FUNCTIONAL STYLISTICS

The term functional stylistics accounts for the uneasy, almost paradoxical,
relationship between a number of linguistic theories of the 1950s and 1960s and their
use in literary stylistics. These theories are for the most part fun ctional, in that they
focus on the ways in which the linguistic system operates in terms of its utilitarian
functions. We choose this or that word or syntactic formation according to the
requirements of the context of their use and as a result of our desir e to achieve an
effective, functional, transference of meaning. The use of these theories as a model for
literary-stylistic analysis is paradoxical because the context of, say, a real conversation
is grounded in our knowledge of its actual circumstances wh ereas in a novel its context
would be comprised of the stylistic keys and registers that constitute the fabric of the
text.

One of the underlying precepts of stylistics is that a natural human language

exists in and through a diversity of situationally g rounded speech forms, which can be
roughly and very superficially reduced to a set of the so-called literary styles as
opposed to conversational (spoken, colloquial) styles. However, we can hardly allow
ourselves to stop at that. Naturally, in any deve loped modern language there are more
than two basic subdivisions (or functional styles). They are gradually formed in the
course of the historical development of a language and are connected with a certain
sphere of communication. Functional styles are characterized by definite linguistic
features which allow distinguishing them from each other.
In modern philology these functional subdivisions within the system of a national
language are best described and systematized on the categorial basis, which
presupposes that, both the linguistic and the conceptual, (extralinguistic) characteristics
of a speech-event are taken into account. Co-existing within the system of one
language, functional styles have many linguistic features in common. One should not be
surprised if in this or that functional style he would come across the features considered
as the invariant characteristics of another [A. I. Komarova, 1996]. All these principles
are revealed and established within a special philological discipline functional
stylistics.
There was a time when these considerations caused heated discussions among
the leading philologists of the world. At present they seem to be quite obvious and
generally agreed upon. Functional stylistics has its well -elaborated theory which is not

invalidated by the existence of some controversial points in it, like for example the one
concerning the functional-stylistic status of imaginative writing and the admissibility of
viewing it as a separate functional style.
These ideas have found practical application in multiple works devoted to
language teaching. On the basis of this theory the dichotomy of the language to be
spoken with and the language to be spoken about was introduced [O. S. Akhmanova,
1978] and many problems connected with optimizing foreign language acquisition were
solved. Today achievements of functional stylistics are great enough to allow scholars
concentrate on the pragmatic aspect of this discipline and work out a certain system of
style application.

1.

Attempts to Categorize Functions of Language

More than half a century ago academician V.V.Vinogradov offered to define

functional styles on the basis of a trichotomy of language functions

the

communicative, the intellective and the aesthetic ones. Today this trichotomy has
become so much part and parcel of a philologists professional experience, that
gradually the world of learning started accepting it as the indispensable foundation of
all stylistic studies, without bothering to really understand why it is the thre e functions
by Vinogradov and not the six functions by Jacobson or the four functions by Karl
Bhler that are considered to be the corner-stone of all further research. Lack of
interest to the background of Vinogradovs theory often led to different aberra tions and
distortions in its subsequent development by the followers of the Russian scholar. Since
it was not quite clear why there are three functions, nothing could prevent a scholar
from reducing the trichotomy in question to a simplistic dichotomy (int ellective vs.
aesthetic functions) and beginning to compare various linguistic phenomena in order to
prove the obvious fact that in scientific prose and in artistic texts they function
differently.
Such studies were of a very limited value and did not brin g the scholars anywhere
near the final goal of functional stylistics a description and systematization of the
functional styles of the English or any other language. The most essential point in

Vinogradovs trichotomy is its catergorial nature, which mea ns that this classification is
applicable to all linguistic facts and that these three functions can be treated (in a very
broad and general sense) as mutually exclusive catergorial forms possessing both the
linguistic expression and extra linguistic content.
In the list of functions the communicative one is ontologically the first among the
three. It is the unmarked member of the categorial opposition to be observed in the
situations of the non-specialized and non-artistic communication and is associated
with the notion of linguistic norm. The other two members of the opposition are marked:
the intellective function is performed in situations of specialized communication and is
characterized by a more restricted use of linguistic elements, while the a esthetic
function (the function of aesthetic impact) is connected with artistic communication and
with linguistic units displaying their metaphorical potential to the utmost, one way or
another violating and playing upon the norm. The existence of this o pposition had been
discovered long before the theory of functional styles appeared. The famous Prague
linguist Bohuslav Havranek wrote about it as far back as 1932, describing the linguistic
phenomena

in question

as

automatization

for

the

communicative

function, intellectualization for the intellective function, and foregrounding for the
aesthetic function. However, neither he, nor any other scholar at that time succeeded in
applying this excellent theoretical proposition to the study of the actual li nguistic
material. Only much later there appeared papers proving that this categorial trichotomy
is manifested on all levels of linguistic organization of a text and that it creates the
proper basis for the functional-stylistic investigation of language in general.
As a categorial phenomenon, the trichotomy in question cannot be extended by
any other members or reduced to dualistic oppositions. Although, according to
Vinogradov, among the main six functional styles only the colloquial one ( ) is related to the communicative function while the other five are connected
with the marked members of the opposition [V.V.Vinogradov, 1968], still the
communicative function represents the linguistic norm and is therefore fulfilled by any
text and may be found in all functional styles. At the same time, one can easily find in
texts belonging to the colloquial functional style the elements associated with the other
two functions. Due to this fact the introduction of direct and straightforward correlation
between functions and functional styles is useful only to a certain extent, as a
methodologically convenient simplification of the actual state of affairs which is much
more complex.
For fear of making the specimens of one and the same functional style pr actically
indistinguishable from each other, the division of the enormous linguistic material into

