Ivan Franko National University

in Lviv

Lexicology

Hryhorii Kochur Department of translation

studies and contrastive linguistics
Nadiia Andreichuk, professor
nadiyaan@gmail.com
 Lecture 8

Stylistic Differentiation of
the English Vocabulary
Words glisten.
Words irradiate exquisite splendour.
Words carry magic and keep us
spellbound…
Words are like glamorous bricks that
constitute the fabric of any language…
Words are like roses that make the
environment fragrant…
N.Chand
 Plan

1.Stylistically neutral words

2. Literary-bookish words
3. Colloquial words
 Stylistic differentiation of words

1. Stylistically neutral layer.

2. Stylistically marked layer.
 Stylistic layers

Stylistically neutral Stylistically marked

layer layer

Learned words

Colloquial words
 Stylistically neutral layer

consists of words mostly of native origin

 comprises fully assimilated borrowings
such words are devoid of any emotive colouring
and are used in their denotative meaning,
e.g. table, street, sky, go, speak, long, easy, never,
often, etc.
 Stylistically neutral words

are not fixed to style, can be used and dominate in

texts of any style
can name concrete objects, phenomena, abstract
notions, features of objects, action
In groups of synonyms, neutral words fulfill the
function of the synonymic dominant.
neutral words constitute the basis of both
English and Ukrainian language vocabulary
 Stylistically marked layer

Literary-bookish words (“learned” words):

belong to the formal style, to the formal category of
communication.
are more stable due to the traditions of the written
type of speech
are used in descriptive passages of fiction, scientific
texts, radio and television announcements, official
talks and documents, business correspondence, etc.
 Literary bookish words

General-literary Special-literary
learned words learned words
 Literary-bookish words

mark the text as belonging to this or that style of

written speech (most commonly), but when used in
colloquial speech or in informal situations, they may
create a comical effect
 are mostly of foreign origin and have
polymorphemic structure, e.g. solitude, fascination,
cordial, paternal, divergent, commence, assist,
comprise, endeavor, exclude, heterogeneous,
miscellaneous, hereby, thereby, herewith, wherein,
etc.
 Literary-bookish words

are not stylistically homogeneous:

1) general-literary learned words,
e.g. harmony, calamity, alacrity, etc.,
Are used in public speeches, official negotiations etc.
and are formal, sometimes high-flown synonyms of
ordinary neutral words:
E.g. COMMENCE – BEGIN, RESPOND – ANSWER,
INDIVIDUAL – MAN
sometimes express notions which can only be
rendered by means of descriptive word
combinations in neutral spheres
 general-literary learned words

E.g. the word hibernal means

“ wintry” (of or occurring in winter), but the verb
to hibernate has no word-for-word analogy in the
neutral sphere, and its meaning has to be described:
“ to spend winter in a sleeping state” (of animals) or
“to spend the winter in a mild climate” (of persons)
e.g. “The hibernational ambitions of Soapy were not
of the highest … three month on the island was what
his soul craved.”(O’Henry ‘‘The Cop and the Anthem”)
 archaisms terms
barbarisms and
foreign words

Special-
poetic words literary
learned words
realia ???

neologisms
 special-literary learned words

2) special-literary learned words include

several specific subgroups, namely:
 1) terms or scientific words such as,
e.g. renaissance, genocide, teletype, etc.;
 2) poetic words and archaisms such as,
e.g. whilome - ‘formerly’, aught - ‘anything’, ere -
‘before’, albeit - ‘although’, fare - ‘walk’, tarry -
‘remain’, nay - ‘no’; etc.;
 Literary-bookish words

3) barbarisms and foreign words, such as,

e.g., bon mot : a clever or witty saying, apropos
[ˌaprə'pəʊ, 'aprəpəʊ]:with reference to; concerning,
faux pas [fəʊ 'pɑː]: an embarrassing or tactless act
or remark in a social situation, etc.;
 4) neologisms such as, e.g. ego surfer: a person
who boosts his ego by searching for his own name on
Google and other search engines; staycation: a
vacation at home or in the immediate local area;
BFF: stands for best friends forever. Used to state
how close you are to another individual
.
 Terms

words or nominal groups which convey specialized

concepts used in science, technology, art, etc.,
e.g. gerontology, phoneme, radar, kneejoint,
common denominator, periodic table, still life,
choreography, etc.
the sphere of application of terms is scientific
discourse but they can occur in artistic discourse to
contribute to characters’ description or create a
special background
 barbarisms

