At the same time his classification contains such varieties of publicist style as oratory and speeches. What he actually means is probably not so much the spoken variety of the language but spontaneous colloquial speech, a viewpoint which nevertheless seems to give ground for debate. As we pointed out in sections two and three of this chapter individual speech, oral variety included, is always marked by stylistic features that show the

speaker's educational, social and professional background. Moreover we always assume some socially determined role and consciously choose appropriate language means to perform it and achieve the aim of communication.

Scholars' views vary on some other items of this classification. There is no unanimity about the belles-lettres style. In fact Galperin's position is not shared by the majority. This notion comes under criticism because it seems rather artificial especiaUy in reference to modern prose. It is certainly true that many works of fiction may contain emotionally coloured passages of emotive writing that are marked by special image-creating devices, such as tropes and figures of speech. These are typically found in the author's narrative, lyrical digressions, expositions, descriptions of nature or reflections on the characters' emotional or mental state.

At the same time many writers give an account of external events, social life and reproduce their characters' direct speech. Sometimes they quote extracts from legal documents, newspapers items, advertisements, slogans, headlines, e. g. K. Vonnegut, J. Dos Passos, etc. which do not belong to beUes-lettres style in its traditional meaning.

As a matter of fact, in modern works of fiction we may encounter practicaUy any functional speech type imaginable. So most other classifications do not distinguish the language of fiction as a separate style.

In 1960 the book "Stylistics of the English Language" by M. D. Kufc-netz and Y. M. Skrebnev appeared. The book was a kind of brief outline of stylistic problems. The styles and their varieties distinguished by these authors included:

1. Literary or Bookish Style:

a) publicist style;

b) scientific (technological) style;

c) official documents.

2. Free ("Colloquial") Style:

a) literary colloquial style;

b) familiar colloquial style.

As can be seen from this classification, both poetry and imaginative prose have not been included (as non-homogeneous objects) although the book is supplied with a chapter on versification.

Next comes the well-known work by I, V. Arnold "Stylistics of Modern English" (decoding stylistics) published in 1973 and revised in 1981. Some theses of this author have already been presented in this chapter (i. e. those that concern the notions of norm, neutrality and function in their stylistic aspect). Speaking of functional styles, Arnold starts With the a kind of abstract notion termed 'neutral style'. It has no distinctive features and its function is to provide a standard background for the other styles. The other 'real' styles can be broadly divided into two groups according to the scholar's approach: different varieties of colloquial styles and several types of literary bookish styles.

1. Colloquial Styles:

a) literary colloquial;

b) familiar colloquial;

c) common colloquial.

2. Literary Bookish Styles:

a) scientific;

b) official documents;

c) publicist (newspaper);

d) oratorical;

e) poetic.

This system presents an accurate description of the many social and extralinguistic factors that influence the choice of specific language for a definite communicative purpose. At the same time the inclusion of neutral style in this classification seems rather odd since unlike the others it's non-existent in individual use and should probably be associated only with the structure of the language.

One type of sublanguages suggested by Arnold in her classification - publicist or newspaper - fell under the criticism of Skrebnev who argues that the diversity of genres in newspapers is evident to any layman: along with the "leader" (or editorial) the newspaper page gives a column to political observers, some space is taken by sensational reports; newspapers are often full of lengthy essays on economics, law, morals, art, etc. Much space is also given to miscellaneous news items, local events; some papers publish sequences of stories or novels; and most papers sell their pages to advertising firms. This enumeration of newspaper genres could go on and on. Therefore, Skrebnev maintains, we can hardly speak of such functional style at all.

Of course Arnold is quite aware of the diversity of newspaper writings. However what she really means is the newspaper material specific of the newspaper only: political news, police reports, press reviews, editorials.

In a word, newspaper style should be spoken of only when the materials that serve to inform the reader are meant. Then we can speak of distinctive style - forming features including a special choice

of words, abundance of international words, newspaper cliches and nonce words, etc.

It should be noted however that many scholars consider the language of the press as a separate style and some researchers even single out newspaper headlines as a functional style.