six basic functional styles cannot be based on too many distinctive features. Besides,
certain variability should be allowed even for those distinctive chara cteristics. Thus, for
example, some scientific articles can be more difficult for comprehension than others,
which happens not because the ideas contained in them are far and away more difficult,
but because their language is more complex. Very much the sa me applies to texts of
verbal art as well as to specimens of other functional styles. This brings us to the
understanding of the fact that functional styles are characterized by a fair degree of
heterogeneity and that in the course of the analysis of any f unctional style it is
necessary to study its possible subdivisions, to concentrate on its smaller parts (which
here for want of a better term would be called registers). Such a study enables the
scholar to find out 1) the features which are typical of a fu nctional style as a whole and
should be regarded as its invariant characteristics, 2) the qualities which are present in
all texts but are distributed unevenly and should be regarded as its variable
characteristics and 3) the features which occur in the te xts under analysis only
accidentally and are irrelevant to its global functional-stylistic description.
After the foregoing brief survey of some basic points of the functional -stylistic
theory, it would be clear how the theoretical propositions concerning the categorial
nature of the trichotomy and the notion of functional-stylistic heterogeneity can
influence the actual practice of linguistic investigations. There are at least two main
directions of philological research which can seriously profit from th e application of this
theory:

1) the pragmalinguistically oriented description of all functional styles with the

exception of imaginative writing which is not supposed to be taught the way LSP or
Business English are, and
2) the linguopoetic analysis of works of verbal art.

In a recent research devoted to the theory and practice of studying LSP

A.I.Komarova has shown that intellective functional style contains texts with reduced
idiomaticity (no synonymic relations, no expressivity, restricted use of

lexical-

phraseological and morpho-syntactic patterns), stylistically neutral texts (the above

restrictions already being leveled out) and stylistically marked texts free from the
restrictions mentioned. The conceptual orientation in all those types of text s remains
the same, but still one can observe in them the change of the prevailing function the
gradual movement from the intellective function to the communicative function (in some
cases combined with the aesthetic one). The conceptually predetermined use of

linguistic units forms the invariant basis of the functional style, while the expressive
stylistic features and the extension of the patterns should be regarded as variable
characteristics slightly modifying the conceptual field and contributing to the functionalstylistic heterogeneity of scientific texts.
Very much the same work has been done by B.A. Samadov in application to the
register of Business English, which proves the validity of the postulates in question and
makes it possible to speak about the way these findings may influence the teaching
practice. As any register or functional style of language turns out to be a heterogeneous
phenomenon, one should be very careful about the material to be brought to a
classroom not to choose it at random and not to take any text because it has the right
functional-stylistic orientation. This choice of the material should be made consciously
and rationally. It is advisable to begin with the idiomatically restricted texts, or
depending on the level of the learner, with the neutral ones, and only after it pass on to
those possessing certain expressivity and try to exclude those where one finds the use
of expressive elements, used, as it were, for their own sake, for such texts have a
different functional-stylistic orientation as compared to the scientific or official papers.
Everyone who is engaged in teaching foreign languages knows how extremely
difficult it is to find reliable material, for very often the compilers of most widely
advertised courses are not guided by any clear principles and present in their manuals
a weird mixture of disconnected texts, the studying of which leads a student to
complete despair. Functional stylistics is ready to provide scholars with the necessary
theoretical propositions, but so far few scholars have availed themselves of the findings
in question [A.I.Komarova,1996], and the task of producing comprehensive courses in
various LSPs and other functional styles remains very urgent indeed.
When setting forth to study and teach literature a philologist often seeks to
explain to himself the nature of the aesthetic artistic impression a literary text produced
on him, and the set of questions he is confronted with here differs from the one
discussed during the investigation of LSP, but in answering them functional stylistics
would lend a helpful hand as well. As imaginative writing is highly heterogeneous, some
of literary texts may be based mainly on the communicative function with an
inconsiderable admixture of the aesthetic one, and the artistic impression they still
produce upon the reader would be connected with the peculiarities of their content or
composition.
In this case one would have very little to say about the role of linguistic elements
in creating aesthetic effect because these elements are fairly neutral. At the same time,
there are literary texts abounding in the elements of the aesthetic function, and the

adequate understanding of them would be impossible without a close scrutiny of the

way they are used in a text. This scrutiny is the subject of linguopoetics which works
out special methods of establishing the function and the relative value of stylistically
marked linguistic elements in a literary text. Without the proper functional -stylistic
background such a work is simply unthinkable.
Roman Jakobson (1996, pp. 10-35) presents summary remarks about poetics in
its relation to linguistics. To outline the field of study of poetics, its aims and methods,
he focuses on the study of the poetic function of language, whi le emphasizing that
language must be investigated in all variety of its functions. An outline of the language
functions requires a detailed analysis of all factors which help to constitute any speech
event, any act of verbal communication. A simple model of a communication channel
consists of three phenomena: the addresser sends a message to the addressee. To be
operative the message requires a

context referred to, graspable by the addressee

(either verbal or capable of being verbalized), a code fully (or at least partially) common
to the addresser and addressee, and, finally, a contact, a physical channel and
psychological connection between the two, enabling both of them to enter and stay in
communication. R. Jakobson (ibid., p. 12) offers a scheme presen ting all these factors:

ADDRESSER

CONTEXT

ADDRESSEE

MESSAGE
CONTACT
CODE

Table 11. Main Factors in Verbal Communication

These six factors determine the functions of language, each of them a different
one. R. Jakobson points out that even though we distinguish six basic aspects of
language, we could hardly find verbal messages that would fulfill only one function. It
should be emphasized that the diversity lies in a specific hierarchical order of the
functions, not in a monopoly of one of them. The verbal structure of a message
depends primarily on the predominant function. A set toward the referent , an orientation
toward the context, so called referential function, is the leading task of numerous
messages, but the accessory participation of the other functions must be taken into
account.

