4.Classification of functional styles in English.

Functional styles (FS) are the subsystems of language, each subsystem having its own peculiar features in what concern vocabulary means, syntactical constructions, and even phonetics. The appearance and existence of FS is connected with the specific conditions of communication in different spheres of human life. According to I.R. Galperin, a functional style of language is a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication.

This is one of widely accepted classification which singles out the following FSs:

1.official style,represented in all kinds of official documents and papers.

2.scientific st. found in articles, brochures and other scientific and academic publication;

3.publicist st. covering such genres as essay, public speech,feature article.

4.newspaper st. observed in the majority of printed in newspaper informational materials

5.belles-lettres st.,embracing numerous and versatile genres of imaginative writing

Galperin’s classification of FS of the English language.

I. The belles-lettres st. has the following substyles:

1. the language st. of poetry is characterized by its orderly form, which is based mainly on the rhythmic and phonetic arrangement of the utterances

2.of emotive prose (the language of fiction);

3. of the drama is entirely dialogue. The author's speech is almost entirely excluded except for the playwright's remarks and stage directions.

II.The publicistic st. of language became a separate style in the middle of the 18^th century.The general aim of publicistic style is to influence the public opinion, to convince the reader or the listener that the interpretation given by the writer or the speaker is the only correct one and to cause him to accept the expressed point of view. This st. has the following substyles:1.the language st.of oratory;2.of essays;3.of feature articles in newspaper

III.English newspaper writing dates from the 17^th century.It can be defined as a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means which is perceived by the community as a separate linguistic unity that serves the purpose of informing and instructing the reader. Newspaper st. falls into:1.language st. of brief news items;2.of press reports ;3.of newspaper headings;4.ofadvertisements and announcements.

IV.The Style of Official Documents is not homogeneous and is represented by the following substyles or variants:1.the language st. of business documents;2. of legal documents;3.of diplomacy;4. of military documents.

Like other styles of language, this style has a definite communicative aim and its own system of interrelated language and stylistic means. This st. is characterized by:

1. conventionality of expression; 2.absence of any emotiveness;3.the encoded character of language symbols including abbreviations; 4.general syntactical mode of combining several pronouncements into one sentence.

V. Scientific prose functional style is used to prove a hypothesis, to create new concepts, to disclose the internal laws of existence, development, relations between different phenomena.

Scientific prose functional style has three division:1.the language style of humanitarian sciences;2.of “exact” sciences;3.of popular scientific prose.

This style is characterized by the impersonality of the impersonality of the texts, the logical sequence of utterances, the use of term, sentence-patterns,quotations and references, and foot-notes.