One of the relatively recent books on stylistics is the handbook by A. N. Morokhovsky and his co-authors O. P. Vorobyova, N. I. Lik-nosherst and Z. V. Timoshenko "Stylistics of the English language" published in Kiev in 1984. In the final chapter of the book "Stylistic Differentiation of Modern English" a concise but exhaustive review of factors that should be taken into account in treating the problem of functional styles is presented. The book suggests the following style classes:

1. Official business style.

2. Scientific-professional style.

3. Publicist style.

4. Literary colloquial style.

5. Familiar colloquial style.

Each style, according to Morokhovsky has a combination of distinctive features. Among them we find oppositions like 'artistic - non-artistic', 'presence of personality - absence of it', 'formal - informal situation', 'equal - unequal social status' (of the participants of communication), 'written or oral form'. Morokhovsky emphasizes that these five classes of what he calls "speech activity" are abstractions rather than realities, they can seldom be observed in their pure forms: mixing styles is the common practice.

On the whole Morokhovsky's concept is one of the few that attempt to differentiate and arrange the taxonomy of cardinal linguistic notions. According to Morokhovsky's approach language as a system includes types of thinking differentiating poetic and straightforward language, oral and written speech, and ultimately, bookish and colloquial functional types of language. The next problem is stylistics of 'speech activity' connected with social stereotypes of speech behaviour. Morokhovsky defines this in the following way: "Stereotypes of speech behaviour or functional styles of speech activity are norms for wide classes of texts or utterances, in which general social roles are embodied - poet, journalist, manager, politician, scholar, teacher, father, mother, etc." (15, p. 234).

The number of stereotypes (functional styles) is not unlimited but great enough. For example, texts in official business style may be administrative, juridical, military, commercial, diplomatic, etc. Still further differentiation deals with a division of texts into genres. Thus military texts (official style) comprise 'commands, reports, regulations, manuals, instructions'; diplomatic documents include 'notes, declarations, agreements, treaties', etc. In addition to all this we may speak of 'the individual style' with regard to any kind of text.

In the same year (1984) V. A. Maltzev published a smaller book on stylistics entitled "Essays on English Stylistics" in Minsk.

His theory is based on the broad division of lingual material into "informal" and "formal" varieties and adherence to Skrebnev's system of functional styles.

Prof. Skrebnev uses the term sublanguages in the meaning that is usually attributed to functional styles. The major difference in his use of this term is that he considers innumerable situational communicative

products as sublanguages, including each speaker's idiolect. Each act of speech is a sublanguage. This makes the notion of functional style somewhat vague and difficult to define. At the same time Skrebnev recognizes the major opposition of 'formal' and 'informal' sphere of language use and suggests "a very rough and approximate gradation of subspheres and their respective sublanguages" (47, p. 200).

The formal sublanguages in Skrebnev's opinion belong exclusively to the written variety of lingual intercourse. He avoids the claim of inconsistency for including certain types of speeches into this sphere by arguing that texts of some of the types can be read aloud in public.

His rough subdivision of formal styles includes:

a) private correspondence with a stranger;

b) business correspondence between representatives of commercial or other establishments;

c) diplomatic correspondence, international treaties;

d) legal documents (civil law - testaments, settlements; criminal law - verdicts, sentences);

e) personal documents (certificates, diplomas, etc.).

The informal colloquial sphere includes ah types of colloquial language - literary, non-literary, vulgar, ungrammatical, social dialects, the vernacular of the underworld, etc. This cannot be inventoried because of its unlimited varieties.

Of course formal and informal spheres do not exist in severely separated worlds.

The user of the first speech type is fully aware of his social responsibility. He knows the requirements he has to meet and the conventions he

must observe. But the same person may change his lingual behaviour with the change of the environment or situation. Sometimes he is forced to abide by laws that are very different from those he regularly uses: speaking with children, making a speech before parliament or during an electoral campaign.

The first type of speech - 'formal' - comprises the varieties that are used in spheres of official communication, science, technology, poetry and fiction, newspaper texts, oratory, etc. It's obvious that many of these varieties can be further subdivided into smaller classes or sublanguages. For example, in the sphere of science and technology almost each science has a metalanguage of its own. The language of computer technology, e. g., is not so limited to the technological sphere as at the time of its beginnings - 'to be computer-friendly' has given rise to many other coinages like 'media-friendly', 'market-friendly', 'envhonmentally friendly', etc.

In the informal type of speech we sh n't find so many varieties as in the formal one, but it is used by a much greater number of people. The first and most important informal variety is colloquial style. This is the language used by educated people in informal situations. These people may resort to jargon or slang or even vulgar language to express their negative attitude to somebody or something.

Uneducated people speak "popular" or ungrammatical language, be it English or Russian.

There is also a problem of dialects that would require special consideration that cannot be done within this course. Dialects are not really "ungrammatical" types of a national language, some scholars hold, but a different language with its own laws. However

it may have been true in the last century but not now. And what Skrebnev writes on this problem seems to be argumentative enough.

