1. Stylistics as a Branch of Linguistics. Its Aim and Tasks.

General Notes on Style

and Stylistics.
The origin of the term Style and Stylistics:
Lat - stylus - a stick made of material for writing. Stylistics comes from French “Stylistique” -
instrument for writing.
Stylistics is a general branch of linguistics. It has two separate fields of investigation:
1. Expressive means (EM) and stylistic devices (SD); 2. Functional styles
The term style applies to the following fields of investigation:
1) The aesthetic function of language;
2) Expressive means in language;
3) Synonymous ways of rendering one and the same idea;
4) Emotional coloring in language;
5) A system of special devices called stylistic devices;
6) The splitting of the literary language into separate subsystems called functional styles;
7) The interrelation between language and thought;
8) The individual manner of an author in making use of language.

1. Style as Correspondence between Thought and Expression

The widely held view is that style is the correspondence between thought and expression. Language
serves two functions: communication and shaping thoughts. The communicative function conveys
ideas and draws out responses, while the expressive function shapes thoughts through carefully
arranged sentences. Each sentence can be characterized by its familiarity and predictability, or by its
innovative and unpredictable nature. Many great minds have noted that the form of language reflects
the peculiarities of thought, and vice versa; the nature of thought manifests in the language chosen for
its expression.

2. Style as Decoration of Language

Another common interpretation of style is the decoration of language. This concept, supported by some
literary criticism, views language and style as separate bodies, with language able to function without
style, which is seen as decorative.
This view suggests that style can facilitate understanding by covering ideas with elaborate language.
Consequently, style may be perceived negatively, associated with artificiality, as opposed to simplicity
and truthfulness. Shakespeare notably opposed all forms of language embellishment.
3. Style as Technique of Expression
A popular notion among practical linguists and language teachers is that style is the technique of
expression. In this sense, style is defined as the ability to write clearly, correctly, and engagingly. This
view of style, which should be taught, belongs to grammar rather than stylistics. It establishes rules for
speaking and writing, discarding deviations as violations of the norm. Consequently, the norm becomes
rigid and inflexible.

4. Style as Literary Genre

The term style also signifies a literary genre. Thus we speak of classical style or the style of classicism;
realistic style; the style of romanticism and so on. On the other hand, the term is widely used in
literature, being applied to the various kinds of literary work, the fable, novel, ballad, story etc. Thus
we speak of a story being written in the style of a fable or we speak of the characteristic features of the
epistolary style or the essay and so on.

5. Style as Different Styles of Language

Finally there is one more important application of the term style. We speak of the different styles of
language. Thus we may distinguish the following styles within the English literary language:
1) The belles-lettres style;
2) The publicistic style;
3) The newspaper style;
4) The scientific prose style;
5) The style of official documents and presumably some others. The classification presented here is not
arbitrary; the work is still in the observational stage.

Expressive Means (EM) and Stylistic Devices (SD).

All stylistic means of a language can be divided into expressive means, which are used in some specific
way, and special devices called stylistic devices.
The expressive means of a language are those phonetic means, morphological forms, means of word-
building, and lexical, phraseological and syntactical forms, all of which function in the language for
emotional or logical intensification of the utterance. These intensifying forms of the language have
been fixed in grammars and dictionaries. Some of them are normalized, and good dictionaries label
them as intensifiers. In most cases they have corresponding neutral synonymous forms.
Expressive means (EM) of the language are the choice of words, clauses, sentences, a combination of
sounds, which signal additional information (emotive, expressive, evaluative, and stylistic).
Stylistic device (SD) is a conscious and intentional intensification of some typical structural and/or
semantic property of a language unit (neutral or expressive) promoted to a generalised status and thus
becoming a generative model. Foregrounding (выдвижение) - the ability of a verbal element to obtain
extra significance, to say more in a definite context (Prague school of linguistics).

