Phonological and graphological peculiarities.

The characteristic feature of a prayer spoken in unison is monotonyand frequent level tones. Prayers spoken by one person are also characterized by narrowness of pitch range and drop in the pitch at the end. Priests slow down and increase the pace of articulation to distinguish some words of particular importance from the rest of the text.

In writing religious texts can be marked by special typographical techniques (italics, bold type, different colours, small type, etc.) Capitalization draws attention to some important words (e.g. Lord, God, Father, Son, The Holy Spirit, etc.).Paragraphs can be numbered.

Syntax is characterized by: 1. the use of complete, complex and compound sentences; 2. the tendency towards coordination; 3. inverted word order, detachment, parallel constructions (accompanied by lexical and root repetition), anaphora, epiphora, polysyndeton, etc. The use of the archaic pronouns (e.g. thou, thy, etc.) and verb forms (e.g loveth; thou asketh, etc.).

Vocabulary.

· Rich imagery created by similes, metaphors, metonymies, epithets, etc.

· Archaic words.

· The words and combinations are of the formal or elevated layers (e.g. to glorify, to have mercy, sacred, etc.).

· frequent oppositions (e.g. seek – find, ask – receive).

· Theology operates special terms (e.g. prophecy, virtue, sin, vice, sacrifice, etc.)

Stylistic function, information, norm

Stylistic information is the knowledge where, in what particular type of communication, the unit is current.

The majority of the words are stylistically neutral. Stylistically coloured words (e.g. bookish, solemn, poetic, official, colloquial, dialectal, vulgar, etc.) have each a kind of ‘label’ on them, showing where the unit was ‘manufactured’ and where it generally belongs. Stylistically neutral words taken separately only denote without connoting. Stylistically coloured words preserve their ‘label’ even in isolation.

Stylistic norm indicates in what collocations and speech variety certain lingual units areproper or improper. Besides, stylistics does not study separate linguistic units as such. It studies their stylistic function, i.e. it is interested in the expressive potential or expressive properties of linguistic units. Peculiarities of a stylistic function:

· ‘chameleon’ quality (a certain device does not necessarily perform the same function, it may vary from context to context)

· its implicit character (connotative meanings of words)

· accumulative character (a certain mood or feeling is usually rendered by a group of various means)

· irradiating character (few or even one lingual unit with an outstanding stylistic function may attach a peculiar sounding)

The style of official docs (business, military docs)

I.R. Galperin’s classification of substyles of the official documents style includes

-diplomatic documents,

-business documents,

-legal documents, and

-military documents.

Y.M. Skrebnev adds here personal documents (certificates, diplomas, etc.)

The main aim of this type of communication is to reach an agreement and to state the conditions binding two parties.

The objective, concrete, unemotional and impersonal, the style of official documents presupposes:

 - special compositional design (coded graphical layout, clear subdivision into units of information, logical arrangement of these units);

 -prevalence of stylistically neutral (used in direct meaning) and bookish vocabulary;

 -the use of terminology and officialese vocabulary (cliches, opening and conclusive phrases);

 -the use of conventional and archaic forms and words;

 -the use of foreign words (especially Latin and French);

-the encoded character of the language reflected in the use of abbreviations, contractions, conventional symbols, e.g. M.P. , Ltd (limited), $;

-absence of tropes and evaluative or emotionally coloured vocabulary;

 -a general syntactical mode of combining several pronouncements into one sentence;

-an accurate use of punctuation, etc.

Business documents and letters are characterized by a high level of standardization. They are in fact a combination of ready-made forms and stereotyped phrases.

Business letters are mostly very short. The rules of composition are very strict.

-The heading of the letter gives the address of the writer and the date (in the upper right-hand corner); next (lower, in the left-hand corner) the name of the addressee and address.

-Then follows the polite form of direct address.

-The text proper is followed by the complimentary clause and, finally, the signature of the sender.

The bodyof the business document (letter) should be concise and to the point, without unnecessary information or explanation, written in short, direct sentences.

Military docscan be of different types: plans, estimates, summaries, surveys, evaluation, situation maps, orders; all of them have a certain composition.

Military docs are charac-d by their clarity, brevity, precision, non-admittance of many interpretations.  

Military vocab includes terms (attack, tank, machine gun), abbreviations(Co. – company, SW – south-west, w/o – without), symbols, special military phraseology(to lift fire, to hold a positon), many personal and geographical names.

On morphological level: rare use of possessive case, omission of articles, use of two moods only – imperative and indicative, two tenses – the present indic and past indic. Syntacticallymilitary docs include simple short sentences. As a rule there’re no exclamatory and negative sentences.