Lecture 12

Stylistic differentiation of English vocabulary

The notion of style.

Classification of English vocabulary

The notion of style. The extra-linguistic factors influencing usage and

development of language constitute one of the crucial problems of linguistics.
They are dealt with in sociolinguistics and linguostylistics. The first, i.e.
sociolinguistics, is primarily interested in variations in language according to uses
depending on social, educational, sex, age, etc. stratification, in social evaluation
of speech habits, in correlation of linguistic facts with the life and attitudes of the
speaking community. Linguostylistics studies the correlation of speech situation
and linguistic means used by speakers, i.e. stratification according to use and hence
— different functional styles of speech and language. Our concern in the present
lecture is linguostylistics.
In a highly developed language like English or Russian the same idea may
be differently expressed in different situations. On various occasions, a speaker
makes use of different combinations open to him in the vocabulary. Part of the
words he uses will be independent of the sphere of communication. There are
words equally fit to be used in a lecture, a poem, or when speaking to a child.
These are said to be stylistically neutral and constitute the common core of the
vocabulary. They are characterized by high frequency and cover the greater portion
of every utterance. The rest may consist of stylistically coloured words.
Not only does the speaker's entire experience determine the words he knows
and uses but also his knowledge of his audience and the relationship in which he
stands to them (i.e. the pragmatic aspect of communication) governs his choice of
words. He says: perhaps, folly good and I've half a mind to ... when speaking to
people he knows well, but probably, very well and I intend to ... in conversation
with a stranger.
The English nouns horse, steed, gee-gee have the same denotational
meaning in the sense that they all refer to the same animal, but the stylistical
colouring is different in each case. Horse is stylistically neutral and may be used in
any situation. Steed is dignified and lofty and belongs to poetic diction, while gee-
gee is a nursery word neutral in a child's speech, and out of place in adult
conversation.
Stylistically coloured, therefore, are words suitable only on certain definite
occasions in specific spheres and suggestive of specific conditions of
communication. Dictionaries label them as colloquial, familiar, poetical, and
popular and so on. The classification varies from dictionary to dictionary.
The very term style is open to more than one interpretation. The word is both
familiar and ambiguous. "The Oxford English Dictionary" records it in twenty-
seven different meanings. Primarily style is a quality of writing; it comes by
metonymy from Latin stilus, the name of the writing-rod for scratching letters on
wax-covered tablets.
It has come to mean the collective characteristics of writing, diction or any
artistic expression and the way of presenting things, depending upon the general
outlook proper to a person, a school, a period or a genre. One can speak not only of
Dickens's or Byron's style, but also of Constable's and Christopher Wren's, of
classical, romantic, impressionistic style in literature, painting and music, of epic
or lyrical style and even of style in clothes and hair-do.
Classification of English vocabulary
It is important to classify the English vocabulary from a stylistic point of
view because some SDs are based on the interplay of different lexical components
and aspects of a word. The word stock of any language may be presented as a
system elements of which are interconnected, interrelated and yet interdependent.
Lexicology suggests many ways of classifying any vocabulary but for the purpose
of stylistic analysis, we may represent the whole word stock of English language as
the domain divided into three major layers:
1. The literary layer;
2. The neutral layer;
3. The colloquial layer.
The literary and the colloquial layer contain a number of subgroups, all of
which have a certain property, characteristic of the layer overall, that is called an
aspect. Thus, we say ‘the aspect of the literary layer is its markedly bookish
character; the aspect of the colloquial layer is its lively spoken character. Both
peculiarities make the first layer more or less stable and the latter – unstable,
fleeting. The aspect of the neutral layer is its universal character that means that it
is unrestricted in use. The literary vocabulary consists of the following groups of
words:
1. Terms
2. Poetical words
3. Archaic words
4. Foreignisms and barbarisms
5. Literary nonce-words or neologisms
Colloquial vocabulary falls into the following groups:
1. professionalisms
2. slang
3. jargonisms
4. dialectisms
5. vulgarisms
The literary layer consists of the words accepted as legitimate members of
the English vocabulary, without local or dialectal character. While the colloquial
layer is often limited to a definite language community or confined to a specific
locality where it circulates. The literary stratum of English vocabulary is used in
both oral and written speech. Most literary words are neutral. However, there are
certain groups of literary words whose bookish character imbues them with a
distinct coloring. Hence, they are frequently called “learned words”. For example:
emolument, joyance, gladsome, bellicose, judicial, etc. The common literary,
neutral and common colloquial words are grouped under the term: “standard
English vocabulary”. Other groups are regarded as consequently special literary
and special colloquial vocabularies. Neutral words, which form the bulk of the
English vocabulary, are used both in literary and in the colloquial language.
Neutral words are the main source of synonymy and polysemy; they are very
prolific in production of a new meaning and in generating new stylistic variations.
The following points characterize neutral words:
- They can be used in any style of speech without causing a special stylistic
effect
- They can be used not only in written speech which abounds in literary
words but also in colloquial speech without causing any stylistic effect
- They are generally devoid of any emotional meaning, unless special means
are employed for this purpose.
Neutral words have a monosyllabic character as in the progress of
development from Old English to Modern English most of the parts of speech lost
their distinguishing suffixes. This phenomenon has led to the development of
conversion as the most productive means of word-building or word derivation
where a word is formed because of a shift in the part of speech. Unlike all other
groups of words, the neutral words have NO SPECIAL STYLISTIC COLORING.
Common literary words are chiefly used in writing and in polished speech. One
can always tell a literary word from a colloquial one. The reason for this lies in
certain objective features of certain objective features of the literary layer of words,
that is why literary unite always stand in opposition to colloquial units, forming
pairs of synonyms.
COLLOQUIAL NEUTRAL LITERARY
Kid child infant
Daddy father Parent
Chap fellow Associate
Go on continue Precede
Teenager boy/girl youth/maiden
Make a move begin commence

It goes without saying that these synonyms are not absolute, there is always
a slight semantic difference in a synonymous pair but the main distinction between
synonyms remains stylistic. In addition, it may be of different types- it may lie in
the emotional tension (small-little-tiny) connoted in a word, or in the degree of the
quality (fear-terror-awe) denoted, or in the sphere of its application (opponent-
rival-foe). Colloquial words are always more emotionally colored than literary
ones. The neutral group of words has no degree of emotiveness, nor have they any
distinctions in the sphere of usage. Both literary and colloquial words have their
upper and lower ranges. The lower range of the literary words approaches the
neutral layer and has a tendency to pass into it, while the upper range of the
colloquial layer can easily pass into the neutral layer. So, the lines between
common colloquial and neutral, on the one hand, and common literary and neutral,
on the other, are blurred. Here the process of the stylistic interpenetration becomes
most apparent. Still, the extremes remain antagonistic and therefore are often used
to bring about a collision of manners of speech for special stylistic purposes.
Let us analyze as an example of such stylistic usage of bookish words in the
banal situation of everyday communication an anecdote once told by Danish
linguist O.Esperson: “A young lady on coming home from school was explaining
to her grandma: Take an egg, she said, and make a perforation on in the base and a
corresponding one in the apex. Then apply the lips to the aperture, and by forcibly
inhaling the breath the shell is entirely discharged of its contents”. The old lady
exclaimed: “It beats all how folk do things nowadays. When I was a girl they made
a hole in each end and sucked”.
The neutral vocabulary may be viewed as the invariant of the Standard
English vocabulary. Such words are usually deprived of any concrete associations
and refer to the concept more or less directly. Colloquial and literary words assume
a far greater degree of concreteness, thus causing subjective evaluation, producing
a definite impact on the reader or hearer. In the diagram above you see that
common colloquial vocabulary is overlapping into the Standard English
vocabulary and borders both on the neutral and special colloquial vocabulary,
which fall out of Standard English altogether. Many general literary words in
modern English have a clear-cut bookish character: concord, adversary,
divergence, volition, calamity, susceptibility, sojourn, etc. Many phraseological
combinations also belong to the general literary stratum: in accordance with, with
regard to, by virtue of, to speak at great length, to draw a lesson, to lend assistance.