Phonetic Expressive Means: (Most Powerful)

- Pitch
- Melody
- Stress
- Pausation
- Drawling out certain syllables
- Whispering
- Sing-song manner of speech

Morphological Expressive Means:

- Use of the Present Indefinite instead of the Past Indefinite (Historical Present) for vividness
- Use of "shall" in the second and third person for intensification (e.g., "He shall do it" vs. "He has to
do it")

Word-Building Expressive Means:

- Diminutive suffixes (-y/-ie, -let) adding emotional coloring (e.g., dear → dearie, stream →
streamlet)
- Affixes functioning as separate words (e.g., -ism, -ologies)

Lexical Expressive Means:

- Words with emotive meaning only (e.g., interjections)
- Words with both referential and emotive meaning (e.g., qualitative adjectives)
 - Special groups of Literary English (e.g., poetic, archaic words)
- Non-standard English (e.g., slang, vulgar words)

Set Expressions:
- Proverbs and sayings
- Catch-words
- Their use enhances the emotional emphasis in speech and is often so familiar it goes unnoticed

Expressive means (EM) of language are studied in phonetics, grammar, lexicology, and stylistics.
Stylistics examines not only the nature of EM but also their potential to become stylistic devices (SD).
A stylistic device is a deliberate and artistic use of language that generalizes essential structural and
semantic features into a model. Unlike EM, which are predictable and common language features, SDs
are less predictable, carry more information, and form recognizable patterns. They evolve through
repeated intentional use in communication. Style is defined as a system of interrelated language means
serving a communicative aim, and stylistics studies the use of these means to achieve specific effects.

Schools of Thought in Stylistics

1. Linguo-Stylistics:
- Studies literary discourse from a linguistic perspective.
- Focuses on language codes and how they are constructed.
2. Literary Stylistics (Encoding Stylistics):
- Aims to explicate, interpret, and evaluate literary works as art.
- Focuses on the message and artistic elements of literature.
3. Decoding Stylistics (of the Reader):
- Process of reading is decoding: Sender (speaker) -> Message (book) -> Receiver (reader).
- Analyzes how readers interpret and understand literary texts.

Subject of Stylistics
- Studies the nature, functions, and structure of stylistic devices.
- Examines each style of language, its aim, structure, features, effect, and interrelation with other styles.

Practical Stylistics
- Focuses on language norms at a given time.
- Teaches these norms to language professionals (editors, publishers, writers, journalists, teachers).

Literary Language Norm

- The norm is the invariant of phonetic, morphological, lexical, and syntactic patterns during a specific
period.
- Based on the theory of opposition: stylistically neutral words vs. stylistically charged words.

Types of Stylistic Research

Literary and Linguistic Stylistics:
1. Literary language variability.
2. Individual speech (idiolect) of a writer.
3. Poetic speech and its specific laws.
Linguo-Stylistics:
1. Studies functional styles (development and current state).
2. Analyzes the linguistic nature of expressive means, their system, and functions.
Literary Stylistics:
1. Focuses on the composition of a work of art.
2. Examines various literary genres.
3. Considers the writer's outlook.
Decoding Stylistics
- A new branch influenced by scholars like L. V. Shcherba, V. A. Larin, M. Riffaterre, R. Jakobson,
and I. V. Arnold.
- Each speech act has a sender (encoding) and a receiver (decoding).
Author's (Encoding) View:
- Considers the epoch, historical situation, and author's views.
Reader's (Decoding) View:
- Focuses on the text itself (vocabulary, composition, sentence arrangement).
Decoding Stylistics:
- Combines literary and linguistic analysis to interpret a work of art with minimal loss of meaning.
2. The Semantic Structure of a Word. Denotative and Connotative Meanings.
The semantic structure (or the meaning) of а word roughly consists of its grammatical meaning (nоun,
verb, adjective) and its lexical meaning.
Lexical meaning can further on be subdivided into denotative (linked to the logical or nominative
meaning) and connotative meanings.
Connotative meaning is only connected with extralinguistic circumstances such as the situation of
communication and the participants of communication.
Соnnоtаtive meaning consists of four components:
1. emotive; (express various emotions. emotions like joy, disappointment, pleasure, anger, worry,
surprise are short-lived in comparison with feelings, which are a separate group of words.)
2. evaluative; (charges the word with negative, positive, ironic or other types of connotation conveying
the speaker's attitude in relation to the object of speech. The verb to sneak means «to mоvе silently and
secretly, usu. for a bad purpose». This dictionary definition makes the evaluative component bad. Two
derivatives a sneak and sneaky have both preserved а dеrоgаtory evaluаtivе connotation.)
3. expressive; (increases or decreases the expressiveness of the message. words that help create this
expressive effect are the so-called «intensifiers», words like «absolutely, frightfully, really, quite», etc.)
4. stylistic. (a word possesses stylistic connotation if it belongs to а certain functiоnаl style or а
spe¬cific layer оf vocabulary (such as archaisms, barbarisms, slang, jargon, etc).