"Dialects are current in the countryside; cities are nearly untouched by them. In the 19th century England some of the aristocracy were not ashamed of using their local dialects. Nowadays owing to the sound media (radio, cinema and TV) non-standard English in Britain is nearly, as in this country, a sure sign of cultural inferiority, e. g. the status of Соскnеу." (47, p. 198).

In his classification of functional styles of modern English that he calls language varieties the famous British linguist D. Crystal suggests the following subdivision of these styles: regional, social, occupational, restricted and individual. (33, 34)

Regional varieties of English reflect the geographical origin of the language used by the speaker: Lancashire variety, Canadian English, Cockney, etc.

Social variations testify to the speaker's family, education, social status background: upper class and non-upper class, a political activist, a member of the proletariat, a Times reader, etc.

Occupational styles present quite a big group that includes the following types:

a) religious English;

b) scientific English;

c) legal English;

d) plain (official) English;

e) political English;

f) news media English further subdivided into:

newsreporting;

journalistics;

broadcasting;

sportscommentary;

advertising.

Restricted English includes very tightly constrained uses of language when little or no linguistic variation is permitted. In these cases special rules are created by man to be consciously learned and used. These rules control everything that can be said. According to Crystal restricted varieties appear both in domestic and occupational spheres and include the following types:

a) knitwrite in books on knitting;

b) cookwrite in recipe books;

c) congratulatory messages;

d) newspaper announcements;

e) newspaper headlines;

f) sportscasting scores;

g) airspeak, the language of air traffic control;

h) emergencyspeak, the language for the emergency services;

i) e-mail variety, etc.

Individual variation involves types of speech that arise from the speaker's personal differences meaning such features as physique, interests, personality, experience and so on. A particular blend of social and geographical backgrounds may produce a distinctive accent or dialect. Educational history, occupational experience, personal skills and tastes, hobbies or literary preferences will foster the use of habitual words and turns of phrase, or certain kinds of grammatical construction.

Also noticeable will be favourite discourse practices - -a tendency to develop points in an argument in a certain way, or an inclination for certain kinds of metaphor. Some people are 'good conversationalists', 'good story-tellers', 'good letter-writers', 'good speech-makers'. What actually makes them so is the subject of stylistic research.

There are also a number of cases where individuality in the use of English - a personal style - is considered to be a matter of particular importance and worthy of study in its own right. Such is the study of the individual style of a writer or poet: Shakespeare's style, Faulkner's style, and the like.

4.5 Distinctive linguistic features of the major functional styles of English

A description of five major functional styles given in this section is based on their most distinctive features on each level of the language structure: pnonetical (where possible), morphological, syntactical, lexical and compositional. A peculiar combination of these features and special emphasis on some of them creates the paradigm of what is called a scientific or publicist text, a legal or other official document, colloquial or formal speech.

4.5.1 Literary colloquial style

Phonetic features

Standard pronunciation in compliance with the national norm, enunciation.

Phonetic compression of frequently used forms, e.g. it's, don't, Fve.

Omission of unaccented elements due to the quick tempo, e. g. you know him ?

Morphological features

Use of regular morphological features, with interception of evaluative suffixes e. g. deary, doggie, duckie.

Syntactical features

Use of simple sentences with a number of participial and infinitive constructions and numerous parentheses.

Syntactically correct utterances compliant with the literary norm.

Use of various types of syntactical compression, simplicity of syntactical connection.

Prevalence of active and finite verb forms.

Use of grammar forms for emphatic purposes, e. g. progressive verb forms to express emotions of irritation, anger etc.

Decomposition and ellipsis of sentences in a dialogue (easily reconstructed from the context).

Use of special colloquial phrases, e.g. that friend of yours. Lexical features

Wide range of vocabulary strata in accordance with the register of communication and participants' roles: formal and informal, neutral and bookish, terms and foreign words.

Basic stock of communicative vocabulary - stylistically neutral.

Use of socially accepted contracted forms and abbreviations, e. g. fridge for refrigerator, ice for ice-cream, TV for television, CD for compact disk, etc.

Use of etiquette language and conversational formulas, such as nice to see you, my pleasure, on behalf of, etc.

Extensive use of intensifiers and gap-fillers, e.g. absolutely, definitely, awfully, kind of, so to speak, I mean, if I may say so.

Use of interjections and exclamations, e. g. Dear me, My God, Goodness, well, why, now, oh.

