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The publicistic style of English language
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Публицистический стиль английского языка
Публицистический стиль стал самостоятельным только в середине XVIII века.
Главная его цель - влиять на мнение публики, убеждать читателя или слушателя, что мнение писателя или автора единственно верное, заставить слушателя принять авторскую точку зрения не только с помощью логической аргументации, но и также с помощью эмоционального воздействия. Функция воздействия наиболее эффективно реализуется при помощи самого мощного инструмента - человеческого голоса.
Несмотря на свою самостоятельность, публицистический стиль имеет общие черты, с одной стороны, с научной прозой, а, с другой стороны, с художественной прозой. В первом случае стили объединяет связная и логическая синтаксическая структура, с большим обилием связующих слов, разбивкой на параграфы. Во втором случае стили объединяет эмоциональное воздействие, которое достигается с помощью употребления стилистически окрашенных слов, образов, но, в отличие от художественной прозы, в публицистическом стиле выразительные средства неновы и неуникальны (неавторские). Индивидуальный элемент, присущий беллетристике, отсутствует, но способ подачи идеи близок к художественной прозе. Несомненно, заметки в газете менее эмоциональны и индивидуальны, чем эссе и спичи, из-за установленных рамок.
Отличительная черта публицистического стиля - краткость выражения. В некоторых разновидностях данного стиля она становится ведущим, важным языковым средством.
У публицистического стиля есть три разновидности:
1) в отличие от других стилей, есть разговорный вариант - ораторский субстиль (oratorical substyle). Развитие радио, телевидения и информационных технологий способствовало появлению дикторского подстиля (the radio and television commentary);
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2) эссе - может быть литературным, философским, моральным и т.д.; сюда же относятся отзывы и рецензии на книги в журналах, газетах, интернет-изданиях, а также памфлеты;
3) газетный стиль используется в журналистских статьях (политических, общественных, экономических и т.д.) в газетах, журналах, интернет-изданиях.
В публицистическом стиле образность речи носит устоявшийся характер. Метафоры, сравнения, перифразы и другие средства эмоционального воздействия берутся из общего языкового фонда выразительных средств.
Другая черта, сближающая этот стиль со стилем художественной речи, - это проявление индивидуального в изложении содержания. И здесь, конечно, степень проявления индивидуального ограничена особенностями самого стиля. В стиле газетных и журнальных статей индивидуальное меньше выступает, чем в эссе или в ораторской речи.
Третья черта публицистического стиля - краткость изложения. В некоторых его разновидностях эта черта приобретает характер особого приема. Так, в эссе краткость изложения принимает форму сентенции.
Речевые стили выделяются как определенные системы в литературном языке, прежде всего с целью сообщения. Каждый речевой стиль имеет более или менее точную цель, которая предопределяет его функционирование и его языковые особенности. Так, для газетно-публицистического стиля основной целью является информация и воздействие; цель делового стиля - установить условия, ограничения и формы дальнейшего сотрудничества двух и более человек; целью научного стиля является доказательство определенных положений, гипотез, аргументаций и т.д. Понятие газетно-публицистического стиля складывается из языка газет, общественно-политических журналов, докладов, выступлений, бесед, речей, дискуссий, языка радио и телепередач, документально-публицистического кино. Газетно-публицистический стиль является наиболее популярным из всех функциональных стилей, поскольку его распространению способствуют средства массовой информации - пресса, радио, кино, телевидение.
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Functional styles in English
Functional style is a device of communication. There is number of functional styles and each of them has its own vocabulary means, syntactical constructions or phonetics. Each functional style depends upon the purpose of the text or the specific conditions of communication in different situations. Every written or spoken discourse has a style. The word itself refers to some kind of a function. A style depends upon the purpose of the text or the specific conditions of communication in different situations. However, there is no single and concrete definition of a word style.
According to I. V. Arnold as cited by T.A. Znamenskaya styles can be divided into two groups:
Colloquial Styles: (literary colloquial; familiar colloquial; common colloquial).
Literary Bookish Styles: (scientific; official documents; publicistic newspaper; oratorical; poetic)
According to I. R. Galperin (1981) the set of style classes include:
a) official business style;
b) scientific professional style;
c) publicistic style;
d) literary colloquial style;
E) familiar colloquial style
Functional styles are subsystems of language and each of them has its own features concerning vocabulary means, syntactical constructions or phonetics. The use of a certain functional style is connected to the particular situations of communication in different spheres of life.
THE PUBLICISTIC STYLE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Publicistic style is used in newspaper or magazine articles, public speeches, essays, radio or TV comments.
The publicistic style is used in public speeches and printed public works which are addressed to a broad audience and devoted to important social or political events, public problems of cultural or moral character.
It falls into three varieties, each having its own distinctive features. Unlike other formal styles, the publicist style has spoken varieties, in particular, the oratorical sub-style. The development of radio and television has brought into being a new spoken variety – the radio and television commentary. The other two are the essay and articles in newspapers, journals and magazines.
The general aim of the publicist style is to exert influence on 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 point of view expressed in the speech, essay or article not merely by logical argumentation, but by emotional appeal as well.
Due to its characteristic combination of logical argumentation and emotional appeal, the publicistic style has features in common with the style of scientific prose or official documents, on the one hand, and that of emotive prose, on the other. Its coherent and logical syntactic structure, with an expanded system of connectives and its careful paragraphing, makes it similar to scientific prose. Its emotional appeal is generally achieved by the use of words with emotive meaning, the use of imagery and other stylistic devices as in emotive prose.
