LECTURE 13 The Problem of Functional Styles 1

LECTURE 13 The Problem of Functional Styles 1. Functional style: definition. 2. Galperin’s classification of functional styles. Peculiarities of belles-lettres and scientific prose functional styles. 3. Arnold’s classification of functional styles. 4. Sublanguage definition. Skrebnev’s classification. 5. Register: foreign scholars’ interpretation.

Text Fragments 1. Jail for terror plan ‘to kill many’ A London dentist detained as he boarded a plane to Pakistan carrying night sights and computer discs full of military information was jailed yesterday for four and a half years. Sohail Quereshi had admitted he was on his way to carry out a terrorist mission and told fellow extremists he planned ‘to kill many’, the Old Bailey heard. Scotland Yard’s anti-terror chief yesterday suggested Quereshi may have been planning to target British soldiers in Afghanistan. 2. ROLEX BRITISH OPEN, ST ANDREWS. Once again the cream of the world’s golfers will encounter the Valley of Sin, the Elysian Fields, the Grave, the Coffin, and Hell. And Rolex will be with them, every stroke along the way.

Text Fragments 3. The 1998 well M-1 S was due to be tested, but ran into mechanical problems and only small amounts of hydrocarbons were produced to surface. This may also have been due to poor reservoir characteristics. Production from this field in 1993 was reportedly 600 barrels per day from five conventional wells, but recent scout data indicates that the highly fractured crestal wells can produce at significantly better rates. 4. Friendship, peculiar boon of heaven, The noble mind’s delight and pride, To men and angels only given, To all the lower world denied.

FUNCTIONAL STYLE (FS): DEFINITIONS • The phenomenon was thoroughly studied by Russian scholars I. R. Galperin, I. V. Arnold, M. D. Kuznets, Y. S. Stepanov and others. • Galperin: Functional style of language is a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication. • Arnold: Functional style is a subsystem of language which possesses specific lexical, syntactical, sometimes phonetic features characteristic of a particular sphere of communication. E. g. Scientific prose FS – intellective function; Publicistic FS – persuasion and emotional impact.

CLASSIFICATION OF FSs (Galperin): introduction • Most of the FSs included in the classification belong to WRITING as only in this form of human intercourse communication can be completely unambiguous. • Each style is characterized by a number of individual features which can be leading or subordinate, constant or changing, obligatory or optional. • Each style can be subdivided into substyles. Substyles retain the most characteristic features of the root style, although they can differ dramatically from it. • FS is a historical category as it changes with time, but at the given stage it represents a relatively stable system.

Galperin’s Classification of FSs I. Belles-Lettres Style (стиль художественной литературы). 1. The language of poetry; 2. Emotive prose; 3. Drama. II. Publicistic Style (публицистический стиль). 1. Oratory and Speeches; 2. The Essay; 3. Articles in magazines and newspapers. III. Newspaper Style (газетный стиль). 1. Brief News Items; 2. Headlines; 3. Advertisements and Announcements; 4. The Editorial. IV. Scientific Prose (стиль научной прозы). V. Official Documents (стиль официальных документов). The language of business, legal, diplomatic and military documents.

The Problem of Belles-Lettres Style • Many scholars deny the existence of belles-lettres style (V. Vinogradov, A. Fyodorov, Y. Stepanov, I. Arnold, Y. Skrebnev). • Arnold: Literary norm, which is stylistically neutral, is used in fiction in combination with elements of different FSs. The clash of different styles results in achieving the aesthetic effect. • Skrebnev: The diversity of what is met with in books of fiction turns the notion of a belles-lettres style into something very vague, possessing no features of its own. Realistic writers quote extracts from legal documents, texts of telegrams, slogans, headlines of daily papers, ads, private letters.

The Problem of Belles-Lettres Style E. g. In one of Sunday papers I saw an advert in capitals in a page of houses for sale. I wasn’t looking for them, this just seemed to catch my eye as I was turning the page. “FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD? ” it said. Just like that. Then it went on – Old cottage, charming secluded situation, large garden, I hr by car London, two miles from nearest village… and so on. The next morning I was driving down to see it. (Fowles The Collector)

Peculiarities of the Belles-Lettres Style (Galperin) 1. The common function of the substyles is aesthetico-cognitive. Texts of this FS engender a cognitive process which is accompanied by a feeling of aesthetic pleasure, the pleasure of evaluating the lingual FORM of the text in harmony with its CONTENT. The pleasure is also caused by the fact that we, readers, are led to make our own conclusions about the purport of the author. 2. The purpose of the belles-lettres FS is to suggest a possible interpretation of the phenomena of life through the viewpoint of the writer.

