Stylistic differentiation of the English vocabulary.

The division of the English language into 2 varieties

(spoken and written) was accompanied by stylistic differentiation of the English vocabulary.

The matter is that the written variety is characterized by the use of typically literary/bookish words. Thus we can speak about the literary layer of words – литературный пласт. The spoken variety is characterized by the use of colloquial words having a lively, spoken character.

The majority of words make up the neutral layer. They form the bulk of the English vocabulary. It consists of words and phrases which have a universal character – they can be used in both written and spoken varieties. They're the most stable words. They do not change much in the course of time. They are words like TABLE, Buy, TAKE, Man, CHILD which are stylistically neutral. It means they have no stylistic colouring.

The literary layer is made up of words and phrases that are more or less stable.

Colloquial words are not considered to be stable.

In the centre – most frequently used words. The farther from the centre – the more specified the word is.

The layers overlap because the vocabulary of a language presents a system. When words from colloquial layer become more stable and more widely used not only in oral speech but in writing, they can penetrate into the neutral layer.

The literary layer can be divided into common literary vocabulary (общеупотребительная литературная лексика) and special literary vocabulary (стилистически ограниченная лексика).

The colloquial layer: is made up of common colloquial vocabulary (общеупотребительная разговорная лексика) and special colloquial vocabulary (специальная разговорная лексика; фамильярно-разговорная; нелитературная лексика; субколлоквиальная лексика).

Neutral words together with common literary and common colloquial words constitute Standard English vocabulary (нормативная; общеупотребительная лексика).

On the outskirts of the lexical system are special literary and special colloquial words and phrases.

Special literary vocabulary includes:

 terms

 archaic and historical words

 poeticisms and highly literary words

 barbarisms (сохраняют иностранное произношение и написание) and foreign words

 literary coinages (words created by the speaker/author – they seem very new) and nonce words – авторские неологизмы.

Special colloquial vocabulary includes:

 slang

 jargon

 professionalisms – what people use in casual settings to avoid using terms

 vulgarisms

 dialect words

Special layers are restricted in their usage.

Standard English Vocabulary

Standard English vocabulary consists of neutral, common literary and common colloquial words and expressions..

Neutral words have a universal character; they can be used in spoken and written language. They are the most stable units and do not change much in the course of time. Their frequency is very high. Besides, they are stylistically neutral : they have no stylistic colouring, no positive or negative connotation, they are not marked by any labels in dictionaries. They are polysemantic and some of their meanings may be stylistically coloured. Let us analyse the semantic structure of the adjective ‘mean’.

Neutral words are the main source of polysemy and synonymy. They are apt to generate new stylistic variants. nut – head, cool (прохладный) – excellent.

Although neutral words are devoid of stylistic colouring, in some contexts they may acquire it. Example from The Airport by Arthur Hailey. When Roberta being angry with her father reveals it in her choice of the word FATHER addressing him, not Dad or Daddy. She intentionally repeats it several times so that her father, being annoyed with it, says: ‘and stop calling me father!’

Common literary vocabulary is more or less stable, with a bookish character: purchase, arrive at a decision. Such words can either show respect or establish a longer distance between the speaker and the addressee. In formal situations they may suggest that the speaker is above the others. In casual or intimate registers common literary words may sound funny and out of place. When used inappropriately, they may cause humor.

A good example of it is in The Pygmalion by B. Shaw, when Eliza Dolittle having learnt to speak about the weather was on her first visit for afternoon tea to the mother of professor Higgins. Mrs. Higgins asked Eliza ‘conversationally : ‘Will it rain do you think?

The answer was: ‘The shallow depression in the west of these islands is likely to move slowly in an easterly direction. There are no indications of any great change in the barometrical situation’. The highly formal words and grammar patterns would sound appropriate in a formal register, but not in this casual setting of an afternoon tea-gathering where these bookish words are entirely out of place.

That is why Freddy, a young man who was there, exclaimed: Ha! Ha! How awfully funny!