Galperin operates three types of lexical meaning that are stylistically relevant - logical, emotive and
nominal.
1. LOGICAL (Logical (referential) or denotative meaning is the precise naming of a feature, idea,
phenomenon or object: head, can (sl.), upper story (sl.), brain (sl.), etc. are united by the same
denotative meaning.)
2. NOMINAL (The nominal meaning nominates an object. It is referred to proper nouns: Mr. Black,
Mr. Hope. It serves the purpose of singling out one definite and singular object out of a whole class of
similar objects: e.g., Browning, Taylor, Scotland, Black, Chandler, Chester.)
3. EMOTIVE (Emotive meaning also materializes a concept in the word, but, unlike logical meaning,
it has reference not directly to things or phenomena of objective reality, but to the feelings and
emotions of the speaker towards these thoughts or to his emotions as such. Emotive meaning
(coloring) can be usual or occasional. A girl (tart, broad, bird) are referred to one person to portray the
character’s respect or disrespect. )
Contextual emotive meaning is an emotive meaning, acquired by a word only in a definite context:
e.g.
1. “His face is red at first and then goes white and his eyes stare as if they’ll pop out of his head.”
2. “Would you like me to pop downstairs and make you a cup of cocoa?”
Contextual meaning is accidental and it is imposed by and depends on the context;
“Awake ye sons of Spain, awake, arise! (Byron) - (arise - revolt).
Contextual meaning of words in poetry serves the purposes of stylistic convergence:
“When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table.” (G.Eliot)
3. Phonetic Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices.
1. Stylistic Approach to Sound:
- The sound of words, phrases, or sentences plays an important role in communication beyond their
structure and meaning.
- Individual words often have little aesthetic value alone, but in combination, they can create a
desired phonetic effect.
- The theory of sense-independence of sounds is subjective, yet the sound of words in combination
contributes to the overall message effect.
2. Euphony:
- Euphony: Harmonious sound arrangement producing a pleasant effect.
- Example: “The moan of doves in immemorial elms, and murmuring of innumerable bees”
(Tennyson).
3. Cacophony
- Cacophony: Disharmonious sound arrangement creating an unpleasant effect.
- Example: “Nor soul helps flesh now // more than flesh helps soul” (R. Browning).
4. Onomatopoeia:
- Use of speech sounds to imitate natural sounds.
- Direct Onomatopoeia: Words that directly imitate natural sounds (e.g., ding-dong, buzz, bang,
cuckoo).
- Example: “Then with enormous, shattering rumble, sludge-puff, sludge-puff, the train came into
the station” (A. Saxton).
- Indirect Onomatopoeia: Sounds that echo the sense of the utterance.
- Example: “And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain” (E.A. Poe).
5. Alliteration:
- Repetition of similar consonant sounds in close succession, especially at the beginning of words.
- Example: “Deep into the darkness peering, /long I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting,
dreaming /dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before” (E.A. Poe).
- Example: “Dead Dufton,” I muttered to myself. Dirty Dufton, Dreary Dufton, Despicable Dufton”
(J. Braine).
6. Assonance:
- Repetition of similar vowel sounds, usually in stressed syllables.
- Example: “Doom is dark and deeper than any sea dingle” (W. Auden).
 - Example: “Tell this soul, with sorrow laden, if within the distant Aiden, // I shall clasp a sainted
maiden, whom the angels name Lenore // Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels name
Lenore?” (E. Poe - "The Raven").
7. Rhyme:
- Repetition of identical or similar terminal sound combinations of words.
- Types of rhymes:
- Full Rhyme: Complete match of sounds in corresponding syllables.
- Example: Might - Right.
- Incomplete Rhyme: Partial match of sounds.
- Vowel Rhymes: flesh - fresh - press.
- Consonant Rhymes: worth - forth, tale - tool.
- Eye Rhyme: Words that look similar but sound different.
- Example: love - prove.
- Compound/Broken Rhyme: One word rhymes with a combination of words.
- Example: “upon her honour - won her”.
- Rhyme Patterns:
- Couplet: aa.
- Example: The seed ye sow, another reaps; / The wealth ye find, another keeps.
- Triplet: aaa.
- Example: And on the leaf a browner hue, / And in the heaven that clear obscure, / So softly dark,
and darkly pure.
- Cross Rhyme: abab.
- Example: It is the hour when from the boughs / The nightingales’ high note is heard; / It is the
hour when lovers’ vows / Seem sweet in every whispered word.
- Frame (Ring) Rhyme: abba.
- Example: He is not here; but far away / The noise of life begins again, / And ghastly thro ’the
drizzling rain / On the bald streets breaks the blank day.
- Internal Rhyme: Rhymes within a single line.
- Example: “I dwelt alone in a world of moan, / And my soul was a stagnant tide.”
8. Rhythm:
- Regular recurrence of elements (beat, accent) in language.
- Rhythm vs. Metre:
 - Metre: Strict regularity and consistency of syllable patterns.
- Rhythm: Flexible patterns of alternation in speech.
- English Metrical Patterns:
- Iambic: -/-/-/- (e.g., Those evening bells, / Those evening bells).
- Trochaic: /-/- (e.g., Welling waters, winsome words).
- Dactylic: /-- /-- (e.g., Why do you cry Willie? / Why do you cry?).
- Amphibrachic: -/- (e.g., A diller, a dollar, a ten o’clock scholar).
- Anapaestic: --/ --/ (e.g., Said the flee, ‘Let us fly’, / Said the fly, ‘Let us flee’, / So they flew
through a flaw in the flue).
4. Lexical Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices.
Lexical expressive means and stylistic devices play a significant role in shaping the meaning and
emotional impact of language in various contexts. Here's an exploration of some key concepts and
classifications of these devices, based on I.R. Galperin's framework.
Interaction of Different Types of Lexical Meaning
1. Interaction of Dictionary and Contextual Logical Meaning
- Metaphor: A relation between dictionary and contextual meanings based on similarity or affinity.
- **Genuine Metaphors**: Unpredictable and unique (e.g., "He is a lion").
- **Trite Metaphors**: Common and often fixed in language (e.g., "a flight of fancy").
- **Sustained Metaphors**: Extended through additional related imagery (e.g., "Mr. Pickwick
bottled up his vengeance and corked it down").
- Metonymy: Based on association or proximity between concepts.
- Examples: "The White House" for "the US President," "crown" for "king."
- Irony: Simultaneous realization of two opposing meanings.
- Example: "Nice weather, isn't it?" (said on a rainy day).

