Lecture 5 Functional Styles of the English Language Plan

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Lecture 5 
Functional Styles of the English Language
Plan:
1.
Official Style.
2.
Scientific Prose Style.
3.
Publicist Style. 
4.
Newspaper Style. 
5.
Belles-lettres Style. 
Stylistic features relate to constraints on language use that may be only 
temporary features of our spoken or written language. We often adopt different 
group uses of language as we go through our day; we may use a different style 
speaking with our children in the family, reporting to our boss at work or practicing 
sports. We change our speaking or writing style to make a particular effect: imitating 
somebody's accent when telling a story, giving a humorous account of events in an 
informal letter and so on. Style is first and foremost the result of our choice of content 
of our message and the appropriate range of language means to deliver the message 
effectively. The study of style has broad boundaries such as investigation of spoken 
and written discourse. A number of scholars investigated functional styles and their 
ideas about classifications of functional styles differ. Here we bring the definition of 
the term functional style and classification offered by I.R.Galperin, as he 
concentrates on written form of the language.
The term functional style is defined by I.R.Galperin in the following way: 
“A functional style is a patterned variety of literary text characterized by the 
greater or lesser typification of its constituents, supra-phrasal units, in which the 
choice and arrangement of interdependent and interwoven language media are 
calculated to secure the purport of the communication.”
All scholars agree that a well developed language, such as English, is streamed 
into several functional styles. Their classifications, though, coincide only partially: 
most style theoreticians do not argu e about the number of functional styles being 
five, but disagree about their nomenclature. The following functional styles are 
singled out: 
1. 
scientific style is 
found in articles, brochures, monographs and other scientific 
and academic publications. 
2. 
 official style is 
represented in all kinds of official documents and papers. 
3. 
publicist style, 
covering such genres as essay, feature article, most writings of 
“new journalism”, public speeches, etc.; 
4. 
newspaper style, 
observed in the majority of information materials printed in 
newspapers; 
5. 
belles-lettres style, 
embracing numerous and versatile genres of imaginative 

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writing.