The classification of functional phonetic styles

There is no universally recognized classification of styles. Vinogradov distinguishes 3 styles:

1) Colloqual (Communication)

2) Informing (scientific styles are included)

3) Emotive ( publicistic, belletrestyle).

This classification was critisized. There are 2 next marginal layers:

formal – suggests careful articulation of styles, relatively slow speed of the pronouncing

informal – everyday communication, rapid, colloquial, conversational

Stylistic use of intonation:

1) Informational - in press reporting, educational descriptive texts. May be represented in monologues, dialogues. Phonostylistic characteristics: Loudness normal or increased; pauses are rather long; rhythm is stable, properly organized; falling tones on the semantic centres, falling-rsisng or rising in the initial intonation groups

2) Academic (scientific)- style of lectures (conferences, seminars). It is determined by the purpose of communication to attract the listener*s attention and to direct the public attention to the message in the contents of the text. Phonostylistic characteristics: Loudness increased; pauses are rather long; rhythm is properly organized; high proportion of compound terminal tones (high fall + low rise, fall – rise, rise-fall-rise), a great number of high categoric falls

3) Publicistic style is used in political speeches. Phonostylistic characteristics: Loudness enormously increased; pauses are definitely long between the passages; rhythm is properly organized; tones mostly emphatic, in non-final intonational groups falling-rising tones are frequent

4) Declamatory is the style of declamation. This is a highly emotional and expressive intonational style. This style can be heard on the stage, on the screen, in a TV studio. Phonostylistic characteristics: Loudness varied according to the size of the audience and to the emotional setting; pauses are long especially between the passages, rhythm is properly organized; common use of categoric low and high falls in final and initial intination groups and on semantic centres

5) Conversational is a means for everyday communication, heard in natural conversational interaction between speakers. This style occurs mainly in informal external and internal relationships in speech of relatives, friends, well - acquainted people and so on. So this is spontaneous, colloquial, informal, everyday speech.

Lexicology and its object. Semasiology

1. Lexicology is a branch of Linguistics, the science of language. The term “Lexicology” consists of two Greek morphemes: “lexis” meaning “word” and “logos” – learning. It studies a vocabulary of a language and the properties of words as the main units of language. Many scholars tried to give the definition of the word as a linguistic phenomenon, but none of the definitions can be considered satisfactory in all aspects.

According to G.B. Antrushina, “the word is a speech unit used for the purposes of human communication, materially representing a group of sounds, possessing a meaning”, being used in many grammatical forms and “characterized by formal and semantic unity”.

I.V.Arnold gives the following definition of the word: “the word denotes the basic unit of a given language resulting from the association of a particular meaning with a particular group of sounds capable of a particular grammatical employment. A word therefore is a semantic, grammatical and phonological unit”.

Lexicology also deals with word-groups, phraseological units and morphemes which make up the words. It investigates the problems of word structure and word formation in Modern English, the semantic structure of English words, the main principles of classifying words into different groupings, the laws governing the replenishment of the vocabulary with the new units.

Semasiology

1. The branch of linguistics concerned with the meaning of word is called Semasiology. The name comes from Greek semasia- signification (значение, смысл). It deals with lexical meaning of words, but it doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t pay attention to the grammatical meaning. It must be taken into consideration as it bears a specific influence upon lexical meaning. Semasiology studies the change in meaning of words.