The second, so called emotive or expressive function is focused on the

addresser. It aims a direct expression of the speakers attitude toward what he is
speaking about. It tends to produce an impression of certai n emotion; therefore it is
termed emotive. This function is linguistically represented by the use of interjections.
As underlined by Jakobson (ibid.), the emotive function flavours to some extent all our
utterances, on their phonetic, grammatical, and lexical level. As for the amount of
information carried by language, the notion of information cannot be restricted to the
cognitive aspect of language. A speaker, using expressive features to indicate his angry
or ironic attitude, conveys ostensible information (Jakobson, ibid., p. 13).
The vocative and imperative sentences are the purest grammatical expression of
the conative function that is an orientation toward the addressee. The conative function
means to appeal to, or to influence the addressee. From this point of view, it is
important to realize that it is only declarative sentences (not imperatives) which are
liable to a truth test. An imperative sentence, for instance, Drink!, cannot be followed by
a question is it true or not. However, it is perfectly all right to ask this question after a
declarative sentence, for example: Ive had two glasses already.
The traditional model of language, as introduced by K. Buhler in his book
Sprachteorie. Die Darstellungsfunktion des Sprache (Jena, 1934), was confined to
these three functions emotive, conative and referential. Almost thirty years before R.
Jakobson, K. Buhler insisted that these three functions are not regarded as mutually
exclusive and pointed out that any speech event usually fulfills more than one function.
K. Buhlers practical classification was elaborated by the Prague School linguists 1 who
added the fourth category, known as the aesthetic function of language.
R. Jakobson observed three further constitutive factors of verbal communica tion
and three corresponding functions of language.
Considering the messages whose primary function is to establish, to prolong, or
to discontinue communication, to check if the channel works ( Hello, do you hear me?)
, to attract the attention of the interlocutor or to confirm his continued attention (Are
you listening?), we recognize the set for contact reflected in the phatic function of
language. The phatic function of language may be displayed by a profuse exchange of

The Prague School (like Russian formalism) was one of the most important linguistic and literary movements of the early
twentieth century, and its work still continues to this day (e.g. functional sentence perspective, theme and rheme). Only
gradually did the ideas of Mathesius, Mukarsovsky, Trubetskoy and others become known in the west: partly through Roman
Jakobson who (like Trubetskoy) had moved from Moscow and helped found the Circle in 1926, later emigrating to the United
States at the outbreak of the Second World War, and also through the translations of their work into English in the early 1960s
(e.g. Vachek, 1964). Greatly influenced by the structuralism of Saussure, the Prague linguists made significant contributions to
phonetics, phonology and semantics. They developed Saussures ideas of language and parole along essentially functionalist
lines, e.g. the functions that the language has to perform to shape its system.

ritualized formulas and by entire dialogues with the mere purport of prolonging
communication (Jakobson p.15).
Whenever the addresser and/or the addressee need to check up their language,
that is whether they use the same code, their speech is focused on the code and their
verbal communication performs a metalingual function. Metalingual function is realized
by various inquiries, for instance, I cant follow you - what do you mean? or Do you
know what I mean?, etc.
The sixth factor involved in verbal communication is the message itself. The
poetic function (corresponds to the Prague Schools aesthetic function) needs to be
studied in connection with the general problems of language and vice versa, the
investigation of language has to account for its poetic function. As R. Jakobson points
out the poetic function cannot be reduced to the sphere of poetry, since it is not the
sole function of verbal art only its dominant, determining function, whereas in all other
verbal activities it acts as a subsidiary, accessory constitu ent (Jakobson p.15).

This

function of language deepens the fundamental dichotomy of signs and objects and thus
cannot be confined to the field of poetry. Examples of verbal communication where the
speakers use particular sequences or collocations just b ecause they come easily
through their mouth or simply sound

good illustrate the non-literary use of poetic

function, for instance: Beastie Boys, highly likely, Mad Max, sloppy speech, unlikely
likely, etc. Many catch-phrases, proverbs, slogans and slang expressions function in
this way.
The scheme of main factors involved in verbal communication can be now
complemented by the six corresponding functions of language:
CONTEXT
REFERENTIAL

ADDRESSER
EMOTIVE

MESSAGE
POETIC

ADDRESSEE
CONATIVE

CONTACT
PHATIC

CODE
METALINGUAL
Table 12. Functions of Language. (Based on Jakobson, ibid., p. 16.)

Functional-stylistic theory is a living and a developing disciplin e, and its findings

so far have not been duly appreciated by the specialists or actually put into practice. As
long as there are literary texts to investigate and functional styles to be described
pragmalinguistically, functional stylistics will be alive, not becoming a thing of the Past,
but remaining a thing of the Living Present.