2. Interaction of Primary and Derivative Logical Meanings

- Zeugma: A word applies to two others in different senses (e.g., "John lost his coat and his temper").
- Pun: Play on words involving two meanings of a word or phrase (e.g., "Time flies like an arrow;
fruit flies like a banana").
- Semantically False Chain: Homogeneous members semantically disconnected but attached to the
same verb (e.g., "Babbitt respected bigness in anything: in mountains, jewels, muscles, wealth of
words").

3. Interaction of Logical and Emotive Meaning

- Interjections and Exclamatory Words: Express strong feelings (e.g., "Oh," "Alas").
- Epithet: Descriptive phrases or words (e.g., "glorious morning," "apple-faced man").
- Oxymoron: Combination of contradictory terms (e.g., "deafening silence," "living death").

4. Interaction of Logical and Nominal Meaning

- Antonomasia: Use of a proper name for a common noun or vice versa (e.g., "Her husband is an
Othello," "Mr. Logic").
Intensification of a Feature
- Simile: Direct comparison using "like" or "as" (e.g., "Her smile was as bright as the sun").
- Periphrasis: Roundabout way of speaking (e.g., "the fair sex" for "women").
- Hyperbole: Deliberate exaggeration (e.g., "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse").
- Litotes: Understatement using double negatives (e.g., "He's not unintelligent" meaning "He's smart").

