Serving for direct communication between people. Its main function is communicative (information exchange). The conversational style is presented not only in but also in the written form - in the form of letters, notes. But this style is mainly used in oral speech- dialogues, polylogues.
It is characterized by ease, unpreparedness of speech (lack of thinking over the proposal before speaking and preliminary selection of the necessary language material), informality, spontaneity of communication, mandatory transmission of the author’s attitude to the interlocutor or the subject of speech, economy of speech effort (“Mash”, “Sash”, “San”) Sanych" and others). Context plays a big role in conversational style certain situation and the use of non-verbal means (reaction of the interlocutor, gestures, facial expressions).
Lexical characteristics of conversational style
Linguistic differences include the use of non-lexical means (stress, intonation, rate of speech, rhythm, pauses, etc.). The linguistic features of the conversational style also include the frequent use of colloquial, colloquial and slang words (for example, “start” (start), “now” (now), etc.), words in a figurative meaning (for example, “window” - in meaning "break"). Colloquial is distinguished by the fact that very often words in it not only name objects, their characteristics, actions, but also give them an assessment: “dodgy”, “well done”, “careless”, “clever”, “cheerful”, “cheerful”.
The conversational style is also characterized by the use of words with magnifying or diminutive suffixes (“spoon”, “little book”, “bread”, “seagull”, “pretty”, “huge”, “little red”), phraseological phrases (“got up in the morning ", "rushed as fast as he could"). Speech often includes particles, interjections, and addresses (“Masha, go get some bread!”, “Oh, my goodness, who came to us!”).
Conversational style: syntax features
The syntax of this style is characterized by the use of simple sentences (most often compound and non-union sentences), (in dialogue), the widespread use of exclamations and interrogative sentences, lack of involvement and participial phrases in sentences, the use of words-sentences (negative, affirmative, incentive, etc.). This style is characterized by interruptions in speech, which can be caused by for various reasons(by the speaker’s excitement, searching for the right word, unexpectedly jumping from one thought to another).
The use of additional constructions that break the main sentence and introduce into it certain information, clarifications, comments, amendments, and explanations also characterizes the conversational style.
In colloquial speech there may be parts in which parts are interconnected by lexical-syntactic units: the first part contains evaluative words (“clever”, “well done”, “stupid”, etc.), and the second part substantiates this evaluation, for example : “Well done for helping!” or “Fool Mishka for listening to you!”
The conversational style is appropriate in the sphere of everyday, everyday and professional informal relationships. The predominant form of speech is oral (conversation, conversation), but it is possible to use a conversational style in some genres of written speech - personal diaries, notes, private letters.
In texts of the colloquial style, to a greater extent than in texts of other styles, the function of communication, or communicative, is realized.
The main properties of conversational style texts include informality, ease, unpreparedness of communication, lack of preliminary selection of linguistic means, participation of gestures, facial expressions, dependence on the situation, characteristics and relationships of speakers, a lower degree of regulation compared to book styles.
Since spoken texts are predominantly oral, a special role is played by means of the phonetic level - intonation, pauses, rhythm, tempo of speech, logical stress. Unlike other genres that exist in oral form - a scientific report, a political speech, a lecture - conversational texts are characterized by incomplete, sometimes unclear pronunciation of sounds, syllables, words, and a fast pace of speech. The orthoepic, or pronunciation, norm of colloquial speech allows for options: Hello, Leksey Mikhalych (Hello, Alexey Mikhailovich), “agreement” with stress on the first syllable (in a scientific report, lecture, speech, such stress is undesirable).
The vocabulary of conversational style texts is characterized by the predominance of concrete words over abstract ones (table, chair, sleep, eat), the widespread use of words with emotional-evaluative (eagle, dog - about a person) and colloquial-colloquial (sleep, get into trouble) coloring, as well as metaphors (vinaigrette, porridge, okroshka - about confusion; jelly, noodles, slob - about a sluggish, spineless person) against the background of neutral vocabulary. Book, foreign language and terminological vocabulary is rarely used. A feature of conversational style texts are the so-called empty words, which can replace any other words (deed, thing, thing): “I drink without sugar, but with this thing (pie).” In everyday communication, it is possible to name objects in a special way: “Give me something to cover myself with (blanket, plaid, sheet). Speech occasionalisms are often used - words created in the process of speaking, and their meaning is clear without additional explanations (opener - can opener, squealers - high-heeled shoes). Synonyms are often used, including occasional ones, and it is permissible to expand the compatibility of words.
