Phonetic features (in oratory)

Standard pronunciation, wide use of prosody as a means of conveying the subtle shades of meaning, overtones and emotions.

Phonetic compression.

Morphological features

Frequent use of non-finite verb forms, such as gerund, participle, infinitive.

Use of non- perfect verb forms.

Omission of articles, link verbs, auxiliaries, pronouns especially in headlines and news items.

Syntactical features

Frequent use of rhetorical questions and i nterrogatives in oratory speech.

In headlines: use of impersonal sentences, elliptical constructions, interrogative sentences, infinitive complexes and attributive groups.

In news items and articles: news items comprise one or two, rarely three, sentences.

Absence of complex coordination with chain of subordinate clauses and a number of conjunctions.

Prepositional phrases are used much more than synonymous gerundial phrases.

Absence of exclamatory sentences, break-in-the narrative, other expressively charged constructions.

Articles demonstrate more syntactical organisation and logical arrangement of sentences.

  Lexical features

Newspaper cliches and set phrases.

Terminological variety: scientific, sports, political, technical, etc.

Abbreviations and acronyms.

Numerous proper names, names of enterprises, institutions, international words, dates and figures.

Abstract notion words, elevated and bookish words.

In headlines: frequent use of pun, violated phraseology, vivid stylistic devices.

In oratory speech: words of elevated and bookish character, colloquial words and phrases, frequent use of such stylistic devices as metaphor, alliteration, allusion, irony, etc.

Use of conventional forms of address and trite phrases.

Compositional features

Text arrangement is marked by precision, logic and expressive power.

Carefully selected vocabulary.

Variety of topics.

Wide use of quotations, direct speech and represented speech.

Use of parallel constructions throughout the text.

In oratory: simplicity of structural expression, clarity of message, argumentative power.

In headlines: use of devices to arrest attention: rhyme, pun, puzzle, high degree of compression, graphical means.

In news items and articles: strict arrangement of titles and subtitles, emphasis on the headline.

Careful subdivision into paragraphs, clearly defined position of the sections of an article: the most important information is carried in the opening paragraph; often in the first sentence.

IV The style of official documents

Morphological features

Adherence to the norm, sometimes outdated or even archaic, e.g. in legal documents.

Syntactical features

Use of long complex sentences with several types of coordination and subordination (up to 70% of the text).

Use of passive and participial constructions, numerous connectives.

Use of objects, attributes and all sorts of modifiers in the identifying and explanatory function.

Extensive use of detached constructions and parenthesis.

Use of participle I and participle II as openers in the initial expository statement.

A general syntactical mode of combining several pronouncements into one sentence.

Information texts are based on standard normative syntax reasonably simplified.

Lexical features

Prevalence of stylistically neutral and bookish vocabulary.

Use of terminology, e.g. legal: acquittal, testimony, aggravated larceny; commercial: advance payment, insurance, wholesale, etc.

Use of proper names (names of enterprises, companies, etc.) and titles.

Abstractions of persons, e.g. use of party instead of the name.

Officialese vocabulary: cliches, opening and conclusive phrases.

Conventional and archaic forms and words: kinsman, hereof, thereto, thereby, ilk.

Foreign words, especially Latin and French: status quo, force majeure, persona non grata.

Abbreviations, contractions, conventional symbols: M.P. (member of Parliament), Ltd (limited), $, etc.

Use of words in their primary denotative meaning.

Absence of tropes, no evaluative and emotive colouring of the vocabulary.

Seldom use of substitute words: it, one, that.

Compositional features

Special compositional design: coded graphical layout, clear-cut subdivision of texts into units of information; logical arrangement of these units, order-of-priority organisation of content and information.

Conventional composition of treaties, agreements, protocols, etc.: division into two parts, a preamble and a main part.

Use of stereotyped, official phraseology.

Accurate use of punctuation.

Generally objective, concrete, unemotional and impersonal style of narration.