Peculiar Use of Set Expressions

- Cliché: Overused expression (e.g., "quiet as a mouse").
- Proverbs and Sayings: Traditional expressions of wisdom (e.g., "Actions speak louder than words").
- Epigram: Witty, concise statement (e.g., "Live simply, so that others may simply live" – Mother
Teresa).
- Quotation: Phrase taken from a work to support an idea (e.g., "To be, or not to be, that is the
question" – Shakespeare).
- Allusion: Indirect reference to a well-known fact or figure (e.g., referring to someone's weakness as
their "Achilles' heel").
5. Syntactical Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices.
I. Syntactical Stylistic Devices with Missing Elements
Ellipsis:
Definition: The omission of words necessary for the complete syntactical construction of a sentence but
not for understanding.
Function: Used to change tempo or connect structure in narration, often seen in dialogues, represented
speech, monologues, and telegraphic style.
Example: "You feel all right? Anything wrong or what?"
One-Member Sentences (Nominative Sentences):
Definition: Sentences that consist of a single word or a phrase.
Function: Used for mere statements of existence, often in exposition to appeal to the reader’s
imagination.
Example: "Another day of fog." / "Spring, the sky, the flowers."
Aposiopesis (Break-in-the-Narrative):
Definition: Intentional omission of the end of a sentence, often marked by dashes or dots.
Function: Reflects the emotional or psychological state of the speaker.
Example: "The other... Aposiopesis: a sudden intentional break in the narrative."
Asyndeton:
Definition: Deliberate omission of conjunctions in constructions where they are normally used.
Function: Creates a sense of speed and intensity.
Example: "People sang, people fought, people loved."
Apokoinu Constructions:
Definition: Blending of main and subordinate clauses by omitting a pronominal or adverbial
connective.
Function: Often creates an impression of clumsiness in speech, typical of illiterate speech.
Example: "There is one thing bothers me."

II. Syntactical Stylistic Devices with Redundant Elements

Repetition:
Types:
Ordinary Repetition: Recurrence of the same word or phrase.
Anaphora: Repetition at the beginning of clauses or sentences.
Example: "I love your hills, I love your walls."
Epiphora: Repetition at the end of clauses or sentences.
Example: "I am alone; and I am alone."
Anadiplosis: The end of one clause is the beginning of the next.
Example: "Living is the art of loving. Loving is the art of caring."
Chain Repetition: Successive anadiplosis.
Successive Repetition: Closely following repetitions.
Framing: The recurrence of the initial segment at the end.
Polysyndeton:
Definition: Excessive use of conjunctions.
Function: Emphasizes simultaneous actions or the importance of enumerated elements.
Example: "The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet."
Prolepsis (Syntactic Tautology):
Definition: Recurrence of the noun subject in the form of a corresponding personal pronoun.
Function: Emphasizes the theme, making it more prominent.
Example: "Miss Tillie Webster, she slept forty days and nights."
Parallel Construction:
Definition: Identical or similar syntactical structures in successive sentences or parts of a sentence.
Function: Creates rhythm and emphasis.
Example: "They speak like saints and act like devils."
Chiasmus:
Definition: Reversed parallelism.
Function: Adds emphasis through reversed syntactical structures.
Example: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

