13. The style of official documents has four varieties:

1. the language style of diplomatic documents, 

2. the language style of business documents, 

3. the language style of legal documents, 

4. the language style of military documents.

• Its aim is to state the conditions of some agreement or contract. 

• The most striking feature of this style is a special system of clichés, terms and set expressions.

• Each of the subdivisions of this style has its own peculiar terms.

• Abbreviations and indefinite pronouns are also widely used in such texts.

• Another feature of the style is the use of words in their logical dictionary meaning. 

• Among the morphological features it is necessary to mention adherence to the norm, sometimes already archaic, especially in legal documents. 

• The syntactical features of the style include: use of complex sentences with various types of coordination and subordination, use of passive and participial constructions, use of detached constructions and parenthesis.

• The lexical features are the following: prevalence of stylistically neutral and bookish words, use of terminology in the legal and commercial spheres, abstraction of person (e.g. party instead of the name), archaic words, foreign words (sometimes Latin and French), absence of expressive means and evaluative and emotive coloring of the vocabulary.

• The compositional features of the official style include: special compositional design, coded graphical layout, subdivision of the text into units of information, logical arrangement of these units, order of priority organization of content and information.

14. The principles of classification of the vocabulary of a language.

Galperin writes that the vocabulary of any language should be presented as a system, the elements of which are interconnected, interrelated and yet independent.

The word-stock of a language may be represented as a definite system in which different aspects of words may be singled out as interdependent. 

Dividing the whole word-stock into literary and colloquial, he distinguished three main levels or layers of words: 

1. the literary layer (contains groups accepted as «legitimate members of the English vocabulary»), 

2. the neutral layer, 

3. the colloquial layer (is often limited to a definite language community or confined to a special locality where it is in circulation). 

The common property, which unites the different groups within the layer, is called its aspect. 

Thus, the aspect of the literary layer is its bookish character; of the colloquial layer - its spoken character; of the neutral layer - its universal character. The last aspect means that neutral words are unrestricted in their use and can be employed in all styles of language and in all spheres of human activity.

According to I. Galperin, the literary vocabulary consists of six groups of words: 

1. common literary words; 

2. terms and learned words; 

3. poetic words 

4. archaic words 

5. barbarisms and foreign words 

6. literary coinages.

The colloquial vocabulary contains:

1. common colloquial words; 

2. slang; 

3. jargonisms; 

4. professional words; 

5. dialectal words; 

6. vulgar words; 

7. colloquial coinages

The common literary, neutral and common colloquial words are called the «standard English vocabulary». Other groups are known as «special literary» and «special colloquial vocabulary».

Y. Skrebnev suggests the following classification of the vocabulary: 

1. poetic word (demonstrate the maximum of aesthetic value and possess the highest degree of elevations); 

2. official words (are words of business and legal correspondence which at the middle level of elevation.); 

3. colloquial words (are words used in conversations. They demonstrate the minimal degree of degradation. They have a tinge of familiarity and cannot be used in formal speech. They are subdivided into colloquial synonyms of neutral words, phonetic variants of neutral words, diminutives of neutral words, colloquial meanings of polysemantic words.); 

4. jargon words (According to Professor Skrebnev, the difference between jargon and slang lies in the fact that jargon is used by members of some communities (professional or social) while slang is by every English-speaking person. He calls slang a universally spoken jargon); 

5. vulgar words (occupy the lowest level of degradation. Due to their offensive character these words are not admissible in a civilized community.); 

6. bookish words (are also called learned. The term implies a wide sphere of communication. They are placed at the highest level of elevation. They are used in cultivated speech. They can be formal synonyms of neutral words (e.g. individual and person) or express complicated notions which have no word-for-word analogy in the neutral sphere (e.g. hibernate – to spend the winter in a sleeping state). Bookish words are in most cases borrowings or loan words.); 

7. archaic words (in most cases belong to the highest stratum of the vocabulary. Among them there are words widely known to native speakers, e.g. knight or words absolutely out of use. e.g. troth – faith.); 

8. neologisms (new creations) (are often accepted with difficulty and at first considered as possessing a certain degree of degradation. Among them there are nonce-words which are created for a special occasion.); 

9. special terms (possess a higher degree of elevation, though in professional spheres they perform no expressive function.); 

10. professionalisms (They are used by professionals habitually, without any stylistic purpose. On the other hand, they appear as a result of protest against official terms. Professionalisms are often confused with jargonisms.); 

11. barbarisms or foreign words (Barbarisms or foreign words should not be confused with borrowings. The latter are assimilated, while the former can be felt as words of another language. Their stylistic function can be different, e.g. French words often bear a tinge of elegance.).