Russian speech has its own language genres, which are usually called functional styles. Each of these genres has its own characteristics and exists within the general literary norm. The modern Russian language manages with five styles: artistic, scientific, official business, colloquial and journalistic. Not so long ago, linguists put forward a hypothesis about the existence of the sixth - religious style, previously it was not possible to single it out due to the state position regarding the existence of religion.
Each style has its own set of responsibilities, for example, the main functions of the scientific style are to convey important information to the reader and convince him of its veracity. This language genre can be identified by the presence in it of a large amount of abstract vocabulary, terms and words of a general scientific nature. The main role in thisstyle is most often played by a noun, since it is it that names objects that require detailed consideration.
What is scientific style?
This genre is usually called a style that has a number of qualities, the main of which are the monologic principle of narration, strict methods of selecting means to express the necessary information, the use of purely normative speech, as well as preliminary preparation for utterance. The main function of the scientific style is the transmission of true data about a phenomenon, which implies the use of a purely official setting and the detailed content of a scientific message.
The style in which such messages are executed is formed on the basis of their content, as well as the goals that their author sets for himself. As a rule, we are talking about the most detailed explanation of various facts and demonstrating the links between certain phenomena. According to linguists, the main difficulty that arises when writing such texts is related to the need to substantiate hypotheses and theories, as well as the importance of systemic storytelling.
Main function
The main function of the scientific style of speech is the realization of the need to explain any fact, theory, hypothesis. The narration should be as objective as possible, therefore, this genre is characterized by generalization and structure of monologue speech. Texts created in this style must take into account the previous literary experience of the potential reader, otherwise it will notwill be able to see the intertextual connections they are rich in.
Compared to other genres, science can seem very dry. Evaluation and expressiveness in his texts are minimal, emotive and colloquial elements of speech are not recommended to be used here. Nevertheless, a scientific text can turn out to be very expressive if all the necessary style elements are fully implemented, which includes taking into account the literary experience of a potential reader.
Additional function
In addition to the main function of the scientific style, scientists distinguish one more - secondary, which is obliged to activate logical thinking in the reader of the text. According to the researchers, if the addressee of the text cannot build logical relationships, then he is unlikely to be able to understand its entire semantic component.
Features of the scientific style can manifest themselves in the text in completely different ways, thanks to this, it was possible to distinguish several sub-styles - popular science, scientific-educational and proper-scientific. The first of them is closer to fiction and journalism, but it is he who is used most often in modern speech. There is often confusion in the literature as substyles are sometimes referred to as standard styles.
Substyles
It is impossible to clearly define the functions of scientific style without understanding its heterogeneity. Each genre has its own setting, which is associated with the need to convey information to the addressee, and the substyles of this speech are formed on its basis. For example, scientific and educationalimplies a strict narrative, which is addressed to narrow-profile specialists. Texts in this substyle are required to identify various patterns and describe them, these include dissertations, graduation projects, monographs, testimonials and reviews, etc.
The educational-scientific sub-style was formed in order to state scientific dogmas in the relevant literature. The texts of this sub-style are educational in nature, they are characterized by the formation of various limits when considering disciplines, as well as the presence of a large number of illustrations, deciphering terminologies, interpretations and examples. This should include textbooks, dictionaries, lectures, as well as the literature that systematically reveals the leading disciplinary issues using various established scientific opinions.
Scientific style words are primarily intended for specialists, with the exception of those used in the popular science subgenre. Fragments related to this substyle are created for a wide audience, so it is customary to present all scientific information here in the most understandable form. They are similar to fiction, they are characterized by the use of emotional coloring, the replacement of narrowly scientific vocabulary with public ones, the use of fragments of colloquial speech, and a large number of comparisons. Essays, articles in periodicals, essays, books, etc. are prominent representatives of such texts.
Genres of literature in scientific style
The main feature that distinguishes the scientific style is the sphereusage, its function implies the use of relevant texts only for an audience with a certain experience and able to read them. It is mainly used when creating scientific publications - monographs, reference books, textbooks, information messages, etc. As a rule, the creation of such texts is necessary in educational and research institutions.
Inside the style, primary texts are distinguished - lectures, reviews, oral presentations, i.e. all texts that were created by the author for the first time and did not require him to turn to other sources. There are also secondary fragments - they are texts that were created on the basis of previously created ones. They are characterized by a reduction in the information provided and the total amount of information proposed in the primary texts.
Where is scientific style applied?