The primary stylistic function of general literary words, which appear in the speech
of literary personages, is to characterize the person as pompous and verbose. The
speech of Mr. Micawber in “David Copperfield” may serve as a good illustration
of it: My dear friend Copperfield”, said Mr. Micawber,” accidents will occur in the
best-regulated families, and in families not regulated by that pervading influence
which sanctifies while it enhances the – a – I would say, in short, by the influence
of Woman, in the lofty character of Wife, they may be expected with confidence,
and must be borne with philosophy”. Sometimes bookish verbosity is used by the
authors of parodies to create a humorous effect. For example, in the following
version of a famous fairy tale: “Snow White. Once there was a young princess who
was not at all unpleasant to look at and had a temperament that may be found to be
more pleasant than most other people’s. Her nickname was Snow White, indicating
of the discriminatory notions of associating pleasant or attractive qualities with
light, and unpleasant or unattractive qualities with darkness. Thus, at an early age
Snow White was an unwitting if fortunate target for this type of colorist thinking.”
Special literary words may be grouped under the following divisions:
1. Terms
2. Foreignisms and barbarisms
3. Archaic and obsolete/obsolescent words
4. Poetic words
5. Neologisms
 Terms Learned words in English include not only scientific terms, but also
special terms in any branch of science, technique or art. A term – is a word (word-
combination) denoting a scientific concept. Terms may be divided into three main
groups depending on the character of their etymology
 Terms formed from Greek, Latin, French, German or other foreign sources,
e.g. Botany, anatomy, schedule (Greek); locomotive, chivalry, march, parliament,
estate (Latin); facade, renaissance, retreat, maneuver, squad, coup d’etat, cliché
(French); cobalt, zinc, quartz, sauerkraut (German).
 Terms formed from the common word stock, by means of semantic
change, e.g. tank, company (milit.); wing (archit); fading, jamming (radio).
 Terms formed by means of special suffixes and prefixes: e.g. ultra-violet,
antidote, transplant. Usually these suffixes and prefixes (and sometimes word root
components) are borrowed from Greek or Latin and as such have the same
meaning in all the languages.
Any term taken separately has the following peculiarities: It has no
emotional value. It is usually monosemantic, at least in the given field of science,
technique or art. One of the essential characteristics of a term is its highly
conventional quality. It is very easily coined and accepted, new coinages replacing
outdated ones. This sensitivity to alteration appears mainly due to the necessity of
reflecting in language the cognitive process maintained by scholars in analyzing
different concepts and phenomena. One of the most striking features of a term is its
direct logical relevance to the system or set of terms used in a particular science,
discipline or art. A term is directly connected with the concept it denotes; unlike
other words, it directs the mind to the essential quality of the thing, phenomenon or
action. Terms frequently convey a concept or a notion in a concise form. They are
mostly used in special works dealing with the notions of some branch of science
and thus belong to the style of scientific language. They may also appear in other
styles: in newspaper style, in publicistic and practically, in all others. But their
function in this case changes. The term will no longer serve for the exact reference
to a given concept but to indicate the technical peculiarities of the subject dealt
with or to make some reference to the occupation of a character whose language
will naturally contain professional expressions. Although terms are stylistically
neutral, they may be used with a stylistic purpose. In a story or novel terms may
acquire a certain expressive or emotional quality. They may enhance the realistic
background of the work. For example, in “Live with Lighting” by M.Wilson, the
author uses technical terms to give his readers a convincing portrayal of the work
of nuclear physicists. Terms must not be overused – in such case they hinder the
reader’s understanding when the writer is demonstrating his erudition. It has been
pointed out that those who are learning use far more complicated words than those
who are learned. IN any language with the increase of general education some
terms are losing their original quality and are gradually passing into common
literary or even neutral vocabulary. This process is called de-terminization. E.g.:
radio, television, computer, network.
