CLASSIFICATION OF

FUNCTIONAL STYLES
Lecture 2 - continued
The publicistic style
The publicistic style
 Includes:
 the style of newspaper and magazine articles,
 essays,

 oratorical speech

 the style of radio and TV commentaries.

 Oral + written form

 Aim: to convince + to cause to accept
The publicistic style
 Peculiarities:
 logical argumentation + emotional appeal =
(scientific prose and belle-lettres style).
 the emotional appeal – the use of words with emotive
meaning + the use of stylistic devices (not fresh or
genuine!)
 the form of a monologue,
 the coherent and logical syntactical structure
 careful paragraphing, extended system of connectives
 a great number of literary and bookish words.
Newspaper and Magazine Articles

 The aim:
 interpretthe news
 comment on the events of the day

 convince [the reader that …]

 Vocabulary:
 terms (political, economic, etc.);
 newspaper clichés;

 emotionally coloured vocabulary;

 stylistic devices.
Essays
 short literary articles on philosophical, aesthetic or
literary subject;
 never go deep;
 individual (often in 1st person);
 very popular in the 18th cent.:
 the principal literary form,
 written on important topics of the day,

 often criticizing the short-comings of the political and

social system in England.
Essays
 Features:

 brevity of expression;
 the use of 1st person singular, personal approach;

 the use of emotionally coloured words;

 the use of epigram, paradoxes, aphorisms.

Oratorical Speech
 Includes :
 parliamentary discourse,
 speeches at Congress,

 sermons,

 orations,

 speeches on solemn public occasions.

 Aim – to convince the audience and evoke an

immediate desired reaction.
Oratorical speech
 Features of the oral speech:
 the use of direct address (My Lords! Mr. Chairman!
Ladies and Gentlemen!);
 the use of contractions (I’ll, don’t);

 the use of pronouns I and we;

 the use of colloquial words and phrases,

 the use of alliteration.

Oratorical speech
 The speaker wants:
 to keep up the interest of the audience and hold it in
suspense, consequently:
 emotionally coloured words;
 lexical and syntactical TRITE stylistic devices;
 repetition;
 allusions (to contemporary or historical events, to well-known
people, to literary characters, mythology and the Bible;
used to draw the historical parallels and to confirm the
statement).
Oratorical speech
 Syntactical features –
 the sentences are long, can contain many dependent
clauses and parenthetical clauses;
 the use of gradations: Such a claim was all a part, a
trick, a trap to provide the Republican party with a
scapegoat at that time;
 antithesis, rhetorical questions, exclamatory sentences,
suspense:

We fought Lexington to free ourselves.

We fought Gettysburg to free others.
(antithesis, parallelism, repetition)
Oratorical speech
 Rhetorical questions
 draw the attention of the audience
 and break the monotony of a series of declarative
sentences,
 have a strong emotive colouring (the speaker strives to
call for a sympathetic reaction on the part of the
listeners);
 fulfill the function of a statement, not a ?

 Non-rhetorical Q. are also effective.

The publicistic style
 Summary
 The use of direct address and 1st person pronouns.
 A rather wide use of connectives.
 The abundant use of expressive and emotive words.
 The use of tropes, especially sustained metaphors and
similes.
 The use of traditional set expressions and clichés.
 The use of colloquial vocabulary.
The problem of colloquial style
The colloquial style -
 informal speech of everyday conversation.

 The 1st problem – classification: can it be regarded

as a functional style?
 - I.R. Halperin (functional styles belong only to the
written variety of the literary language)
 + I.V. Arnold, Y.M. Skrebnev, V.A. Maltsev
The colloquial style
 literary colloquial (литературно-разговорный);
 unceremonious (фамильярно-разговорный);
 popular speech/ common parlance (просторечье).

 - our everyday means of communication.

Peculiarities
 1. Typified constructions -> speech almost
automatic:
 social phrases: greetings, words of parting; introductions
and wishes; congratulations, requests, thanks, apologies,
assent and dissent, hesitation el.;
 the formulae of direct address:
 a) socially oriented: Sir, Madam, first name, Professor …
 b) bearing personal emotiveness: endearments, abusive.

 The use of interjections – signs of emotions,

sometimes with a very vague meaning.
Peculiarities
 2. Vocabulary. The word-stock falls into 3 layers:
 the literary;
 the neutral;
 the colloquial.
 (kid – infant, daddy – parent)
 Colloquial words are always more emotionally coloured.
 cock-and-bull – long, complicated story, cliff-hanger – prolonged
tense situation, from A to Z – thoroughly.
 Thematically colloquial lexical units are more
anthropocentric
 (monkey – mischievous child; splinter – splitting headache).
Peculiarities
 3. Simple verbs: phrasal verbs are mostly used
instead of their literary synonyms:
 to get out – retire;
 to stand up to – support.

