Functional Style of the English language

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FUNCTIONAL STYLE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

FUNCTIONAL STYLE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Functional Styles (FSs) are patterns of the written variety of language calculated to secure the desired purport of the communication. Each functional style of the literary language makes use of language means the interrelation of which is peculiar to the given FS. It is the coordination of language media and SDs which shapes the distinctive features of each style, and not the separate language media or the SDs themselves. Each FS, however, can be recognized by one or more leading, especially conspicuous features. For instance, the use of special terminology is a lexical characteristic of the FS of scientific prose, and one by which it can easily be recognized. The address "Dear sirs" will be a signal to refer the message to the FS of official documents.

An FS is a patterned variety of literary text characterized by the greater or lesser typification of its constituents, supra-phrasal units (SPU), in which the choice and arrangement of interdependent and interwoven language media are calculated to secure the purport of the communication.

Each FS is a relatively stable system at the given stage in the development of the literary language, but it changes, and sometimes considerably, from one period to another. Therefore functional style of language is a historical category.

The development of each style is predetermined by the changes in the norms of standard English.

It is also greatly influenced by changing social conditions, the progress of science and the development of cultural life in the country.

The English literary language has evolved a number of FSs easily distinguishable one from another. They are not homogeneous and fall into several variants all having some central point of resemble

Belle-letters style.

The belles-lettres style is a generic term for three substyles in which the main principles and the most general properties of the style are materialized. These three substyles are:

1. The language of poetry, or simply verse.

2. Emotive prose, or the language of fiction.

3. Тhe language of the drama.

Each of these substyles has certain common features, typical of the general belles-lettres style, which make up the foundation of the style.

The common features of the substyles may be summed up as follows. First of all comes the common function which may broadly be called "aesthetico-cognitive". This is a double function which aims at the cognitive process, which secures the gradual Enfolding of the idea to the reader and at the same time calls forth a feeling of pleasure, a pleasure which is derived from the form in which the content is wrought.

It has something in common with scientific style. The purpose of science is to disclose by research the inner substance of things and phenomena of objective reality and find out the laws regulating them, thus enabling man to predict, control and direct their further development in order to improve the material and social life of mankind. the main function of scientific prose is proof.

The purpose of the belles-lettres style is not to prove but only to suggest a possible interpretation of the phenomena of life by forcing the reader to see the viewpoint of the writer. This is the cognitive function of the belles-lettres style.

The belles-lettres style rests on certain indispensable linguistic features which are:

1. Genuine, imagery, achieved by purely linguistic devices.

2. The use of words in contextual and very often in more than one dictionary meaning,

3. A vocabulary which will reflect to a greater or lesser degree the author's personal evaluation of things or phenomena.

4. A peculiar individual selection of vocabulary and syntax,

5. The introduction of the typical features of colloquial language.

The belles-lettres style is individual in essence. Individuality in selecting language means, extremely apparent in poetic style, becomes gradually less in publicistic style, is hardly noticeable in the style of scientific prose and is entirely lacking in newspapers and in official style.

written english language document communication

LANGUAGE OF POETRY

The first differentiating property of verse is its orderly form, which is based mainly on the rhythmic and phonetic arrangement of the utterances. The rhythmic aspect calls forth syntactical and semantic peculiarities which also fall into a more or less strict orderly arrangement. Both the syntactical and semantic aspects of the poetic substyle may be defined as compact, for they are held in check by rhythmic patterns. Both syntax and semantics comply with the restrictions imposed by the rhythmic pattern, and the result is brevity(сжатость, краткость) of expression, epigram-like utterances, and fresh, unexpected imagery. Syntactically this brevity is shown in elliptical and fragmentary sentences, in detached constructions, in inversion, asyndeton and other syntactical peculiarities.

Rhythm and rhyme are immediately distinguishable properties of the poetic substyle provided they are wrought (доведенный до совершенства) into compositional patterns. They can be called the external differentiating features of the substyle, typical only of this one variety of the belles-lettres style. The various compositional forms of rhyme and rhythm are generally studied under the terms versification or prosody.

