English Functional Styles

Introduction

 

Any language manifests various functional styles, and English is not an exception. Styles are the ways thoughts are expressed in human communication. One and the same thing can be expressed in different styles, as, for example the same event may be spoken about in different ways:

1. “An old man died”;

2. “The aged man passed away”;

3. “The old bean kicked the bucket”.

The first example may be regarded as neutral, because it conveys only the denotative meaning of words (the bare fact of death). The second one tends to be high flown or slightly solemn showing our attitude to the object of speech as of respect and even worship. The third example denotes our careless or even disdainful attitude to the person spoken. The examples have been used to show that different language can be used under different circumstances, and the component of the language units meaning telling us in which case they are used is their stylistic load. As a first approximation, we may single out three styles: neutral, high-flown and low. Any original English book will demonstrate a rich variety of styles, but the question ‘How are different styles represented in adapted literature for intermediate students’  will fall within the range of our interest in this report. In answering the question we would like to find out:

1) what language units are used: lexical, syntactic, phonetic;

2) what exactly makes them neutral, solemn, familiar, etc.;

3) what their function is: to meliorate, derogate (or other) the speech;

4) why of all the range of stylistic devices the author has chosen the ones in question. 

We have chosen the book “The Labours of Hercules” by Agatha Christie as a source for our research.

 

Neutral conversational style

 

There are examples of neutral stylistic units below:

 

The elderly gentleman was a famous doctor, Dr Karl Lutz, from Vienna.

According to the owner of Simpson’s Galleries it had been stolen by a gang of international thieves for a certain millionaire.

Mrs. Samuelson was taller than Lady Hoggin and her hair was dyed with peroxide.

The waitress had to ask him twice before Poirot realized that she was giving him a bill.

 

The lexical units used in the sentences stated above are not stylistically coloured. They are a just statement of facts and have a universal character. There are no emphatic syntactic constructions as well. So we can make up a conclusion that this is a neutral style.

 

Higher literary style

 

It can be illustrated by the following sentences:

 

How seldom could one see a face sparkling with intelligence, how seldom a woman with elegance! All these young women who surrounded him - so alike, so devoid of charm, so lacking in genuine femininity! Ah! to see a femme du monde, woman with grace, a woman beautifully and extravagantly dressed!

Startled, he raised his eyes. On the opposite escalator, the one descending, his unbelieving eyes saw a vision from the past. A mysteriously looking woman, her wonderful red hair crowned with a small straw hat decorated with bright coloured little birds. Exotic furs covered her shoulders.

He had the strong mobile fingers of a musician or a surgeon.

They had long curved noses, like birds, and their faces were quite immobile. Over their shoulders they wore loose cloaks that flapped in the wind like the wings of two big birds.

The flesh of Rubens is rich, voluptuous flesh...

 

Above, we can observe a usage of various expressive means making the utterances emphatic, vivid and solemn - phonetic, lexical and syntactic units. The lexical units introduce connotations into the sentences and among them there are such stylistic devices as epithets (“voluptuous flesh”, “unbelieving eyes”, “genuine femininity”), metaphors (“...face sparkling with intelligence”, “...hair crowned with a small straw hat”, “a vision from the past”), similes (“like the wings of two big birds”, “fingers of a musician or a surgeon”). The syntactic means used are polysyndetons (“so alike, so devoid of charm, so lacking in genuine femininity”), anaphoras (“how seldom could one see a face.., how seldom a woman...”), frame structure (“the flesh of Rubens is rich, voluptuous flesh”); the phonetic units include alliterations (“how seldom could one see a face sparkling with intelligence, how seldom a woman with elegance!”, “over their shoulders they wore loose cloaks that flapped in the wind like the wings of two big birds”). The expressive means in question meliorate the speech by strengthening its emotional impact, bringing some aesthetic value. This is typical of the high-flown style.

Lower colloquial style

 

I’m ‘ere, guv’nor, time for me to do my stuff?

You, damn pig of a detective. Bah!

...a flashy piece of goods.

We shall do a good job on him, boys.

 

These are also some instances of stylistically coloured lexical units but in this case they have vernacular connotations. Slangy words and vulgarisms (“stuff”, “piece of goods”, “bah”, “damn pig”) derogate the speech because of their abusive or slighting character of these expressions. Moreover, such a phonetic device as dropping the sounds (“I’m ‘ere, guv’nor” instead of “I’m here, governor”) denotes dialect speaking. These are characteristic features of the lower style.

 

Conclusion

 

So, even in the bounds of the adapted literature there is a rather strict distinction between the styles in question. The language units used in the texts are submitted to the author’s intention and the content of the stories. To make up realistic characters, to recreate and transmit their speech, thoughts, mood and emotional attitude, to emphasize the vividness and diversity of English, Christie uses both language standards and its divergences which are realized not in their primary function but for an aesthetic purpose.