Eliza’s immediate reaction was not as refined or polite as her speech about the weather. She said: What is wrong with that, young man? I bet I got it right! ‘

What followed was in sharp contrast with the common literary words and terms of her speech about the weather –they were cockney words (do sb in = kill, pinch= steal, etc.) Also Grammar of uneducated speech.

--- My aunt died of influenza: so they said …. But it’s my belief they done the old woman in. … What become of her new straw hat that should have come to me? Somebody pinched it.’

When she was asked who had done it, she said: ‘ …them as pinched it done her in.’ Thus, the conversation sounds extremely funny and humorous due to the sharp contrast between firstly -a) casual register of the question and formal register of Eliza’s speech; secondly - b) perfectly correct and formal wording of her speech and non-literary words of Cockney, informal, uneducated forms of grammar; thirdly - c) the traditionally British subject- matter of the weather (at the beginning) and a very personal topic ( not traditionally acceptable in polite conversation in Britain). Contrast, as a rule, is a powerful means of creating stylistic devices.

Common colloquial vocabulary is mostly used in the spoken variety, it is rather unstable. Common colloquial words have a distinct lively, spoken character. They are emotionally coloured and are marked in dictionaries as spoken/informal. Those that are on the borderline with neutral words may have no stylistic label in dictionaries. Such words have a tendency to penetrate into the neutral layer. Example: Kid was a word of slang, now it is common colloquial. Or, the word Teenager was colloquial, now – neutral. Words are like living beings. Other examples are : to guess (Am) , to reckon, brainy (clever), to be a bit under the weather ( to be feeling slightly ill or depressed)

A great number of phrasal verbs are part of common colloquial vocabulary: to hook up – to get together, start a relationship, to pick up something- to buy smth, especially unexpectedly and smth cheap

Special literary vocabulary is made up of 5 groups.

All of them have common features:

1. they are used exclusively in the written language

2. they are restricted in their usage to certain types of texts

3. their frequency is rather low

4. used in inappropriate contexts they may create a comic effect (jocular, humorous, ironical, satirical, sarcastic)

Each group has a certain set of stylistic functions ( что такое функция – some additional information – for example, emotional, evaluative, expressive, humorous, embellishing, etc., which a language unit acquires in the process of its interaction with other units in a text, in other words in language –in – action.

TERMS Terms

1. marked in dictionaries (tech., law, science, poetry)

2. tend to be mono-semantic

3. they're easily coined with the development of science and some of them may undergo the process of determinalisation. Radio used to be a term when it was inverted.

4. can't be used figuratively in scientific style My anatomy (body) can't bear it. à becomes colloquial. Launching pad – установка для запуска ракет – is now used as a starting point of something

5. used in scientific style

Special functions of inappropriate usage

1. sometimes used in belles-lettres style to create the true-to-life atmosphere of the narration welding – сварка; assembly line – сборочная линия; chassis The author will paraphrase the term not to hamper the reader.

2. if terms are used in inappropriate situation – to show the state of a person in the description of the girl's figure by a medical student, he uses terms to show that his head is full of these terms: headàscull. Telegram: (один доктор приглашает другого – своего друга) Digs and abdomen fixed up. Good pubs. (used in inappropriate context for humour; digs – students' hostels – students' jargon – special colloquial – accommodation; abdomen – брюшная полость- special literary, means meal) = Arrangements have been made about accommodation and meals.

Archaic and historical words

Archaic words have been replaced in the course of time by modern English words (theeàyou; anonàat once; nayàno). Obsolescent – words that are sometimes used and are still recognizable – слова, выходящие из употребления.

1. old morphological forms of otherwise non-archaic words give – giveth: "The lord giveth, and he taketh away"- бог дал, бог взял. knowest: thou knowest = you know; thou art = you are

2. old English pronouns: thee, thy, thine, thou. Historical words are never replaced by modern synonyms – they're retained by the language, but they denote concepts that have gone out of modern life: ямщик, кучер,– baldric –портупея.

Functions:

1. archaic – in historical novels to create an atmosphere of antiquity. Historical words have the same function.

