Introduction. The General concept of style

   The headline (заголовок) is the title given to a news item or a newspaper article. The main function is to inform the reader briefly of what the news that follows is about. It shows the reporter’s attitude to the facts reported. The headlines are usually short and catching and they contain the gist (суть) of news stories in a few eye sharing words.

  Brief news items (газетные заметки) state only facts without giving comments. It lacks emotional colouring; it is essentially matter-of-fact (прозаичный, сухой), and stereotyped forms of expression prevail. Newspaper style has its specific vocabulary features and is characterized by an extensive use of: a) special political and economic terms (gross output – массовый выпуск, per capita production); b) non-term political vocabulary (public, unity, agreement, representative); c) newspaper clichés (vital issue, pressing problem, well-informed sources, overwhelming majority – подавляющее большинство); d) abbreviations (UNO, NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization, EEC – European Economical Community, OEEC – Organization for European Economic Cooperation).

Advertisements and announcements may be classified and non-classified. In classified advertisements and announcements various kinds of information are arranged according to the subject matter into sections (business offers, births, marriages, deaths). They have the tendency to eliminate all elements that can be done without to economize space expensive in what newspapers call the “advertising hole”. The vocabulary is neutral; emotional colouring is generally moderate. Non-classified advertisements have a variety of language forms.  

Features of newspaper style

- claims, restrictions of time and space

- special political and economic terms, non-term political vocabulary, newspaper clichés, abbreviations, neologisms;

- syntactic constructions, indicating a lack of assurance of the reporter as to the correctness of the facts reported or his desire to avoid responsibility;

- complex sentences with a developed system of clauses;

- syntactical complexes: verbal constructions (infinitive, participial, gerundial) and verbal noun constructions;

- specific word order – five-w-and-h-pattern rule: (who-what-why-how-where-when);

- attributive noun groups (e.g. leap into space age);

- headlines are the most concise;

- considerable amount of appraisal – оценка (the size and arrangement, the use of emotionally coloured words and elements of emotive syntax).

 

Questions for Self-Control:

 

1. What is the aim of the publicistic style?

2. What are the spoken varieties of the publicistic style?

3. What common features does the publicistic style have in common with scientific prose? with emotive prose?

4. List the distinguishing features of the publicistic style.

5. Describe the typical features of the spoken variety of speech present in the oratorical style.

6. Why do orators often resort in their speeches to repetition as stylistic device? What other devices does it usually accompany?

7. What differentiates the essay as a literary form from other varieties of the publicistic style?

8. Describe the characteristic features of the essay.

        9. What rhetorical technique is used in political oratory?

 

Literature

      

       1.  Н.М. Разинкина.  Практикум по стилистике английского  и русского языков: Учебн.пособие.  – М.: Высшая школа, 2006

2.    Ю.М. Скребнев  Основы стилистики английского языка: Учебник для ин-тов и фак.иностр.яз. – 2-е изд., испр. – М.:ООО «Издательство Астрель», 2000

3.     I.R. Galperin. Stylistics. – Moscow,1977

4.     V.A. Kuharenko. A Book of Practice in Stylistics. – M.:Высшая школа,1986

5.     V.A. Maltzev. Essays of English Stylistics. – Мн.: Высшая школа,1984

      6.     T.A.  Znamenskaya. Stylistics of the English Language. М., Комкнига, 2006

 

 

 

Lecture 9

The Style of Official Documents

Official documents are written in a formal, cold or matter-of-fact style of speech. The style of official documents, or officialese as it is sometimes called, is not homogeneous and is represented by the following sub-styles, or varieties:

1. The language of business documents, 
2. The language of legal documents, 
3. The language of diplomacy, 
4. The language of military documents.

Like other styles of language, this style has a definite communicative aim and accordingly has its own system of interrelated language and stylistic means. The main aim of this type of communication is to state the conditions binding two parties in an undertaking. These parties may be:

a) the state and the citizen, or citizen and citizen (jurisdiction); 
b) a society and its members (statute or ordinance); 
c) two or more enterprises or bodies (business correspondence or contracts);  
d) two or more governments (pacts, treaties);  
e) a person in authority and a subordinate (orders, regulations, authoritative directions);  
f) the board or presidium and the assembly or general meeting (procedures acts, minutes), etc.