At the word-formation level, the emotionality and evaluativeness of colloquial style texts is realized with the help of suffixes subjective assessment with the meaning of endearment, disapproval, magnification (cold, hot, belly, thin), repetitions of words (barely, big, very big). The tendency to save linguistic resources in colloquial style texts is manifested in the fact that a phrase can be replaced by one word (condensed milk - condensed milk, stew - stewed meat, minibus - minibus) and in the formation of new words by truncation (magician - tape recorder, teacher - teacher , video - video recorder, cash - cash, strain - tension).
At the morphological level, the conversational style is characterized by the predominance of verbs over nouns, the frequent use of personal pronouns (I, we, you, etc.), particles (well, well, after all), the use of interjections as predicates (He jumped into the water), the use present tense in the meaning of the past (this is what happened: I was walking, I looked, and he was standing and hiding), the presence of special vocative forms (Sash! Zhen!), as well as unchangeable forms (the mood is so-so), the absence of participles, gerunds and short forms of adjectives . Only in conversational texts is it permissible to simplify the declension of phrases (I don’t have one hundred and twenty-five rubles, ask Yegor Petrovich), the use of case endings with -u (to leave the house, to be on vacation; cf.: to leave the house, to be on vacation) , on – and in them. p.m. h. (agreements, sectors; cf.: agreements, sectors) and in gender. p.m. the number of zero endings in some words (orange, tomato, kilogram; cf.: oranges, tomatoes, kilograms), use of forms comparative degree on -ey and with the prefix po- (stronger, faster, better, simpler; cf.: stronger, faster, better, simpler).
In the syntax of spoken texts, as well as at the phonetic, word-formation, lexical and morphological levels, general properties are realized - expressiveness, evaluativeness, the desire to save language resources, and lack of preparedness. This is manifested in the private use of incomplete (I’m going to the store; Would you like coffee or tea?), impersonal 9It’s hot today), interrogative (When will you be back?), incentive offers(Come on quickly!), free word order (K Central Market how to get through?), in special predicates (And she’s dancing again; he’s sitting reading; he doesn’t know), the omission of a correlative word in the main part of a complex sentence (Put it where you got it; cf.: Put it where you got it from), in the use of introductory words , inserted constructions (I probably won’t come; Zoya will come (she’s my cousin)), interjections (Wow!). According to scientists, non-conjunctive and complex sentences predominate in colloquial texts over complex sentences (complex sentences in colloquial texts account for 10%, in texts of other styles - 30%). But the most common are simple sentences, the length of which on average ranges from 5 to 9 words.
Example of conversational style text:
My dear darling Anechka, I received your sweet letter, and I was very sad to read how the kids cried when I left. Dear little darlings! Tell them right now that dad remembers them, kisses them and calls them to St. Petersburg. I hug and kiss continuously and bless you. I, Anya, am still unwell, my nerves are very irritated, and my head is like a fog, everything seems to be spinning. Never before, even after the most severe seizures, has such a state happened to me. It's very difficult. It’s like sleep and drowsiness, and they still can’t wake me up. I should take at least a couple of weeks' rest from work and incessant worries - that's what. (Dostoevsky F.M. Complete collected works: In 30 volumes. T.29. Book 1.M., 1986, P.2-9).
Conversational style text is presented in in this case in written form, although the most common is oral form. The general properties of the text include informality, ease (the author and addressee of the letter are close people), and the lack of careful selection of linguistic means.
The text of the letter mainly uses neutral vocabulary, although there are also colloquial words (dad, at least, it’s necessary). Emotional character the text is given words with evaluative suffixes (darling, darlings, Anechka, week); verbs conveying the author’s state (remembers, kisses, blesses); figurative means of language, for example comparisons (in the head it’s like fog, like sleep and drowsiness); expressive addresses (my dear darling Anechka, dear darlings); personal pronouns (I, them, with me, me), particles (same, even, at least, would). The syntax of the text is characterized by various types sentences, free word order (you should rest for at least two weeks), frequent use homogeneous members. There are extremely short sentences (Very hard); there are even unfinished ones (...that's what). The composition of the text is free, factual information, description and narration, thematic means of communication, and emotional means of influencing the addressee predominate. The type of reaction of the addressee to the text is an emotion, an action (for example, a response letter).
Examples of conversational style texts are present in fiction and journalistic literature. There is no universal language suitable for every situation. Therefore, elements of conversational style, characteristic of everyday communication, are found in the media and works of art.
Briefly about speech styles
There are several of them. Each of them has its own purpose. The artistic style is characterized by emotional coloring and imagery. It is used by authors of prose and poetic works. Scientific speech is found in textbooks, dictionaries, reference books and encyclopedias. This style is also used in meetings, reports and formal conversations.
