Lexical features
Extensive use of bookish words e.g. presume, infer, preconception, homogeneous, to speculate, hypothesis, argument, relevant, conclude, salient, facilitate, etc.
-Abundance of scientific terminology and phraseology: gender-specific differences, to compartmentalize, to prioritize, to hypothesize, cognitive, mental representation, etc.
-Use of words in their primary dictionary meaning, restricted use of connotative contextual meanings.
-Use of numerous neologisms, abbreviations-achronymes: SILICs-severely indebted low-income countries; ESAF –Enhanced Structural Ajustment Facility; FIAS- Foreign Investment Advisory Services.
-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-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.
-Logical and consistent narration, sequential presentation of material and facts.
-Extensive use of citation, references and foot-notes.
-Restricted use of expressive means and stylistic devices.
-Extensive use of conventional set phrases at certain points to emphasize the logical character of the narration, e.g. as we have seen, in conclusion, finally, as mentioned above.
Functional style
Publicist (media) style
Sphere of communication: mass media and public relations
Function
To influence
public opinion on various social, political, economic or moral matters,
to convince, persuade the addressee of the truth of the ideas expressed (brain-washing function);
Informing and instructing the reader, etc.
Text types and genres
Spoken variety: public speeches,
radio and TV commentaries, etc.
Written variety: essays (moral, philosophical, literary, etc.); pamphlets,
articles (political, social, economic, etc.) published in newspapers or magazines.
Newspaper text types:
News and commentary on the news; press reports, articles, advertisements, official announcements, etc.
Stylistic features
Communicative orientation on persuasion:
Combination of logical argumentation and emotional appeal;
Informativity,
Verbosity↔Brevity of expression;
Comprehensibility,
Personality,
Contact with the audience, reader;
Expressiveness + Standardization,
Vividness and Imagery.
Linguistic features
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: What do we see on the horizon? What forces are at work? Wither are we drifting?
-In headlines: use of impersonal sentences, elliptical constructions, interrogative sentences, infinitive complexes and attributive groups: Price rise expected; Witnesses silent in court; Prime Minister on new tax.
-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 organization and logical arrangement of sentences.
-Newspaper cliches and set phrases.
-Abbreviations and acronyms: UN, NATO, EEC, UK, FO, PM, MP, etc.
-Use of neologisms: front-lash, stop-go politics, to work flat out.
-Numerous proper names, toponyms, anthroponyms, names of enterprises, institutions, international words, dates and figures.
-Abstract notion words, elevated and bookish words: population, public opinion, crucial/pressing problems, representative voting.
-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. E.g. war hysteria, captains of industry, the bulwark of civilization, etc.
-Use of conventional forms of address and trite phrases: Ladies and Gentlemen! My Lords! Mr. Chairman; Highly esteemed members of the conference! Dear Friends! etc.
-Newspaper cliches and set phrases.
-Abbreviations and acronyms: UN, NATO, EEC, UK, FO, PM, MP, etc.
-Use of neologisms: front-lash, stop-go politics, to work flat out.
-Numerous proper names, toponyms, anthroponyms, names of enterprises, institutions, international words, dates and figures.
-Abstract notion words, elevated and bookish words: population, public opinion, crucial/pressing problems, representative voting.
-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. E.g. war hysteria, captains of industry, the bulwark of civilization, etc.
-Use of conventional forms of address and trite phrases: Ladies and Gentlemen! My Lords! Mr. Chairman; Highly esteemed members of the conference! Dear Friends! etc.
-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.
| Functional Style | Function | Text types and genres | Stylistic features | Language expressions |
| Literary colloquial style Sphere of communication: unofficial every-day intercourse. | Informal,friendly oral communication, Contactfunction, emotivefunction | Spoken forms: dialogue, monologue. Written speech forms: personal letters, essays, diaries, articles, etc. Primary genres:greetings, leave-taking, congratulations, thanks, etc. | Easiness, Informality, Loosening, Situation-related, Compression (economizing speech efforts)↔ Excessiveness (due to spontaneity of speech); Emotionality, Expressiveness, Simplicity, Vividness, Dynamic, Humour. | Phonetic features:standard pronunciation, enunciation, phonetic compression, e.g. It΄s, don΄t, I΄ve; Omission of unaccented elements, 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: I saw him there, I say ΄Where ΄ye going?΄ He runs off, I run after him. He turns the corner, me too. He isn΄t there. Where΄s he now? I can΄t think…
-Syntactically correct utterances compliant with the literary norm.
-Use of various types of syntactical compression, simplicity of syntactical connection: Jack Foster said he might look in.
-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): When?; Money!; Shopping this morning.
-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 participant΄s 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 (refrigerator), ice (ice-cream), CD (compact disk ), doc, lab, sec, prof; Morning! Buy! Course, etc.
- Use of etiquette language and conversational formulas, such as nice to see you, my pleasure, on behalf, etc.
-Extensive use of intensifiers and gap-fillers, e.g. absolutely, definitely, awfully, kind of, sort of, so to speak, I mean, If I may say so, like, well, you know, or something, you see, actually, indeed, really, if I may say so, anyway, and all,yes.
-Use of interjections and exclamations, e.g. Dear me, My God, Goodness, man, boy, well, now, oh, eh, uh, ah.
-Extensive use of phrasal verbs : let sb down, put up with, stand sb up, to get by, to while away time, etc.
-Use of words of indefinite meaning (“ sponge- words ”) like thing, stuff, affair; verbs get, fix. E.g. He is fixing things ( он занимается ремонтом вещей; он все устраивает).
- Avoidance of slang, vulgarisms, dialect words, jargon.
-Use of phraseological expressions, idioms and figures of speech: went on the blink, the system is up and running, etc.
Compositional features
- 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.
English Stylistics
Module 2
Tasks for tutorial classes
Tutorial # 10 (1 hour)
Theme: Distinctive Stylistic Features of the Major Functional Styles of English: