Lecture 5. Functional styles.

1. FS and registers.
2. The general classification of FS.
3. The problem of belles-lettres style. The language of literature.
A functional style is a system of interrelated language means peculiar to a specific sphere of
communication.
Features of all FS:
1) Specific lexical, grammatical, and phraseological means which are used exclusively for the given
style. The choice of these means depends on the aim of communication.
2) The basic language material in all FS is made up of language means common to all of them. Only a
smaller part of the FS is made up of specific stylistically colored means.
3) FS are constantly interacting.
In modern linguistics the term REGISTER is very widely used instead of FS. A register is a variety of the
language distinguished according to its use / situationally oriented use of the language / a social variety of
the language. Every speaker has at his command a range of registers and changes his manner of speaking
almost unconsciously. Rgs are a part of an individual’s communicative equipment.
Modern linguists also distinguish social, regional and occupational language varieties. Regional language
variation provides an answer to the question “Where are you from?” Social language variation provides an
answer to the question “What are you?” in the eyes of the English-speaking society. Other language varieties
are dialects, accents, sociolects and idiolects.
Modern western linguists and literary critics employ the notion of genre in a meaning very close to the term
“register” or “functional style”. A genre is a text or discourse type which is recognized as such by its
characteristic features of style or form. It may be a lyric poem, a casual conversation, a doctor-patient
conversation, a police report. The most common meaning of this term is a literary type such as epic, lyric,
tragedy, comedy etc. A genre often has subgenres.
In current use it has a wider meaning – a certain class of text types (wider than literary genres). A genre both
unifies and stratifies the language. M.M. Bakhtin defined a speech genre as the use of language depending
on the sphere of communicational setting. He divided speech genres into simple (primary) and complex
(secondary) referring literary genres to the second group. This term is widely used to denote English For
Specific Purposes.

2. Functional Styles:
1) Formal S.
Used in public speech when one addresses many.
No feedback, everything must be thought over in advance.
Elaborate, exact, rich vocabulary, synonyms and antonyms, special terms.
a) scientific
b) business/official (commercial, legal, military, diplomatic)
c) publicist (oratory, newspaper, essays)
d) poetic
a) Scientific S.:
 Very logical, appeals to the mind of the interlocutor. Objective, impersonal.
 Terminology
 Bookish words
 Most of the words are abstract
 Scientific phraseology, common to all branches of it (E.g. the field of inquiry)
 Lexical suppletion – a stylistically neutral word of native origin is correlated with a borrowed
relative adjective: lip – labial, mind – mental, sun – solar.
 The word building means are borrowed affixes (E.g. enlarge, logical, correspondence), compound
words composed of borrowings (E.g. panchronistic).
 Attributive nouns (E.g. fire control antiaircraft system)
 The use of connectives – compound conjunctions (E.g. moreover, inasmuch as, whereas).
 Non-finites, passive voice.
 Special sentence patterns: postulatory, argumentative, formulative.

b) Business style.
It shares many features with scientific s. though it is not so elaborate and is governed by traditions.
 Very long sentences, complicated syntax.
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  Traditional formulas of archaic or foreign origin (E.g. in witness whereof)
 Abbreviations, figures
 Complete enumeration
 A very developed paragraphing
 No emotionally colored words.

c) Publicist (media) style

The Publicist style formed in the middle of the 18 c. Its general aim is to exert a constant and deep
influence on public opinion, to cause the reader to accept the point of view expressed in the speech,
essay or article not merely through logical argumentation but through emotional appeal as well (brain-
washing function).
Oratory sub-style is probably the most persuasive as it employs the power of human voice and personal
appeal. E.g. Political speeches, sermons, orations on solemn public occasions.
Essay is a literary composition of moderate length on philosophical, social or aesthetic subject. It is a
series of personal and witty comments on something.
Newspaper style is sometimes treated as a style separate from publicistic because of its great diversity. It
includes such varieties as journalistic articles and editorials, news items, reports, advertisements and
announcements. In the second half of the 20 th c it was also enriched by the styles of television
presentations. Let us dwell only on the most general features characteristic of almost all sub-styles of
publicistic 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
1. Frequent use of non-finite verb forms, such as gerund, participle, infinitive.
2. Use of non-perfect verb forms.
3. Omission of articles, link verbs, auxiliaries, pronouns, especially in headlines and
news items.
Syntactical features
1. Frequent use of rhetorical questions and questions-in-the-narrative in oratory speech.
2. All kinds of repetitions in oratory speech.
3. In headlines: use of impersonal sentences, elliptical constructions, interrogative sentences, infinitive
complexes and attributive groups.
4. In news items and articles: news items comprise one or two, rarely three, sentences.
5. Absence of exclamatory sentences, break-in-the narrative, other expressively charged constructions.
Lexical features
1. Newspaper clichés and set phrases.
2. Terminological variety: scientific, sports, political, technical, etc.
3. Abbreviations and acronyms.
4. Numerous proper names, toponyms, anthroponyms, names of enterprises, institutions, international
words, dates and figures.
5. Abstract notion words, elevated and bookish words.
6. In headlines: frequent use of pun, violated phraseology, vivid stylistic devices.
7. In oratory speech: words of elevated and bookish character, colloquial words and phrases, frequent
use of such stylistic devices as metaphor, alliteration, allusion, irony, synonyms and antonyms etc.
8. Use of conventional forms of address and trite phrases.
Compositional features
Text arrangement is marked by precision, logic and expressive power.
Carefully selected vocabulary.
1. Variety of topics.
2. Wide use of quotations, direct speech and represented speech.
3. Use of parallel constructions throughout the text.
4. In oratory: simplicity of structural expression, clarity of message, argumentative power.
5. In headlines: use of devices to arrest attention: rhyme, pun, puzzle, high degree of compression,
graphical means.
6. In news items and articles: strict arrangement of titles and subtitles, emphasis on the headline.
7. 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.

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 d) POETIC STYLE
It may not be obligatorily called a functional style because it is limited historically.
It is the style of the 18-19th cent poetry and since then it has fallen into disuse.
Grammatical features:
 Pronouns thou, thee, thine
 Forms of verbs thou makest, he maketh, art – are, wilt – will, mote – might.
Vocabulary:
 nouns: Albion – England, morrow – morning
 adjectives: fair – beautiful
 adverbs: ne – never, save – except
 verbs: behold – see, dwell – live
 interjections: Alas! Ah,me!
 conjunctions: ere – before, hereafter – in the future

2) Informal styles
IS are characteristic of personal two-way everyday communication. A dialogue is assisted by the qualities
of voice and gestures, The speaker can always see whether he is understood and the listener can always
interrupt him. Constant feedback. That’s why linguistic forms are freer; it is rich in emotional words,
pronouns and generic terms,
a) literary colloquial
b) familiar colloquial
Lexical peculiarities of informal s:
1. ready-made lexical formulas. The difference between 1 and f col in using them is that fc is more
definite, categorical, emotional and tends to exaggerate, while Ic is more reserved and polite.
2. Col st is characterized by a number of intensifiers that is a rather standard set of words which
increase expressiveness; terribly sorry, absolutely fabulous, dead right, Intensifiers are used according to
some standards, to the norms of com bin ability: severe winter, thorough knowledge, stone deaf ? dead
tired, dead slow driver. Another group of intensifiers are adverbs ever, even, just. E.g. He’s ever such a
clever man.
3. The use of emotional words. In literary colloquial they are more refined, in fc they are rude, vulgar,
obscene. Emotional words are shouldn’t be confused with words naming emotions, though in some
context such words can be emotional: I looked a perfect fright yesterday,
4. The presence of empty words, time-fillers, hesitators. They don’t convey any special meaning but
are used for the sake of rhythm, or not to end the sentence abruptly, or to conceal one’s embarrassment or
hesitation.
Grammatical peculiarities of IS:
1. The abundance of elliptical, exclamatory, interrogative sentences.
2. Pronouns are more numerous and they can be used a bit differently: Who is there?- it’s me/I/.

a) LC is reserved, polite and spoken by educated people of older generation

 Abounds in conversational polite formulas
 Composite verbs are widely used (to put up, to make up etc,)
 Contracted forms (can’t, won’t)
 Disjunctive questions
 Generic terms (get, fix, thing)
 Asyndetic coordination
 Elliptical sentences
 Parenthetic words
b) FC is used among younger generation, only in intimate conversation. It shares many features
of literary colloquial, but it has some specific features as well:
 Vulgar, semi-vulgar words, special slang and dialectisms. E.g. damned, lousy, to be
weak in the attic, to go west - die.
 Colloquial way of calling people.
 A rich use of interjections fab! - fabulous
 The use of diminutive suffixes: mummy, daddy
 Syntactic tautology: You are crazy you are. Sam Brown he is crazy.
 Double negation
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3.
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. One more debatable point in
Galperin’s classification is the distinction of the belles-lettres style:
a) poetry; b) emotive prose; c) the language of the drama.
Some linguists solve the problem of belle-lettres style by opposing the language of literature and
non-literature – all uses of the language - oral and written - other than literature.

The Language of Literature

It includes elements of all functional styles and subjects them to the aesthetic function. The
distinctive features of the language of literature:
1) The use of language in non-literature has become automatised while in literature it becomes
actualized or foregrounded. Automatisation – such a use of the language when the expression
itself does not attract attention, a usual use of the language. Foregrounding - – such a use of the
language when the expression itself attracts attention and is perceived as unusual,
deautomatised. Thus literature brings new significance to usual, ordinary things.
2) To present life phenomena in a new light, to give a new, unexpected image of a familiar
object literature shows something common in dissimilar objects or, on the opposite, brings out
contrast in objects seemingly similar. Things which are not equivalent in life are made
equivalent in literature (figurative meaning).
3) Literature breaks many restrictions of the language, in it things incompatible in standard
English are brought together. Semi-marked structures. E.g. Dylan Thomas: all the sun long,
farms away, hungry ribs and shoulders. e.i. cummings: no punctuation, only small letters. Little
by little and was by was.
4) Integrity. Any work of literature is highly organized and finished.

 Foregrounding, figurative meaning, semi-marked structures, integrity.