The author of an article written in a scientific style sets the goal of accurately conveying knowledge and information, and therefore uses a large number of terms. All this allows you to clearly express thoughts, which is not always possible to achieve using spoken language.
In colloquial speech there may be words that are not found in reference books. At the same time, approximately 75% of units of the Russian literary language are used by people in any style of speech. For example, words like I, walked, forest, look, earth, sun, long ago, yesterday. They are called commonly used.
Words like rectangle, pronoun, multiplication, fractions, set, refer to scientific terms. But about 20% of words in the Russian literary language are used only in colloquial speech. Thus, “electric train” does not appear in the railway directory. Here this word replaces the term “electric train”. What are the features of spoken language?
It is implemented mainly orally. This is precisely what distinguishes spoken language from written language. In the book style, literary norms are strictly observed at all language levels. Among the styles of speech, as already mentioned, there are scientific, journalistic, and official business. They all have more common name, namely, bookish. Sometimes artistic style is distinguished as a functional style. However, this point of view raises objections among many linguists. More on the art style below.
Spontaneity
Conversational speech falls into the category of unprepared speech. It is spontaneous, involuntary. Created simultaneously with thought process. That is why its laws differ significantly from the laws of the journalistic style. But they still exist, and even in everyday communication You should remember the norms of literary language.
Examples of conversational style texts are found in speeches by public and political figures. Some of them have gained fame among the people as the authors of unique sayings and aphorisms. “We wanted the best, it turned out as always,” this phrase became famous. However, it is worth saying that its creator committed a gross stylistic error. Oratory speech should consist exclusively of elements of journalistic style. The incompleteness of the phrase and emotionality are unacceptable for it.
Expressiveness
Using everyday conversational speech, people easily share information, thoughts, feelings with loved ones and acquaintances. It is not applicable in every situation. One of the main features of the conversational style of speech is emotionality. It is appropriate in any informal setting.
In everyday communication, people constantly express their feelings, preferences, preferences or, on the contrary, indignation, irritation, hostility. In the examples of conversational style texts there is an emotionality that is not found in journalism.
Without expressiveness it is impossible to create advertising slogans. The main task of a marketer is to instill confidence in consumers, and this can be done by using texts created in the language spoken by potential buyers. An example of a conversational text: “Fly with Aeroflot planes!” If this phrase is put into a journalistic style, it will turn out to be “Use the services of the Aeroflot company!” The second option is more difficult to perceive and hardly evokes positive emotions.
Jargons and dialectisms
Spoken speech is not codified, but it has norms and laws. Certain taboos exist for her too. For example, contrary to generally accepted opinion, profanity should not be present not only in journalistic, but also in colloquial speech. In the dialogue of educated people there is no place for jargon and rude vernacular, unless, of course, these linguistic elements carry a certain emotional connotation. There should be no dialectisms in colloquial speech - signs of lack of mastery of the orthoepic norms of the Russian language. Although in some cases they are also irreplaceable.
Examples of conversational style of speech are present in prose. In order to be convinced of this, you just have to open any book by Bunin, Kuprin, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoevsky or any other Russian writer. Creating a portrait of the characters, the author endows them with characteristic features that manifest themselves best in the dialogues. In this case, colloquial speech may include both jargon and dialectisms.
The norms of the literary language do not include vernacular language. But they are also often found in everyday speech. Example: “I came from Moscow.” It is worth knowing that the incorrect use of verbs is outside the norms and conversational style.
Artistic style
Writers use a variety of linguistic means to the maximum extent. Artistic style does not represent a system of homogeneous linguistic phenomena. He is devoid of stylistic closure. Its specificity depends on the individual style of a particular author. And, as already mentioned, examples of conversational style texts are present on the pages of works of fiction. Below is one of them.
Reading the famous novel by Mikhail Bulgakov “The Master and Margarita”, you can already find many examples of texts in a colloquial style of speech in the first chapter. Elements of everyday language are present in the dialogues. One of the characters says the phrase “You, professor, have come up with something awkward. It may be smart, but it’s painfully incomprehensible.” If you “translate” this phrase into journalistic language, you get: “Professor, your point of view deserves attention, but raises some doubts.” Would Bulgakov's novel have gained the interest of millions of readers if the characters had expressed their thoughts so dryly and formally?
Such elements of language as jargon and dialectisms have already been mentioned above. In another work of Bulgakov, namely in the story “ Heart of a Dog», main character- Polygraph Poligrafovich - actively uses profanity in communication with the professor and other characters.
Examples of texts of conversational style of speech with abundance obscene language, which the author included in the work in order to emphasize Sharikov’s lack of education and rudeness, we will not cite here. But let us remember one of the phrases uttered by Professor Preobrazhensky, a hero in whose speech, unlike the speech of Poligraf Poligrafovich, there are no syntactic, spelling and other errors.
