Филологические науки/7. Язык, речь, речевая коммуникация

Mykytiuk I.M., Ph.D., Lypka Ya.

Chernivtsi National University, Ukraine

Linguostylistic Peculiarities of Publicistic Style

Speech communication, materialized in oral and written forms, is not homogeneous; proceeding from its function or purpose the scholars distinguish between different functional styles. As the whole of the language itself, functional styles are also changeable. Their quantity and quality vary in the course of their development. I. R. Galperin [1], an expert in stylistics of the English language, singles out such functional styles: scientific, official, publicistic, newspaper, belles-lettres. Publicistic style, the object of our analysis, is famous for its explicit pragmatic function of persuasion directed at influencing the readers and shaping their views in accordance with the author’s system of argumentation, personal feelings and emotions concerning the discussed issue.

The objective of this article is to elucidate linguostylistic peculiarities of modern publicistic style. Our assumption is that even articles dealing with political and economic issues of the day tend to acquire features of publicistic rather than newspaper style.

The first article under analysis comes from The Washington Times (the issue of 15.02.2012) and is published in the section Politics [2]. It is written by the political reporter Abdon M. Pallasch. The issue discussed in this article is rather topical – it deals with Barack Obama’s visit to Wisconsin factory and the way he was greeted by the Republican Gov. Scott Walker. The objective of this brief news item is to inform the reader about Obama’s decision to encourage the activity of manufacture companies that bring jobs back from other countries (China in particular) while raising taxes on companies that export jobs.

The headline of this article is expressed by a full declarative sentence: Obama Meets Wisconsin Factory Workers and Governor. Of special importance is the omission of articles. The key words of the headline – “Obama”, “workers”, “governor” – are used in the text of the article most often.

The article is logically structured, each paragraph introduces a new piece of information on the topic. The author makes effective use of direct speech with the aim of informing the reader about the views of politicians, their attitudes to the situation, and reaction of the workers: “I will sign it right now! Right now!” “Don’t wait. Get it done. Let’s do it now.” In this example Mr. Obama’s words demonstrate his readiness to act.

“It’s surprising he would go to the airport and greet the president there, which is appropriate, but then not come here”. “But then the only trend I’d see is he rarely comes out to the public unless it’s a well-vetted audience, so for whatever reason he does not want to appear in public and meet with everyday citizens, and I don’t understand that.” This remark of State Rep. Peter Barca about Scott Walker is rather critical and probably veracious.

Here is the example of another critical comment on Scott Walker’s activity: “It’s because he doesn’t want to answer questions about the corruption probe surrounding his administration.” Zielinski said, adding tongue-in-cheek, “And maybe because they make handcuffs there.”

The presented below example of Mr. Obama’s words testifies to the fact that the President is a simple and frank person:“I was thinking about my gym locker in high school,” Obama said. “If you go into the boys’ locker room it’s sometime a little powerful — the odor in there.”

The vocabulary of the article alongside with neutral common literary words contains the following lexemes:

1) political, legal and economic terms: republican, manufacturing, politics, legislation, Vice-President, administration, Trade Enforcement Unit, re-election, campaign, Democratic direction.

2) non-term political vocabulary: community, administration, manager;

3) abbreviations: State Rep., U.S., CEO;

4) markers of time: first two years, past year, in 60 days, school days;

5) markers of quantity: million-plus signatures,million signatures, twice as large.

The style of the article is characterized by extensive usage of:

· complex sentences with a developed system of clauses: State Rep. Peter Barca (D-Kenosha), the minority leader of Wisconsin’s House of Representatives, said Walker — who has faced fierce demonstrations by union members and other activists for the past year over his crackdown on organized labor — might not want to face a crowd of factory workers and Democrats;

· metaphors: Obama indirectly slapped Romney for his stand against the auto industry bailout;

· detachment: Meanwhile, companies that choose to stay here get hit with one of the highest tax rates in the world. Obama told workers and managers at Master Lock — the world’s largest lock manufacturer — that he wants to reward companies like this one that bring jobs back from China and raise taxes on companies that export jobs.

In the article one can trace the influence of democracy on the “quality” of modern press: political leaders are named just on their last name basis: Obama, Walker, Barca.

In conclusion, it should be mentioned that though the article is rather informative, it is also aimed at persuading the readers to accept the author’s point of view.

The second article Is Wine the New Diet Drink? was written by Mina Azodi and appeared in the magazine Cosmopolitan [3]. The main idea of the article is that people (mostly women) can lose their weight by drinking red wine in moderation (a glass of wine a day). The headline of the article is a rhetorical question which immediately draws the attention of the readers to its contents.

The vocabulary of this article comprises words and phrases pertaining mostly to drinks: wine, juices, liquor, beer, alcohol; and healthy lifestyle: antioxidants, cholesterol, blood pressure, nutrition, metabolism, enzyme, nutrients, healthy weight, metabolizes, thermogenesis, to torch calories, weight-loss strategy, to digest a drink, to burn energy. Of special interest is the usage of barbarisms vino, Pinot Noir and Cabernet (famous wine brands) and of the occasional coinage of the author salud. The author also makes use of abbreviations: MD, PhD, Dr., celebs. Colloquial words and phrases – choke down, to chug, keep tabs on, cool, booze, schnockered – bring the language and the problems raised in the article closer to the reader.

Our observations of the style of the article may be summarized as follows:

· the use of epithets: cleansing juices;happy hour;

· the use of metonymy: a glass of the grape;

· the use of lexical repetition: New research found that wine (seriously, wine!) can help keep your weight in check;

· the use of detached construction: Of course, you can’t chug a bottle and look like Marisa Miller (or pair your cabernet with a pint of ice cream), but drinking it in moderation — that means about a glass a day, tops — has some awesome perks.

The author’s choice of vocabulary, colloquial words, phrases and stylistic devices contributes to conveying information and forming the readers’ tastes and opinions.

Thus, publicistic style today may be said to combine the features of all other styles; its main functions are to inform and to persuade.

Bibliography:

1. Galperin I. R. Stylistics / Galperin I. R. — Moscow : Higher school, 1971. — 343 p.

2. Azodi M. Is Wine the New Diet Drink? [Електронний ресурс] — Режим доступу: (http://www.cosmopolitan.com/advice/health/drink-wine-for-weight-loss) — Заголовок з екрану.

3. Pallasch Abdon M. Obama Meets Wisconsin Factory Workers and Governor [Електронний ресурс] — Режим доступу: http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/10661407-418/wis-gov-scott-walker-greets-obama-but-wont-attend-speech-to-union-workers.html — Заголовок з екрану.