Poetic words are words and phrases calculated to imbue ordinary concepts
with a poetic nuance. Their use is confined mainly to poetic style and by their very
nature they are monosemantic. Poetic words are rather insignificant in number.
These are mostly archaic words that very rarely used to produce an elevated effect
of speech, their main function being sustaining poetic atmosphere.
The following is the list of poetical words most frequently used in English
poetry: NOUNS : billow (wave), swain (lover, suitor), yeoman (peasant), main
(sea), maid (girl), dolour (grief), nuptials (marriage), vale (valley), steed horse)
ADJECTIVES: lone (lonely), dread (dreadful), lovesome (lovely), beauteous
(beautiful), clamant (noisy), direful (terrible), duteous (dutiful).
VERBS: Wax (grow), quath (said), list (listen), throw (believe), tarry
(remain), hearken (hear).
PRONOUNS: Thee, thou, thy, aught (anything), naught (nothing)
ADVERBS: scarce (scarcely), haply (perhaps), oft (often), whilom
(formerly), of yore (of ancient times), anon (soon)
CONJUNCTIONS: albeit (although), ere (before), e’er (ever), ‘neath
(beneath), sith (since)
PREPOSITIONS: anent (concerning), amidst, betwixt (between)
Archaic words – are those that have either entirely gone out of use or some
of whose meaning have grown archaic. Archaic and poetic words are studied
mostly by historical linguistics. Written works provide the best data for
establishing the changes that happen to a language over time. For example, the
following passage from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, written in the English of the
fourteenth century, has recognizable elements but is different enough from modern
English to require a translation.
Poetic words are often built by compounding: e.g. young-eyed, rosy-
fingered.
Archaic, Obsolescent and Obsolete Words. The word stock of a language
is always in an increasing state of change. Words change their meaning or
sometimes drop out of the language altogether. New words spring up and replace
the old ones; others stay a very long time gaining new meanings, becoming richer
polysemantically. Dictionaries serve to register birth, aging and sometimes death
of any lexical unit existing in a language. We shall distinguish three stages in aging
process of words: when the word becomes rarely used, it is called obsolescent –
gradually passing out of general use: e.g. morphological forms thou, thee, thy,
thine, verbal ending – est, verbal forms – art, wilt. The second group of archaic
words are those that have completely gone out of use but are still recognized by the
English-speaking community – we call them obsolete ,e.g. methinks – it seems to
me; nay – no etc. The third group that may be called archaic proper are words,
which are no longer recognizable in modern English though they were widely in
use in Old English. Now they have dropped out of language entirely or have
changed tier appearance so much that have become unrecognizable: e.g. throth –
faith; bason – tub; descant – melody; hippocras – wine with spices; fortalice –
fortress; losel – a lazy fellow.
Barbarisms can be labeled as a historical category resulting from the
development of foreignisms until they become naturalized and merged into the
native stock of words: conscious, retrograde, scientific, methodical, penetrate,
function, figurative, obscure - these words are now lawful members of the common
literary word stock. Foreignisms and barbarisms are used with various functions:
e.g. to supply local color, i.e. introduce language elements that reflect the
environment as a background to the narrative. By local color, we also operate the
devices used to describe the conditions of life the customs, the morals, and the
manners of a given country at a given period. Another function of foreignisms is to
build up a stylistic device of non-personal direct speech or represented speech of a
local inhabitant, which helps to reproduce his manner of speech and the
environment as well. Foreignisms and barbarisms are used in various styled but
most often in publicist one. In fiction, they sometimes help to elevate the language,
because words that we do not understand have a peculiar charm.
Special Colloquial Vocabulary It would be better to begin the analysis of
this layer of English vocabulary from its most disputable constituent – that of
slang. This term is very ambiguous and obscure due to the uncertainty of the
concept itself.