“If, instead of operating, I start singing in chorus in my apartment, devastation will come,” said Philip Philipovich in a dialogue with his assistant. What is the importance of colloquial speech in fiction? It is impossible to overestimate her role in prose. Being in a state of emotional excitement, the professor, an extremely educated person, makes a semantic mistake (singing in chorus) intentionally, thereby giving the speech a certain irony, without which he would not be able to express his indignation and indignation so clearly.
There are two forms of oral speech: written and oral. We looked at the first one above. Every person uses spoken language every day. It is worth talking in more detail about other features of this important layer of language.
Using pronouns
Authors of journalistic and scientific texts, as a rule, appeal to a wide audience of readers. In colloquial speech, pronouns occur quite often, especially in the first and second person. This is explained by the fact that communication takes place in an informal setting, and a small group of people takes part in it. Conversational speech is personalized.
Diminutive forms and metaphors
In modern colloquial speech there are a large number of zoomorphic metaphors. Bunny, kitty, bird, cat, mouse- all these are words that are not found in scientific articles. A person uses the name of animals in relation to his interlocutor mainly in diminutive forms, and he does this in order to express his favor and sympathy.
But other words are also found in colloquial speech. For example: goat, donkey, ram, snake, viper. If these nouns are used as zoomorphic metaphors, then they have a pronounced negative character. It is worth saying that in colloquial speech there are much more words of negative evaluation than positive ones.
Polysemy
In the Russian language there is such a commonly used word as “drum”. The verb “drum” is derived from it, which in colloquial speech is used in completely different meanings. It can be used in relation to both a person and a natural phenomenon. Examples:
- Don't drum your fingers on the table.
- The rain drums on the glass for half a day.
It is one of the few verbs that has multiple meanings in colloquial speech.
Abbreviations
First names and patronymics are used in a truncated form. For example, San Sanych instead of Alexander Alexandrovich. In linguistics, this phenomenon is called prosyopesis. In addition, in everyday speech, “dad” and “mam” are more often used than the words “mom” and “dad”, “mother” and “father”.
In conversation, people actively use aposiopesis, that is, intentionally breaking off a phrase. For example: “But if you’re not home by two, then...” Sometimes authors of literary and journalistic texts also resort to this linguistic device (“If serious changes do not occur in the economy, then...”). But first of all, aposiopesis is characteristic of colloquial speech.
Verb
If you look at one of the examples of conversational texts, you will find that verbs appear more often than nouns or adjectives. In everyday communication, people for some reason prefer words that denote actions.
According to statistics, only 15% of the total number of nouns are used in colloquial speech. As for verbs, preference is given to the present tense in cases where it would be more correct to use the future. For example: “Tomorrow we are flying to Crimea.”
Other features of spoken language
Conversational style - full functional style language, but living according to slightly different laws than written ones. When communicating freely, a person creates statements spontaneously, and therefore they do not always sound perfect. However, even colloquial speech should be monitored so that phrases such as “We wanted the best, but it turned out as always” do not appear.
Conversational style 1, as one of the varieties of the literary language, serves the sphere of casual communication between people in everyday life, in the family, as well as the sphere of informal relations in production, in institutions, etc.
The main form of implementation of the conversational style is oral speech, although it can also manifest itself in written form (informal friendly letters, notes on everyday topics, diary entries, remarks from characters in plays, in certain genres of fiction and journalistic literature). In such cases, the features of the oral form of speech are recorded 2.
The main extralinguistic features that determine the formation of a conversational style are: ease (which is possible only in informal relations between speakers and in the absence of an attitude towards a message of an official nature), spontaneity and unpreparedness of communication. Both the sender of the speech and its recipient directly participate in the conversation, often changing roles; the relationships between them are established in the very act of speech. Such speech cannot be pre-thought out; the direct participation of the addresser and the addressee determines its predominantly dialogical nature, although a monologue is also possible.
A monologue in a conversational style is a form of casual story about some events, something seen, read or heard and is addressed to a specific listener (listeners) with whom the speaker must establish contact. The listener naturally reacts to the story by expressing agreement, disagreement, surprise, indignation, etc., or by asking the speaker about something. Therefore, a monologue in spoken speech is not as clearly opposed to dialogue as in written speech.
A characteristic feature of colloquial speech is emotionality, expressiveness, and evaluative reaction. So, they wrote to the question! Instead of No, they didn’t write, usually followed by emotionally expressive answers like Where did they write there! or Directly - they wrote it!; Where did they write!; That's what they wrote!; It's easy to say - they wrote it! etc.
