Stylistic stratification of English words

Description of the stylistic strata of the English vocabulary. Interrelation between the basic vocabulary and the stylistically marked (formal and informal) lexis. Words of the formal and informal styles. Professional terminology in modern English.

Рубрика Иностранные языки и языкознание
Вид лекция
Язык английский
Дата добавления 29.09.2013
Размер файла 13,9 K

Отправить свою хорошую работу в базу знаний просто. Используйте форму, расположенную ниже

Студенты, аспиранты, молодые ученые, использующие базу знаний в своей учебе и работе, будут вам очень благодарны.

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

Lecture

Stylistic stratification of English words

In different situations we use different kinds of words to express our thoughts. There are formal and informal situations, and accordingly, formal and informal words and styles. An example of a formal situation is a lecture, a speech in court, a formal letter, professional communication. An example of an informal situation is a friendly talk, an intimate letter. So, all words are divided into two main groups: 1) words of the formal style and 2) words of the informal style. Besides, one more group is constituted by basic vocabulary units, which do not belong to any of the above-mentioned groups.

I. Words of the informal style include colloquial words, slang and dialect words.

1. Colloquial words. Colloquial words are subdivided into a) literary b) familiar and c) low colloquial words.

a. Literary colloquialisms are used in everyday conversational speech both by cultivated and uneducated people: kid (for "child"), pal, chum (for "friend"), hi, hello, zip (for "zip fastener"), exam, fridge, flu.

b. Familiar colloquial words are used mostly by the young and the semi-educated: doc (doctor), ta-ta (good-bye), shut up, beat it (go away).

c. The low colloquial group is formed by obscene, vulgar, swear words used mostly in the speech of uncultivated people.

Colloquial words should not be used under formal circumstances, in compositions and reports.

2. Slang words.

All or most slang words are metaphors rooted in a joke: nuts (for "heads"), mugs (for "faces"), flippers (ласты) (for "hands"), etc.

Slang is mainly used by the young and uneducated and helps the speakers dissociate themselves from others. In the course of time slang words either disappear or become neutral lexical units (slang is colorful, humorous and catching and may be accepted by all the groups of speakers).

3. Dialect words.

A dialect is a variety of a language which prevails in a district: there are, for instance, Lancashire, Dorsetshire, Yorkshire, Norfolk dialects in Britain, Northern, Midland and Southern dialects in the USA.

Dialectal words can be transferred into the common stock (or the basic vocabulary): many frequent words of common use are dialectal in origin, such as girl, one, raid, glamour, car, tram. stylistic vocabulary word informal

In works of fiction dialect words are used to render the speech of the characters, to create a realistic effect.

II. Words of the formal style fall into two main groups: learned (книжные) words and professional words (terms).

1. Learned words. Learned words include several subdivisions of words: literary, or refined words, poetic words, words used in scientific prose and officialese (штамп, канцеляризм).

a) literary or refined words, that often sound foreign: solitude (уединение), felicity (счастье), cordial (=hearty; сердечный).

b) poetic words (poetic diction), which have a high-flown, archaic coloring: Alas!, realm [relm](царство), wroth [r?u?](разгневанный), morn (for "morning"), eve (for "evening"), welkin (небосвод).

c) words that are used in scientific prose: comprise, compile, experimental.

d) officialese: assist (for "help"), proceed (for "go on"), sufficient (for "enough"), inquire (for "ask"), approximately (for "about").

2. Archaic and obsolete [`obs?li:t]words stand close to "learned" words, esp. poetic words. They are words which are partially or fully out of circulation and can be found in books only: damsel (for "girl"), yon (там), foe (враг), aught (что-нибудь), chop-house (харчевня, трактир) - lexical archaisms, thou (ты), thy (твой, твое), speaketh (for "you speak") - grammatical archaisms. Some linguists use the terms "obsolete" and "archaic" as synonyms. Others believe that obsolete words are words which have completely fallen out of use, while archaisms are words which are rare in present usage. Anyway, the borderline between "obsolete" and "archaic" is uncertain. Besides, words very rarely drop out of use forever, the majority of them are found at the periphery of the lexicon and their fate is unpredictable.

