Archaic and obsolete words

Раздел 6. Лексико-стилистическая характеристика лексикона

The Lexico-Stylistic Characterization of English Vocabulary

 

Functional style

Thesocial context in which the communication is taking place determines the modes of speech. When placed in different situations, people instinctively choose different kinds of words and structures to express their thoughts. The suitability or unsuitability of a word for each particular situation depends on its stylistic characteristics or, in other words, on the functional style it represents. Professor I.V. Arnold defines it as “a system of expressive means peculiar to a specific sphere of communication”.

By the sphere of communication we mean the circumstances attending the process of speech in each particular case: professional communication, a lecture, an informal talk, a formal letter, an intimate letter, a speech in court, etc.

All these circumstances or situations can be classified into two types: formal(a lecture, a speech in court, an official letter, professional communication) and informal (an informal talk, an intimate letter).

Accordingly, functional styles are classified into two groups, with further subdivisions depending on different situations.

 

Informal style

Informal vocabulary is used in one’s immediate circle: family, relatives, or friends. One uses informal words when at home or feeling at home.

Informal style is relaxed, free-and-easy and familiar. But it should be pointed out that the informal talk of well-educated people considerably differs from that of the illiterate or the semi-educated; the choice of words with adults is different from the vocabulary of teenagers; people living in the provinces use certain regional words and expressions. Consequently, the choice of words is determined in each particular case not only by an informal (or formal) situation, but also by the speaker’s educational and cultural background, age group, and his occupational and regional characteristics.

Informal words and word-groups are divided into three types: colloquial, slanganddialect words and word-groups.

Colloquial words

 

Among other informal words, colloquialismsare used by everybody, and their sphere of communication is comparatively wide, at least of literary colloquial words. These are informal words that are used in everyday conversational speech both by cultivated and uneducated people of all age groups. The sphere of communication of literary colloquial words also include the printed page.

Vast use of informal words is one of the prominent features of 20th century English and American literature. It is quite natural that informal words appear in dialogues in which they realistically reflect the speech of modern people.

However, in modern fiction informal words are not restricted to conversation in their use, but frequently appear in descriptive passages as well. In this way the narrative is endowed with conversational features. The author creates an intimate, warm, informal atmosphere.

“Fred Hardy was a bad lot (пользовался дурной славой). Pretty women and

an unlucky knack for backing the wrong horse had landed him in the

bankruptcy court by the time he was twenty-five…” (From W.S. Maugham).

Here are some more examples of literary colloquial words. Pal (кореш, друг) and chum (приятель, дружок) are colloquial equivalents of friend; girl, when used colloquially, denotes a woman of any age; bite and snack (quick meal – перекусить) stand for meal; hi, hello are informal greetings, and so long a form of parting; start, go on, finish and be through (покончить) are also literary colloquialisms.

A considerable number of shortenings are found among words of this type. E.g. pram, exam, fridge, flu, zip, movie.

Verbs with post-positional adverbs are also numerous among colloquialisms: put up, put over, make up, make out, turn up, etc.

Literary colloquial wordsare to be distinguished from familiar colloquialandlow colloquial.

The borderline between the literary and familiar colloquial is not always clearly marked. Yet the circle of speakers using familiar colloquial is more limited: these words are used mostly by the young and the semi-educated. This vocabulary group closely verges on slang and has something of its coarse flavour.

E.g. doc (for doctor), ta-ta (for good-bye), to kid smb.(for tease, banter – подшутить), to pick up smb. (for make a qick and easy acquaintance), shut up (for keep silent).

Low colloquial(просторечие) is defined as uses characteristic of the speech of persons who may be broadly described as uncultivated. This group is stocked with words of illiterate (неграмотный) English which do not present much interest for our purposes.

The problem of functional styles is not one of purely theoretical interest, but represents a particularly important aspect of the language-learning process. Students often misunderstand the term “colloquial”and use it for “conversational”.The marker “colloquial”is a sign of restricted usage – not in formal circumstancesor in reports. But literary colloquial words should be included in functional vocabulary, presented and drilled in suitable contexts and situations, mainly in dialogues. It is important to associate these words with informal, relaxed situations.

 

Slang

 

The Oxford English Dictionary defines slang as “language of a highly colloquial style, considered as below the level of standard educated speech, and consisting either of new words or of current words employed in some special sense.”

All or most slang words are current words whose meanings have been metaphorically shifted. Each slang metaphor is rooted in a joke, but not in a kind or amusing joke. This is the criterion for distinguishing slang from colloquialisms: most slang words are metaphors and jocular, often with a coarse, mocking, cynical colouring.

Then why do people use slang?

For a number of reasons. To be picturesque, arresting, striking and, above all, different from others. To demonstrate one’s spiritual independence and daring. To sound “modern” and “up-to-date”.

It doesn’t mean that all these aims are achieved by using slang. But these are the main reasons for using it.