2. Classification of Language Styles

Each style of the literary language makes use of a group of language means, the
interrelation of which is peculiar to the given style. I t is the co-ordination of the
language means and stylistic devices which shapes the distinctive features of each
style, and not the language means or stylistic devices themselves. A style of language
can be defined as a system of co-ordinated, interrelated and interconditioned language
means intended to fulfill a specific function of communication and aiming at a definite
effect. The development of each style is predetermined by the changes in the norms of
Standard English.
There are a few traditional classifications of styles known in Czech and Slovak
linguistics (B. Havranek, E. Pauliny, F. Miko). The most representative and complex
approach is introduced by J. Mistrik. In his earlier works, Mistrik outlined two main
groups of styles, individual and interindividual. These groups were further specified as
shown in the following table:
Objective

Objective Subjective

Sub
jective

scientific

administrative aesthetic

publicistic rhetoric

essayistic colloquial

Table 13. Classification of Styles. (Based on Mistrik, 1985, p. 423.)

In the study of English Functional Stylistics general characteristics of the bellesletters style, publicist style, newspaper style, scientific prose style and the style of
official documents will be discussed.

2.1

The Belles-Lettres Style

The term belles-lettres style may have become obsolete nowadays, but it is quite
useful when we need to indicate the difference between the artistic texts and other
literary texts (i.e. written in literary or standard language). The belles -lettres style, or
the language of literature, refers to the language of poetry, fiction and drama. Each
of these substyles has certain common features, typical of the general belles -lettres
style. They make up the fundamental characteristic of the style, by which it is made
recognizable and can be singled out. At the same time, each of the substyles also has
individual features and characteristics.
The main feature, which all substyles of the belles-lettres style have in common,
is the aesthetic-cognitive function. It is a double function that aims at the cognitive
process, which secures the gradual unfolding of the idea to the reader and at the same
time evokes feelings of pleasure.
The most characteristic linguistic features of the belles -lettres style can be
summarized as follows:

Sophisticated

figurativeness,

genuine

imagery,

meanings

and

messages encoded between the lines and a specific discourse situation

between the author and the reader constructed by means of particular linguistic
devices, their unique selection and arrangement.

The use of lexical items in a contextual and very often in more than

one dictionary meaning, or at least

greatly influenced by the lexical

environment.

A vocabulary which will reflect to a greater or lesser degree the

authors personal evaluation of things or phenomena.

A peculiar individual selection of vocabulary and syntax, a kind of

lexical and syntactical idiosyncrasy.

The introduction of the typical features of colloquial language to a full

degree (in plays) or a lesser one (in emotive prose) or a slight degree, if any (in
poems).
The belles-lettres style is individual in essence. Individuality is one of its most
distinctive properties. It is reflected in the selection of the language means (including
116 stylistic devices) and is extremely apparent in poetic style, hardly noticeable in the
style of scientific prose and is entirely lacking in newspapers and in official style. The

relationship between the general and the particular assumes different forms in different
styles and in their variants. This relationship is differently materialized even within one
and the same style. This is due to the strong imprint of personality on any work of a
poetic style. There may be a greater or lesser volume of imagery (but not an absence of
imagery), a greater or lesser number of words with contextual meaning

(but not all

words without contextual meaning), a greater or lesser number of colloquial elements

(but not a complete absence of colloquial elements).

2.1.1. LANGUAGE OF POETRY

The first substyle we shall consider is v e r s e. Its first differentiating property 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 syntax and semantics
comply with the restrictions imposed by the rhythmic pattern, and the result is brevity 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.

2.1.2. EMOTIVE PROSE

The substyle of emotive prose has the same common feature s as have been
pointed out for the belles-lettres style in general, but all these features are correlated
differently in emotive prose. The imagery is not so rich as it is in poetry, the percentage
of words with contextual meaning is not so high as in poet ry, the idiosyncrasy of the
author is not so clearly discernible. Apart form metre and rhyme, that most of all
distinguishes emotive prose form the poetic style is the combination of the literary
variant of the language, both in words and syntax, with the colloquial variant. It would
perhaps be more exact to define this as a combination of the spoken and written
varieties of the language, inasmuch as there are always two forms of communication
present monologue (the writers speech) and dialogue (the spee ch of the characters).
It follows then that the colloquial language in the belles -lettres style is not a pure
and simple reproduction of what might be the natural speech of living people. It has
undergone changes introduced by the writer. The colloquial speech has been made
literature-like. This means that only the most striking elements of what might have
been a conversation in life are made use of, and even these gave undergone some kind

of transformation. Emotive prose allows the use of elements from o ther styles as well.
Thus we find elements of the newspaper style in Sinclair Lewiss It Cant Happen
Here, the official style in the business letters exchanged between two characters in
Galsworthys novel The Man of Property, the style of scientific prose in Cronins
Citadel where medical language is used.
But all these styles under the influence of emotive prose undergo a kind of
transformation. Passages written in other styles may be viewed only as interpolation
and not as constituents of the style. Present day emotive prose is to a large extent
characterized by the breaking-up of traditional syntactical designs of the preceding
periods. Not only detached construction, but also fragmentation of syntactical models,
peculiar, unexpected ways of combining sentences, especially the gap-sentence link
and other modern syntactical patterns, are freely introduced into present -day emotive
prose.