A major role in spoken language is played by the environment of verbal communication, the situation, as well as non-verbal means of communication (gestures, facial expressions, the nature of the relationship between the interlocutors, etc.).
The extralinguistic features of the conversational style are associated with its most general linguistic features, such as standardity, stereotypical use of language means, their incomplete structure at the syntactic, phonetic and morphological levels, intermittency and inconsistency of speech from a logical point of view, weakened syntactic connections between parts of the utterance or their lack of formality , sentence breaks with various kinds of insertions, repetitions of words and sentences, widespread use of linguistic means with a pronounced emotional-expressive coloring, activity of linguistic units with a specific meaning and passivity of units with an abstract-generalized meaning.
Colloquial speech has its own norms, which in many cases do not coincide with the norms of book speech recorded in dictionaries, reference books, and grammars (codified). The norms of colloquial speech, unlike books, are established by usage (custom) and are not consciously supported by anyone. However, native speakers sense them and perceive any unmotivated deviation from them as a mistake. This allowed researchers (O. B. Sirotinina, A. N. Vasilyeva, N. Yu. Shvedova, O. A. Lapteva, etc.) to claim that modern Russian colloquial speech normalized, although the norms in it are quite peculiar. In colloquial speech, to express similar content in typical and recurring situations, ready-made constructions, stable phrases, and various kinds of speech cliches are created (formulas of greeting, farewell, appeal, apology, gratitude, etc.). These ready-made, standardized speech means are automatically reproduced and help strengthen the normative nature of colloquial speech, which is the distinctive feature of its norm. However, the spontaneity of verbal communication, the lack of preliminary thinking, the use of non-verbal means of communication and the specificity of the speech situation lead to a weakening of norms.
Thus, in a conversational style, stable speech standards coexist, reproduced in typical and repeated situations, and general literary speech phenomena that can be subject to various shifts. These two circumstances determine the specificity of the norms of conversational style: due to the use of standard speech means and techniques, the norms of the conversational style, on the one hand, are characterized by a higher degree of bindingness compared to the norms of other styles, where synonymy and free maneuvering with a set of acceptable speech means are not excluded. On the other hand, general literary speech phenomena characteristic of the conversational style may, to a greater extent than in other styles, be subject to various shifts.
In a conversational style, compared to a scientific and official business style, it is significantly higher specific gravity neutral vocabulary. A number of stylistically neutral words are used in figurative meanings specific to a given style. For example, the stylistically neutral verb cut off ('to separate something, part of something') in a conversational style is used in the meaning of 'to answer sharply, wanting to stop the conversation' (Said - cut off and did not repeat it again), fly ('move, move around air with the help of wings') - meaning 'to break, deteriorate' (the internal combustion engine flew). See also: blame (‘shift the blame, responsibility onto someone’), throw (‘give, deliver’), put (‘appoint to a position’), remove (‘dismiss from a position’), etc.
Everyday vocabulary is widely used: greedy, bother, instantly, tiny, unaware, rightly so, slowly, train, potato, cup, salt shaker, broom, brush, plate, etc.
In the style under consideration, the use of words with a concrete meaning is widespread and limited with an abstract one; uncharacteristic use of terms foreign words, which have not yet become commonly used. Author's neologisms (occasionalisms) are active, polysemy and synonymy are developed, and situational synonymy is widespread. A characteristic feature of the lexical system of the colloquial style is the wealth of emotionally expressive vocabulary and phraseology (hard worker, parasite, old man, silly; fool, frizzy, cast a shadow on the fence, take by the throat, climb into the bottle, starve to death).
Phraseologisms in colloquial speech are often rethought, change their form, the processes of contamination and comic renewal of the phraseme are active. A word with a phraseologically determined meaning can be used as an independent word, while preserving the meaning of the whole phraseological unit: don’t meddle - meddle - stick your nose into someone else’s business, slipped off - slip off your tongue. This expresses the law of economy of speech means and the principle of incomplete structure. A special type of colloquial phraseology consists of standard expressions, familiar formulas of speech etiquette such as How are you?; Good morning!; Be kind!; Thank you for your attention; I apologize, etc.
The use of non-literary vocabulary (jargon, vulgarisms, rude and abusive words, etc.) is not a normative phenomenon of conversational style, but rather a violation of norms, just like the abuse of book vocabulary, which gives colloquial speech an artificial character.