Lexical and Syntactical Features of Verse

Among the lexical peculiarities of verse the first to be mentioned is imagery, which being the generic feature of the belles-lettres style assumes in poetry a compressed form: it is rich in associative power, frequent in occurrence and varied in methods and devices of materialization.

We here define imagery as a use of language media which will create a sensory perception of an abstract notion by arousing certain associations (sometimes very remote) between the general and the particular, the abstract and the concrete, the conventional and the factual.

Images from a linguistic point of view are mostly built on metaphor, metonymy and simile. These are direct semantic ways of coining images. Images may be divided into three categories: two concrete (visual, aural), and one abstract (relational).

Visual images are the easiest of perception, inasmuch as they are readily caught by what is called the mental eye. In other words, visual images are shaped through concrete pictures of objects, the impression of which is present in our mind. Thus in:

"... and then my state,

Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth..." (Shakespeare)

the simile has called up a visual image, that of a lark rising.

Onomatopoeia will build an aural image in our mind, that is, it will make us hear the actual sounds of nature or things.

A relational image is one that shows the relation between objects through another kind of relation, and the two kinds of relation will secure a more exact realization of the inner connections between things or phenomena.

Thus in: "Men of England, Heirs of Glory, Heroes of unwritten story. Nurslings of one mighty mother, Hopes of her, and one another." (Shelley)

such notions as 'heirs of glory', 'heroes of unwritten story', 'nurslings of ... mother', 'hopes of her...' all create relational images, inasmuch as they aim at showing the relations between the constituents of the metaphors but not the actual (visual) images of, in this case, 'heir', 'hero', 'nursling', 'hope'.

LANGUAGE OF THE DRAMA

The third subdivision of the belles-lettres style is the language of plays. The first thing to be said about the parameters of this variety of belles-lettres is that, unlike poetry, which, except for ballads, in essence excludes direct speech and therefore dialogue, and unlike emotive prose, which is a combination of monologue {the author's speech) and dialogue (the speech of the characters), the language of plays is entirely dialogue. The author's speech is almost entirely excluded except for the playwright's remarks and stage directions, significant though they may be.

The language of plays is always stylized, that is, it strives to retain the modus of literary English, unless the playwright has a particular aim which requires the use of non-literary forms and expressions. However, even in this case a good playwright will use such forms sparingly. Thus in Bernard Shaw's play "Fanny's First Pidy," Dora, a street-girl, whose language reveals her upbringing, her lack of education, her way of living, her tastes and aspirations, nevertheless uses comparatively few non-literary words. A bunk, a squiffer are examples. Even these are explained with the help of some literary device This is due to the stylization of the language.

The stylization of colloquial language is one of the features of plays which at different stages in the history of English drama has manifested itself in different ways revealing, on the one hand, the general trends of the literary language and, on the other hand, the personal idiosyncrasies of the writer.

The natural conventionality of any literary work is most obvious in plays. People are made to talk to each other in front of an audience, and yet as if there were no audience. Dialogue, which, as has been pointed out, is by its very nature ephemeral, spontaneous, fleeting, is made lasting. It is intended to be reproduced many times by different actors with different interpretations. The dialogue loses its colloquial essence and remains simply conversation in form. The individualization of each character's speech then becomes of paramount importance because it is the idiosyncrasy of expression which to some extent reveals the inner, psychological and intellectual traits of the characters. The playwright seeks to approximate a natural form of dialogue, a form as close to natural living dialogue as the literary norms will allow. But at the same time he is bound by the aesthetico-cognitive function of the belles-lettres style and has to mould the conversation to suit the general aims of this style.

Thus the language of plays is a stylized type of the spoken variety of language.

Any presentation of a play is an aesthetic procedure and the language of plays is of the type which is meant to be reproduced. Therefore, even when the language of a play approximates that of a real dialogue, it will none the less be "stylized".