In other words, the aim of communication in this style of language is to reach agreement between two contracting parties. Even protest against violations of statutes, contracts, regulations, etc., can also be regarded as a form by which normal cooperation is sought on the basis of previously attained concordance.

The most general function of official documents predetermines the peculiarities of the style. The most striking, though not the most essential feature, is a special system of cliches, terms and set expressions by which each sub-style can easily be recognized, for example: I beg to inform you; I beg to move; I second the motion; provisional agenda; the above-mentioned; hereinafter named; on behalf of; private advisory; Dear sir; We remain, your obedient servants.

In fact, each of the subdivisions of this style has its own peculiar terms, phrases and expressions which differ from the corresponding terms, phrases and expressions of other variants of this style. Thus, in finance we find terms like extra revenue; taxable capacities; liability to profit tax. Terms and phrases like high contracting parties; to ratify an agreement; memorandum; pact; protectorate; extra-territorial status; plenipotentiary will immediately brand the utterance as diplomatic. In legal language, examples are: to deal with a case; summary procedure; a body of judges; as laid down in; the succeeding clauses of agreement; to reaffirm faith in fundamental principles; to establish the required conditions; the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law.

The vocabulary is characterized not only by the use of special terminology but the choice of lofty (bookish) words and phrases: plausible (=possible); to inform (=to tell); to assist (=to help); to cooperate (=to work together); to promote (=to help something develop); 
to secure (=to make certain) social progress; with the following objectives/ends (=for these purposes); to be determined/resolved (=to wish); to endeavour (=to try); to proceed (=to go); inquire (to ask).

Likewise, other varieties of official languages have their special nomenclature, which is conspicuous in the text, and therefore easily discernible.

Besides the special nomenclature characteristic of each variety of the style, there is a feature common to all these varieties  the use of abbreviations, conventional symbols and contractions. Some of them are well-known, for example, M.P. (Member of Parliament); Gvt. (government); H.M.S. (Her Majesty’s Steamship); $ (dollar); Ltd (Limited). But there are a few that have recently sprung up. A very interesting group of acronyms comprises the names of the USA presidents: FDR - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and accordingly FDR-drive in New York; JFK - John Fitzgerald Kennedy and JFK Airport in New York; LBJ - Lyndon Baines Johnson; W - for America’s President George Walker Bush, but his father is simply George Bush though his full name is George Herbert Walker Bush; POTUS, VPOTUS and FLOTUS accordingly President/Vice President/First Lady of the United States.

There are so many abbreviations and acronyms in official documents that there are special addenda in dictionaries to decode them. These abbreviations are particularly abundant in military documents. Here they are used not only as conventional symbols but as signs of the military code, which is supposed to be known only to the initiated. Examples are: DAO (Divisional Ammunition Officer); adv. (advance); atk. (attack); obj. (object); A/T (anti-tank); ATAS (Air Transport Auxiliary Service).

Another feature of the style is the use of words in their logical dictionary meaning. There is no room for words with contextual meaning or for any kind of simultaneous realization of two meanings, as in the other matter-of-fact styles. In military documents sometimes metaphorical names are given to mountains, rivers, hills, or villages, but these metaphors are perceived as code signs and have no aesthetic value, as in:

2.102 d. Inf. Div. continues atk. 26 Feb. 45 to captive objs Spruce Peach and Cherry and prepares to take over objs Plum and Apple after capture by CCB, 5th armd Div.

Words with emotive meaning are also not to be found in official documents.

Even in the style of scientific prose some words may be found which reveal the attitude of the writer, his individual evaluation of the fact and events of the issue. But no such words are to be found in official style, except those which are used in business letters as conventional phrases of greeting or close, as Dear Sir; yours faithfully.

As in all other functional styles, the distinctive properties appear as a system. It is impossible to single out a style by its vocabulary only, recognizable though it always is. The syntactical pattern of the style is as significant as the vocabulary though not perhaps so immediately apparent. Perhaps the most noticeable of all syntactical features are the compositional patterns of the variants of this style. Thus, business letters have a definite compositional pattern, namely, the heading giving the address of the writer and the date, the name of the addressee and his address. The usual parts of the business paper are:

1. Heading. The heading, which includes the sender’s name, postal and telegraphic addresses, telephone number as well as reference titles of the sender and recipient, is printed at the top of the notepaper. Note: in the United Kingdom all companies registered after 23rd November, 1916, must give the names of the directors, and if any of them are not British by origin, their nationality must be also printed.