Expressiveness and evaluativeness are also manifested in the field of word formation. Formations with suffixes of subjective assessment with the meaning of endearment, diminutive, disdain, (dis)approval, irony, etc. are very productive (daughter, daughter, daughter, hands, furious, enormous). The formation of words with the help of affixes is active, giving a colloquial or vernacular tone. This includes nouns with the suffixes ‑ak (‑yak): weakling, good-natured; -k-a: stove, wall; -sh-a: cashier, secretary; -an(-yan); old man, troublemaker; -un: braggart, talker; ‑ish: strong, baby; -l-a: imagined, bigwig; relative: running, hustle; adjectives with suffixes ush(-yush): enormous, thin; with the prefix pre-: very kind, most unpleasant; verbs of prefix-suffix formation: walk, walk, sentence, whisper; verbs ending in fashion: to fashion, to grimace, to wander, to carpenter; na (‑a)‑nut: push, scold, scare, mutter, gasp. Colloquial speech, to a greater extent than book speech, is characterized by the use of multi-prefix verb formations (re-elect, hold back, reflect, throw away). Prefix-reflexive verbs with vivid emotional-evaluative and figurative expression are used (to run up, to work out, to agree, to think of something), and complicated prefix-reflexive formations (to dress up, to invent, to talk).
To enhance expression, doubling of words is used, sometimes with prefixation (big-big, white-white, quickly-fast, small-very-small, high-high). There is a tendency to shorten names, replace ambiguous names with single words (grade book - record book, ten-year school - ten-year school, naval school - seafarer, surgical department- surgery, specialist eye diseases- ophthalmologist, patient with schizophrenia - schizophrenic). Metonymic names are widely used (Today there will be a meeting of the trade union bureau - Today the trade union bureau; Dictionary of the Russian language compiled by S.I. Ozhegov - Ozhegov).
Notes:
1. For this variety in linguistics there is no single terminological designation: colloquial, colloquial-everyday, colloquial-everyday style. The term “colloquial speech” is also used synonymously with it.
2. Conversational style should not be identified with the oral form of speech. Oral speech, as O. B. Sirotinina rightly notes, “is divided into spoken and non-spoken. Non-spoken oral speech, in turn, can be divided according to the principle of stylistic affiliation into scientific (scientific discussion, to some extent the teacher’s speech when explaining new material and the student’s speech during a detailed answer on any topic can be attributed to it), journalistic (public lecture, speech at a meeting), business (speech in a trial, business negotiations between a dispatcher and a pilot, driver, etc.), artistic (oral stories, anecdotes)” (Russian Colloquial Rech. M, 1983. P. 16 ). Non-spoken oral speech is characterized by the features of book styles with individual deviations from the norms of the latter due to the oral form.
T.P. Pleschenko, N.V. Fedotova, R.G. Taps. Stylistics and culture of speech - Mn., 2001.
The colloquial style of language is opposed to all other styles, which are called bookish. The main condition for such a contrast is that the colloquial style uses predominantly dialogical speech, and this style functions mainly in oral form, while book styles are distinguished mainly by written form of presentation and monologue speech.
The conversational style performs the main function of language - the function of communication (in the narrow sense of the word), its purpose is the direct transmission of information mainly orally (with the exception of private letters, notes, diary entries). The linguistic features of the conversational style are determined special conditions its functioning: informality, ease and expressiveness of verbal communication, lack of preliminary selection of linguistic means, automaticity of speech, routine content and dialogical form.
The situation—the real, objective context of speech—has a great influence on conversational style. This allows you to extremely shorten a statement that may lack individual components, which, however, does not interfere with the correct perception of colloquial phrases. For example, in a bakery the phrase “One with bran, please” does not seem strange to us; at the station at the ticket office: “Two to Rekshino, children and adults,” etc.
In everyday communication, a concrete, associative way of thinking and a direct, expressive nature of expression are realized. Hence the disorder, fragmentation of speech forms and emotionality of style.
Like any style, colloquial has its own special scope of application, a specific topic. Most often, the subject of conversation is the weather, health, news, any interesting events, purchases, prices... Perhaps, of course, a discussion of the political situation, scientific achievements, news in cultural life, but these topics are also subject to the rules of conversational style, its syntactic structure, although in such cases the vocabulary of conversations is enriched with book words and terms.
For casual conversation a necessary condition is the lack of formality, trusting, free relationships between the participants in the dialogue or polylogue. The attitude towards natural, unprepared communication determines the attitude of speakers towards linguistic means.