News paper style was the last of all the styles of written literary English to be recognized as a specific form of writing standing apart from other forms. English newspaper writing dates from the 17th century. It took the English newspaper more than a century to establish a style and a standard of its own. And it is only by the 19th century that newspaper English may be said to have developed into a system of language media, forming a separate functional style.

Thus, English newspaper style may be defined as a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means which is perceived by the community as a separate linguistic unity that serves the purpose of informing and instructing the reader.

To understand the language peculiarities of English newspaper style it will be sufficient to analyse the following basic newspaper features:

1) brief news items,

2) advertisements and announcements,

3) the headline,

4) the editorial (передовая статья).

The newspaper also seeks to influence public opinion on political and other "matters. Elements of appraisal may be observed in the very selection and way of presentation of news, in the use of specific vocabulary, such as allege and claim, casting some doubt on the facts reported, and syntactic constructions indicating a lack of assurance on the part of the reporter as to the correctness of the facts reported or his desire to avoid responsibility.

The headline (the title given to a news item or an article) is a dependent form of newspaper writing. The main function of the headline is to inform the reader briefly what the text that follows is about. But apart from this, headlines often contain elements of appraisal, i.e. they show the reporter's or the paper's attitude to the facts reported or commented on, thus also performing the function of instructing the reader. English headlines are short and catching, they "compact the gist of news stories into a few eye-snaring (улавливаемый глазами) words. A skilfully turned out headline tells a story, or enough of it, to arouse or satisfy the reader's curiosity."

The headlines of news items, apart from giving information about the subject-matter, also carry a considerable amount of appraisal (the size and arrangement of the headline, the use of emotionally coloured words and elements of emotive syntax), thus indicating the interpretation of the facts in the news item that follows. But, of course, the principal vehicle of interpretation and appraisal is the newspaper article, and the editorial (передовица) in particular.

The function of the editorials (leading articles or leaders) is to influence the reader by giving an interpretation of certain facts. Editorials comment on the political and other events of the day. Their purpose is to give the editor's opinion and interpretation of the news published and suggest to the reader that it is the correct one. Like any evaluative writing, editorials appeal not only to the reader's mind but to his feelings as well. Hence the use of emotionally coloured language elements, both lexical and structural.

Editorials are characterized by a subjective handling of facts, political or otherwise. They have much in common with classical specimens of publicistic writing and are often looked upon as such. However, newspaper evaluative writing unmistakably bears the stamp of newspaper style. Thus, it seems natural to regard newspaper articles, editorials included, as coming within the system of English newspaper style. But it should be noted that while editorials and other articles in opinion columns are predominantly evaluative, newspaper feature articles, as a rule, carry a considerable amount of information, and the ratio (соотношение) of the informative and the evaluative varies substantially from article to article.

The principal function of advertisements and announcements, like that of brief news, is to inform the reader. There are two basic types of advertisements and announcements in the modern English newspaper: classified and non-classified.

In classified advertisements and announcements various kinds of information are arranged according to subject-matter into sections, each bearing an appropriate name. As for the non-classified advertisements and announcements, the variety of language form and subject-matter is so great that hardly any essential features common to all may be pointed out. The reader's attention is attracted by every possible means: typographical, graphical and stylistic, both lexical and syntactical. Here there is no call for brevity, as the advertiser may buy as much space as he chooses.

The principal function of abrief news is to inform the reader.