2. Date. The date should always be printed in the top right-hand corner in the order: day, month, year, e.g. 21st May, 2004 (21/5/04). Another order is usually employed in the United States: May 21st, 2004 (5/21/04).

3. Name and address, i.e. the inside address or the direction. The inside address is typed in three, four or more lines whichever is necessary, either at the beginning of the letter, or at the end, e.g., Messrs. Adams and Wilkinson, / 4, Finsbury Square, / London, E.C.2., England.

4. Salutation. The salutation may be: Sir, Sirs, Gentlemen (never Gentleman), Dear Sirs (never Dear Gentlemen), Madam, Dear Madam (for both married and unmarried ladies), or Mesdames (plural). Dear Mr., or Dear Mister should never be used! Dear Mr. Jones, (Mrs. Brown / Miss Smith) may only be used when the sender is fairly intimate with the person receiving the letter.

5. Reference. Underlined heading should look as follows: Re: Your Order No 12345. Re is not an abbreviation of regarding but a Latin word meaning in the matter.

6. Opening. If you are hesitating for a phrase with which to commence your letter, one of the following will suit your purpose: In reply / with reference / referring to your letter of�; in accordance with / compliance with / pursuance of your order No.; we greatly appreciate your letter of�

7. Body. The body is the subject matter that should be concise but not laconic. The sentences should not be too long, the whole matter should be broken into reasonably short paragraphs which should be properly spaced.

8. Closing or the complimentary close. It usually looks something like this: Yours faithfully / truly / sincerely / cordially (not respectfully as it is too servile). Your obedient servant is used by the British civil service, i.e. by all non-warlike branches of the British state administration. The most appropriate closing is: Awaiting your early reply with interest / Hoping there will be no further complaints of this nature / Thanking you in advance for any information you can offer.

9. Stamp (if any) and signatures. The closing, with the signature following it, is made to slope off gradually so that the end of the signature just reaches the right hand margin of the letter.

10. Enclosures. The Word �Enclosure �should be written either in full or in its abbreviated form �Enc.� Usually at the bottom left-hand corner of the letter.

Consider the structure of a business letter below:

Mansfield and Co.  59 High Street  Swanage (=the address of the sender)  14 August, 2006 (=the date) 22 Fleet Street  London (= the address of the party addressed) Dear Sir, (=salutation) We beg to inform you that by order and for account of Mr. Jones of Manchester, we have taken the liberty of drawing upon you for $45 at three months� date to the order of Mr. Sharp. We gladly take this opportunity of placing our services at your disposal, and shall be pleased if you frequently make use of them. (=body) Truly yours,  Mansfield and Co. (=closing)  by Mary Smith

Almost every official document has its own compositional design. Pacts and statutes, orders and minutes, codes and memoranda all have more or less definite form, and it will not be an exaggeration to state that the form of the document is itself informative, inasmuch as it tells something about the matter dealt with.

An official document usually consists of a preamble, main text body and a finalizing (concluding) part.

The preamble is usually a statement at the beginning of the document explaining what it is about and stating the parties of the agreement, e.g. The States concluding this Treaty (Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons), hereinafter referred to as the Parties to the Treaty have agreed as follows. The most important words and phrases are often capitalized as well as the beginnings of the paragraphs in very long sentences listing the crucial issues.

The main text body constitutes the central and most important part of the document. It consists of articles individual parts of a document, usually numbered ones, which state the conditions on which the parties reach their agreement. For example, Article I of the above cited Treaty begins: Each nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly

The finalizing part comprises the signatures of the duly authorized people that have signed the document; the amount of copies of the document; the date (more often than not, stated by words, not by figures); the place: IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, duly authorized, have signed this Treaty. DONE in triplicate, at the cities of Washington, London and Moscow, this first day of July one thousand nine hundred sixty-eight.

Depending on the type of document, the composition and content of its individual parts may slightly vary as, for example, in business contracts setting the conditions binding two parties. A business contract consists of a standard text and changeable elements. In modern linguistics, standard text structures intended for information presentation are called frames. A frame is understood as asset language structure with changeable elements. The changeable elements within a text are called slots.