III. Syntactical Stylistic Devices Based on Arrangement

Stylistic Inversion:
Definition: Changing the typical word order for emphasis or emotional effect.
Patterns:
Object First: "Talent Mr. John has."
Attribute After Noun: "With fingers weary and worn."
Predicate Before Subject: "Rude am I in my speech."
Adverbial Modifier First: "Eagerly I wished the morrow."
Modifier and Predicate Before Subject: "Into the room came a stranger."
Suspense:
Definition: Deliberate postponement of the sentence's completion.
Function: Creates tension and expectation.
Example: "Of all my old pursuits and hopes, this one poor soul alone comes natural to me."
Detached Constructions:
Definition: Secondary sentence members are made prominent by punctuation.
Function: Adds emphasis and significance to the detached part.
Example: "She was gone. For good."
Parenthesis:
Definition: Additional information inserted into a sentence.
Function: Adds background or evaluative information.
Example: "She was crazy about you. In the beginning."
Enumeration:
Definition: Listing of items, properties, or actions.
Function: Creates a detailed and vivid description.
Example: "She wasn't sure of anything anymore, of him, herself, their friends, her work, her future."
Rhetorical Questions:
Definition: Questions that expect no answer.
Function: Emphasizes a point or expresses an emotion.
Example: "What was the good of discontented people who fitted in nowhere?"
Question in the Narrative:
Definition: A question asked and answered by the author.
Function: Adds emotional depth and engages the reader.
Example: "For what is left the poet here? For Greeks a blush - for Greece a tear."
Climax (Gradation):
Definition: Series of words or utterances with increasing intensity.
Function: Builds up to a peak of significance.
Example: "Every racing car, every racer, every mechanic."
Anticlimax (Bathos):
Definition: A sudden drop in intensity or significance.
Function: Often creates a humorous or ironic effect.
Example: "He was unconsolable – for an afternoon."
Antithesis:
Definition: Juxtaposition of contrasting ideas in similar structures.
Function: Highlights differences and creates a striking effect.
Example: "They speak like saints and act like devils."
6. The Belles-Lettres Style.
Functional Style: A system of interrelated language means serving a definite aim in communication. It
is not merely the language means or stylistic devices themselves but the coordination of these that
shapes the distinctive features of each style.
The term “Belles-lettres” is generic for 3 substyles:
- poetry;
- emotive prose;
- drama;
The Belles-lettres style has its own specific function which is double –phoned. Besides, informing the
reader, it impresses the reader aesthetically. Its function is aesthetic and cognitive, cognitive on the one
hand and receiving pleasure on the other.
The language means of this functional style are:
1) Genuine (not trite) imagery.
2) Contextual (connotative meaning) prevailing over denotation.
3) The individual choice of vocabulary which reflects the author’s personal evaluation;
4) Lexical and syntactical idiosyncrasy. A peculiar individual selection of syntax and lexis;
5) The introduction of elements of other styles.
6) Colloquial language (in drama).
The Language of Poetry. Its peculiarities are rhythm and rhyme. As a SD rhythm is a combination of
the ideal metrical scheme and its variations governed by the standard. (Unit 1: Phonographic Level of
stylistic analysis)
THE SIX-QUART BASKET
The six-quart basket
One side gone
Half the handle torn off
Sits in the centre of the lawn
And slowly fills up
With the white fruits of the snow
Emotive prose. Emotive prose is a combination of literary and colloquial variants of the language,
being presented by the speech of the characters which is stylized that means it has been made
“literature like” and some elements of conversational English were made use of. Emotive prose allows
the use of elements of other styles but the author changes them and fulfils a certain function. The
substyle of emotive prose makes use of different EM and SD, represented speech, detached
constructions, gap – sentence link, etc. (Unit 11. Types of narration)
The language of Drama is the language of plays mainly consisting of dialogues. The author’s speech is
in the form of stage remarks. Any presentation of a play is an aesthetic procedure. The language of a
play has the following peculiarities:
- It is stylized (retains the modus of literary English);
- It presents the variety of spoken language;
- It has redundancy of information caused by necessity to amplify the utterance;
- Monologues are never interrupted;
-characters’ utterances are much longer than in ordinary conversation.
7. The Publicistic Style.
The Publicistic Style treats certain political, social, economic, cultural problems. The aim of this style
is to form public opinion, to convince the reader or the listener. The Publicistic Style has the features
common with the style of the scientific prose and that of emotive prose, i.e.
1) Coherent and logical syntactical structure, with the expanded system of connectives;
2) Careful paragraphing;
3) Emotional appeal is achieved by the use of words with emotive meaning;
4) The use of imagery and other SD in emotive prose:
5) It is also characterized by brevity of expression which becomes epigrammatic in essays.
Substyles: The oratory, essays, journalistic articles, radio and TV commentary.

Oratory. It makes use of a great number of expressive means to arouse and keep the public’s interest:
repetition, gradation, antithesis, rhetorical questions, emotive words, elements of colloquial speech.
Oratory and speeches
1. Direct address to the audience: Ladies and gentlemen! Dear friends!
2. The use of the 1st and 2nd personal pronouns: “I have a dream today. I have a dream, that one day
down in Alabama –I say to you, my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and
tomorrow, I still have a dream.”
3. Contractions: We’ve got.
Parallelism, antithesis, climax, repetition (anaphora, epiphora, chain repetition). “It is high time this
people had recovered from the passions of the war. It is high time the people of the North and the South
understood each other…”

Radio and TV commentary is less impersonal and more expressive and emotional. The journalistic
articles are impersonal.

The Essay is a literary composition of moderate length on philosophical, social, aesthetic or literary
subjects. It is characterized by personality in the treatment of the theme and naturalness of expression.
The most characteristic language features:
1. Brevity of expression, epigrammaticalness.
2. The use of the 1st person sg.
3. The extended use of connectives to facilitate the correlation of ideas.
4. The abundant use of emotive words.
5. The use of similes and metaphors. “Oh, the conductors! When I was a boy, massive old Richter
commanding the old massive Hale orchestra! … Why, my dear maestros, in spite of wars, bombs,
taxes, rubbish and all, what a delight it has been to share this world and this age with you!”