Galperin suggests using the term “slang” for those forms of English
vocabulary which are either mispronounced or distorted in some way phonetically,
morphologically or lexically, also it may be used to specify some elements which
are usually called over-colloquial. But only native speakers can place slang in its
proper category because they are creators and users of their native language. Slang
is nothing but a deviation from the established norm at the level of the vocabulary.
The term slang is so broad that it includes many variants; cockney, public-house,
commercial, military, theatrical, parliamentary, journalist, political, military and
school slangs. For example, the following expressions belong to the school slang:
bully, to crib, to smoke (to redden from shape), Dame (teacher), play hookey
(truant). Common slang words and expressions: banana oil – flattery; ball up –
make a mess; angel dust – drug; answer the call of nature – to relieve oneself; brain
bucket – motorcycle helmet; cherry farm – penitentiary; culture vulture –
sightseeing bragger; go-go kind of a guy – active vigorous young man.
Jargon – is a group of words with the aim to preserve secrecy within one or
another social group. Jargonisms are generally old words with new meanings
imposed on them. They are absolutely incomprehensible to those outside the social
group which has invented them. Jargon may be defined as a code within a code.
E.g. grease – money; tiger hunter – gambler; loaf – head. Jargonisms are social in
character. They are not regional. Almost any social group of people has its own
jargon: jargon of thieves (cant); of jazz musicians, of the military men; of
sportsmen. Slang, contrary to jargon, needs no translation. It is not a secret code. It
is easily understood by native speakers. Both slang and jargon differ from ordinary
language mainly in their vocabularies, while syntax and morphology remain
practically unchanged. Some of jargonisms migrate and make their way into the
literary language of the nation. They may be said to become dejargonized. There is
a common jargon and special professional jargons. It is hard to draw a fast line
between slang and common jargon: e.g. man and wife – knife (rhyming slang);
manany ( naval jargon)– a sailor who is always putting of a job till tomorrow, from
Spanish manana-tomorrow; soap and flannel( naval jargon)– bread and cheese.
Professionalisms are words used in a definite trade, profession or calling by
people connected by common interests both at work and at home. Professionalisms
are correlated to terms. They name anew already existing concepts, tools or
instruments and have the typical properties of a special code. The main feature of a
professionalism is its technicality.
Professionalisms should not be mixed with jargonisms. Like slangisms they
do not aim at secrecy. They facilitate communication in professional sphere.
Professionalisms also help to depict the natural speech of a character, to show his
occupation, education, breeding, environment, often even psychology. Dialectal
words
Dialectal words – those words that in the process of integration of the
English national language remain beyond its literary boundaries and their usage is
generally confined to a definite locality. When these words are used in emotive
prose they are meant to characterize the speaker as a person of a certain local
origin, breeding and education. Some dialectal words have become familiar in a
good and standard colloquial English and are universally accepted. e.g. lass
(Scottish)– beloved girl; lad – young man; daft – silly mind; fash – trouble; cutty –
naughty girl; tittie – sister; hinny – honey; Australian: brekky – breakfast, mossie –
mosquito, Oz – Australia, Pommie – a Britisher, postie – postman. Among other
dialects used for stylistic purposes in literature one should mention Southern
dialect (Somersetshire, in particular). It has a phonetic peculiarity: initial [s] and [f]
are voiced and written in the direct speech as [z] and [v]: e.g. folk – volk, found –
vound, see – zee, sinking – zinking. Dialectal words are only to be found in the
style of emotive prose and very rarely in other styles. The unifying tendency of the
literary language is so strong that dialects are doomed to vanish except those which
are met in fiction. Some writers make an unrestrained use of dialects in the effort
to color both the narration and the speech of characters thus making the reading
and comprehending difficult. Others - use dialectisms sparingly, introducing only
words understandable to the average intelligent reader.

Tövsiyə olunan ədəbiyyat

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