Transcript Stylistic stratification of the English vocabulary

Stylistic stratification of the English
vocabulary
1. The problem of vocabulary classification and binary
oppositions in stylistics.
2. Stylistic layers and groups of the English vocabulary
(Galperin).
3. Standard English: definition and peculiar features.
4. Stylistic synonyms.
5. Stylistic reference and emotional colouring.
6. Stylistic functions of different layers and groups of the
English vocabulary.
The problem of vocabulary classification
• Some linguists deny the possibility of working out a systematic
classification of the English vocabulary.
Problems (Skrebnev):
1. The word stock of any natural language is highly
heterogeneous;
2. Words cannot be analysed as isolated units;
3. Polysemy and polyfunctionality of words (one word can be
placed in several lexical classes).
• Other scholars think that the word stock can be represented
as a system in which different aspects of words may be
singled out as interdependent.
BINARY OPPOSITIONS IN STYLISTICS
Stylistically
unmarked/ neutral/
unlimited/ nonrestricted words
(common in all spheres of
communication)
Stylistically marked/
limited/ restricted
(limited in their usage by
circumstances,
communicative situation,
people’s age, education,
social background)
STYLISTICALLY MARKED WORDS
Literary vocabulary
(bookish/ learned)
Colloquial
vocabulary (spoken
English)
STYLISTIC CLASSIFICATION OF THE
ENGLISH VOCABULARY (GALPERIN)
On the basis of these oppositions I. Galperin singles out
3 major layers of the English vocabulary:
• Literary words (markedly bookish, stable layer used
mostly in written forms of communication):
a) Special literary (e.g. to respond);
b) Common literary (e.g. to reply).
• (Stylistically) neutral words ( e.g. to answer);
• Colloquial words (spoken, unstable layer):
a) Common colloquial (e.g. to answer/ talk back);
b) Special colloquial (e.g. [Am. E.] to sass sb).
Stylistic groups of the English vocabulary
• Archaic words
E.g. Nay, we question you not…although hark ye – I say, hark in your
ear – my name is Pavillon (W. Scott)
• Poetic words
E.g. O blithe new-comer! I have heard, / I hear thee and rejoice.
O Cuckoo! Shall I call thee bird, / Or but a wandering voice?
(W. Wordsworth)
• Terms (e.g. acrostic, fluid dynamics, nanotechnologies)
• Foreign words (+barbarisms – not entirely assimilated) ( e.g. bon
mot, ad infinitum)
E.g. The little boy…had a famous appetite, and consumed schinken,
and braten, and kartoffeln, and cranberry jam…with a gallantry that
did honour to his nation (W. Thackeray)
Stylistic groups of the English vocabulary
• Dialectal words
E.g. A language so local, so phonetically condensed, permissive of slur
that it is inseparable in his mind…from its peculiar landscapes; its
combes (лощины) and bartons (фермы-усадьбы), leats
(«балочки») and linhays («мызы»). (J. Fowles)
• Professional words (replace some official terms of a profession)
E.g. Frank soon picked up all the technicalities… A “bull”…was one who
bought in anticipation of a higher price to come; and if he was
“loaded” up with a “line” of stocks he was said to be “long” (T.
Dreiser “Financier”).
E.g. DOLLY [Cinema] a flat structure with wheels for moving heavy
loads or for supporting a film camera
Stylistic groups of the English vocabulary
• Jargon words (characteristic of social or professional groups)
E.g. NARK – someone who secretly informs the police about a
criminal’s activities.
• Slang
E.g. Where’s the grub?
Stalone has a great bod!
I’m sick of this mickey-mouse job!
Do you want another brew, dude?
My trip to New York was a freebie.
He wants to buy a beemer when he makes more money.
• Nonce-words (e.g. netiquette, netizen, netspeak)
Standard English: definition
Standard English comprises stylistically neutral words,
common literary and common colloquial vocabulary.