The word barbarism was originally used by the

Greeks for foreign terms used in their language.
etymologically rooted in barbaros - the babbling
outsider unable to speak Greek
 barbarisms

words of foreign origin not entirely assimilated into

the English language. They bear the appearance of a
borrowing and are felt as something alien to the
native tongue.
Most of them have corresponding English synonyms;
e.g. chic [ʃiːk] – ‘stylish’; bon mot [bɒn 'məʊ] – ‘a
clever witty saying’; en passant [ɒn pæˈsɑːnt; French
ɑ̃ pasɑ̃ ] – ‘in passing’; ad infinitum - ‘to infinity’ and
many other words and phrases.
It is very important for purely stylistic purposes to
distinguish between barbarisms and foreign words
proper.
 barbarisms

Barbarisms are words which have already become

facts of the English language. They are, as it were,
part and parcel of the English word-stock, though
they remain on the outskirts of the literary
vocabulary.
Foreign words, though used for certain stylistic
purposes, do not belong to the English vocabulary.
They are not registered by English dictionaries,
except in a kind of addenda which gives the
meanings of the foreign words most frequently used
in literary English. Barbarisms are generally given in
the body of the dictionary.
 Barbarisms vs foreign words

In printed works foreign words and phrases, are

generally italicized to indicate their alien nature or
their stylistic value Barbarisms, on the contrary, are
not made conspicuous in the text unless they bear a
special load of stylistic information.
 Terminological borrowings
There are foreign words in the English vocabulary
which fulfil a terminological function. Therefore,
though they still retain their foreign appearance,
they should not be regarded as barbarisms.
such words as solo, tenor, concerto, blitzkrieg (the
blitz), luftwaffe and the like should also be
distinguished from barbarisms. They are different
not only in their functions but in their nature as well.
They are terms.
 Terminological borrowings have no synonyms;
barbarisms, on the contrary, may have almost exact
synonyms.
 realia

Such words as borshch, halushky, kolhosp and the

like denote certain concepts which reflect an
objective reality not familiar to English-speaking
communities. There are no names for them in
English and so they have to be explained. New
concepts of this type are generally given the names
they have in the language of the people whose reality
they reflect.
 “naturalized” foreign words

Some foreign words and phrases that were once used

in literary English to express a concept non-existent
in English reality, have entered the class of
barbarisms and many of them have gradually lost
their foreign peculiarities, become more or less
naturalized, and have merged with the native English
stock of words: conscious, retrograde (directed or
moving backward), spurious (false or fake)
and strenuous (requiring or using great effort or
exertion ) are words in Ben Jonson's play which were
made fun of in the author's time as unnecessary
borrowings from the French language.
 “naturalized” foreign words

With the passing of time they have become common

English literary words. They no longer raise
objections on the part of English purists. The same
can be said of the words scientific, methodical,
penetrate, function, figurative, obscure, and many
others, which were once barbarisms, but which are
now lawful members of the common literary word-
stock of the language.
 archaism

is the deliberate use of an older form that has fallen

out of current use.
are most frequently encountered in poetry, law and
ritual writing and speech.
 Their deliberate use can be subdivided into:
1) literary archaisms, which seeks to evoke the style
of older speech and writing;
2) lexical archaisms, the use of words no longer in
common use.
 archaisms

