The stylistic norms of the Russian language are the main topic studied in the framework of the subject “stylistics”. Therefore, the article will be useful to students, secondary school students, as well as everyone who is interested in the Russian language.
Stylistics and Grammar
Often these sections are opposed to each other. Many people who are not experts in the field of philology consider grammar the main section of linguistics, and perceive stylistics as something secondary, optional.
Indeed, to write simple texts that are found in everyday life, one does not need to be fluent in the skill of correctly using stylistically colored words. Knowledge of the elementary rules of grammar is all that is needed to complete this everyday task.
Nevertheless, if the author wants his composition to evoke the desired reaction from the addressee, receives an emotional response, then the observance of the stylistic norms of the Russian language will not be superfluous.
The concept
What are the stylistic norms of the Russian language? Briefly and clearly the most important information is presented in this article.
This term can be considered in a narrow and broad sense. In the first case, it usually means the rules for the use of vocabulary, which goes beyond the framework of a commonly used dictionary, which is a hallmark of one of the styles.
The concept of styles
The Russian language, like many others, is usually divided into literary and non-literary. The first form exists only in writing. It is governed by the rules collected in special manuals, including the stylistic norms of the Russian literary language. The release of any such publication is accompanied by careful monitoring of the content. The names of institutions providing such verification, as well as the progress of this procedure, are prescribed in the legislation of our country.
Non-literary language exists exclusively in oral form.
Each word, in addition to its meaning, also has a stylistic affiliation. It can belong to the number of so-called common units or have a certain stylistic coloring.
What does it mean?
There are four styles in the Russian literary language, each of which is used in certain situations.
The scientific style is used in academic work.
Its characteristic feature is the use of scientific terms, as well as a large number of clericalism (revolutions “in view of”, “it follows from this”, and so on).
The complete opposite is the conversational style - the most “democratic” of all.
It usually uses vocabulary with a neutral color, as well as words with pronounced expression. In this style, depending on the situation, jargon, vernacular and so on can be used.
Journalistic style. Literary language
Takes an intermediate place between colloquial and scientific. It is the language of newspaper articles, online publications, and similar materials.
The literary style is characteristic of works of art. May contain elements of all the above styles. The main rule of this type of speech: all words, expressions and syntactic constructions should be aimed at achieving the intent of the author.
Other meaning
In the narrow sense of the word, the stylistic norms of the Russian language are the rules for the use of vocabulary belonging to one of these varieties of literary speech.
In school essays, errors related to their violation, although not considered gross, are nevertheless taken into account and affect the assessment. For professional authors, the ability to avoid such shortcomings is a mandatory requirement for their work.
In the broad sense, other rules apply to the stylistic norms of the modern Russian language .
It must be remembered
First of all, it is necessary to monitor compliance with stylistic completeness. Phrases with a missing element are one of the most common violations of this stylistic norm of the Russian language. Example: "He does not like the idea" instead of the correct "He does not like this idea." Conversely, the error may lie in the description of details that are understandable without it. Here is an example of such a flaw: “Today is Thursday. He will come to visit me on Friday, tomorrow. ”
It is also undesirable to modify or supplement persistent expressions. This rule is violated in the following sentence: "Everything turned upside down on its head."
Words from a different era
So that the text does not cause the reader a sense of discomfort, it should not only contain a mixture of styles, but also anachronisms. So in linguistics is called the use of words and expressions, atypical for that era, which is discussed in the work. For example, it would be considered a mistake if the writer put the following phrase into the mouth of a knight of the Middle Ages: "Comrade King, I am devoted to you with all my heart."
The appeal used in this sentence is not characteristic of the Middle Ages. Such a form in those days simply did not exist; it appeared only after the French Revolution.
Cases of bygone days
It is also considered a mistake to use an outdated lexicon in a modern text, if it is not a special authorial device and does not serve to reveal the intention of the writer.
It should be mentioned here that obsolete words in the Russian language are divided into two types. The first of these is called historicism. So it is customary to designate the names of objects and phenomena that were once relevant, but are not currently used.
Here are examples of such words: plow, arshin, corvee. These terms are outdated because the very things and phenomena that they denote have ceased to exist. For example, after the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861, the word "corvée" has lost its relevance and can be used today only in documentary literature, scientific works, as well as in works of art narrating about events that occurred before the second half of the nineteenth century.
The second type of obsolete words is called archaisms.
High style
Archaisms are names used in the past for those objects and phenomena that have not lost their relevance today. For example, the word ochi existed in ancient Russia to denote human organs of vision. Over time, it has been supplanted from everyday use by the term “eyes”. Now the Old Slavonic word is used primarily in poetry or in works of art that take place in the Middle Ages.
Sometimes it happens that historicisms and archaisms again become neutral in color. So, in pre-revolutionary Russia there was a state post of governor. After the Great October Revolution, a reform of local government took place, as a result of this position was abolished. Today, it again exists with the same name.
Separation by purpose of utterance
In addition to literary styles, there are also functional-semantic types of speech, this is narration, reasoning and explanation. Their names speak for themselves, explaining the essence of each of them. Observance of the logic of using certain language means in each of these types is also a stylistic norm.
For example, reasoning involves a detailed presentation of the author’s thoughts on a particular issue, a clear disclosure of the idea. Consequently, the use of such means of artistic expression in such texts as metaphors, epithets, hyperbolas, etc., is most often inappropriate.
A bit about literary styles
The following will list some common errors that occur when writing texts in various styles.
In fiction, brevity and conciseness are not always acceptable, in contrast to scientific papers and business documents. In the context of such a work, the sentence “the tree was beautiful” is perceived as insufficient.
It lacks a vivid, imaginative description of the plant, the use of means of artistic expression. The scientific and official style is characterized by the use of scientific terms and clericalism. The use of such expressions in colloquial speech and journalism is contrary to stylistic norms.
For example, the sentence “Vasiliev was late because of the unfavorable situation on the road” may be used in an official document, but in colloquial terms it will sound too strict.
Bring it in proper form - a similar task with an answer can be found in the collection of exercises with answers on the stylistic norms of the Russian language. “Vasiliev was late because he was stuck in traffic” - this is how you can rephrase this sentence.
Formal business and scientific styles are also characterized by the dividing of the predicate into several components, for example, instead of “went” it is desirable to use “made a trip”. For journalistic and artistic styles, this approach is undesirable. It leads to verbosity, which in this case is a mistake.
Conclusion
In this article, the concept of stylistic norms of the Russian language was given. Several chapters examined the rules of the corresponding section of linguistics. More complete information about the stylistic norms of the modern Russian literary language can be found in textbooks.