5. The notion of variation. Variation is English language.

In stylistics and socioling. the notion of v. is used to refer to any system of ling. expression whose use is governed by situational variables. Lang. varieties can be determined by the aims of communication. Lang. varies because of the wide range of uses it is put to a wide range of contexts as well as several identities of a person. Number of factors which would bring lang. variations: 1) codification factor divides the English lang. into standard and substandard. Standard eng. – elaboratd form of a lang. which is based on phonetic, morf., lexical, synt. & styl. norms. these norms are recognized by the majority of native speakers. This variety of eng. is acceptable anywhere. Substandard eng. is that form of lang. which is considered to be beyond the established norms. It includes slang, vulgarisms, jargons, grammatical illiteracies. Slang can be divided into general slang which is admitted into standard eng. and is understood as colloquial departure from standard usage. Special slang – the lang. of the underworld. Standard and substandard eng. form national eng. 2) geographical factor: reflects physical spac between lang. and culture communities. National variants of eng (American, british..) & dialects. National lang. are characterized by both ling. diff-s and referential diff-s. Dialects are recognized by phonetics but they may also differ in grammar and structure. 3) social factor: it reflects social space between communities or social groups. It creates sociolects. Sociolects are determined by a number of factors: social status by birth, education, occupation, ethnic group, gender, age.

4) medium factor: it divides lang. into spoken & written. Each of them can be also divided: spoken – spontaneous & non-spontaneous -> spont. – monologue & dialogue$ non-spont. – reciting & speaking on what’s written -> to be spoken & to be spoken as if not written. Written speech -> written text to be spoken, written to be spoken as if not written, written not necessarily to be spoken. 5) relationship factor/attitudional/tenor: it takes into account the proximity of the interlocatives, 5 varieties: frozen (church, court of law), formal, consultative (neutral, less-formal), the one which doesn’t have any styl. markers, casual, intimate. 6) subject matter/function: registers which are described as lang. in action (horse-racing, women’s eng.) 7) functional factor: it determines functional styles. the term “func. styl” is used in russ. tradition (in eng – discourse types). diff varieties within the lang. have no rigid borders. they intersect each other and their confrontation in one text may have styl. significances.

7. Spoken English and Written English.

Of the two varieties of language, diachronically the spoken is pri­mary and the written is secondary. Each of these varieties has developed its own features which in many ways may be regarded as opposed to each other. The situation in which the spoken variety of language is used and in which it develops, can be described concisely as the presence of an inter­locutor. The written variety, on the contrary, presupposes the absence of an interlocutor. The spoken language is maintained in the form of a dialogue, the written in the form of a monologue. The spoken language, has a considerable advantage over the written, in that the human voice, comes into play. This is a powerful means of modulating the utterance, as are all kinds of gestures, which, together with the intonation, give additional information.

The written language has to seek means to compensate for what it lacks. Therefore the written utterance will inevitably be more diffuse, more explanatory. In other words, it has to produce an enlarged repre­sentation of the communication in order to be explicit enough.

The forms of the written language replace those of the spoken language when dissemination of ideas is the purpose in view. It is the written variety of language with its careful organization and deliberate, choice of words.

The gap between the spoken and written varieties of language, wider & narrower at different periods in the development of the literary language, will always remain apparent due to the difference in circumstances in which the two are used.

It must be borne in mind that in the belles-lettres style there may appear elements of colloquial language (a form of the spoken variety), but it will always be stylized to a greater or lesser degree by the writer.

The spoken language cannot be detached from the user of it, the speaker, who is unable to view it from the outside. The written language, on the contrary, can be detached from the writer, enabling him to look upon his utterance objectively and giving him the opportunity to correct and improve what has been put on paper. That is why it is said that the written language bears a greater volume of responsibility than its spoken c6unteifpart;

The most striking difference between the spoken and written language is, however, in the Vocabulary used. There are words and phrases typically colloquial, on the one hand, and typically bookish-, on the other.

There is another characteristic feature of colloquial language, name­ly, the insertion into the utterance of words without any meaning, which are appropriately called "fill-ups" or empty words. To some ex­tent they give a touch of completeness to the sentence if used at the end of it or, if used in the middle, help the speaker to fill the gap when unable to find the proper word.