Классификация словарей с точки зрения стилистики, их виды, подвиды, различия

Lecture. Stylistic stratification of the vocabulary.

1. Stratification of vocabulary.

The English vocabulary could be classified from a stylistic point of view. Words that are preferably used in one functional style are said to have a stylistic reference (connotation). Words can be grouped together on the basis of their common stylistic reference:

• purely literally
• suitable for literary and colloquial
• purely colloquial
• on the border-line
• slang
• obscene <argo/cant

Three main layers: - the literary

• the neutral
• the colloquial

Neutral words, which form the bulk of the English vocabulary, are used both in literary and colloquial language. Neutral words are the main source of synonymy and polysemy. The most neutral words are of monosyllabic character. This phenomenon has led to the development of conversion as the most productive means of word-building.

Common literary words are chiefly used in writing and in polished speech. One can always tell a literary word from a colloquial

Coll.   Neut.   Lit.

Kid   child   infant

Daddy   father   parent

Chap   fellow   associate

Get out  go away  retire

Go on   continue  proceed

It goes without saying that these synonyms are not only stylistic but ideographic as well. The main distinction between synonyms remains stylistic. Colloquial words are always more emotionally coloured than literary ones.

Both literary and colloquial words have upper and lower level. The line of demarcation between common literary and neutral and between common colloquial and neutral on the other side are blurred. The process of interpenetration of the stylistic strata becomes HERE most apparent.

The neutral vocabulary may be viewed as the invariant of the Standard English vocabulary. Common colloquial vocabulary is a part of Standard English.

The stylistic function of the different strata of the E vocabulary depends not so much on the inner qualities of each of the groups, as on their interaction when they are opposed to one another.

Certain set expressions have been coined within literary English and their use in ordinary speech will inevitably make the utterance sound bookish. In accordance with, with regard to, to speak at great length, to lend assistance, to draw a lesson

Special literary vocabulary:

1. terms
2. poetic and high literary words (are called upon to sustain the special elevated atmosphere of poetry)
3. Archaic, Obsolescent and Obsolete words
4. Barbarisms (words of foreign origin which have not entirely been assimilated into the English Language) and Foreignisms
5. Literary Coinages

Special Colloquial vocabulary:

1. slang – the special vocabulary used by any set of persons of a low or disreputable character; language of a low vulgar type
2. jargonisms (old words with entirely new meanings imposed on them)
3. professionalisms
4. dialectal words
5. vulgarisms
6. colloquial coinages