The Style of Official Documents

This FS is not homogeneous and is represented by the following substyles or variants:

1) the language of business documents;

2) the language of legal documents;

3) the language of diplomacy;

4) the language of military documents.

Like other styles of language, this style has a definite communicative aim and its own system of interrelated language and stylistic means. The main aim of this type of communication is to state the conditions binding two parties and to reach agreement between two contracting parties. The most general function of the style of official documents predetermines the peculiarities of the style. The most striking feature is a special system of cliches, terms and set expressions by which each substyle can be easily recognized. Thus in finance we find terms like extra revenue, liability. In diplomacy such phrases as high contracting parties, memorandum, to ratify an agreement are found. In legal language, examples are to deal with a case, a body of judges.

All these varieties use abbreviations, conventional symbols and contractions, for example, M.P. (Member of Parliament), Ltd (Limited), $. Abbreviations are especially abundant in military documents. They are used not only as conventional symbols, but also as signs of military code. Another feature of the style is the use of words in their logical dictionary meaning. There is no room here for the realization of any other meaning here.

Scientific Style.

The main functionof the scientific style: rational cognition and linguistic presentation of the dynamics of thinking. There are different Sub-styles and genres: scientific style proper (thesis, abstract of thesis, monograph, article, report, abstract of a report...) popular scientific (an article, annotations, review, etc.). "Sub-languages" of scientific styles: law, political, medical, economic, technical, computer, linguistic, etc. Types of presentation: description and argumentation (deduction, induction). Peculiarities of scientific communication: planned, prepared delayed in time communication (except for lectures and reports). Style-forming features: great role of tradition in the use of language means, objective and non-categorical presentation, specific means of expression, a certain extent of emphasis, restrictions in the use of intensification, evaluation, emotional language means, absence of imagery.

Language means of the scientific style are:

lexical means - highly specialized scientific terminology, terminological groups, the peculiarities of the use of terms in scientific speech, the use of nouns and verbs in abstract meanings, special reference words, scientific phraseology - clichés, stereotyped and hackneyed word combinations and idioms absence of non-literary vocabulary and phraseology (slang words, vulgarisms, obscene words), peculiarities in word- building (standard suffixes and prefixes, mainly of Greek and Latin origin – tele-, morpho, philo- -ism, etc.)grammatical means: nominal character (the predominance of nouns over verbs) in the use of parts of speech, the use of prepositional “of-phrases” to substitute the genitive case, transposition of the classes of nouns, wide use of the Passive Voice, Indefinite Tenses, numerous conjunctions revealing the logical order of the text as well as double conjunctions (not merely... but also, whether ... or both... and, as...as).syntactical means: priority of full, logically correct, regular syntactical models, priority in the use of compound sentences, extensive use of secondary predicative constructions (Complex Object, Participial and Gerundial Constructions).composition of scientific text - the usual model is presented by the following scheme - a problem situation, idea, hypothesis, proof, conclusion, compositional speech forms of discussion, argumentation and description, conclusion, types of narration, wide-spread co-referential repetition as a specific method of text development.

Functional restrictions: strong objections to the use of non-literary vocabulary (slang words, vulgarisms) and scarce (редкий) use of emotional vocabulary and phraseology, and stylistic devices (metaphors, metonymies, etc.), scarce use of “I-speaking”, limited use of incomplete and non-declarative, and one-member sentences.

Scientific Style is to create new concepts, to disclose the internal laws of existence, development, relations between different phenomena. Language means tend to be objective, precise, unemotional, striving for the most generalized form of expression.

Features:

1 logical sequence of utterances

2use of terms

3coining new words

4no words with contextual meaning

5exchange of terms between various branches of science

6 sentence-patterns (postulatory, argumentative, formulative)

7quotations and references

8footnotes to back up the idea

9impersonality (passive constructons)