Peculiarities of the Belles-Lettres Style (Galperin) 3. The use of genuine imagery achieved by purely linguistic devices. 4. The use of words in contextual and often in more than one dictionary meaning. 5. The use of vocabulary which will reflect the author’s personal evaluation of the phenomena. E. g. England is already a thing in a museum, a dying animal in a Zoo. No pride left… and so all intent on dying nice and quietly. (Fowles Daniel Martin)

Peculiarities of the Belles-Lettres Style (Galperin) 6. 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). E. g. MAGGY: I can’t hardly believe you came! Can you stay five minutes? I’m a singer now, see? In fact I am in the top three. And for a long time I been wanting to tell you… (A. Miller After the Fall) E. g. Many windows Many whistles Many floors Many clangings Many people Many, many, many – Many stores Many of everything, many of any. Many streets (D. J. Bisset) And many hangings (colloquial language in modern poetry)

Peculiarities of the Belles-Lettres Style (Galperin) 7. Individual selection of vocabulary and syntax, individual style (ideostyle). E. g. Cannon, muskets, fire and smoke; but, still the deep ditch, the single drawbridge, the massive stone walls, and the eight towers. Slight displacements of the raging sea, made by the falling wounded. Flashing weapons, blazing torches, smoking waggon-loads of wet straw, hard work at neighbouring barricades in all directions, shrieks, volleys, execrations, bravery without stint, boom, smash and rattle, and the furious sounding of the living sea; but, still the deep ditch, and the single drawbridge, and the massive stone walls, and the eight great towers…(Dickens A Tale of Two Cities)

Scientific Prose Style Peculiarities (Galperin) The aim of the FS is to prove a hypothesis, to create new concepts, to disclose relations between different phenomena. As a result, the language means tend to be objective, precise, unemotional, generalized. • Logical sequence of utterances, a developed system of connectives E. g. Up to now the discussion of lexical hierarchies has centered on the branching variety. The present chapter will be devoted to the nonbranching variety. These fall into two major sub-types. First, there are those which are closely bound up with branching hierarchies… Second, there is quite a large family of independent non-branching hierarchies, not derived from or connected in any way with branching hierarchies, which arise from non-differentiable relations of dominance (D. A. Cruse Lexical Semantics) •

Scientific Prose Style Peculiarities (Galperin) • Use of special terminology, new coinages E. g. Phoneme, morpheme, lexeme; polysemy, hyponym, meronym, tautonym. Претекст, прецедентный текст; наносема. • The words employed tend to be used in their primary logical meanings. New terms are explained and clearly defined E. g. This relation will be called endonymy. It is based on the notion of semantic encapsulation, and involves the incorporation of the meaning of one lexical item in the meaning of another. The term whose meaning is included in this way will be called the endonym, and the containing term will be called the exonym (Cruse Lexical Semantics)

Scientific Prose Style Peculiarities (Galperin) • Sentences are complete, compound or complex. Certain sentence patterns are used (postulatory, formulative, argumentative) E. g. However, the predicate displays at least one of the characteristics of a semantic dependant, and that is that it is expected to bring to the construction semantic traits not encapsulated in the subject; furthermore, in cases of pleonasm, it is the predicate whose specificity must be increased to achieve normality: ? The speaker is speaking → The speaker is speaking French. (Cruse Lexical Semantics) • Use of quotations, references and foot-notes

Scientific Prose Style Peculiarities (Galperin) • Impersonality (frequent use of passive constructions and “we”) BUT! In the Humanities sphere patterns can be more personal. E. g. The gases can be made to react much more rapidly by the use of a suitable catalytic agent… If a piece of asbestos fibre is steeped in a solution of platinum chloride in hydrochloric acid and then heated, the asbestos becomes coated… (Chemistry Textbook)

Classification of Functional Styles (Arnold): introduction • Borderlines between FSs are not clear-cut E. g. Oratory style – ? – Publicistic style Newspaper style – ? – Colloquial style • Individual speech comprises a number of functional styles • Number of functional styles and their peculiarities can vary depending on the historical period

Classification of Functional Styles (Arnold) FORMAL STYLES (NON-CASUAL) (КНИЖНЫЕ) (РАЗГОВОРНЫЕ) NEUTRAL STYLE - unmarked member of the stylistic opposition; - can be used in any NON-FORMAL STYLES (CASUAL) situation; - serves as a background for stylistically marked elements

Peculiarities of Formal Styles (Arnold) • Prepared, mostly written speech; • The moments of encoding and decoding can stand apart in time; • No territorial (dialectal) distinctions; • Form of a monologue, which presupposes addressing the audience; • Absence of direct feedback → Use of varied and precise vocabulary and syntax.

