The Scientific Prose Style

The Publicistic Style;

Deductive and inductive approaches to stylistic stratification of the English language.

According to the deductive approach (from general to specific) as criteria of classification are the features which are not taken directly from the speech material but are treated as planned beforehand. Here we can define several schemes of classification:

a) classification of FS on the basis of functions of the language (beles-lettres style, oratorial style, lecturing style);

b) classification of FS on the basis of criteria of the sphere of the usage of the language (oral and written);

c) classification of FS on the basis of 3 basic features of differentiation (emotionality – unemotionality, spontaneity – non-spontaneity, normativity – abnormativity).

According to the inductive approach to the stratification of FS (from specific to general) criteria of classification are not planned beforehand but are taken from the results of the analysis of certain language material. According to such classification there are the following styles: oratorial, colloquial, poetic, publicist, newspaper, official, scientific, belles-lettres style [12: 228-231].

3. Galperin's classification of the FS of the English language.

The famous Russian linguist I. Galperin distinguishes five functional styles:

1. The Belles-Lettres Style:

a) the language of poetry;

b) emotive prose;

c) the language of the drama.

a) the oratorial substyle (spoken variety);

b) the substyle of radio and TV commentary (spoken variaty);

c) the essay (moral, philosophical, literary);

d) journalistic articles (political, social, economic).

3. The Newspapers:

a) Brief News Items;

b) Headlines;

c) Advertisements and Announcements;

d) The Editorial.

5. The Style of Official Documents:

a) the language of business documents;

b) the language of legal documents;

c) the language of diplomacy;

d) the language of military documents.

The belles-lettres style is a generic term for three substyles in which the main principles and the most general properties of the style are materialized. These substyles are:

1. The language of poetry.

2. Emotive prose.

3. The language of the drama.

Each of these sybstyles has certain common features, typical of the general belles-lettres style, which make up the foundation of the style, by which the particular style is made recognizable.

The belles-lettres style rests on certain indispensable linguistic features which are:

1. Genuine, not trite, imagery, achieved by purely linguistic devices.

2. The use of words in contextual and very often in more than one dictionary meaning, or at least greatly influenced by the lexical environment.

3. A vocabulary which will reflect to a greater or lesser degree the author's personal evaluation of things and phenomena.

4. A peculiar individual selection of vocabulary and syntax, a kind of lexical and syntactical idiosyncrasy.

5. The introduction of the typical features of colloquial language to a full degree (in plays) or a lesser one (in emotive prose) or a slight degree, if any (in poems) [10: 250-251].

The publicistic style falls into three varieties: oratorical, the essay and journalistic articles.

The general aim of publicistic style is to exert a constant and deep influence on public opinion, to convince the reader or the listener that the interpretation given by the writer or the speaker is the only correct one and to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech, essay or article not merely through logical argumentation but through emotional appeal as well [10: 287].

The newspaper style was the last of all the styles of written literary English to be recognized as a specific form of writing standing apart from other forms. As for the notion of English newspaper style, it can be defined as a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means which is perceived by the community as a separate linguistic unity that serves the purpose of informing and instructing the reader.

Information in the English newspaper is conveyed through the medium of:

1) brief news items;

2) press reports;

3) articles purely informational in character;

4) advertisements and announcements [10: 295-306].

The scientific prose style is characterized by the following features:

1) logical sequence of utterances with clear indication of their interrelations and interdependence;

2) the use of terms; general vocabulary employed bears its direct referential meaning;

3) the use of sentence-patterns (postulatory, argumentative, formulative);

4) the use of quotations and references;

5) the use of foot-notes;

6) impersonality [10: 307-317].

The style of official documents is represented by the following variants:

1) the language of business documents;

2) the language of legal documents;

3) the language of diplomacy;

4) the language of military documents.

The general characteristic features of this style are the usage of a special system of cliches, terms and set expressions, the use of abbreviations, conventional symbols, contractions, and the use of words in their logical dictionary meaning [10: 312-318].

4. O. Morokhovsky's classification of the FS of the English language.

The linguist O. Morokhovsky defines such functional styles:

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