2.1.3 LANGUAGE OF THE DRAMA

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, the personal idiosyncrasies of the writer. Thus the language of plays is a stylized
type of the spoken variety of language. The analysis of the language texture of plays
has shown that the most characteristic feature here is to use the term of the theory of
information, redundancy of information caused by the necessity to amplify t he
utterance. This is done for the sake of the audience.
The language of plays is entirely dialogue. The authors speech is almost entirely
excluded except for the playwrights remark and stage directions. The language of the
characters is in no way the exact reproduction of the norms of colloquial language,
although the playwright seeks to reproduce actual conversation as far as the norms of
the written language will allow. This variety of belles-lettres style has used the norms of
the literary language of the given period. So 16 th century drama is much different from
20 th century drama.

2.2 Publicist Style

Publicist style became discernible as a separate style in the middle of the 18th
century. It also falls into three varieties, each having its own distinctive features which

integrate them. Unlike other styles, the publicist style has spoken varieties, in
particular, the oratorical substyle. The development of radio and television has brought
about a new spoken variety, namely, the radio commentary. The other two are the
essay (moral, philosophical, literary) and articles (political, social, and economic) in
newspapers, journals and magazines. Book reviews in journals and magazines and also
pamphlets are generally included among essays.
The general aim of the publicist style, which makes it stand out as a separate
style, is to exert a constant and deep influence on public opinion, to convince the
reader or the listener that the interpretation given by the writer or the speaker is the
only correct one and to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech,
essay or article not merely with logical argumentation, but through emotional appeal as
well (the brain-washing function). Due to its characteristic combination of logical
argumentation and emotional appeal, the publicist style has features in common with
the logical syntactical structure, with an expanded system of connectives and its careful
paragraphing, making it similar to scientific prose. Its emotional appeal is generally
achieved through the use of words with emotive meaning, the use of imagery and other
stylistic devices as in emotive prose; but the stylistic devices used in publicist style are
not fresh or genuine. The individual element essential to the belles -lettres style is, as a
rule, little in evidence here. This is in keeping with the general character of the style.
The manner of presenting ideas, however, brings this style closer to that of
belles-lettres, in this case to emotive prose, as it is to a certain extent individual .
Naturally, of course, essays and speeches have greater individuality than newspaper
and magazine articles where the individual element is generally toned down and limited
by the requirements of the style.
Some more features of the publicist style can be found out from the requirements
that are imposed on American radio and TV reporters. The following are ten aspects
that should be present in a report or commentary to make it successful:
1. immediacy ,
2. proximity (relation to recipient),
3. consequence (comment on consequences),
4. prominence (inform about the latest and interesting events),
5. drama (dramatic events),
6. oddity (originality),
7. conflict,
8. sex,

9. emotions,
10. progress.

Publicist style is also characterized by brevity of expression. In some varieties of

this style it becomes a leading feature, an important linguistic means. The short report
is focused on five Ws: who, what, where, when and why. In essays brevity sometimes
becomes epigrammatic.
Generally, we distinguish the most obvious subdivisions: oratory, i.e. speeches
and orations, essays and articles.

2.2.1. Oratory and speeches

The oratorical style of the language is the oral subdivision of the Publicist style.
Persuasion is the most obvious purpose of oratory.
Direct contact with the listener permits a combination of the syntactical, lexical
and phonetic peculiarities of both the written and spoken varieties of language. But in
its leading features oratorical style belongs to the written variety of lan guage, though it
is modified by the oral form of the utterance and the use of gestures. Typical features of
the spoken variety of speech present in this style are: direct address to the audience
(ladies & gentlemen, honorable members), contractions (Ill, wont, weve), the use of
colloquial words.
This style is evident in speeches on political and social problems of the day, in
orations and addresses on solemn occasions, in parliamentary debates, at meetings
and in election campaigns.

2.2.2. The essay

As a separate form of English literature the essay dates back to the close of the
16th century. The name became common after the publication of Montaignes Essays,
a literary form created by this French writer.
An essay is rather a series of personal and witty comments than a finished
argument or a conclusive examination of any matter.
The most characteristic language features of the essay are:

Brevity of expression;

The use of the first person singular, which justifies a personal

approach to the problems treated;

A rather expanded use of connectives, which stress the process of

correlation of ideas;

The abundant use of emotive words;

The use of similes and sustained metaphors.

Some essays, depending on the writers individuality, are written in a highly

emotional manner resembling the style of emotive prose, others resemble scientific
prose, and the terms review, memoir and treatise indicate these peculiarities throughout
the more profound study.

2.2.3 Journalistic articles.

All the already mentioned features of Publicist style are to be found in any article
irrespective of the character of the magazine and the article, though the latter affect the
choice of stylistic devices. Words of emotive meaning, for example, are few, if any, in
popular scientific articles. In a satiric article, on the contrary, their exposition is more
consistent and the system of connectives more expanded. Literary reviews stand closer
to essays both by their content and by their linguistic form .

2.3 Newspaper Style: Historical development

Newspaper 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. The first of any regular
series of English newspapers was the Weekly News which first appeared on May 23,
1622. It lasted for some twenty years until it ceased publication in 1641. The first
English daily newspaper The Daily Courant was brought out on March 11, 1702. It was
principally a vehicle for information, commentary as a regular feature only found its way
into the newspapers later on.
It took the English newspaper more than a century to establish a style and a
standard of its own. And it was only by the 19th century that newspape r English may be
said to have developed into a system of language means which forms a separate
functional style.