The main scope and function of the scientific style is pedagogical and actually scientific. With its help, it is possible to form a common intertextual space in which scientists from all over the world can communicate. Tacitly accepted standards for the formation of texts in this genre have been supported by specialists for many years.
The main component in creating text fragments are terms - words that name formulated concepts. The logical information contained in these units of the language has a huge volume and can be interpreted in various ways. The most frequent unit found in this literature are internationalisms - words that are similar in different languages in lexical and grammatical meaning, as well as in pronunciation. For example, “system”, “process”, “element”, etc.
Scientific style, whose scope, functions and needs are constantly updated, must follow the development of the language. That is why new terms and words most often appear in it to refer to completely new objects or phenomena.
Scientific Style: Phonetic Features
The functions of the scientific style of speech are reflected at various levels of the language, including the phonetic one. Despite the fact that the texts of this genre exist mainly in written format, they always have a clear vision of verbal forms, which speakers usually achieve with the help of a slow pronunciation speed. All intonations are standard and subject to the syntactic features of the genre. The intonation pattern is stable and rhythmic, which is why for the oral perception of scientific speech it is necessary to have a sufficiently long exposure.
If we talk about the peculiarities of the pronunciation of words, then the scientific genre is characterized by a clear pronunciation of syllables that are in an unstressed position, the assimilation of consonants and the reduction of vowels. A distinctive feature is that the authors of scientific texts prefer to pronounce internationalisms and dependent words as close as possible to the original language. The discussion in this speech is infrequent, since in most cases it involves an increasedemotionality.
Scientific style: lexical features
The main function of the scientific style of speech is the explanation of various phenomena encountered in the life of mankind. And therefore, it is simply impossible to do without abstract, general scientific, highly specialized and international vocabulary. It is presented here in the form of four forms - words that form scientific thoughts, general vocabulary, terms, as well as words that have an abstract and generalized meaning.
All terms in the scientific style are divided into two subspecies - special and general scientific. The first designate technical objects and objects (for example, “dysfunction”, “integral”, etc.), they make up approximately 90% of the total vocabulary inherent in this style. The latter are designations for technical concepts. For example, "fire" and "air" are common words when used in colloquial speech, but in science they are terms that carry information about the qualities of a given subject in various fields of science.
Scientific style: morphological features
Functions of scientific style require from texts related to this genre, the frequent use of nouns with an abstract meaning ("formation", "direction"). Also, verbs with a timeless meaning or impersonal form, verbal nouns and nouns in the genitive case are often used here. A distinctive feature - in this style there is a desire for the active use of various abbreviations,which are already considered by modern linguistics as nouns.
Short qualitative and relative adjectives are also actively used in scientific speech. A special place is given to complex forms of superlative and comparative degrees (“the most advantageous”, “the least difficult”, etc.). The next most frequently used parts of speech in the scientific genre are possessive and personal pronouns. Pointers are used only to demonstrate the logical connections between different parts of the narrative fragment.
Since the main function of the scientific style is description, the verbs here take a passive position, and the noun and adjective take an active position. The long-term existence of this order has led to the fact that a huge number of verbs have appeared, the semantics of which are currently half empty. For example, the verb "expresses" can no longer be used without an additional noun, and is not used in a single position.
Scientific style: syntactic features
When analyzing a text for scientific style, one can easily find that sentences are built according to complex algorithms, often with several grammatical bases. This phenomenon can be considered as a normative one, since without it it is practically impossible to convey a complex system of terms, to reveal the relationship between the conclusions and proofs of a particular theorem, etc. Here, the second function of the genre, associated with the education of the reader's logical thinking, is most actively manifested.
In sentences of the scientific style, prepositional-nominal phrases ("for the reason", "in the course", "as a result"), nominal predicates ("revealed the solution"), isolated members of the sentence and adverbial phrases are often used. In almost every text of this genre, one can find impersonal sentences with the help of which the author describes a phenomenon or process. For additional connection between parts of the presentation in a scientific style, introductory constructions and words are used (“so”, “probably”, “from our point of view”).
In closing
Despite the fact that the leading function of the scientific style is the description of a fact or phenomenon, the additional function, the ability to build logical relationships, constantly reminds of itself when analyzing texts in various aspects. Linguists believe that the scientific style is one of the most actively developing in the modern Russian language, this is due to the fact that progress does not stand still, and appropriate language tools are simply needed to describe emerging new inventions.