 The one-syllabled verbs, such as:

 do, put, take, come, go, get, turn, run, fall, etc., -
produce an enormous multiplicity of meanings.

 4. Simple sentences prevail.

Peculiarities
 5. Combination of compression and redundancy
 Compression – realized in:
 Shortened forms of modal and auxiliary verbs;
 Omission of words (elliptical sentences: Been travelling?);
 Clipped words;
 Words of broad semantics (thing, stuff, matter);
 Simplicity of syntactical constructions;
 The use of monosyllabic words.
Peculiarities
 Redundancy - is shown in:
 So-called time-fillers or senseless expressions like
“You know…”, “Well”;
 In pleonastic use of personal pronouns (Don’t you
forget it);
 In the senseless repetition of words and phrases;
 The use of double negative (Don’t bring no money; Ain’t
nobody’s business).
Professor Skrebnev:
 Colloquial style = oral speech? But: lectures or a
student’s answer > to bookish forms.
 Colloquial speech = “dialogue”? But: the dialogue of
an Amb. with a foreign secretary.
 Lingual intercourse in coll. style is immediate.
 Emotive character of everyday speech? But: poetry -
even more emotiveness.
 “Consituation” (the situation is common to each of its
participants)
 A limited set of ready-made stereotyped formulas.
Prof. Skrebnev: 2 tendencies
 Explication + implication - on different levels of the
language
 Phonetics:
 The main feature is general carelessness and
indistinctness of articulation. The expectancy factor
makes indistinct speech comprehensible.
 Explication: a loud voice, emphatic articulation (shown
graphically in italics, dividing into syllables, etc.)
Prof. Skrebnev: 2 tendencies
 Morphology.
 Implication: dropping of morphemes (eg. real good,
pretty far, he don’t know).
 Explication - in analytical morphology:
 The use of emphatic forms (e.g. continuous – I’m thinking, I’m
being uneasy; Do come!)
 The use of multiple negation;
 The use of double subject;
 The use of double demonstrative pronouns (eg. Is this here
that watch?)
 The use of inclusive doubling (I will kill you dead)
Prof. Skrebnev: 2 tendencies
 Syntax:
 Common word combinations perform the function of
imperative sentences
 Tea. For two. Out here.
 Non-interrogative sentences perform the function of
interrogative.
 You’re going? Sugar, Dr.Trent?
 The use of pseudo-interrogative sentences:
 Why don’t you sit down? Can you pass the salt?
Prof. Maltsev: word creation
 Changes in the meaning:
 metaphor: paralytic – helplessly drunk; peach – adult (slang);
 metonymy: wig – judge;
 antonomasia: Othello;
 hyperbole: smash hit show.
 Changes in form:
 Compounding and blending (hasbeen, block-head, brunch);
 Affixation (keener – inquis. person; oldster, kiddo, fatso)
 Shortening / acronyms, back clipping, back formation, front
clipping, middle clipping (e.g. maths, exams, lab, sci-fi)
Informal grammar
 the noun – the use of double genitive; the use of plural
forms:
 A good friend of my husband’s; I’m friends with him. He has
brains;
 the article can be omitted, but it can be used with proper
names:
 the Johnsons; He’s married to a Miss Brown; He bought a
Picasso; I don’t claim to be a Caruso; Here again was Tom,
the Tom…;
 the pronoun: objective forms
 Jack was four year older than me. You’re the only person. – Me?
We are mad, you and me; Told who? You know who I mean.
Informal grammar
 The adjective: typical is the use of absolute superlatives
 She has the longest straightest legs; a more older man; the most
carelessest man; the bestest man;
 The adverb – the use of adjectives instead of adverbs
 Don’t talk so loud!;
 The verb: the continuous forms instead of the indefinite - more
emotional and personal
 How are you feeling? Oh, how the stars were shining!;
the verb will is a simple mark as futurity, while shall denotes
obligation;
the use of forms with low colloquial or vulgar, illiterate
connotations
 ain’t, gotcha, wanna.
Informal syntax
 The use of elliptical constructions
 (Pass.: the airport. – Dr.: ok. );
 Functional words are clipped (‘d, ‘s)
 Leaving out the S or the functional verb or both:
 Can’t afford to buy it. // Don’t worry. Only makes
your hair gray. // Nice talking to you. // Oh, being
sarcastic.
 The use of conjunctionless complex sentences:
 The book I’m reading; he says he has no appetite; it’s
a good thing he did; the thing is it gets so awfully
hot in here.