The English newspaper style may be defined as a system of interrelated lexical,

phraseological and grammatical means which is perceived by the community speaking
the language as a separate unity that basically serves the purpose of informing and
instructing the reader.
As stated earlier in this section, not all the printed matter found in newspapers
comes under newspaper style. The modern newspaper carries material of an extremely
diverse character. On the pages of a newspaper one finds not only news and comment
on it, but also stories and poems, crossword puzzles, chess problems, and the like.
Since these serve the purpose of entertaining the reader, they cannot be considered
specimens of newspaper style. Nor can articles in special fields, such as science and
technology, art, literature, etc. be classed as belonging to newspaper style.
The term newspaper style is traditionally used in English to denote the style of
newspaper writing. Since it evokes a feeling of excluding the style of magazine writing
(where the articles do not just bring information but also analyze or comment on
different things), some authors started to use the term journalistic style also in English.
However, this term has not been fully assimilated into English and the term newspaper
style is preferred.
J. Mistrik (1970) defines newspaper style as a purposeful and thematic
arrangement of language means in order to bring up-to-date, accurate and convincing
information on current affairs. However, this concerns only news, commentaries and
articles, reports, etc. In present newspapers and magazines there is a number of
crosswords, sports results, TV or radio program li stings and many others, which can
hardly be included in newspaper style.
What in English is put in different styles of newspaper and magazine writing, J.
Mistrik (ibid.) divides into three genre categories that cover all aspects of newspaper or
journalistic style. These categories are news genres, focusing on providing objective
information (news story, interview),

analytical genres, to some extent allowing

subjective opinion (leading articles, in English language press editorials, columns,

articles, gloss, commentary), and belletristic genres that are the most subjective from
all three categories (report, essay). All these genres differ in the language means they
use to bring some information, to convince the reader about something, and so on. As a
whole the journalistic style carries certain characteristic features. The first is the
purpose of informing the reader and the need of being up -to date. Then there is a great
variety of themes. On the other hand, there is the necessity of the text being comp act
and coherent. In terms of lexical means, words with clear meaning are given priority,

then there are terms which are used in popular-scientific texts, expressive words to
attract and keep the readers attention, neologisms and loan words. The sentence is
usually simple or coordinating clauses, with parenthesis. A special feature of this style
is the use of extra-linguistic expressive means such as pictures, diagrams, charts. Of
course, all these features depend on the genre and type of the text.
It is difficult for the English language press to make some generalization about
the characteristics of the newspaper style because, as Crystal says, the style of writing
of newspapers and magazines presents a wider range of linguistically distinctive
varieties than any other

domain of language study(Crystal, Davy, 1993). In her

analysis of scientific and publicist texts, Tevkov points out, that the style of particular
newspapers or magazines differs so much that only certain features can be selected
and described as being typical for journalistic style.

2.3.1 Genres of newspaper style proper

Since the primary function of newspaper style is to impart information, only
printed matter serving this purpose comes under newspaper style proper. Such matter
can be classed as:

1. Brief news items.

2. Advertisements and announcements.
3. The headline.
4. The editorial.

The most concise form of newspaper information is the headline. The newspaper
also seeks to influence public opinion on political and other matters.

Elements of

appraisal may be observed in the very selection and method of presentation of news, in
the use of specific vocabulary and special syntactic constructions. The headlines of
news items, apart from giving information about the 120 subject matter, also carry a
considerable amount of appraisal (the size and arrangement of the headline, the use of
emotionally colored words and elements of emotive syntax), thus indicating the
interpretation of the facts in the news item that follows. But the principal vehicle of
interpretation and appraisal is the newspaper article and the editorial in particular.
Editorials, leading articles or leaders, are characterized by a subjective handling of
facts, political or otherwise, and therefore have more in common with political essays or
articles and should therefore be classed as belonging to publicist style rather than
newspaper style. Though it seems natural to consider newspaper articles, editorials

included, as coming within the system of English newspaper style, i t is necessary to

note that such articles are an intermediate phenomenon characterized by a combination
of styles, the newspaper style and the publicist style.

Brief news items.

The principal function of the genre is to inform the reader. It states facts without
giving explicit comments. It has its specific vocabulary features and is characterized by
an extensive use of:

special

political

and

economic

terms

(socialism,

constitution,

president, apartheid, gross output);

non-term political vocabulary (public, people, progressive, nation-

wide, unity, peace);

newspaper clichs /stereotyped expressions; commonplace phrases

familiar to the reader/ (vital issue, pressing necessity, informed sources, danger
of war, to escalate a war, war hysteria, captains of indus try, pillars of society);

abbreviations

(UNO,

Trade Union Congress,

NATO,

UFO,

European Economic Community, Foreign Office, MP, VIP);

neologisms. The newspaper is very quick to react to any new

development in the life of society, science and technology. H ence, neologisms

make their way into the language of the newspaper very easily and often even
spring up on newspaper pages (lunic a machine to study the Moon; a splashdown a landing on water; a sit-in a strike when the strikers sit on their places
but do not work; stop-go policies contradictory, indecisive and inefficient
policies);

complex sentences with a developed system of clauses (There are

indications that BOAC may withdraw threats of all-out dismissals for pilots who
restrict flying hours, a spokesman for the British Airline Pilots Association said
yesterday.);

verbal constructions (he set this example by announcing the

disbanding of his faction numbering 47 of the total of 95 conservative members of

the Lower House);

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 (The condition of Lord
Samuel, aged 92, was said last night to be a little better);

attributive noun groups are powerful means of effecting brevity ( heart

swap patient, the

national

income

and

expenditure figures, Labour

backbench decision);

specific word-order. In one-sentence news paragraphs and in leads

\the initial sentences in longer news items\ is more or less fixed. Journalistic
practice has developed what is called the five-w-and-h-pattern rule (who-whatwhy-how-where-when) and for a long time strictly adhered to it. (A neigh- bours
peep through a letter box led to the finding of a woman dead from gas and two
others semiconscious in a block of council flats in Eccles New Road, Salford,
Lanc., yesterday.).