The essay is very subjective and the most colloquial of the all substyles of the publicist style. It makes
use of expressive means and tropes.
8. The Newspaper Style.
The Newspaper Style is a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means,
basically serving the purposes of informing and instructing the reader. To understand the language
peculiarities of English newspaper style it will be sufficient to analyze the following basic newspaper
features:
1) Brief news items;
2) Advertisements and announcements;
3) Headlines;
4) Editorials;
5) Press reports.
The newspaper style has its specific features and is characterized by an extensive use of
1) Special political and economic terms; Ex.: socialism, capitalism, constitution, market economy;
2) Non-term political vocabulary; Ex.: public, people, peace, war, intervention.
3) Newspaper clichés; Ex.: vital issue, pressing problem, war hysteria.
4) Abbreviations; Ex. : UNO, NATO, EU, TUC, MP, PR
5) Neologisms. Ex.: sputnik, lunik, a teach-in, a sit-in, Watergate, Camillgate.

Grammatical peculiarities:
1) Complex sentences with a developed system of clauses.
2) Verbal constructions.
3) Syntactical complexes.
4) Attributive noun groups.
5) Specific word order.
6) WH pattern rule: (In terms of grammar, it has a fixed structure – Subject, Predicate, Object,
Adverbial Modifier)
Ex.: The biggest blackout in US history crippled major metropolitan areas in the Northeast and
Midwest on Thursday by shutting down trains, airports, traffic and cooling systems. (US Today, Aug.
15-17, 2003)

The Headline. The main function is to inform the reader briefly, to reveal the reporter’s attitude to the
facts reported. It may contain elements of appraisal.
Syntactical patterns:
1) Full declarative sentences. California ballot is a field of dreamers. / Allies now look to London.
2) Interrogative sentences. What’s next for Mr. Vick?
3) Nominative sentences. Blackout misery. Companies for Sale.
Ageism Factor. Elliptical sentences. 50 MILLION AFFECTED IN Northeast and beyond as power grid
fails.
4) Sentences with articles omitted. British soldier dies in ambulance bombing. Standard Investor
Seeking to Sell Stake.
5) Phrases with verbals. Married – with cameras. Keeping prices down. To get USA aid.
6) Questions in the form of statements. Safe Sin? The more, the better?
7) Complex sentences. US Newspaperman Declares He Helped Bomb Havana.
8) Headlines including direct speech. Travel havoc: “We are not getting out today”.

Advertisements and Announcements. The function of advertisements and announcements is to inform

the reader. There are two types of them: classified and non-classified.
Classified: Births, Marriages, Deaths, In Memorial, Business Offers, Personal, Farm, Aviary. “Trained
Nurse with child 2 years seeks post London preferred – Write Box C, 658, The Times, EC 4”.
Non-classified: the reader’s attention is attracted by every possible means: typographical, graphical,
stylistic. No brevity of language means.
9. The Scientific Prose Style.
The style of scientific prose has 3 subdivisions:
1) the style of humanitarian sciences
2) the style of exact sciences
3) the style of popular scientific prose

Its function is to generate and develop theoretical knowledge, to advance and prove theories and
hypotheses.
The aim of communication is to create new concepts, disclose the international laws of existence.
The language peculiarities are: objectiveness; logical coherence, impersonality, unemotional character,
exactness, intellectual and academic vigor, logical sequence of utterance.
Vocabulary. The use of terms and words used to express a specialized concept in a given branch of
science. Terms are not necessarily used. They may be borrowed from ordinary language but are given a
new meaning.
The scientific prose style consists mostly of ordinary words which tend to be used in their primary
logical meaning. Emotiveness depends on the subject of investigation but mostly scientific prose style
is unemotional.
The parallel arrangement of sentences contributes to emphasizing certain points in the utterance. Use of
foot-notes helps to preserve the logical coherence of ideas. One of its features is the use quotations and
references.
Humanities in comparison with "exact" sciences employ more emotionally colored words, fewer
passive constructions.
Scientific popular style has the following peculiarities: emotive words, elements of colloquial style.
The Scientific Prose Style is characterized by:
1) Rigour and precision;
2) Logical sequence of utterances;
3) Impersonality;
4) Quotations, references, footnotes
5) Sentence patterns:
a) postulatory (accepting or suggesting that something is true so that it can be used as the basis for a
theory.)
b) argumentative
c) formulative

Impersonality: the use of Passive Voice constructions

E.g., This analysis is designed to enable corporations to establish a clear picture of their own
particular training needs as seen by employees…
Verbs of mental perception: assume, infer, point out and conclude:
It can be inferred, it should be noted, it must be emphasized.