Extensive use of phrasal verbs let sb down, put up with, stand sb up. Use of words of indefinite meaning like thing, stuff. Avoidance of slang, vulgarisms, dialect words, jargon. Use of phraseological expressions, idioms and figures of speech.

Compositional features

Can be used in written and spoken varieties: dialogue, monologue, personal letters, diaries, essays, articles, etc.

Prepared types of texts may have thought out and logical composition, to a certain extent determined by conventional forms (letters, presentations, articles, interviews).

Spontaneous types have a loose structure, relative coherence and uniformity of form and content.

4.5.2 Familiar colloquial style

Represented in spoken variety.

Phonetic features

Casual and often careless pronunciation, use of deviant forms, e. g. gonna instead of going to, whatcha instead of what do you, dunno instead of don't know.

Use of reduced and contracted forms, e.g. you're, they've, I'd.

Omission of unaccented elements due to quick tempo, e.g. you hear me?

Emphasis on intonation as a powerful semantic and styUstic instrument capable to render subtle nuances of thought and feeling. -

Use of onomatopoeic words, e.g. whoosh, hush, stop yodelling, yum, yak.

Morphological features

Use of evaluative suffixes, nonce words formed on morphological and phonetic analogy with other nominal words: e. g. baldish, mawkish, moody, hanky-panky, helter-skelter, plates of meet (feet), okeydoke,

Extensive use of collocations and phrasal verbs instead of neutral and literary equivalents: e.g. to turn in instead of to go to bed.

Syntactical features

Use of simple short sentences.

Dialogues are usually of the question-answer type.

Use of echo questions, parallel structures, repetitions of various kinds.

In complex sentences asyndetic coordination is the norm.

Coordination is used more often than subordination, repeated use of conjunction and is a sign of spontaneity rather than an expressive device.

Extensive use of ellipsis, including the subject of the sentence e.g. Can't say anything.

Extensive use of syntactic tautology, e. g. That girl, she was something else!

Abundance of gap-fillers and parenthetical elements, such as sure, indeed, to be more exact, okay, well.

Lexical features

Combination of neutral, familiar and low colloquial vocabulary, including slang, vulgar and taboo words.

Extensive use of words of general meaning, specified in meaning by the situation guy, job, get, do, fix, affair.

Limited vocabulary resources, use of the same word in different meanings it may not possess, e. g. 'some' meaning good: some guy! some game! 'nice' meaning impressive, fascinating, high quality: nice music.

Abundance of specific colloquial interjections: boy, wow, hey, there, ahoy.

Use of hyperbole, epithets, evaluative vocabulary, trite metaphors and simile, e.g. if you say it once more I'll kill you, as old as the hills, horrid, awesome, etc.

Tautological substitution of personal pronouns and names by other nouns, e.g. you-baby, Johnny-boy.

Mixture of curse words and euphemisms, e. g. damn, dash, darned, shoot.

Compositional features

Use of deviant language on all levels.

Strong emotional colouring.

Loose syntactical organisation of an utterance.

Frequently little coherence or adherence to the topic. No special compositional patterns.

4.5.3 Publicist (media) style

Phonetic features (in oratory)

Standard pronunciation, wide use of prosody as a means of conveying the subtle shades of meaning, overtones and emotions.

Phonetic compression. Morphological features

Frequent use of non-finite verb forms, such as gerund, participle, infinitive.

Use of non-perfect verb forms.

Omission of articles, link verbs, auxiliaries, pronouns, especially in headlines and news items.

Syntactical features

Frequent use of rhetorical questions and interrogatives in oratory speech.

In headlines: use of impersonal sentences, elliptical constructions, interrogative sentences, infinitive complexes and attributive groups.

In news items and articles: news items comprise one or two, rarely three, sentences.

Absence of complex coordination with chain of subordinate clauses and a number of conjunctions.

Prepositional phrases are used much more than synonymous gerundial phrases.

Absence of exclamatory sentences, break-in-the narrative, other expressively charged constructions.

Articles demonstrate more syntactical organisation and logical arrangement of sentences.

Lexical features

Newspaper cliches and set phrases.

Terminological variety: scientific, sports, political, technical, etc. Abbreviations and acronyms.

Numerous proper names, toponyms, anthroponyms, names of enterprises, institutions, international words, dates and figures.

Abstract notion words, elevated and bookish words.

In headlines: frequent use of pun, violated phraseology, vivid stylistic devices.

