Functional Variation Within English Vocabulary. Functional Styles: Informative vs. Imaginative
Key words • functional differentiation, functional style, function of language, Vinogradov’s classification, informative language, imaginative language, the style (genre) of fiction, function of message, function of esthetic impact (poetic, or metasemiotic), the English we speak with (language at work) vs the English we speak about (art in words), communicative function in the broadest sense, communicative function in a narrow sense (contact-establishing, or phatic), corpus-corpora, samples of ‘real language, genre, ICE (International Corpus of E), text categories
Question 1: What do we mean by functional differentiation? • English can be diversified vertically into a number of registers and functional styles. It is essential that a correlation is established between the notion of functional style and that of functions of language.
What are the main functional styles according to Vinogradov’s classification? • According to Acad. V. V. Vinogradov’s classification of functional styles, the main division is made between all kinds of informative language (общенаучный стиль) and imaginative language – the style of fiction (художественная литература).
What is the correlation between functional styles and functions of language? • Informative language relies on the function of message (функция сообщения) while imaginative language is based on the function of aesthetic impact (функция воздействия). The function of impact is also known as poetic or metasemiotic according to Roman Jacobson.
What is the communicative function a) in the broadest sense and b) in a narrow sense? • There is also the third function – communicative one (функция общения). In the general sense it underlies all and every speech event and thus it is the main function of language as the primary means of communication. In a narrower sense it can be defined as the use of language for phatic or contact-establishing purposes.
Which of the two main functional styles may be described as the English we speak with (language at work)? • the informative style, or something that is aimed at passing on some factual information; e. g. a variety of Academic Writing text-types including humanities, social and natural sciences as well as technology (see p. 32).
Which of the two main functions may be described as the English we speak about (art in words)? • imaginative language, or something that possesses a specific aesthetic or literary value; e. g. ‘belle letters’ (creative writing like novels and stories).
How is the interdependence between society and language implemented ? • The socio-cultural environment is subject to variation. Its complexity is reflected in the functional diversity of language patterns. Various samples of language can therefore be classified in terms of their linguistic and functional differences and similarities. The linguistic system is then regarded as closely connected with the social system – a set of norms, standards, conventions and requirements adopted by a given discourse community for a particular communicative purpose.
What are new approaches in the study of functional variation of language? • In our discussion of functional varieties of speech we may turn to corpus linguistics providing new approaches to the study of discourse. Corpora can be widely used as a source of verbal, contextual, sociolinguistic and cognitive info about language items.
What is ICE and how can it be used in language study? • Large quantities of sample texts on computer provide a solid foundation for contrastive analyses of variants and dialects of English. Thus the international Corpus of English (ICE) is a unique tool for documentation of the current status of Englishes.
How are genres related to social conventions? • Socio-cultural assumptions find reflection in forms and patterns associated with the main functions of language. Another category which intervenes between language function and language form is genre. Genres are the socially ratified texttypes in a community.
Essay Topics • • How some authors are struggling to reconcile the world of fact and the world of fiction in their works? How are terms and terminological wordcombinations employed in Farewell of Arms? What is a sustained metaphor and how is it employed in academic writing? In what ways do the British and Americans differ in their use of understatement as a stylistic device? How do we know that cultural perceptions and attitudes of people are important in terms of metaphoric use? (Introduction, 1. 1. , 1. 2. ; one page, Times Roman 14, interval 1, 250 -300
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