The circle of users of slang is more narrow than that of colloquialisms. It is mainly used by the young and uneducated.

Dialect words

Dialect is a variety of a language which prevails in a district, with local peculiarities of vocabulary, pronunciation and phrase. England is a small country, yet it has many dialects which have their own distinctive features (e.g. the Lancashire, Dorsetshire, Norfolk dialects).

So dialects are regional forms of English. Standard English is defined as the language as it is written and spoken by literate people in both formal and informal usage and that is universally current while incorporating regional differences.

Dialectal peculiarities, especially those of vocabulary, are constantly being incorporated into everyday colloquial speech or slang. From these levels they can be transferred into the common stock, i.e. words which are not stylistically marked and a few of them even into formal speech and into the literary language. Car, trolley, tram began as dialect words. Some examples of dialects: tha (thee) – the objective case of thou; brass – money; nivver – never; nowt – nothing.

Formal Style

 

Learned words

 

Formal style is restricted to formal situations. In general, formal words fall into two main groups: words associated with professional communication and a less exclusive group of so-called learned words.

These words are mainly associated with the printed page. It is in this vocabulary stratum that poetry and fiction find their main resources.

We find here numerous words that are used in scientific prose and can be identified by their dry, matter-of-fact flavour (e.g. comprise, experimental, heterogeneous, homogeneous, conclusive, divergent, etc).

To this group also belongs so-called ‘officialese’(канцеляризмы). These are the words of the official, bureaucratic language. They should be avoided in speech and in print, e.g. assist (for help), endeavour (for try), proceed (for go), approximately (for about), sufficient (for enough), inquire (for ask).

Probably the most interesting subdivision of learned words is represented by the words found in descriptive passages of fiction. These words, which may be called ‘literary’, also have a particular flavour of their own, usually described as ‘refined’. They are mostly polysyllabic words drawn from the Romance language and, though fully adapted to the English phonetic system, some of them continue to sound singularly foreign. Here are some examples: solitude=loneless, lonely place (уединение, одиночество), sentiment=feeling (чувство), fascination=strong attraction (очарование, обаяние), delusion (заблуждение), meditation (размышление), cordial=friendly (сердечный, радушный).

There is one further subdivision of learned words: modes of poetic diction.These stand close to the previous group many words from which, in fact, belong to both these categories. Yet, poetic words have a further characteristic – a lofty, sometimes archaic, colouring: “Alas! (увы) theyhad been friends in youth;

But wispering tongues can poison truth

And constancy (постоянство) lives in realms (царства) above;

And life is thorny; and youth is vain…

Though learned words are mainly associated with the printed page, this is not exclusively so. Any educated English-speaking individual is sure to use many learned words not only in his formal letters and professional communication but also in his everyday speech. Educated people in both modern fiction and real life use learned words quite naturally and their speech is richer for it.

On the other hand, excessive use of learned words in conversational speech presents grave hazards. Utterances overloaded with such words have pretensions of ‘refinement’ and ‘elegance’ but achieve the exact opposite verging on the absurd and ridiculous.

Writers use this phenomenon for stylistic purposes. When a character in a book or in a play uses too many learned words, the obvious inappropriateness of his speech in an informal situation produces a comic effect.

However any suggestion that learned words are suitable only for comic purposes, would be quite wrong. It is in this vocabulary stratum that writers and poets find their most vivid paints and colours, and not only their humorous effects. Without knowing some learned words, it is even impossible to read fiction (not to mention scientific articles) or to listen to lectures in the foreign language.

It is also true that some of these words should be carefully selected and “activized” to become part of the students’ functional vocabulary.

 

Archaic and obsolete words

Archaic –are old and no longer used words; obsolete –no longer used because something new was invented. Obsolete words have completely gone out of use.

Archaic and obsolete words stand close to the “learned” words, particularly to the modes of poetic diction. Learned words and archaisms are both associated with the printed page. Yet, many learned words may also be used in conversational situations. This cannot happen with archaisms, which are restricted to the printed page. These words are moribund, already partly or fully out of circulation. Their last refuge is in historical novels and in poetry which is rather conservative in its choice of words.

Thou [аu] – (ты) and thy [ðai] – (твой), aye [ai] – (‘yes’) and nay [nei] – (‘no’) are certainly archaic and long since rejected by common usage, yet poets use them even today.

Numerous archaisms can be found in Shakespeare, but it should be taken in consideration that what appear to us today as archaisms in the works of Shakespeare, are in fact examples of everyday language of Shakespeare`s time.

Further examples of archaisms are: morn (for morning), eve (for evening), errant (for wandering, e.g. errant knights),etc.

Sometimes an archaic word may undergo a sudden revival. So, the formerly archaic kin (for relatives; one`s family)is now current in American usage.