It goes without saying that the bulk of the vocabulary used in newspaper writing is neutral and common literary. But apart from this, newspaper style has its specific vocabulary features and is characterized by an extensive use of:

a) Special political and economic terms, e. g. Socialism, constitution, president, apartheid, by-election, General Assembly, gross output, per capita production.

b) Non-term political vocabulary, e. g. public, people, progressive, nation-wide, unity, peace.

c) Newspaper cliches, i. e. stereotyped expressions, commonplace phrases familiar to the readert e. g. vital issue, pressing problem, informed sources, danger of war, to escalate a war, war hysteria, overwhelming majority, amid stormy appiause.

d) Abbreviations-- names of organizations, public and state bodies, political associations, industrial and other companies, various offices, etc.--known by their initials are very common, e.g. UNO (t/nited Nations Organization), TUG (Trades Union Congress), NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), AFL-CIO (Лтепсап Federation of Labour-Congress of /ndustrial Organizations), EEC (.European Economic Community), TGWU (Transport and General Workers Union), FO (Foreign Office), PIB (Prices and /ncomes Board),

e) Neologisms. These are very common in newspaper vocabulary. The newspaper is very quick to react to any new development in the life of society, in science and technology. e.g. lunik, a splash-down (the act of bringing a spacecraft to a water surface), a teach-in (a form of campaigning through heated political discussion), backlash or white backlash (a violent reaction of American racists to the Negroes' struggle for civil rights).

The following grammatical peculiarities of brief news items are of paramount importance, and may be regarded as their grammatical parameters.

a) Complex sentences with a developed system of clauses.

b) Verbal constructions (infinitive, participial, gerundial) and verbal noun constructions.

c) Syntactical complexes, especially the nominative with the infinitive. These constructions are largely used to avoid mentioning the source of information or to shun responsibility for the facts reported.

e) Specific word-order. The word-order in one-sentence news paragraphs and in what are called "leads" is more or less fixed.

Classification of Functional Styles of the English Language

1. The Belles - Lettres Functional Style.

a) poetry;

b) emotive prose;

c) drama;

2. Publicistic Functional Style,

a) oratory;

b) essays;

c) articles in newspapers and magazines;

3. The Newspaper Functional Style.

a) brief news items;

b) advertisments and announcements;

c) headlines;

4. The Scientific Prose Style.

a) exact sciences;

b) humanitarian sciences;

c) popular- science prose;

5. The Official Documents Functional Style.

a) diplomatic documents;

b) business letters;

c) military documents;

d) legal documents.

The Belles - Lettres Style, its Substyles and its Peculiarities

The term "Belles - lettres" is generic for 3 substyles:

- poetry;

- emotive prose;

- drama;

The Belles-lettres style has its own specific function which is double -phoned. Besides, informing the reader, it impresses the reader aesthetically.

Its function is aesthetico - cognitive, cognitive on the one hand and receiving pleasure on the other

The means of this functional style are:

- genuine imaginative means and SDs;

- the use of words in its contextual meaning;

- the individual choice of vocabulary which reflects the author's personal evaluation;

- a peculiar individual selection of syntax;

- the introduction of elements of other styles;

Poetry. Peculiarities - rhythm and rhyme. As a SD rhythm is a combination of the ideal metrical scheme and its variations governed by the standard.

Emotive prose. Emotive prose is a combination of literary variant of the language and colloquial, which is presented by the speech of the characters which is stylized that means it has been made "literature like" and some elements of conversational English were made use of. Emotive prose allows the use of elements of other styles but the author changes them and fulfils a certain function. SDs used: in emotive prose style are represented speech, detached constructions, gap - sentence link.

Drama - the language of plays mainly consists of dialogues. The author's speech is in the form of stage remarks. Any presentation of a play is an aesthetic procedure. The language of a play has the following peculiarities:

- it is stylized (retains the modus of literary English);

- it presents the variety of spoken language;

- it has redundancy of information caused by necessity to amplify the utterance;

- monologue is never interrupted;

- character's utterances are much longer than in ordinary conversation;

The Newspaper FS, its Substyles and their Peculiarities

To understand the language peculiarities of English newspaper style it will be sufficient to analyse the following basic newspaper features:

1) brief news items;

2) advertisements and announcements;

3) headlines;

Brief items: its function is to inform the reader. It states only facts without giving comments. The vocabulary used is neutral and common literary. Specific features are:

a) special political and economic terms;

b) non-term political vocabulary;

c) newspaper clichms;

d) abbreviations;

e) neologisms.