Logical sequence of utterances is achieved through:

1. Key words;
2. Pronoun substitutes;
3. Logical connectives: addition, causality (cause and result);
4. Opposition and contrast;
5. Logical sequence of ideas;
6. Subdivision of the thoughts into logical blocks;
7. Introducing IT-constructions: It follows that; it has often been stated that; it is taken for granted that;
8. Introductory there sentences: There can be no doubt that; there appears to be no reason for assuming
that.

The structure of sentences and paragraphs:

1. Semi-composite sentences (non-finite verbs, gerundial, infinitive, participial constructions): I would
like to discuss the current state of affairs regarding the teaching of written English.
2. Demonstrative and personal pronouns as substitutes of the notional words.
3. Postulatory pronouncements, references to the facts, compound and complex sentences.

The structure of a Paragraph depends on the communicative intention and the position of the discourse:
a) Postulatory Paragraphs: introducing the hypothesis, putting forward the main objectives, stating what
has been investigated by other scientists: It is common knowledge that; it is fully established that.
b) The Body of Discourse is argumentative: Logical argumentation, listing of facts, comparison,
enlargement on the theme, the development of the main thesis, pros and cons of the hypothesis; it
abounds in clichés.
This analysis is designed to enable corporations to establish a clear picture of their own particular
training needs as seen by employees…
Topic sentences introduce the key idea; developing sentences are logically connected with the main
idea.
c) Formulative paragraphs (conclusion):
Research has indicated a perception gap between teachers and learners as to what constitute “valuable”
teaching and learning activities.

TYPES OF SCIENTIFIC TEXTS according to function-content-form:

1. Texts of “Primary” character;
2. Texts of “Secondary” character.
PRIMARY: function –communicative; content – scientific; form –defined by the function and the
addressees.
SECONDARY: analyzing, compressing, summarizing the primary scientific texts in a condensed form.
PRIMARY: Scientific articles:
a) theoretical,
b) polemic,
c) editorials:
d) monographs;
e) Text-books.
SECONDARY: annotations, abstracts, reviews, theses, synopses.
Compression of the text: eliminating details, generalizing the main part.
Annotation is the shortest form of a secondary scientific text, which:
1. Gives a general statement of the essential thought of the original, i.e. the main communicative
intention;
2. Generalizes the information given and presents it in a condensed form;
3. Mentions the addressee sometimes.
10. The Style of Official Documents.
1) Language of business letters;
2) Language of legal documents;
3) Language of diplomacy;
4) Language of military documents.

The Aims of the Style of Official Documents and Its Substyles

1. To reach an agreement between two contracting parties;
2. To state the conditions binding two parties in an understanding.
Each of substyles of official documents makes use of special terms.
The Style of Official Documents is marked by:
1. Conventionality;
2. Unemotiveness;
3. Encoded character (symbols, abbreviations).
4. A general syntactical mode of combining several pronouncements into one sentence.
5. Formulas of greeting, parting, politeness, gratitude.

The structure of the business letter:

• The heading;
• The reference;
• The date;
• The inside address;
• The opening salutation;
• The body;
• The complimentary close;
• Enclosure.
• It is characterized by special business terminology:
• extra-revenue, taxable capacities, liability to profit taxes;
• Red-tape clichés: I BEG TO INFORM YOU; I BEG TO MOVE;
• Abbreviations: MP, GVT, HMS, LTD.
Dear Sirs:
We are pleased to have received your order of Sept. 15 and would like to welcome you as a new
customer of Payton’s Plastics.

Legal documents; military documents; diplomatic documents. The documents use set expressions
inherited from early Victorian period. This vocabulary is conservative. Legal documents contain a large
proportion of formal and archaic words used in their dictionary meaning. In diplomatic and legal
documents many words have Latin and French origin. There are a lot of abbreviations and conventional
symbols.
The most noticeable feature of grammar is the compositional pattern. Every document has its own
stereotyped form. The form itself is informative and tells you with what kind of letter we deal with.
Syntactical features of business letters are: the predominance of extended simple and complex
sentences, wide use of participial constructions, homogeneous members.
Morphological peculiarities are passive constructions, they make the letters impersonal. There is a
tendency to avoid pronoun reference. Its typical feature is to frame equally important factors and to
divide them by members in order to avoid ambiguity of the wrong interpretation.