 

Questions for Self-Control:

 

1. What is the main function of the Style of Official Documents?

2. What sub-styles comprise this style?

3. Comment the characteristic features of this style (both linguistic and communicative)

4. What is the structure of a business letter?

5. What words are usually used as salutation in the business letters?

6. Define the words “frame” and “slot”

7. What are the leading features in the language of diplomacy?

8. Which sub-style of the Official Documents style is rich in the use of abbreviations? Why?

 

 

Literature

      

       1.  Н.М. Разинкина.  Практикум по стилистике английского  и русского языков: Учебн.пособие.  – М.: Высшая школа, 2006

2.    Ю.М. Скребнев  Основы стилистики английского  языка: Учебник для ин-тов и  фак.иностр.яз. – 2-е изд., испр. – М.:ООО «Издательство Астрель», 2000

3.     I.R. Galperin. Stylistics. – Moscow,1977

4.     V.A. Kuharenko. A Book of Practice in Stylistics. – M.:Высшая школа,1986

5.     V.A. Maltzev. Essays of English Stylistics. – Мн.: Высшая школа,1984

      6.     T.A.  Znamenskaya. Stylistics of the English Language. М., Комкнига, 2006

 

 

 

 

Lecture 10

 

The Scientific Style

 

The aim of the scientific style is to prove a high hypothesis (гипотезу), to create new concepts, to disclose the eternal laws of existence, development, relations between different phenomena. The language means used tend to be objective, precise, unemotional, devoid of any individuality, striving for the most general form of expression.

The leading features of this style are:

1) logical sequence of utterances with clear indication of their interrelations (взаимосвязи) and interdependence of ideas expressed;

2) objective, precise, unemotional, devoid of any individuality, striving for the most generalised form of expression;

3) developed and varied system of connectives;

4) the use of terms specific to each given branch of science. The necessity to penetrate deeper into the essence of things and phenomena gives rise to new concepts which require new names. Words used in scientific style are employed in their primary logical meaning. Terms are exchanged between various branches of science;

5) direct referential (and primary logical) <meaning> of the general vocabulary; self-explanatory terms; neutral and common literary words; the possibility of ambiguity is avoided;

6) hardly a single word will be found here which is used in more than one <meaning>, nor will be any words with <contextual meaning>;

7) sentence patterns (postulatory - обусловленные, argumentative (аргументирующие), formulative - (шаблоны);

8) based on facts already known, on facts systematised and defined;

9) the use of quotations and references (ссылки);

10) the frequent use of footnotes digressive (отклоняющиеся от темы) in character (сноски);

11) Impersonality: frequent use of passive constructions; impersonal passive constructions are frequently used with the verbs suppose, assume, point out, presume, conclude, infer-делать вывод, f.e. it must be inferred or it must be emphasized;

12) far greater amount of preliminary knowledge;

13) there may be hypotheses, pronouncements and conclusions, (backed up by strong belief).

    When translating scientific literature one should bear in mind that it is not the language itself that is special, but certain words or their symbols. 

The main function of the scientific style is rational cognition and linguistic presentation of the dynamics of thinking. Sub-styles and genres include scientific style proper (thesis, abstract of thesis, monograph, article, and report, abstract of a report...), popular scientific (an article, annotations, review.) and so on. ”Sub-languages” of scientific styles are law, political, medical, economic, technical, computer, linguistic, and so on.

Types of presentation typical of this style include description and argumentation (deduction, induction). Peculiarities of scientific communication are planned, prepared delayed in time communication (except for lectures and reports). Style-forming features are traditional in the use of language means, objective and non-categorical presentation, specific means of expression, restrictions in the use of evaluation, emotional language means, absence of imagery.

Language means of the scientific style are as follows:

lexical means - highly specialized scientific terminology,  terminological groups, the peculiarities of the use of terms   in  scientific speech, the use of nouns and verbs in abstract meanings, special words, scientific phraseology -  clichés, stereotyped word combinations and idioms, priority of neutral vocabulary, limitations in the use of emotional and expressive vocabulary, absence of non-literary vocabulary (slang words, vulgarisms), peculiarities in word-building (standard suffixes and prefixes, mainly of Greek and Latin origin – tele-, morpho, philo- -ism, and so on);