Words which denote objects and phenomena of the past, which no longer exist, are known as historisms: goblet (кубок), lute (лютня), vizor (забрало), cataphract (кольчуга), childe (чайлд, молодой дворянин).

3. Professional terminology.

Every field of modern activity has its specialized vocabulary. There are special terminologies for different sciences, arts and trades. Thus, allegation, barrister, lawsuit, plaintiff are all technical terms of law; bilingual, interdental, descending stepping scale are terms of phonetics.

Terms, as a general rule, are monosemantic and have no synonyms. There seems to be no impenetrable wall between terminology and the general language system. Exchange between terminological systems and the common vocabulary is quite normal. For example, many names of diseases, or medical terms, a number of economical, commercial, political, or legal terms are in common usage now: measles, diarrhea, on-line buying, impeachment.

III. Basic Vocabulary. The following table sums up the description of the stylistic strata of the English vocabulary:

Stylistically-neutral words

Stylistically-marked words

Informal

Formal

Basic vocabulary

I. Colloquial words

a. literary

b. familiar

c. low

II. Slang words

III. Dialect words

I. Learned words

a. literary

b. poetic diction

c. words of scientific prose

d. officialese

II. Archaic and obsolete words

III. Professional terminology

These words are stylistically neutral and are used by all people both in formal and informal situations, in oral and written communication: head, bread, summer, mother, go, stand, etc. Their meanings are broad, general, they are devoid of connotations. Such words are marked by stability. They denote objects and phenomena of everyday importance and constitute the beginner's vocabulary.

The basic vocabulary and the stylistically marked (formal and informal) vocabulary are interrelated: many basic words have formal and informal counterparts. For example, the neutral words child, baby correspond to the informal words kid, brat and to the formal words infant, babe; the verb kill has a poetic synonym slay and numerous equivalents in slang: waste, get, fix.

Размещено на Allbest.ru

...

Подобные документы

  • General considerations of stylistic classification of the English vocabulary. Neutral, common literary and common colloquial vocabulary, special literary vocabulary, colloquial vocabulary, poetic, highly literary words, archaic, obsolescent and obsolete.

    курсовая работа [51,1 K], добавлен 21.07.2009

  • Modern English vocabulary from the point of view of its etymology (origin) may be divided into 3 great groups. Words belonging to the set of native word-stock are for the most part. Periods of French borrowings. Assimilation of borrowings and their types.

    презентация [41,4 K], добавлен 20.10.2013

  • Loan-words of English origin in Russian Language. Original Russian vocabulary. Borrowings in Russian language, assimilation of new words, stresses in loan-words. Loan words in English language. Periods of Russian words penetration into English language.

    курсовая работа [55,4 K], добавлен 16.04.2011

  • The structure of words and word-building. The semantic structure of words, synonyms, antonyms, homonyms. Word combinations and phraseology in modern English and Ukrainian languages. The Native Element, Borrowed Words, characteristics of the vocabulary.

    курс лекций [95,2 K], добавлен 05.12.2010

  • The connection of lexicology with other branches of linguistics. Modern Methods of Vocabulary Investigation. General characteristics of English vocabulary. The basic word-stock. Influence of Russian on the English vocabulary. Etymological doublets.

    курс лекций [44,9 K], добавлен 15.02.2013

  • Traditional periodization of historical stages of progress of English language. Old and middle English, the modern period. The Vocabulary of the old English language. Old English Manuscripts, Poetry and Alphabets. Borrowings in the Old English language.

