Main peculiarities of the FS of the English language.

The Belles-Lettres Style

Each of these substyles has certain common features, and each of them enjoys some individuality. The common features of the substyles are the following:

1. The aesthetico-cognitive function (a function which aims at the cognitive process, which secures the gradual unfolding of the idea to the reader and at the same time calls forth a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction which a reader experiences because he is able to penetrate into the author's idea and to form his own conclusions).

2. Definite linguistic features:

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

· The use of words in different meanings, greatly influenced by the lexical environment.

· A vocabulary which will reflect to a certain degree the author's personal evaluation of things or phenomena.

· A peculiar individual selection of vocabulary and syntax.

· The introduction of the typical features of colloquial language to a full degree (drama), to a lesser degree (in prose), to a slight degree (poetry).

The belles-lettres style is individual in essence. This is one of its most distinctive properties.

The language of poetry is characterized by its orderly form, which is based mainly on the rhythmic and phonetic arrangement of the utterances. The rhythmic aspect calls forth syntactic and semantic peculiarities.

Emotive prose shares the same common features, but these features are correlated differently than in poetry. The imagery is not so rich as in poetry; the percentage of words with contextual meaning is not so high. Emotive prose features the combination of the literary variant of the language, both in words and in syntax, with the colloquial variant. In emotive prose there are always two forms of communication present - monologue (the writer's speech) and dialogue (the speech of the characters).

Language of the drama is entirely dialogue. The author's speech is almost entirely excluded except for the playwright's remarks and stage directions. But the language of the characters is not the exact reproduction of the norms of colloquial language. Any variety of the belles-lettres style will use the norms of the literary language of the given period.

The publicistic stylefalls 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.

The newspaper stylewas 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.

The scientific prose styleis 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.

The style of official documentsis 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.

The Publicistic Style;

Main peculiarities of the FS of the English language.