In a conversational style, for which the oral form is primordial, vital role The sound side of speech plays a role, and above all, intonation: it is this (in interaction with a peculiar syntax) that creates the impression of conversationality. Casual speech is different sharp increases and lowering of tone, lengthening, “stretching” of vowels, chanting of syllables, pauses, changes in the tempo of speech. By sound, you can easily distinguish the complete (academic, strict) style of pronunciation inherent in a lecturer, speaker, professional announcer broadcasting on the radio (all of them are far from the colloquial style, their texts represent other book styles in oral speech!), from incomplete, characteristic of colloquial speech. It notes a less distinct pronunciation of sounds, their reduction (reduction). Instead of Alexander Alexandrovich we say San Sanych, instead of Marya Sergeevna - Mary Sergeevna. Less tension in the speech organs leads to changes in the quality of sounds and even sometimes to their complete disappearance (“hello”, not “hello”, not “says”, but “grit”, not “now”, but “ter”, instead of “what”) "" what ", etc.). This “simplification” of orthoepic norms is especially noticeable in non-literary forms of colloquial style, in common parlance.
In radio and television journalism there are special rules of pronunciation and intonation. On the one hand, in improvised, unprepared texts (conversations, interviews), it is natural and natural to follow the pronunciation norms of the conversational style, but not vernacular versions, but neutral ones. At the same time, the speaker’s high culture of speech requires precision in the pronunciation of words, emphasis, and expressiveness of the intonation pattern of speech.
Conversational style vocabulary is divided into two large groups:
1) common words (day, year, work, sleep, early, possible, good, old);
2) colloquial words (potato, reading room, zapravsky, perch).
It is also possible to use colloquial words, dialectisms, jargon, professionalisms, that is, various extra-literary elements that reduce style. All this vocabulary is predominantly of everyday content, specific. At the same time, the range of book words, abstract vocabulary, terms and little-known borrowings is very narrow. The activity of expressive-emotional vocabulary (familiar, affectionate, disapproving, ironic) is indicative. Evaluative vocabulary usually has a reduced connotation here. The use of occasional words (neologisms that we come up with on occasion) is typical - “good guy”, “deloputka”, “kundepat” (to do poorly).
In the colloquial style, the law of “saving speech means” applies, so instead of names consisting of two or more words, one is used: condensed milk - condensed milk, utility room - utility room, five-story building - five-story building. In other cases, stable combinations of words are transformed and instead of two words one is used: forbidden zone - zone, scientific council - council, sick leave– sick leave, maternity leave- maternity leave.
A special place in colloquial vocabulary is occupied by words with the most general or vague meaning, which is specified in the situation: thing, thing, matter, history. Close to them are “empty” words that acquire a certain meaning only in context (bagpipes, bandura, jalopy). For example: Where are we going to put this bandura? (about the closet).
The conversational style is rich in phraseology. Most Russian phraseological units are of a colloquial nature (at a stone’s throw, unexpectedly, like water off a duck’s back, etc.), colloquial expressions are even more expressive (the law is not written for fools, in the middle of nowhere, etc.). Colloquial and colloquial phraseological units give speech vivid imagery; They differ from book and neutral phraseological units not in meaning, but in special expressiveness and reduction.
Let's compare: to leave life - to play in the box, to mislead - to hang noodles on one's ears (to rub one's glasses in, to suck it out of one's finger, to take it from the ceiling).
The word formation of colloquial speech is characterized by features determined by its expressiveness and evaluativeness: here suffixes of subjective evaluation are used with the meanings of endearment, disapproval, magnification, etc. (mommy, honey, sunshine, child; crooked, vulgar; home; cold, etc.), as well as suffixes with a functional connotation of colloquialism, for example in nouns: suffixes ‑to– (locker room, overnight, candle, stove); -ik (knife, rain); -un (talker); -yaga (hard worker); -yatina (yummy); -sha (for feminine nouns, names of professions: doctor, conductor). Suffixless formations are used (snoring, dancing), word formations (lounger, windbag). You can also indicate the most active cases of word formation of adjectives of evaluative meaning: eye-asty, bespectacled, tooth-asty; biting, pugnacious; thin, healthy, etc., as well as verbs - prefixal-suffixal: to play pranks, to talk, to play, suffixal: der-anut, spe-kul-nut; healthy; prefixal: lose weight, buy, etc.
In order to enhance expression, doubling of adjective words is used, sometimes with additional prefixation (he is so huge - huge; the water is black - very black; she is big-eyed - big-eyed; smart - superlative), acting as a superlative degree.
In the field of morphology, the colloquial style is distinguished by the special frequency of verbs; they are used here even more often than nouns. The particularly frequent use of personal and demonstrative pronouns is also indicative. Personal pronouns (I, we, you, you) are widely used due to the constant need to designate the participants in a conversation. Any dialogue (and this is the main form of conversational speech) presupposes I - the speaker, you - the listener, who alternately takes on the role of the speaker, and he (he) - the one who is not directly involved in the conversation.