    презентация [281,2 K], добавлен 27.03.2014

  • Teaching Vocabulary in English Language: effective Methodologies. Patterns of Difficulty in Vocabulary. Introduction of the Vocabulary. Ways of Determining the Vocabulary Comprehension and Remembering. Key Strategies in Teaching Vocabulary.

    курсовая работа [204,1 K], добавлен 06.12.2015

  • Borrowing as replenishing of the vocabulary Uzbek and English languages. Borrowed words, their properties, studying of borrowed words, their origin and their significance. The problem of assimilation of borrowed words, morphemes from classical languages.

    дипломная работа [44,6 K], добавлен 21.07.2009

  • General characteristics of the stylistic features of English articles, the main features. Analysis of problems the article in English as one of the most difficult. Meet the applications of the definite article, consideration of the main examples.

    доклад [15,8 K], добавлен 28.04.2013

  • The general outline of word formation in English: information about word formation as a means of the language development - appearance of a great number of new words, the growth of the vocabulary. The blending as a type of modern English word formation.

    курсовая работа [54,6 K], добавлен 18.04.2014

  • The history of football. Specific features of English football lexis and its influence on Russian: the peculiarities of Russian loan-words. The origin of the Russian football positions’ names. The formation of the English football clubs’ nicknames.

    курсовая работа [31,8 K], добавлен 18.12.2011

  • Comparison of understanding phraseology in English, American and post-Soviet vocabulary. Features classification idiomatic expressions in different languages. The analysis of idiomatic expressions denoting human appearance in the English language.

    курсовая работа [30,9 K], добавлен 01.03.2015

  • How important is vocabulary. How are words selected. Conveying the meaning. Presenting vocabulary. How to illustrate meaning. Decision - making tasks. Teaching word formation and word combination. Teaching lexical chunks. Teaching phrasal verbs.

    дипломная работа [2,4 M], добавлен 05.06.2010

  • The oldest words borrowed from French. Unique domination of widespread languages in a certain epoch. French-English bilinguism. English is now the most widespread of the word's languages. The French Language in England. Influence on English phrasing.

    курсовая работа [119,6 K], добавлен 05.09.2009

  • The Concept of Polarity of Meaning. Textual Presentation of Antonyms in Modern English. Synonym in English language. Changeability and substitution of meanings. Synonymy and collocative meaning. Interchangeable character of words and their synonymy.

    курсовая работа [59,5 K], добавлен 08.12.2013

  • The background of the research of stylistic potential of tense-aspect verbal forms. The analysis of stylistic potential of tense-aspect verbal forms in modern English. Methodological recommendations for teaching of tense-aspect verbal forms in English.

    дипломная работа [93,5 K], добавлен 20.07.2009

  • Diversity of dialects of the Old English period. Analysis of dialectal words of Northern English in the modern language. Differences between dialects and Standard language; investigation of differences between their grammar, pronunciation and spelling.

    курсовая работа [124,4 K], добавлен 07.11.2015

  • Theoretical aspects of relationship between technology and language. Research-based principles of vocabulary instruction and multimedia learning. Analysis of examples of vocabulary learning strategies available on the Internet during the lesson.

    контрольная работа [1,6 M], добавлен 11.03.2015

  • Lexico-semantic features of antonyms in modern English. The concept of polarity of meaning. Morphological and semantic classifications of antonyms. Differences of meaning of antonyms. Using antonyms pair in proverbs and sayings. Lexical meaning of words.

    курсовая работа [43,0 K], добавлен 05.10.2011

  • Acquisition of skills of oral and written speech in sphere of professional sea English language. Communication at sea. The basic classes of ships. Parts of a ship and her measurement. Pilotage and pilots. Buoys and beacons. Tides and tidal streams.

    учебное пособие [4,9 M], добавлен 20.02.2012

Работы в архивах красиво оформлены согласно требованиям ВУЗов и содержат рисунки, диаграммы, формулы и т.д.
PPT, PPTX и PDF-файлы представлены только в архивах.
Рекомендуем скачать работу.