Professional terminology

Hundredsof thousands of words belong to special scientific, professional or trade terminological systems and are not used or even understood by people outside the particular speciality. Every field of modern activity has its specialized vocabulary, and similarly special terminologies for psychology, music, management, finance, economics, jurisprudence, linguistics and many others.

Term, as traditionally understood, is a word or a word-group which is specifically employed by a particular branch of science, technology, trade or the arts to convey a concept peculiar to his particular activity.

So, share, bank, balance sheet are finance terms; court, lawyer, civil law are legal terms; and top manager, creative team, motivation areused in management.

Thereare several controversialproblems in the field of terminology. The firstis the question whether a term loses its terminological status when it comes into common usage. Today this is a frequent occurrence, as various elements of the media of communication (TV, radio, magazines, etc.) ply people with scraps of knowledge from different scientific fields, technology and the arts. It is quite natural that under circumstances numerous terms pass into general usage without losing connection with their specific fields.

There are linguists in whose opinion terms are only those words which have retained their exclusiveness and are not known or recognized outside their specific sphere. From this point of view, words associated with the medical sphere, such as unit (доза лекарственного препарата), theatre (операционная), contact (носитель инфекции) are no longer medical terms as they are in more or less common usage.

There is yet another point of view, acording to which any terminological system is supposed to include all the words and word-groups conveying concept peculiar to a particular branch of knowledge, regardless of their exclusiveness. Modern research of various terminological systems has shown that there is no impenetrable wall between terminology and the general language system. To the contrary, terminologies seem to obey the same rules as other vocabulary strata. Therefore, exchange between terminological systems and the “common” vocabulary is quite normal, and it would be wrong to regard a term as something “special” and standing apart.

Two other controversial problems deal with polysemyandsynonymy.According to some linguists, an “ideal” term should be monosemantic(i.e. it should have only one meaning). Polysemantictermsmay lead to misunderstanding, and that is a serious shortcoming in professional communication. This requirement seems quite reasonable, yet facts of the language do not meet it. There are numerous polysemantic terms. In the terminology of painting, the term colour may denote hue (цвет) and, atthe same time, stuff used for colouring (краска).

The same is true about synonymy in terminological systems. There are scholars who insist that terms should not have synonyms because, consequently, scientists and other specialists would name the same objects and phenomena in their field by different terms and would not be able to come to any agreement. This may be true. But, in fact, terms do possess synonyms.

 

Basic vocabulary

These words are stylistically neutral, and, in this respect, opposed to formal and informal words. Their stylistic neutrality makes it possible to use them in all kinds of situations, both formal and informal, in verbal and written communication. Certain of the stylistically marked vocabulary strata are exclusive: professional terminology is used mostly by representatives of the professions; dialects are regional; slang is favoured mostly by the young and the uneducated. Not so basic vocabulary. These words are used every day, everywhere and by everybody, regardless of profession, occupation, educational level, age group or geographical location. These are words without which no human communication would be possible as they denote objects and phenomena of everyday importance (e.g. house, bread, summer, child, mother, difficult, to go, etc.).

The basic vocabulary is the central group of the vocabulary, its historical foundation and living core. That is why words of this stratum show a considerably greater stability in comparison with words of the other strata, especially informal.

Basic vocabulary words can be recognized not only by their stylistic neutrality but, also, by lack of other connotations (i.e. attendant meanings). Their meanings are broad, general and directly convey the concept, without supplying any additional information.

For instance, the verb to walk means merely ‘to move from place to place on foot’ whereas in the meanings of its synonyms to stride (шагать), to stroll (прогуливаться), to trot (семенить, бежать вприпрыжку), to stagger – to sway while walking (идти шатаясь) and others, some additional information is encoded as they each describe a different manner of walking, a different gait, tempo, purpose or lack of purpose. Thus, to walk, with its direct broad meaning, is a typical basic vocabulary word, and its synonyms, with their additional information encoded in their meanings, belong to the periphery of the vocabulary.

The basic vocabulary and the stylistically marked strata of the vocabulary do not exist independently but are closely interrelated. Most stylistically marked words have their neutral counterparts in the basic vocabulary.

The table gives some examples of such synonyms belonging to different stylistic strata.

 

Basic vocabulary	Informal	Formal
begin	start, get started	commence
continue	go on, get on	proceed
end	finish, be through, be over	terminate
child, baby	kid, brat, bearn (dial.)	infant, babe (poet.)

 

The basic vocabulary words comprise the first and essential part of the students’ functional and recognition vocabulary. They constitute the beginner’s vocabulary. Yet, to restrict to the basic vocabulary would mean to deprive the speech of colour, expressive force and emotive shades, for, if basic words are absolutely necessary, they also decidedly lack something: they are not at all the kind of words to tempt a writer or a poet. Actually, if the language had none other but basic vocabulary words, fiction would be hardly readable, and poetry simply non-existent.