Peculiarities of Non-Formal (Colloquial) Styles (Arnold) Spontaneous, mostly oral speech; Mostly form of a dialogue; Feedback available; Use of body language; Situation as context; Use of polysemantic words, words with broad semantics; • Use of cliches; • Elliptical sentences. • • •

Classification of Functional Styles (Arnold) FORMAL STYLES - Poetic diction (esp. in the 1819 th centuries) - Scientific style - Official documentation - Publicistic (Newspaper) style - Oratory style NON-FORMAL STYLES - Literary colloquial (литературно-разговорный) - Familiar colloquial (фамильярно-разговорный) - Low colloquial (просторечие)

Sublanguage: definition (Skrebnev) • The term “sublanguage” (“подъязык”) was originally introduced by N. D. Andreyev. In his conception, a sublanguage is predetermined by the contents of the text. Style is defined by emotional aims and refers to the form of expression. • Skrebnev: Sublanguage is a subsystem of language which fully conforms with the aims of communication in a particular sphere of speech. It embraces: - CONTENT (thematic aspect); - FORM (linguistic peculiarities); - EXTERNAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COMMUNICATIVE SITUATION.

Sublanguage and Style (Skrebnev) • Style is what differentiates a given sublanguage from all other sublanguages, a text of one group from texts of other groups. • Style is specificity of sublanguage as it is formed by absolutely specific units. E. g. Scientific prose style – use of terminology, specific sentence patterns, abundance of passive constructions, etc.

Classification of Sublanguages (Skrebnev) THE SUBLANGUAGE OF OFFICIAL INTERCOURSE (THE OFFICIAL SPHERE) THE SUBLANGUAGE OF INFORMAL INTERCOURSE (THE COLLOQUIAL SPHERE)

Classification of Sublanguages (Skrebnev) The Official Sphere - Private correspondence with a stranger - Business correspondence - Diplomatic correspondence - Legal documents - Science and technology - Newspaper texts - Poetry and fiction - Church service ……………… The Colloquial Sphere - Colloquial SL - Low-Colloquial SL(slang, jargons) - Dialects

Classification of Sublanguages (Skrebnev) The central part of intersecting ellipses (sublanguages) is made up by stylistically neutral units.

Sublanguages: theoretical aspects • We can single out as many sublanguages as we think fit to attain our objectives of linguistic research. The number of SLs and styles is infinite. E. g. telegraphic style, telephone conversation style, Shakespearean style, the style of the novel, etc. These styles characterize their respective sublanguages. • There as many norms as there are sublanguages. Each sublanguage is subject to its own norm. • The borderlines between SLs are not strict. There exist ‘borderlands’ (‘tolerance zones’) between SLs which include units tolerable in both neighbouring spheres.

Comparative Overview of Classifications GALPERIN - Functional style as basic unit - Limited number of FSs - Written FSs - Belles-Lettres FS - Newspaper FS ARNOLD - Functional style SKREBNEV - Sublanguage (Stylespecificity of SL) - Limited number - Unlimited number of FSs of SLs and styles - Written + Colloq. - No Belles-Lettres - Newspaper FS - Newspaper style – problematic

Register : definition • The term ‘Register’ (‘регистр’) is used by foreign scholars in stylistics and sociolinguistics to refer to a variety of language defined according to the situation. • The term was introduced in the 1950 s and the phenomenon thoroughly studied in the 1960 s by M. Halliday, N. E. Enkvist, J. Spencer and M. J. Gregory. The scholars created a codification of significant linguistic features which determine the style of the register. • Other terms for Register: sublanguage, discourse genre, text type. • “It is part of the communicative competence of every speaker that we constantly switch usages, select certain features of sound, grammar, lexis, etc in the different situations of life. ” (Katie Wales) E. g. a domestic chat, a telephone conversation, a business letter. . .

Register Parameters 4 main variables for the choice of situational features: • FIELD, or SUBJECT MATTER; • MEDIUM or MODE (e. g. speech or writing); • TENOR (the relations between participants, their social roles which influence the degree of formality). • FUNCTION (didactic, informative, etc) E. g. TV sports commentary: • • Special vocabulary reflecting the subject; Audio-visual medium; Fairly informal relations with the audience; Functions – describing, evaluating.

Register-switching Changing or mixing different registers to achieve the desired effect. E. g. Lecture: Written form vs Oral presentation (different degree of formality). E. g. Two households – one olive and one dairy, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, Both born to strike… Two star-crossed lovers conspire To overthrow the grudge of generations… The union of butter and oil. (a TV commercial for butter and olive oil spread – an allusion to ‘Romeo and Juliet’)