Demonstrative pronouns and others are needed in conversational style due to their inherent breadth and generality of meaning. They are concretized by a gesture, and this creates the conditions for a very compressed transmission of this or that information (for example: It’s not here, but there). Unlike other styles, only colloquial allows the use of a pronoun accompanied by a gesture without prior mention of a specific word (I won’t take that; This one doesn’t suit me).
Of the adjectives in colloquial speech, possessive ones are used (mother’s work, grandfather’s gun), but short forms rarely used. Participles and gerunds are not found here at all, and for particles and interjections, colloquial speech is their native element (What can I say! That’s the thing! God forbid you even remember about it! It’s a surprise for you!).
In the conversational style, preference is given to variant forms of nouns (in the workshop, on vacation, at home; a glass of tea, honey; workshop, mechanic), numerals (fifty, five hundred), verbs (I’ll read, not read, raise, not raise). In live conversation, truncated forms of verbs are often found that have the meaning of instant and unexpected action: grab, jump, jump, knock, etc. For example: And this one grabs his sleeve. Conversational forms of degrees of comparison of adjectives (better, shorter, more difficult), adverbs (quickly, more conveniently) are used. Even vernacular forms are found here in humorous contexts (her boyfriend, her comrades). In colloquial speech, zero endings in the genitive case are fixed plural such nouns as kilogram (instead of kilograms), gram (instead of grams), orange (instead of oranges), tomato (instead of tomatoes), etc. (one hundred grams of butter, five kilograms of orange).
Under the influence of the law of economy of speech means, the conversational style allows the use of material nouns in combination with numerals (two milks, two fermented baked milk - in the meaning of “two servings”). Here, peculiar forms of address are common - truncated nouns: mom! dad! Roll! Van!
Colloquial speech is no less original in its distribution case forms: the nominative dominates here, which in oral remarks replaces book controlled forms.
For example: I bought a fur coat - gray astrakhan fur (I bought a fur coat made of gray astrakhan fur) ; Porridge - look! (conversation in the kitchen). The nominative case is especially consistent in replacing all others when using numerals in speech: The amount does not exceed three hundred rubles (instead of: three hundred); with one thousand five hundred and three rubles (with one thousand five hundred and three).
The syntax of colloquial speech is very unique, which is due to its oral form and vivid expression. Simple sentences dominate here, often incomplete and extremely short. The situation fills in gaps in speech: Please show me in the line (when purchasing notebooks); From the heart to you? (in a pharmacy), etc.
In oral speech, we often do not name an object, but describe it: Were you wearing a hat here? As a result of unprepared speech, connecting constructions appear in it: We must go. To St. Petersburg. To the conference. This fragmentation of the phrase is explained by the fact that the thought develops associatively, the speaker seems to recall details and complements the statement.
Complex sentences are not typical for colloquial speech; non-union sentences are used more often than others: If I leave, it will be easier for you; You speak, I listen. Some non-union colloquial constructions are not comparable to any book phrases. For example: Is there a lot of choice there or haven’t you been?; And next time, please, this lesson and the last one!
The order of words in live speech is also unusual: as a rule, the most important word in the message is placed first: Buy me a computer; Paid in foreign currency; The most terrible thing is that nothing can be done; These are the qualities I value.
The following features of conversational syntax should be noted:
1. The use of a pronoun that duplicates the subject: Faith, she comes late; The district police officer noticed it.
2. Bringing an important word from the subordinate clause to the beginning of the sentence: I like bread to always be fresh.
3. Use of words-sentences: Okay; Clear; Can; Yes; No; Why? Certainly! Of course! Well, yes! Not really! Maybe.
4. The use of plug-in structures that introduce additional, additional information that explains the main message: I thought (I was still young then), he was joking; And we, as you know, are always happy to have a guest; Kolya - he in general kind person- wanted to help...
5. Activity of introductory words: maybe, it seems, fortunately, as they say, so to speak, let's say, you know.
6. Widespread use of lexical repetitions: so-so, just about, barely, far-far, quickly, quickly, etc.
In conclusion, we note that the colloquial style, to a greater extent than all other styles, has a striking originality of linguistic features that go beyond the scope of the standardized literary language.
This does not mean that colloquial speech always conflicts with literary language rules. Deviations from the norm may vary depending on the intra-style stratification of the conversational style. It contains varieties of reduced, rude speech, vernacular speech that has absorbed the influence of local dialects, etc. But the colloquial speech of intelligent people, educated people It is completely literary, and at the same time it differs sharply from the book, bound by the strict norms of other functional styles.
Questions for self-control:
1. How does the sphere of functioning determine the linguistic characteristics of conversational style?
2. Vocabulary and word formation in conversational style.
3. Morphological and syntactic features of oral conversational speech.
Table 1. Characteristics of conversational style