Advertisements and Announcements

Advertisements made their way into the British press at an early stage of its
development (in the 17th century). Their principal function 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.
in The Times, for example, the reader never fails to find several hundred
advertisements

and

announcements

classified

into

group s,

such

as BIRTHS,

MARRIAGES, DEATHS, BUSINESS OFFERS, etc. (CULHANE on November 1st, to

BARBARA and JOHN CULHANE a son).
The tendency to eliminate from the sentence all elements that can be done
without has no stylistic function; it is purely technical to economize place, expensive

in

what

newspaper men

call advertising

hole.

The

vocabulary of

classified

advertisements and announcements is on the whole neutral.

The Headline
Headline English is something specific, which occurs only in the press. Since the function
of a headline is to catch the readers attention and at the same time to provide information about
the content of the article, some distinctive features have developed to fulfill this function.
According to M. McCarthy and F. ODell (1994) who briefly summarized these features, the
headlines usually contain as few words as possible and that is why grammar words like articles
or auxiliary verbs are often left out, simple present tense is used and infinitive is applied to
express the future event. The words used tend to be short and they sound dramatic. A headline
often contains a play with words or a pun. D. Crystal (1987) gives a similar description of
headlines saying they are more elliptical and adding also some examples of making a headline
as short as possible, for example, the preposition on means in fact about.

Syntactically headlines are very short sentences or phrases of variety of patterns:

full declarative sentences (Allies Now Look to London The Times);

interrogative sentences (Do You Love War?- Daily World);

nominative sentences (Atlantic Sea Traffic- The Times);

elliptical sentences (Still in danger-The Guardian);

sentences with articles omitted (Step to Overall Settlement Cited in Text of AgreementInternational Gerald Tribune);

phrases with verbals (Keeping Prices Down- The Times; To Get US Aid-The
Guardian);

questions in the form of statements (Growl Now, Smile Later?- The Observer);

complex sentences (Army Says It Gave LSD to Unknown GIs- International Gerald
Tribune);

headlines including direct speech, as a full sentence or elliptically (The Queen: My

Deep Distress- -The Guardian);

The headline in British and American newspapers is an important thing both for
information and appraisal; editors give it special attention. It takes a lot of skill on

the part of the writer to make the reader look through the article or at least the
greater part of it.

The Editorial
Its function 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 editors opinion and interpretation of the news published and suggest to the reader
that it is the correct one.
In addition to vocabulary typical of brief news items, writers of editorials make an
extensive use of emotionally coloured vocabulary (The long-suffering British housewife
needs a bottomless purse to cope with this scale of inflation-Daily Mirror). The
language of editorial articles is characterized by a combination of different strata of
vocabulary, which enhances the emotional effect. Alongside political words and
expressions, terms, clichs and abbreviations one can find colloquial words and
expressions, slang and professionalisms. Emotional colouring in editorial articles is
achieved with the help of various stylistic devices, the use of which is largely traditional.
Yet, the role of expressive language means and stylistic devices in the editorial
should not be over-estimated. They stand out against the essentially neutral
background. Broadly speaking, tradition reigns supreme in the language of newspapers.
Original forms of expression and fresh genuine stylistic means are comparatively rare in
newspaper articles, editorial included.

2.4 Scientific Prose Style

Scientific style (or, according to P. Newmark (1995) technical style) is applied
when certain scientific knowledge or information obtained from scientific research has
to be conveyed. This style has some distinctive character istics from which the most
important are the use of terms, objectivity, accuracy and expert knowledge (Mistrik,
1970). In terms of language means, the constructions of the gerund and participle are
used to make the text more condense and precise, and frequ ently occurring are also
parentheses. Then there are also compound words and derivates, loan words,
neologisms, etc.
One of the branches of the scientific style is popular-scientific style, the other
levels as suggested by P. Newmark (ibid.) can be