2. in the Bible – archaisms are used especially often to create the atmosphere of solemnity, eternity

3. in poetry – archaic words may create an elevated effect, -/- of solemnity. Vincent Millay: "Oh, World, I cannot hold thee close enough, thy winds, thy high grey skies". Winds, skies – poetic. The headline: "So, the taxman cometh" used inappropriately – maybe to suggest inevitability with a touch of humour. Historical words may be used in scientific style – articles on history and historical words will function as terms.

Poeticisms

Mostly used in poetry. To identify them: by stylistic labels – highly liter, lit., poet.

1. words of French and Latin origin clothesàgarment. Birches in their spring garment. Attire – наряд

2. poetic terms used only in poetry: steed, the eye of heavenß sun, the welkinß the sky; meadßmeadow (как злато-золото) – omission of a part of a word

3. compound words: night-long eyes

They are used

1. in poetry, to embellish the expression of an idea, (in The Bells by E Poe the word tintennabulation (изящный перезвон) But not all poets use poeticisms

2. in inappropriate contexts (in the casual setting or spoken variety )abode_{highly liter}ßhouse – обитель, welcome to my humble abode –is used as a means of creating humor

Barbarisms

words of foreign origin but which have not been fully assimilated and which have retained their foreign appearance chic – stylish. Chef – head cook, bon mot – a clever, witty saying, nee – maiden name

1. foreign words – entirely alien to the eng language. They don’t belong to the eng vocabulary. In the text they are generally italicized

2. terminological borrowings kolkhoz, kaphtan, tsar;, international musical terms solo, tenor – belong to literally bookish style.

Their functions:

1. supply local colour , to keep up the atmosphere. It is not always important to know the translation of these words. They also show local traditions, food, customs, habits. (in stories, fiction)

2. characterize personages through their speech. People who use barbarisms are intelligent., well-educated . Polished speech. They also add to the speaker a touch of authority in public speeches.

3. exactifying function of barbarisms is based on monosemantic character. au revoir – good bye; it has become a formal expression/ mea culpa – my fault ., a formal statement made in the roman church admitting that they have sinned. Can be used by politicians. Sometimes in a humorous context.

Literally coinages (неологизмы) and nonce-words (авторские неологизмы).

Literally coinages are newly coined words which are created by journalists, poets and writers. They are fresh words, meant to suit one particular occasion. If the word is not accepted by the English speaking community, it remains a kind of nonce-word which is used by a particular author on a particular occasion. (like Mayakovskiy’s молоткастый, серпастый советский паспорт) But if the word is accepted it retains its freshness and novelty until it gets fixed in dictionaries and becomes a fact of the language. For example, this was the case with the word stardom –used in the meaning of ‘glory’ in the headline of an article ‘From Obscurity to Stardom. Explain it.

Кухаренко considered the term “occasionalism” better suited to these group of words.

They appear by means of word-building

Affixation		Other means of word-building
suffixes	prefixes	Con version	blending	compound words
-ness, -ise , -dom, - hood. New-Zealandness, villagise, sisterhood	UN- Anti – anti-everything. Anti-hero	to wild (as a verb) in The young men are wilding I am wived it Texas, mother-in-lawed, uncled, aunted Nonce -w The haves The have-nots	Parts of 2 words are put together: Oxbridge (Oxbridge students – students of the two best British universities); Emoticon (emotion + icon) : ) (sth that makes you smile frienemy	a mouse-potato (sb who sits at the computer all the time), couch- potato (sb on pension, watching TV and channel surfing) Words formed by analogy with commonly used words: to house- sit, ← to baby-sit Screenagers - similar to ←teenagers -young people who spend much of their time watching TV, sitting at their computers, using their mobile phones)

Used to provide freshness and novelty of expression. Many of them bear a touch of humour: surface knowingness, ’The Smashingest birthday’ – the headline of an article about one hundredth birthday of the Mother Queen. They are usually used to attract the readers’ attention in mass media: headlines of articles, in slogans of advertisements, in poetry and some books of emotive prose.