- •Contents
- •Foreword
- •Part I stylistics as a branch of lingustics. The subject of stylistics
- •1.1. Stylistics and its subject
- •1.2. Expressive Means and Stylistic Devices
- •Part II stylisctic classification of the english vocabulary
- •1. The literary layer falls into the following groups:
- •2. The neutral layer, universal, unrestricted in its use, the most stable.
- •3. The colloquial layer falls into the following groups:
- •2.2. Neutral, Common literary and common colloquial vocabulary
- •2.3. Literary stratum of words. Special literary vocabulary
- •2.3.1. Terms
- •2.3.2. Poetic words
- •2.3.3. Archaic words
- •2.3.4. Literary coinages (including nonce-words)
- •2.3.5. Barbarisms and Foreign Words
- •6. Terms
- •Part III stylistic classification of the english vocalbulary Colloquial stratum of words. Special colloquial vocabulary
- •3.1 Slang
- •3.2. Jargonisms
- •3.3. Professionalisms
- •3.4. Dialectal words
- •3.5. Vulgar words or vulgarisms
- •3.6. Colloquial coinages (nonce words)
- •Part IV functional styles of the english language
- •4.1. The notion of Style
- •5. The style of official documents:
- •4.2. Bookish Style
- •4.2.3. Scientific prose style
- •4.2.4. The style of official documents
- •4.2.5. The publicistic style
- •4.2.6. The newspaper style
- •4.2.7. Belles-lettres style
- •4.3. Colloquial (casual) style
- •7) Hyperbole;
- •Further reading
- •Part V types of meaning
- •5.1. Logical meaning
- •5.2. Emotive meaning
- •5.3. Nominal meaning
- •Part VI lexical expressive means and stylistic devices sd based on the interaction of different meanings of a word
- •6.1. Sd based on the interaction between two logical meanings of a word. Metaphor. Personification. Metonymy. Irony
- •6.1.1. Metaphor
- •6.1.2. Personification
- •6.1.3. Metonymy
- •6.1.4. Irony
- •6.2. Sd based on interaction between the logical and nominal meanings. Antomasia
- •6.3.1. Epithet
- •6.3.2. Hyperbole
- •6.3.3. Oxymoron
- •6.4. Stylistic devices based on the interaction between primary and derivative logical meaning of a word (or between the meanings of two homonyms)
- •Part VII lexico-syntactical stylistic devices
- •Part VIII syntactical expressive means and sd
- •Inversion
- •Interaction of Syntactical Structures
- •Part IX phonetic expressive means and stylistic devices
- •I. Language variation
- •1. The English language today
- •2. Types of variation
- •2.1. Regional variation
- •2.2. Social Variation
- •2.3. Personal variation
- •2.4. Stylistic variation
- •Part XI text as the object of linguistic analysis in stylistics
- •22. Oxymoron
- •Questions for revision
- •Exam questions
- •46. The publicistic style.
- •47. The newspaper style.
- •48. Scientific prose style.
- •Glossary
- •Reference books
4.2.5. The publicistic style
The publicistic style is employed in articles, essays and oratory devoted to social or political problems and meant for a great number of readers or a big audience. As it has been mentioned, it falls into 3 varieties:
1. The language of articles (political, social, economic) in newspapers, journals and magazines. The editorials also belong here.
2. The language used in essays - moral, philosophical, literary.
The essay is a literary composition usually short, on a philosophical, social, aesthetic or literary subject. It is often biographical. It never goes deep into the subject, but merely touches upon the surface. Pamphlets and literary reviews in journals, magazines and newspapers are close to essays both by their contents and their linguistic form.
3. The language used in oratory, which is an oral (spoken) variety. The publicistic style is the only one among bookish functional styles having a spoken variety. Here belong speeches on political and social problems of the day; orations and addresses on solemn occasions (jubilees, weddings, funerals, debates, speeches of the judge). The radio and TV commentary is another spoken variety of this style.
The aim of the publicistic style is to influence public opinion, to convince the reader or the listener that the interpretation given by the writer or speaker is the only correct one. The reader (or listener) is to accept the point of view of the writer (speaker). To achieve this an article or a public speech must be logical, accurate and impressive, i.e. it must combine logical argumentation and emotional appeal. The publicistic style has features in common with the scientific prose, on the one hand, and belles-lettres, on the other. The main characteristic features of this style are:
1. Coherent and logical syntactical structure with careful paragraphing and connectives.
2. Careful choice of words. The vocabulary consists of neutral, common literary, common colloquial words and terms.
3. The use of expressive means and stylistic devices, but they are usually traditional, not fresh, as genuine stylistic devices might divert the attention of the listeners away from the main point of the speech.
The publicistic style is also characterized by brevity of expression. All this is true of all the varieties of the publicistic style, though each has its own peculiarities. Essays and speeches, for example, have more individuality than newspaper articles. They contain more expressive means and stylistic devices.
Oratory is a public speech and it must be comprehensible for the given audience. It must be emotional and keep the audience in suspense. It determines the expressive means and stylistic devices used by the speaker:
1. direct address to the audience;
2. rhetorical questions;
3. repetitions of all kinds, parallel constructions, antithesis, gradation, etc.;
4. epithet, simile, metaphor;
5. emphatic constructions, etc.
Besides, the speaker uses modifications of the voice to impress the listeners.