academic and

professional, all

differentiated by the vocabulary, when the former uses transferred Latin and Greek
words and the latter operates with formal terms used by experts. The third category is
popular level. L. Tevkov studied linguistic characteristic s of scientific and journalistic
texts and suggested that the division of the scientific style based on vocabulary is
probably not as exact as it might seem (2002). In her opinion, the division according to
the use of terms may fall on the argument that Latin and Greek terms can be used in
professional and popular texts too if they illustrate or emphasize something and are so called stylistically marked then; also terms frequently used in professional texts are not
omitted from the popular or academic texts. J. Mistrik, on the other hand, operates only
with two subdivisions where the scientific one is aimed at the expert public and the
popular-scientific one, also comprising of journalistic expressive means, is directed at
the general public. The function of bringing scientific knowledge in a comprehensible
and interesting way causes the popular-scientific style to be a compilation of various
devices such as the use of terms, description, shorter sentences, diagrams and
pictures, and from time to time expressive words as well (ibid. p 116).
As indicated above, the language of science is governed by the aim of the
functional style of scientific prose, which is to prove a hypothesis, to create new
concepts, to disclose the internal laws of existence, developm ent, relations between
different phenomena, etc. The language means used, therefore, tend to be objective,
precise, and unemotional, devoid of any individuality; there is a striving for the most
generalized form of expression.
The first and most noticeable feature of this style is the logical sequence of
utterances with a clear indication of the interrelations and interdependencies. It will not
be an exaggeration to say that in no other functional style do we find such a developed
and varied system of connectives as in scientific prose.
A second and no less important feature and, perhaps, the most conspicuous, is
the use of terms specific to each given branch of science. No other field of human
activity is so prolific in coining new words as science is. Th e necessity to penetrate
deeper into the essence of things and phenomena gives rise to new concepts, which
require new words to name them. As has already been pointed out, a term will make
more direct reference to something than a descriptive explanation, a non-term.
Further, the general vocabulary employed in scientific prose bears its direct
referential meaning, that is, words used in scientific prose will always tend to be used in
their primary logical meaning. No words should be used in more than one m eaning. Nor
will there be any words with contextual meaning. Even the possibility of ambiguity is
avoided. Furthermore, terms are coined so as to be self -explanatory to the greatest

possible degree. But in spite of this a new term in scientific prose is g enerally followed
(or preceded) by an explanation.
In modern scientific prose an interesting phenomenon can be observed, the
exchange of terms between various branches of science. This is due to the
interpenetration of scientific ideas. Self-sufficiency in any branch of science is now a
thing of the past. Collaboration of specialists in related sciences has proved successful
in many fields. The exchange of terminology may therefore be regarded as a natural
outcome of this collaboration. For example, mathematical terms have left their own
domain and travel freely in other sciences, including linguistics.
A third characteristic feature of scientific style is what we may call sentence
patterns. They are of three types:

postulatory,

argumentative,

formulative.

A hypothesis, a scientific conjecture or a forecast must be based on facts already

known, on facts systematized and defined. Therefore every piece of scientific prose will
begin with postulatory pronouncements which are taken as self -evident and needing no
proof. The writers own ideas are also shaped in formulae, which represent a doctrine
or theory of a principle, an argument, the result of an investigation, etc. Here the
sentences which sum up the arguments are used.
Some other features of scientific prose can be listed here. For example, the use
of quotations and references, the frequent use of foot -notes, digressive in character,
the impersonality of scientific writings which is mainly revealed in the frequent use of
passive constructions. Scientific experiments are generally described in the passive
voice. In connection with the general impersonal tone of expression, it should be noted
that impersonal passive constructions are frequently used with the verbs

suppose,

assume, presume, conclude, infer, point out, and others, for example, it should be
pointed out, it must not be assumed, it must be emphasized, etc.

2.5 The Style of Official Documents

There is one more style that can be distinguished in the literary English language,
and that is the style of official documents. I. R. Galperin points out that this style, like
others, is not homogeneous. It is represented by the following substyles or variants:

the language of business documents,

the language of legal documents,

the language of diplomacy,

the language of military documents.

I. R. Galperin sees the main communicative aim of this style in stating the
conditions binding two parties in an undertaking. Considering particular substyles, for
instance the legal language, or the language of the law, David Crystal and Derek Davy
point out that it would be quite misleading to speak of legal language as communicating
meaning. Of all uses of language, the language of the law is perhaps the least
communicative, since it is designed mainly to allow one expert to register information
for scrutiny by another. This causes much of its unusualness and oddity. In fact, the
legal writers use specific jargon which does not reflect the needs of a general public.
Another quality which determines the style of legal documents is the extreme linguistic
conservativism of legal English, apparent at the level of sentence structures and lexis
(Crystal, Davy, ibid.).
Some other peculiarities of the style of official documents can be mentioned here.
At the level of lexis the most striking feature is a special system of clichs, terms and
set expressions by which each substyle can easily be recognized (e.g. I beg to inform
you, I beg to move, provisional agenda, the above-mentioned, on behalf of, private
advisory, Dear Sir, We remain, your obedient servants, etc.) 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 capabilities, liability to
profit tax, in legal language: to deal with a case, summary procedure, a body of judges .
Likewise other varieties of official language 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 are certain features common to all varieties:

the use of abbreviations, symbols, contractions,

the use of words in their logical dictionary meaning (in military

documents sometimes metaphorical names are given to mountains, rivers, hills

or villages),

no words with emotive meaning except those which are used in

business letters as conventional phrases of greeting or close, as Dear Sir,

yours faithfully.
The distinctive properties appear as a system. The style is not recognizable only
through its vocabulary. The syntactic pattern of the style is as significant as the
vocabulary though not perhaps so immediately apparent.

Obligatory Sources:
2. Amosova N. N. (1951) Rechevie stili Leningrad LGU
3. Arnold I. V. (1990)Stilistica sovremennogo angliiskogo iazika: Stilistica decodirovania
Moscva
4. Galperin I. R. (1977) Stylistics. Moscow, Higher School
5. Miles J. (1967) Style and Proportion Boston
6. Screbnev Y. M. (1994) Fundamentals of English Stylistics Moscow
7. Chloupek , Nekvapil (2000) Studies in Functional Stylistics (Linguistic & Literary Studies
in Eastern Europe /John Benjamins Publishing Co. 296 pages
8. Eggins, S. (1994) An introduction to systemic-functional linguistics. London : Pinters.
9. David Crystal, Derek Davy (1969) Investigating English style. Studies in the History and
Theory of Linguistics Indiana University

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