In oratory speech: words of elevated and bookish character, colloquial words and phrases, frequent use of such stylistic devices as metaphor, alliteration, allusion, irony, etc. Use of conventional forms of address and trite phases. Compositional features

Text arrangement is marked by precision, logic and expressive power. Carefully selected vocabulary. Variety of topics.

Wide use of quotations, direct speech and represented speech.

Use of parallel constructions throughout the text.

In oratory: simplicity of structural expression, clarity of message, argumentative power.

In headlines: use of devices to arrest attention: rhyme, pun, puzzle, high degree of compression, graphical means.

In news items and articles: strict arrangement of titles and subtitles, emphasis on the headline.

Careful subdivision into paragraphs, clearly defined position of the sections of an article: the most important information is carried in the opening paragraph; often in the first sentence.

4.5.4 The style of official documents

Morphological features

Adherence to the norm, sometimes outdated or even archaic, e. g. in legal documents.

Syntactical features

Use of long complex sentences with several types of coordination and subordination (up to 70 % of the text).

Use of passive and participial constructions, numerous connectives.

Use of objects, attributes and all sorts of modifiers in the identifying and explanatory function.

Extensive use of detached constructions and parenthesis.

Use of participle I and participle II as openers in the initial expository statement.

A general syntactical mode of combining several pronouncements into one sentence.

Information texts are based on standard normative syntax reasonably simplified.

Lexical features

Prevalence of stylistically neutral and bookish vocabulary.

Use of terminology, e. g. legal: acquittal, testimony, aggravated larceny; commercial: advance payment, insurance, wholesale, etc.

Use of proper names (names of enterprises, companies, etc.) and titles.

Abstraction of persons, e. g. use of party instead of the name. Officialese vocabulary: cliches, opening and conclusive phrases.

Conventional and archaic forms and words: kinsman, hereof, thereto, thereby, ilk.

Foreign words, especially Latin and French: status quo, force majeure, persona поп grata.

Abbreviations, contractions, conventional symbols: M. P. (member of Parliament), Ltd (limited), $, etc.

Use of words in their primary denotative meaning.

Absence of tropes, no evaluative and emotive colouring of vocabulary.

Seldom use of substitute words: it, one, that. Compositional features

Special compositional design: coded graphical layout, clear-cut subdivision of texts into units of information; logical arrangement of these units, order-of-priority organisation of content and information.

Conventional composition of treaties, agreements, protocols, etc.: division into two parts, a preamble and a main part.

Use of stereotyped, official phraseology.

Accurate use of punctuation.

Generally objective, concrete, unemotional and impersonal style of narration.

4.5.5 ScientificIacademic style Morphological features

Terminological word building and word-derivation: neologism formation by affixation and conversion.

Restricted use of finite verb forms.

Use of 'the author's we' instead of I.

Frequent use of impersonal constructions.

Syntactical features

Complete and standard syntactical mode of expression.

Syntactical precision to ensure the logical sequence of thought and argumentation.

Direct word order.

Use of lengthy sentences with subordinate clauses. Extensive use of participial, gerundial and infinitive complexes. Extensive use of adverbial and prepositional phrases. Frequent use of parenthesis introduced by a dash. Abundance of attributive groups with a descriptive function.

Preferential use of prepositional attributive groups instead of the descriptive of phrase.

Avoidance of ellipsis, even usually omitted conjunctions like 'that' and 'which'.

Prevalence of nominal constructions over the verbal ones to avoid time reference for the sake of generalisation.

Frequent use of passive and non-finite verb forms to achieve objectivity and impersonality.

Use of impersonal forms and sentences such as mention should be made, it can be inferred, assuming that, etc.

Lexical features

Extensive use of bookish words e. g. presume, infer, preconception, cognitive.

Abundance of scientific terminology and phraseology.

Use of words in their primary dictionary meaning, restricted use of connotative contextual meanings.

Use of numerous neologisms.

Abundance of proper names.

Restricted use of emotive colouring, interjections, expressive phraseology, phrasal verbs, colloquial vocabulary.

Seldom use of tropes, such as metaphor, hyperbole, simile, etc.

Compositional features

Types of texts compositionally depend on the scientific genre: monograph, article, presentation, thesis, dissertation, etc.

In scientific proper and technical texts e.g. mathematics: highly formalized text with the prevalence of formulae, tables, diagrams supplied with concise commentary phrases.

In humanitarian texts (history, philosophy): descriptive narration, supplied with argumentation and interpretation.

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