Kakulya Zh. M. (Master’s Degree Student), Nesterik  E. V. (Cand.Sc. Philology)

Karaganda State University named after E. A. Buketov, Kazakhstan

FEATURES OF SCIENTIFIC STYLE

The scientific style is a functional stylistic kind of the literary language which serves various branches of science (exact, natural sciences, humanities, etc.), the field of engineering and production and is implemented in genres of a monograph, a scientific article, a summary, a paper, a thesis, a scientific report, a lecture, a report on scientific subjects, a review, as well as in educational and scientific and technical literature, etc. The most important problem of the scientific style of speech is to explain the reasons of phenomena, to report, to describe essential signs, properties of a subject of scientific knowledge.

The main form of implementation of the scientific style is written speech, though with increasing the role of science in various fields of activity, expansion of scientific contacts, development of mass media there increases the role of oral form of communication with the use of scientific style.

The main communicative task of communication in the scientific sphere is expressing scientific concepts and conclusions. The thinking in this field of activity has a generalized, abstracted, logical character. It causes such peculiar features of the scientific style as abstractness, generality, emphasized logicality of a statement, and the secondary ones, more private, style lines: semantic accuracy (unambiguity of the thought expression), informative saturation, objectivity of a statement, absence of figurativeness and emotionality. Generality and abstractness of the scientific prose language are dictated by specifics of scientific thinking. Science treats about concepts, expresses an abstract thought therefore its language is deprived of concreteness. In this regard it is opposed to the fiction language.

 

 

Lexical means of the scientific style

The main feature of the language means organization in the scientific style is their generalized-and-abstract character at the lexical and grammatical levels of the language system that gives to the scientific speech a uniform functional and stylistic coloring. The vocabulary of the scientific speech is made by three main layers: common words, general scientific words and terms.

Words of common language which most often occur in scientific texts belong to the common vocabulary. Depending on the structure of readers the share of the common vocabulary changes: it decreases in the works intended for experts and increases in the genres turned to wide audience. Common words in the scientific style are used in their nominative meaning that permits to designate the essence of a concept or a phenomenon objectively. However in the concrete scientific text they can change their semantics.

The general scientific vocabulary is the second considerable layer of the scientific speech. It is already a part of the language of science, i.e. the language of  describing scientific objects and phenomena. By means of general scientific words the phenomena and processes in different areas of science and equipment are described. These words are assigned to certain concepts, but they are not terms, though they have a terminological character, for example: an operation, a task, a phenomenon, a process, to absorb, an abstract, acceleration, a size, a function, a value, an element, a result, a consequence, an analysis, a synthesis, a system, to be based, universal, etc.

Of the scientific style it is characteristic a wide use of the abstract vocabulary prevailing over the concrete: evaporation, freezing, pressure, thinking, reflection, radiation, zero gravity, acidity, convertibility, etc. In the distracted and generalized meanings there are used not only words with abstract semantics, but also words designating concrete subjects out of the scientific style. The general-and-abstract character of speech is emphasized also by the use of special words of such a type: usually, ordinary, always, constantly, systematically, regularly, everyone, any, everybody.

Since in the field of science and engineering there is required the most exact definition of concepts and phenomena of reality reflecting the accuracy and objectivity of scientific truth and judgments, a specific feature of the scientific style vocabulary is using terms.

A term (from Latin terminus: 'border, limit') is a word or a phrase which is the name of a special concept of any sphere of production, science or art. Each branch of science has its terminology united in one term system (medical, mathematical, physical, philosophical, linguistic, literary, etc. terminology). In this system a term strives for unambiguity, it does not express expression and is stylistically neutral. The lexical meaning of a term corresponds to the concept developed in this field of science. The terms which are a part of several term systems and in a concrete text are used in one meaning, are characteristic of a certain terminological system.

Phraseological means of the scientific style

Phraseological combinations of the scientific style are also characterized by their features. Here there are used common-literary, interstyle steady constructions. Unlike other types of phrases terminological phrases lose figurativeness and have no synonyms.

t is possible to refer to the scientific style phraseology different speech clichés, such as: represent, includes, consists of..., it is applied in (for)..., consists in..., belongs to..., etc.

There are not used in the scientific style words and established collocations phrases with emotional and expressional and colloquial coloring, as well as words of the limited sphere of use (archaisms, jargons, dialecticisms, etc.).

 

 

Syntactical means of the scientific style

The aspiration to information saturation causes the selection of the most capacious and compact syntactic constructions. In the scientific style there prevail simple extended and complex sentences. Among the first the most common are indefinite-personal with a direct object at the beginning of the sentence that are synonymous to passive constructions.

The scientific speech abstractness and generality at the syntactic level is expressed first of all in a wide use of passive constructions. The use of nominative sentences in scientific texts is quite limited. They are used usually in headings, formulations of points of the plan. The rate of using these or those types of compound sentences is defined by such a peculiar feature of the scientific speech, as logicality. Among complex sentences in the scientific speech there prevail compound and complex ones with an accurately expressed syntactic link between separate parts. The prevalence of syndetic sentences over asyndetic ones is explained by that when using conjunctions the link between the parts of a compound sentence is expressed more precisely, unambiguously. From syndetic sentences the most common are complex as in subordination the relationship between separate provisions are expressed more accurately.

The most widespread and typical type of communication for the scientific speech  there is the repetition of nouns, often in combination with demonstrative pronouns this, that, such: In modern grammatical science there are used various ways of a description of the language grammatical system. In these descriptions there are realized different, very dissimilar concepts...

The need for an accurate logical structure of the scientific speech causes a wide use in the linking function of adverbs, adverbial expressions, as well as the other parts of speech and combinations of words: therefore, therefore, at first, then, in summary, so, thus, at last, moreover, etc. They, as a rule, stand at the beginning of the sentence and serve for association of the text parts that are logically closely connected with each other.

In scientific texts representing a reasoning or a statement of conclusions, generalizations, decisions there are frequently used parentheses or phrases expressing relations between the statement parts. Sentences are often complicated by participial and verbal adverb phrases, inserted constructions, specifying members, isolated constructions.

Diversity and genres of the scientific styles

Diversity of the scientific style of speech (substyles)                                              

 

Genres, types of texts

 

Proper scientific

Monograph, paper, report, term work, graduation work, dissertation

Scientific-technical  (production-technical)

Scientific-technical report, technical description, design documentation

 

Scientific-informative

Summary, abstract, notes, patent description, review

 

Scientific-reference

Dictionary, reference-book, catalog

Academic

Textbook, methodological aids, lecture, notes, abstract

 

Science-education

Essay, book, lecture, paper

 

Scientific texts of various genres are constructed according to the uniform logical scheme. In the basis of this scheme there is the main thesis: a statement requiring justification; the thesis includes a subject of speech (what is said in the text of) and the main analyzed sign (what is said of this subject). The proofs of the main thesis are arguments (arguments, bases referred to as a proof) which quantity depends on the genre and the volume of the scientific text. For a more complete argumentation of the thesis there are needed illustrations: examples confirming the put-forward theoretical provisions. The scientific style text comes to the end with the conclusion (summary) which contains an analytical assessment of the carried out studies, there are outlined the prospects of further studies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Литература

1. Стилистика и культуры речи: Учеб. Пособие / Т.П. Плещенко, Н.В. Федотова, Р.Г. Чечет; под ред. П.П. Шубы. — Мн.: «ТетраСистемс», 2001.

 2.Солганик Г.Я. Стилистика текста: Учебное пособие. - М.: Флинта, Наука, 1997.

3. Голуб И.Б. Русский язык и культура речи. Учебное пособие. - М.: Логос, 2002.