Stylistically unmarked: A, THE; AT, ON…(PREPOSITIONS); I,
YOU, HE…, THIS, THERE… (PRONOUNS); GO, COME, MAKE,
TAKE…; MAN, WOMAN, BOY, GIRL, SUN, SKY…; WHITE,
BLACK…; BIG, SMALL…
Common literary: DEVELOP, ESTABLISH, NEGOTIATE, ACTIVITY,
CONFIDENT…
Common colloquial: HAVE A BREAK, MAKE UP ONE’S MIND;
KID; CRAZY…
George McKnight “English Words and Their
Background”
• 25% of actual linguistic performance is fulfilled by 9
words:
AND, BE, HAVE, IT, OF, THE, TO, WILL, YOU
• These 9 words plus 34 other words form 50% of what
we hear and say:
ABOUT, ALL, AS, AT, BUT, CAN, COME, DAY, DEAR, FOUR,
GET, GO, HEAR, HER, IF, IN, ME, MUCH, NOT, ON,
ONE, SAY, SHE, SO, THAT, THESE, THEY, THIS,
THOUGH, TIME, WE, WITH, WRITE, YOUR
Peculiar features of Standard English
(I.Galperin)
• SE makes up the largest and the most stable part of
the English vocabulary;
• SE provides the majority of the vocabulary in any
connected text;
• Most of the words are of Anglo-Saxon origin and
monosyllabic
E.g. earth < O.E. eorðe; day < O.E. dœg; find < O.E.
findan
• Words are highly polysemantic;
Peculiar features of Standard English
• The words of SE serve as a source of polysemy and synonymy, tend
to develop new meanings:
E.g. BLOW – 1) (of the wind or current of air) to be moving:
A strong wind was blowing.
… 7) to melt or cause sth to melt with too strong an
electric current :
A fuse has blown.
… 11) to spoil or fail to use an opportunity:
I’ve completely blown my diet with that piece of chocolate
cake.
… 13) (sl esp US) to leave a place suddenly:
Let’s blow!
Peculiar features of Standard English
• In a group of synonyms the synonymic dominant
always belongs to SE and is stylistically neutral:
E.g. infant – CHILD – kid – brat
• Words of SE are usually emotionally neutral:
E.g. MUG – 1) [direct meaning, neutral] a fairly large
cup for drinking from, usu with straight sides and no
saucer (a coffee mug);
2) [figurative meaning, derogative or
jocular] someone’s face (What an ugly mug!)
Standard English
SE constitutes the foundation of the lexico-semantic system of
the English language.
Special literary and Special colloquial vocabularies are
dependent on it and cannot be explained and understood
without the knowledge of SE.
That is why SE is taught all over the world, although it may be
considered a kind of abstraction:
Randolph Quirk (“The Use of English”): “We have seen that standard
English is basically ideal, a mode of expression that we seek when
we wish to communicate beyond our immediate community… As an
ideal, it cannot be perfectly realised…In fact, however, any of us can
read a newspaper printed in Leeds, San Francisco or Delhi without
difficulty and often even without realising that there are differences
at all.”
Synonyms. Types of synonyms
SYNONYMS – two or more words of the same language
belonging to the same part of speech and possessing one or
more identical denotative meanings, interchangeable at least
in some contexts without any considerable alteration in
denotative meaning, but differing in phonemic shape,
morphemic composition, shades of meaning, connotations,
stylistic reference, valency, idiomatic use.
Lexicologists single out:
• Absolute synonyms;
• Emotional-evaluative synonyms;
• Ideographic synonyms;
• Contextual synonyms, etc
Stylistic synonyms
Stylistic synonyms are synonyms that differ in their
stylistic reference, which implies the use of words in
different spheres and forms of communication
(especially WRITTEN and ORAL forms).
• Words belonging to literary vocabulary tend to be
used in written forms of communication;
• Words belonging to common and special colloquial
vocabulary – in oral/spoken forms of communication.
Stylistic synonyms
Neutral
(synonymic
dominant)
Common
literary
•
•
•
•
infant
insane
emerge
to be
astonished
•
•
•
•
child
mad
appear
to be
surprised
Common
colloquial
• kid
• crazy
• turn/show
up
• to be struck
Emotional colouring and stylistic
reference
Emotional colouring and stylistic reference represent
two different aspects of words, although these
aspects are interdependent.
Standard English words are emotionally neutral.
Special literary:
• Terms, neologisms, some archaisms – emotionally neutral;
• Poetic words – emotionally coloured;
• Foreign words, barbarisms – neutral or emotionally coloured
Special colloquial:
• Dialectal, professional words – neutral;
• Slang, jargon and vulgar words – emotionally coloured
Emotional colouring and stylistic
reference
In connected texts, both written and oral, any
word of the language system may acquire
emotional colouring and become “emotionally
charged/ loaded”:
E.g.