Archaisms are kept alive by ritual and literary uses

and by the study of older literature. Should they
remain recognised, they can be revived, as the word
anent was in this past century.
anent - regarding; concerning: "This question
remains a vital consideration anent the debate over
the possibility of limiting nuclear war to military
objectives" (New York Times).
 archaism
In English one indicator of a deliberately archaic
style is the use of the second person singular
pronoun thou and its related case and verb forms.
Ironically, the word thou fell out of English speech
because it was thought abruptly colloquial, like
French tu. Thou is now seen in current English usage
only in literature that deliberately seeks to evoke an
older style, though there are also some still-read
works that use thou, especially religious texts
 The word ye and its related forms also are indicative
of archaism, however in spoken English it might be
hard to tell the difference, especially if the speaker
has an accent that seems strange to the listener.
 neologisms

newly coined lexical units or existing lexical units

that acquire a new sense.
Neologism is any word which is formed according to
the productive structural patterns or borrowed from
another language and felt by the speakers as
something new.
 Examples: oversharers (people who post too much
information about themselves on line), Digital Detox
(abstaining from electronic devices to re-engage with
the physical world, typically to lower stress levels),
sick (good)
 Neologism vs occasionalism

occasionalisms (or nonce words) are created for

some particular context and do not evolve into
permanent vocabulary items (Bauer, 2001).
The linguistic term “ocssionalism” (from Lat.
“occasio” - ”occasion“ ) was first used by a German
Philologist G.Paul in 1880, however, all the newly-
formed words were considered to be neologisms
 occasionalism

the term “occasionalism” reappeared in the article

“Occasional words and Lexicography” by
N.I.Feldman.
He wrote: “In my opinion, an occasional word is
derived according to the slightly productive or
unproductive models of language and serves the
function of a certain situation or is used for literary
point of view. Like a potential word, occasional one
is a fact of speech and not language“(Feldman,
1957:65).
 occasionalism
 The creativity of occasionalisms gives an
opportunity to create a lexical unit corresponding to
different situations.
Occasional units can be commonly found in mass
media:
hatchimals (hatch+animals) - speech is about
animals which are not mammals;
cat-napper consists of two words “a kidnapper” and
“a cat”; it is semantically transparent and
understandable even without the context, in other
words, the speech is about a person who kidnaps
animals.

 Great examples of neologisms

https://www.vappingo.com/word-blog/great-
examples-of-neologisms/
 neologisms

may be divided into:

1) Root words: Ex: jeep – a small light motor
vehicle, zebra – street crossing place etc;
2) Derived words: Ex: collaborationist – one in
occupied territory works helpfully with the enemy, to
accessorize – to provide with dress accessories;
3) Compound: Ex: air-drop, microfilm-reader.
New words are as a rule monosemantic. Terms, used
in various fields of science and technology make the
greater part of neologisms. New words belong only to
the notional parts of speech: to nouns, verbs,
adjectives etc.
 Examples of Social Networking and
Technology Neologisms
Google: To use an online search engine as the basis
for looking up information on the World Wide Web.
Tweet cred: social standing on Twitter.
404: Someone who’s clueless. From the World Wide
Web error message 404 Not Found, meaning that
the requested document could not be located.
Crowdsourcing: The activity of getting a large
group of people to contribute to a project or task,
especially by using a website where people can make
contributions; for example, online proofreading
services.
 colloquial words

Colloquial words are characteristic of the informal

style of spoken English.
 Colloquialisms are common sayings that people use
in everyday speech and some are very old
expressions.
 Colloquialisms are expressions appropriate to
informal, conversational occasions. For example,
 I felt “down in the dumps” is a colloquialism for
feeling depressed or miserable.
 colloquial words

The etymology of the term “colloquialism” can be

traced to the Latin word “colloqui”, which in turn is
derived from the words “com” meaning “with” and
“loqui” meaning “conversation”.
 The phrase is used to refer to language that is
normally used in casual conversation.
 Authors and playwrights often use colloquial
language while writing, and therefore you may often
come across instances of colloquialism in novels and
plays because they provide an impression of actual or
genuine talk
 colloquial words

colloquialisms can be specific to a geographical

region. They are used in “everyday” conversation
and, increasingly, through informal online
interactions.
 An example of the regional specificity of
colloquialisms is the term used when referring to
“soft drinks”. In the Upper Midwestern United States
and Canada, soft drinks are called “pop”, whilst in
other areas, notably the Northeastern and far
Western United States, they are referred to as
“soda”. In some areas of Scotland, the term
“ginger” is used.
 Colloquial
words

