Scientific Prose Style(SPS)

Literary and Linguostylistic Characteristics

Typology of Scientific TextsPrimary

I. Scientific articles:

a) theoretical

b) polemic

c) sharing experience

d) editorials

II. Monographs

III. Textbooks

Secondary

I. Annotations:

a) informative

b) interpreting

c) reviewing

II. Abstracts

III. Reviews:

a) of literature

b) of a primary scientific publication

What Is a Genre?

A genre of organizational communication is a typified communicative act having a socially defined and recognized communicative purpose with regard to its audience.

All the above texts are genres of the SPS.

Characteristic Features of SPS

1. Rigour and Precision

This feature is achieved with the help of a) terms [polysemy, atom, linguistic, etc.]

b) general scientific vocabulary [research, investigate, report, survey, experiment]

c) everyday vocabulary (used specifically) [size, weight, take, conduct, many, high, low, etc.]

Characteristic Features of SPS

II. Impersonality

1) Passive voice:

The reason why so little progress has so far been made in the field in question is that syntactic studies have not yet emancipated themselves: they are still bound hand and foot, by the conventions and restrictions of theoretical logic…

Characteristic Features of SPS

2) Impersonal passive constructions:

It must be emphasized…

It can be inferred...

It should be noted…

3) The use of pronouns «we», «you»: You will have known by now that … We are all aware of the fact that ...

Characteristic Features of SPS

III. Logical sequence of utterances

A lot of lexical-grammatical means:

a) logical connectives of addition [besides, furthermore, in addition, etc.]

b)…of causality [accordingly, as a result of, consequently, hence, therefore, etc.]

Characteristic Features of SPS

c) logical sequence of ideas [then, afterwards, later, as follows, etc.]

d) opposition or contrast [however, unlike, yet, nevertheless, otherwise, in contrast to, etc.]

e) division into logical blocks [firstly, secondly, finally, lastly, etc.]

Characteristic Features of SPS

IV. Logical connection of sentences and paragraphs

1. THAT - clauses:

It follows that ...

It has often been stated that …

It is taken for granted that …

2. THERE - sentences:There can be no doubt that …

There appears to be no reason for assuming that ...

Types of Scientific Paragraphs

The Beginning of a Scientific Discourse

Postulatory Paragraph

1) Theoretical assumptions already known.

2) Scientific facts and data systematized.

Argumentative Paragraph

1. Analysis of different viewpoints.

2. Persuasion by one’s own method or theory.

3. Illustration of the particular importance of one’s research.

Formulative Paragraph

1. Explanation why progress has not been achieved yet.

2. An end to argumentation and analysis of different views.

Postulatory Paragraph

Received pronunciation (RP) has been the dialect described and presented, for over half a century, in a very considerable corpus of material produced for the teaching of English as a second or foreign language… It is important that in the course of describing and particularly of teaching this dialect, linguists and textbook writers have systematized and standardized it. In that sense it has become a form of standard English.

Answer the Questions1. What is put forward in the paragraph

under discussion as a given fact?

2. Does the author explain why RP has become a form of standard English? On what information is the author’s assumption based?

3. Formulate the idea of the paragraph with the help of: There is every reason to suppose that… It is common knowledge that...

Argumentative Paragraph

When we speak about syntax, we must make it quite clear that by syntax we do not understand “the syntax of the sentence”. We are not interested in trying to discover how many simple, compound, complex, etc. sentences we use. This, we think, is completely irrelevant, whereas the division into paragraphs - the paragraph as a semiotic device, and the average length of paragraphs being 7-8 lines - is an important conclusion to make.

Answer the Questions1. Does the paragraph present a discussion,

a reasoning?

2. What are the authors against? Why do they oppose the existing way of studying a text?

3. What do they offer instead? How do they support their point of view?

4. Does their point of view sound persuasive?

5. How will you formulate the main idea of this paragraph?

Formulate the Main Idea

By way of reasoning the authors offer... The authors of this discourse are disinclined to admit… It stands to reason if … Therefore the authors put forward… Our objection to this theory is that …The short review offered by the authors persuades us that… The authors’ criticism is directed against… Instead, they suggest a theory according to which...

Formulative Paragraph

The reason why so little progress has so far been made in the field in question is that syntactic studies have not yet emancipated themselves: they are still bound hand and foot, by the conventions and restrictions of theoretical logic, and worse still, by the emerging tenets (принцип, догма) of general semiotics. It is therefore difficult to understand even today where the syntax of natural languages really comes in.

Answer the Questions

1. What does the paragraph put forward? Does it explain the reason why progress has not been made yet?

2. Does it offer any problem?

3. Can such a paragraph give a definition?

4. How will you word the topic sentence of such a paragraph?

Give the Topic Sentence

Use the following models for the beginning:

The major drawback for existing theories (method, approach, etc.) is that…

The problem presented here is connected with…

Our working hypothesis claims that…

The problem may be outlined as follows…

LITERATURE

1. Арнольд И.В. Стилистика. Современный английский язык. - М.: Флинта, 2002. - С.335-242.

2. Ивашкин М.П. Практикум… С.67-68.

3. Гальперин И.Р. Stylistics. - Pp.319-324.

4. Proshina Z.G. Theory of Translation.-2002.

- Pp.184-188.