Headlines. The main function is to inform the reader briefly of what the news is to follow about. Syntactically headlines are very short sentences, interrogative sentences, nominative sentences, elliptical sentences, sentences with articles omitted, headlines including direct speech.

Advertisements and announcements. The function of advertisements and announcements is to inform the reader. There are two types of them: classified and non-classified. In classified the information is arranged according to the subject matter: births, marriages, deaths, business offers, personal etc.

The Publicistic Style, its Substyles, and their Peculiarities

The Pubicistic Style treats certain political, social, economic, cultural problems. The aim of this style is to form public opinion, to convince the reader or the listener.

Substyles: The oratory essays, journalistic articles, radio and TV commentary.

Oratory. It makes use of a great hummber of expressive means to arouse and keep the public's interest: repetition, gradation, antithesis, rhetorical questions, emotive words, elements of colloquial speech.

Radio and TV commentary is less impersonal and more expressive and emotional.

The essay is very subjective and the most colloquial of the all substyles of the publicistic style. It makes use of expressive means and tropes.

The journalistic articles are impersonal.

The Scientific Prose Style, its Substyles and their Peculiarities

The style of scientific prose has 3 subdivisions:

1) the style of humanitarian sciences;

2) the style of "exact" sciences;

3) the style of popular scientific prose.

Its function is to work out and ground theoretically objective knowledge about reality

The aim of communication is to create new concepts, disclose the international laws of existence.

The peculiarities are: objectiveness; logical coherence, impersonality, unemotional character, exactness.

Vocabulary. The use of terms and words used to express a specialized concept in a given branch of science. Terms are not necessarily. They may be borrowed from ordinary language but are given a new meaning.

The scientific prose style consists mostly of ordinary words which tend to be used in their primary logical meaning. Emotiveness depends on the subject of investigation but mostly scientific prose style is unemotional.

Grammar: The logical presentation and cohesion of thought manifests itself in a developed feature of scientific syntax is the use of established patterns.

- postulatory;

- formulative;

- argumentative;

The impersonal and objective character of scientific prose style is revealed in the frequent use of passive constructions, impersonal sentences. Personal sentences are more frequently used in exact sciences. In humanities we may come across constructions but few.

The parallel arrangement of sentences contributes to emphasizing certain points in the utterance.

Some features of the style in the text are:

- use of quotations and references;

- use of foot-notes helps to preserve the logical coherence of ideas.

Humanities in comparison with "exact" sciences employ more emotionally coloured words, fewer passive constructions.

Scientific popular style has the following peculiarities: emotive words, elements of colloquial style

The Style of Official Documents and its Substyles

1) Language of business letters;

2) Language of legal documents;

3) Language of diplomacy;

4) Language of military documents; The aim:

1. to reach agreement between two contracting parties;

2. to state the conditions binding two parties in an understanding.

Each of substyles of official documents makes use of special terms.

Legal documents: military documents, diplomatic documents. The documents use set expressions inherited from early Victorian period. This vocabulary is conservative. Legal documents contain a large proportion of formal and archaic words used in their dictionary meaning. In diplomatic and legal documents many words have Latin and French origin. There are a lot of abbreviations and conventional symbols.

The most noticable feature of grammar is the compositional pattern. Every document has its own stereotyped form. The form itself is informative and tells you with what kind of letter we deal with.

Business letters contain: heading, addressing, salutation, the opening, the body, the closing, complimentary clause, the signature. Syntactical features of business letters are - the predominance of extended simple and complex sentences, wide use of participial constructions, homogeneous members.

Morphological peculiarities are passive constructions, they make the letters impersonal. There is a tendency to avoid pronoun reference. Its typical feature is to frame equally important factors and to divide them by members in order to avoid ambiguity of the wrong interpretation.

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