literary colloquial non-literary

words colloguial words

professionalisms
slangisms
jargonisms
vulgarisms
 colloquial words

One should distinguish between:

 literary colloquial words (which are used in
every day conversations both by educated and non-
educated people)
 non-literary colloquialisms which include:
 slang,
 jargonisms,
 professionalisms
 vulgarisms
 slang

refers to informal (and often transient) lexical items

used by a specific social group, for instance
teenagers, soldiers, prisoners, or surfers.
is not considered the same as colloquial speech,
which is informal, relaxed speech used on occasion
by any speaker
Slangisms are often used in colloquial speech but not
all colloquialisms are slangisms.
 slang

One method of distinguishing between a slangism

and a colloquialism is to ask whether most native
speakers know the word (and use it); if they do, it is a
colloquialism.
Slang functions in two ways:
 1) the creation of new language and new usage by a
process of creative informal use and adaptation,
2) the creation of a secret language understood only
by those within a group intended to understand it.
 slang

is a type of sociolect aimed at excluding certain

people from the conversation. Slang initially
functions as encryption, so that the non-initiate
cannot understand the conversation, or as a further
way to communicate with those who understand it.
Slang functions as a way to recognize members of
the same group, and to differentiate that group from
the society at large. Slang terms are often particular
to a certain subculture, such as musicians,
skateboarders, and drug users.
 slang

As a rule, their meanings are based on metaphor and

often have ironic colouring,
e.g. attic (“head”), beans (“money”),
saucers (“eyes”), etc.
Such words are easily understood by all native
speakers, if they are not specific for any social or
professional group.
 jargon

words or phrases used by people in a particular job

or group that can be difficult for others to
understand
 are usually motivated and, like slang words, have
metaphoric character, e.g. bird (“spacecraft”)
/astronauts’ jargon/; to grab (“to make an
impression on smb.”) /newspaper jargon/; grass,
tea, weed (“narcotic”) / drug addicts’ jargon/, etc.
Words such as “backup”, “chatroom” and “browser”
are computer jargon. Jargon is often referred to as
“technical language”. It makes communication
quicker and easier among members of a group who
 jargon

ecobabble –using the technical language of ecology

to make the user seem ecologically aware
Eeurobabble - the jargon of European community
documents and regulations
gobbledygook - incomprehensible or pompous
jargon of specialists
psychobabble - using language loaded with
psychological terminology
technobabble - technical jargon from computing
and other high-tech subjects
 Professionalisms
the words used in a definite trade, profession or
calling by people connected by common interests
both at work and at home.
name anew already-existing concepts, tools or
instruments, and have the typical properties of a
special code
are special words in the non-literary layer of the
English vocabulary, whereas terms are a specialized
group belonging to the literary layer of words Terms,
if they are connected with a field or branch of science
or technique well-known to ordinary people, are
easily decoded and enter the neutral stratum of the
vocabulary.
 Professionalisms

should not be mixed up with jargonisms

 professionalisms do not aim at secrecy. They fulfill a
socially useful function in communication,
facilitating a quick and adequate grasp of the
message
 Professionalisms are used in emotive prose to depict
the natural speech of a character. The skillful use of a
professional word will show not only the vocation of
a character, but also his education, breeding,
environment and sometimes even his psychology.
 Vulgarism

derives from Latin vulgus, the "common folk", and

has carried into English its original connotations
linking it with the low and coarse motivations that
were supposed to be natural to the commons, who
were not moved by higher motives like fame for
posterity and honor among peers— motives that
were alleged to move the literate classes. Thus the
concept of vulgarism carries cultural freight from the
outset, and from some social perspectives it does not
genuinely exist, or — ought not to exist.
 Vulgarism

Although most dictionaries offer "obscene word or

language" as a definition for vulgarism, others have
insisted that a vulgarism in English usage is
different from obscenity or profanity, cultural
concepts which connote offenses against the
community.
 One kind of vulgarism, defined by the OED as "a
colloquialism of a low or unrefined character,"
substitutes a coarse word where the context might
lead the reader to expect a more refined expression:
"the tits on Botticelli's Venus" is a vulgarism.