Stylistic Classification of the English Vocabulary

The problem of the Norm

Selection, or deliberate choice of language, and the ways the chosen elements are treated are the main distinctive features of style. It brings up the problem of the norm. The notion of the norm mainly refers to the literary language and always presupposes a recognized or received standard. At the same time it likewise presupposes vacillations of the received standard.

There is no universally accepted norm or the standard literary language, there are different norms and there exist special kinds of norm, which are called stylistic norms. Indeed, it has long been acknowledged that the norms of the spoken and the written varieties of language differ in more than one respect. Likewise it is perfectly apparent that the norms of emotive prose and those of official language are heterogeneous. Even within what is called the belles-lettres style of language we can observe different norms between, for instance, poetry and drama.

But the fact that there are different norms for various types and styles of language does not exclude the possibility and even the necessity of arriving at some abstract notion of norm as invariant, which should embrace all variants with their most typical properties. Each style of language will have its own invariant and variants, yet all styles will have their own invariant, that of the written variety of language. Both oral and written varieties can also be integrated into an invariant of the standard (received) language.

The norm, therefore, should be regarded as the invariant of the phonemic, morphological, lexical and syntactical patterns circulating in language-in-action at a given period of time. Variants of these patterns may sometimes diverge from the invariant but they never exceed the limits set by the invariant lest it should become unrecognizable or misleading. The development of any literary language shows that the variants will always center around axis of the invariant forms. The variants, as the term itself suggests, will never detach themselves from the invariant to such a degree as to claim entire independence.

The branch of stylistics dealing with norms of "correct speech" is normative stylistics or orthology.

It is known that words are not used in speech to the same extent. Since certain words occur less frequently than others, it is natural to presume that the difference between them is reflected upon the character of the words themselves. Those words that are indispensable in every act of communication have nothing particular about them – cause no definite associations. On the contrary, words used only in special spheres of linguistic intercourse have something attached to their meaning a certain stylistic colouring.

Indispensable words are stylistically neutral. Words of special spheres are stylistically coloured. This is the main division of words from the stylistic viewpoint. Stylistically coloured words are not homogeneous. It is evident that certain groups of stylistically coloured words must be placed, figuratively speaking, above the neutral words. These groups are formed by words with a tinge of officiality or refinement about them, poetic words, high-flown words in general. Other groups are to be placed below the neutral words. Their sphere of use is socially lower than the neutral sphere. These two groups form literary and colloquial strata respectively.

Different scholars may employ different terns in their classification, main difference still being preserved:

Formal (super-neutral, bookish, casual, correct) Vocabulary

Stylistically Unmarked / Neutral Vocabulary

Informal (sub-neutral, colloquial, non-casual, common) Vocabulary

bookish	neutral	colloquial
decease	die	snuff is
amire – платье, наряд	clothes	rags / togs – тряпье
decline (a proposed)	refuse	turn down

But this differentiation does not remain stable. The stylistic value undergoes changes in the course of history, with the lapse of time. Therefore, stylistic classifications must be confined to synchronic aspect.

The literary and the colloquial layers contain a number of subgroups each of which has a property it shares with all the subgroups within the layer. This common property, which unites the different groups of words within the layer, may be called its aspect. The aspect of the neutral layer is its universal character. That means it is unrestricted in its use. It can be employed in all styles of language and in all spheres of human activity.

The aspect of the formal layer is its markedly bookish character. It is this that makes the layer more or less stable. The literary layer of words consists of groups accepted as legitimate members of the English vocabulary. They have no local or dialectal character.

The aspect of the informal layer of word is its lively spoken character. It is this that makes it unstable, fleeting. The colloquial layer of words as qualified in most English or American dictionaries is not infrequently limited to a definite language community or confine to a special locality where it circulates.

Literary words serve to satisfy communicative demands of official, scientific, poetic messages, while the colloquial ones are employed in nonofficial everyday communication. Trough there is no immediate correlation between the written and the oral forms of speech on the one hand, and the literary and colloquial words, on the other, yet, for the most part, the first ones are mainly observed in the written form, as most literary messages appear in writing. And vice versa: though there are many examples of colloquialisms in writing (informal letters, diaries, certain passages of memoirs, etc.), their usage is associated with the oral firm of communication.

The classification of English vocabulary suggested by I.Galperin

Neither of the two named groups of words, possessing a stylistic meaning, is homogeneous as to the quality of the meaning frequency of use, sphere of application, or the number and character of potential users. This is why each one is further divided into the general, i.e. known to and used by most native speakers in generalized literary (formal) or colloquial (informal) communication, and special bulks. The latter ones, in their turn, are subdivided into subgroups, each one serving a rather narrow; specified communicative purpose.

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