The publicistic style also has some elements of emotionally coloured colloquial style as the author has no need to make their speech impersonal (as in scientific or official style), but, on the contrary, he or she tries to approximate the text to lively communication, as though they were talking to people in direct contact.
The newspaper is the most readable source of information throughout the world. There are three types of newspapers:
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1. The broadsheet newspapers (e.g., the Telegraph, the Independent, the Times and the Guardian);
2. The middle-range tabloids (e.g., the Express and the Daily Mail);
3. Tabloids (e.g., the Sun, the Mirror, the Star)
There are two types of news that can be found in broadsheets or tabloids: hard news and soft news. Hard news include stories of a timely nature about events or conflicts that have just happened or are about to happen such as fires, crimes, meetings, protest rallies, speeches and testimony in court cases. Hard news has little value after 24-48 hours. The news of such themes found in broadsheet newspapers tend to focus on the main and the most important details related to the story.
Another type of news is called soft news and entertains or informs, with an emphasis on human interests and novelty and less immediacy than hard news. Unlike the hard news, soft news pay attention to the things related to the minor things of the story e.g. personal life, work, etc.
Newspaper style tries to attract the reader’s attention thereby special means are used. It has specific headlines, space ordering, specific vocabulary features and characterize newspaper style by an extensive use of: 1. Special political and economic terms (apartheid, by-election); 2. Non-term political vocabulary (public, people); 3. Newspaper cliches (vital issue, well-informed sources); 4. Cliches (captains of industry, pillars of society); 5. Abrreviations (PM, NATO); 6. Neologisms (glasnost, Gorbymania).
The Essay
This genre in English literature dates from the 16th century, and its name is taken from the short “Essays” (=experiments, attempts) by the French writer Montaigne, which contained his thoughts on various subjects. An essay is a literary composition of moderate length on philosophical, social or literary subjects, which preserves a clearly personal character and has no pretence to deep or strictly scientific treatment of the subject. It is rather a number of comments, without any definite conclusions.
Nowadays an essay is usually a kind of feature article in a magazine or newspaper. Essays are written commonly by one and the same writer or journalist, who has cultivated his own individual style. Some essays, depending on the writer’s individuality, are written in a highly emotional manner resembling the style of emotive prose
The most characteristic language features of the essay, however, remain
1. brevity of expression;
2. the use of the first person singular, which justifies a personal approach to the problems treated;
3. a rather expended use of connectives, which facilitates the process of grasping the correlation of ideas;
4. the abundant use of emotive words;
5. the use of similes and metaphors as one of the media for the cognitive process.
In comparison with the oratorical style, the essay aims at a more lasting, hence at a slower effect. Epigrams, paradoxes and aphorisms are comparatively rare in oratory, as they require the concentrated attention of the listener. In the essay they are commoner, for the reader has an opportunity to make a careful and detailed study both of the content of the utterance and its form.
Questions
1. What is the aim of the publicistic style?
2. What are the spoken varieties of the publicistic style?
3. What common features does the publicistic style have in common with scientific prose? with emotive prose?
4. List the distinguishing features of the publicistic style.
5. Describe the typical features of the spoken variety of speech present in the oratorical style.
6. Why do orators often resort in their speeches to repetition as stylistic device? What other devices does it usually accompany?
7. How would you explain the fact that the speakers in their oratories use traditional simile and metaphor and rarely original and unexpected images?
8. What differentiates the essay as a literary form from other varieties of the publicistic style?
9. Describe the characteristic features of the essay.
10. What rhetorical technique is used in political oratory?
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1. Comment on the peculiarities of the publicistic style in the following public speech. State the syntactical and stylistic devices used. Point out the cases of metaphor, high-flown words, words of emotive meaning.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is indeed a great and underserved privilege to address such an audience as I see before me. At no previous time in the history of human civilization have greater problems confronted and challenged the ingenuity of man’s intellect than now. Let us look around us. What do we see on the horizon? What forces are at work? Whither are we drifting? Under what mist of clouds the future stand obscured?
My friends, casting aside the raiment of all human speech, the crucial test for the solution of all these intricate problems to which I have just alluded is the sheer and forceful application of those immutable laws which down the corridor of Time have always guided the hand of man, groping, as it were, for some faint beacon light for his hopes and aspirations. Without these great vital principles we are but puppets responding to whim and fancy, failing entirely to grasp the hidden meaning of it all. We must re-address ourselves to these questions which press for answer and solution. The issues cannot be avoided. There they stand. It is upon you, and you, and yet even upon me, that the yoke of responsibility falls.
What, then, is our duty? Shall we continue to drift? No! With all the emphasis of my being I hurl back the message No! Drifting must stop. We must press onward and upward toward the ultimate goal to which all must aspire. But I cannot conclude my remarks, dear friends, without touching briefly upon a subject which I know is steeped in your very consciousness. I refer to that spirit which gleams from the eyes of a new-born babe, that animates the toiling masses, that sways all the hosts of humanity past and present. Without this energizing principle all commerce, trade and industry are hushed and will perish from this earth as surely as the crimson sunset follows the golden sunshine.
Mark you, I do not seek to unduly alarm or distress the mothers, fathers, sons and daughters gathered before me in this vast assemblage, but I would indeed be recreant to a high resolve which I made as a youth if I did not at this time and this place, and with the full realizing sense of responsibility which I assume, publicly declare and affirm my dedication and my consecration to the eternal principles and receipts of simple, ordinary, commonplace justice.
(The example is borrowed from R. D. Altick. Preface to Critical Reading. Holt, N. Y., 1956, pp. VII – VIII.)
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