3. Стилістична класифікація лексики(literary layer).

In accordance with the division of language into literary and colloquial we may represent the whole stock of a language into three main layers: Literary; Neutral; Colloquial. Literary words serve to satisfy communicative demands of official, scientific, poetic messages, while colloquial ones are employed in non-official everyday communication. Each one is further divided into the general and special bulks. Among special literary words: 1)Terms – words denoting objects, processes, phenomena of science, humanities, technique. 2)Archaisms – words, denoting historical phenomena which are no more in use(such as “vassal”, “falconet”). These are historical words, used in poetry in the XVII-XIX cc.(such as “steed” for “horse”, “woe” for “sorrow”); poetic words, in the course of language history ousted by newer synonymic words(such as “whereof”=of which, “to deem”=to think) or forms(“maketh”=makes, “thou wilt”=you will). They are called archaic words(archaic forms) proper.

The literary and colloquial layers contain a number of sub-groups each of which has a common for all the subgroups within the layer property that may be called its aspect. The aspect of the literary layer is its markedly bookish character. It is this that makes the layer more or less stable.

The literary vocabulary consists of the following groups of words:1)common literary; 2)terms; 3)poetic words; 4)archaic words; 5)barbarisms and foreign words; 6)literary coinages.

Barbarisms – the words of foreign origin that have not entirely been assimilated into English language. Most of them have corresponding English synonyms: chic=stylish, en passant=in passing. Barbarisms are part and parcel of the English word-stock, though they remain on the outskirts of the literary vocabulary.

Foreign words, though used for certain stylistic purposes, do not belong to the English vocabulary. They are not registered by English dictionaries.

In printed works foreign words and phrases are generally italicized to indicate their alien nature or their stylistic value. Barbarisms, on the contrary, are not made conspicuous in the text unless they bear a special load of stylistic information. There are foreign words in the English vocabulary which fulfil a terminological function: udarnik, kolkhoz, solo, and concerto. Terminological borrowings have no synonyms; barbarisms, on the contrary, may have almost exact synonyms.

Both foreign words and barbarisms are widely used in various styles of language with various aims, which predetermine their typical functions: to supply local colour; to build up the stylistic device of non-personal direct speech or represented speech.

Barbarisms and foreign words are used in various styles of language, but are most often to be found in the style of belles-lettres and the publicistic style.

Barbarisms have still another function when used in the belles-lettres style – “exactifying” function. In publicistic style the use of barbarisms and foreign words is mainly confined to colouring the passage on the problem in question with a touch of authority. Barbarisms assume the significance of a stylistic device if they display a kind of interaction between different meanings, or functions, or aspects.

Literary coinages(neologisms). Neologism is a new word or a new meaning for an established word. Newly coined words may be divided into: terminological coinages; stylistic coinages. Among new coinages of a literary-bookish type must be mentioned a considerable layer of words appearing in the publicistic style, mainly in newspaper articles and magazines and also in the newspaper style-mostly in newspaper headlines: Blimp – the name was coined to designate an English colonel famous for his conceit, brutality, and ultra-conservatism. Many coinages disappear entirely from the language, leaving no mark of their even brief existence. Other literary neologisms leave traces in the vocabulary because they are fixed in the literature of their times. Colloquial coinages are spontaneous and cannot be fixed. Most of the literary-bookish coinages are built by means of affixation and word compounding.

Another type of neologism is the nonce-word – a word coined to suit one particular occasion: wived, uncled, aunted, etc. New words are also coined by contractions and abbreviations which are very productive in technical literature(scientific style).

I. obsolescent(the beginning of the aging process when the word becomes rarely used); They are on the stage of gradually passing out of general use. To this category first of all belong morphological forms belonging to the earlier stages in the development of the language: pronouns – thou and its forms thee, thy and thine; the corresponding verbal ending –est and the verb-forms art, wilt; many French borrowings: a palfrey=a small horse, garniture=furniture. II. obsolete(have already gone completely out of use but are still recognized by the English-speaking community): methinks=it seems to me, nay=no; III. archaic proper(have become unrecognizable in modern English): troth=faith, a losel= a worthless, lazy fellow; IV. archaic/historical words: yeoman, baldric, mace. Words of this type never disappear from the language. They are historical terms. Historical words have no synonyms, whereas archaic words have been replaced by modern synonyms.

The main function of archaisms is to find different interpretation in different novels by different writers. Archaisms are frequently to be found in the style of official documents. In business letters, in legal language, in all kinds of statutes, in diplomatic documents and in all kinds of legal documents one can find obsolescent words. Archaic and obsolete words are employed in the poetic style as special terms and hence prevented from dropping completely out of the language. The function of archaic words and constructions in official documents is terminological in character. Archaic words and particularly archaic forms of words are sometimes used for satirical purposes. Stylistic functions of archaic words are based on the temporal perception of events described.

One of the most characteristic features of a term is its direct relevance to the system or set of terms used in particular science, discipline or art to its nomenclature. A term is directly connected with the concept it denotes. Terms are mostly used in special works dealing with the notions of some branch of science. They may also appear in newspaper style, in publicistic and practically in all other existing styles of language. The main function of terms is to bear exact reference to a given concept. The function of terms, if encountered in other styles, is either to indicate the technical peculiarities of the subject dealt with, or to make some reference to the occupation of a character whose language would naturally contain special words and expressions. When terms are used in their normal function as terms in a work of belles-lettres, they are or ought to be easily understood from the context. Example: radio, computer, loan, rate of interest.