The main stylistic features of the official business style of speech. Formal business style: examples

Official business style is a style that serves the legal and administrative and public spheres of activity. It is used when writing documents, business papers and letters in government agencies, courts, as well as in various types of business oral communication.

Among book styles, the official business style stands out for its relative stability and isolation. Over time, it naturally undergoes some changes, but many of its features: historically established genres, specific vocabulary, morphology, syntactic phrases - give it a generally conservative character.

The official business style is characterized by dryness, the absence of emotionally charged words, conciseness, and compactness of presentation.

In official papers, the set of language means used is predetermined. The most striking feature of the official business style is linguistic cliches, or so-called cliches. A document is not expected to show the individuality of its author; on the contrary, the more clichéd a document is, the more convenient it is to use.

Official business style is the style of documents of different genres: international treaties, state acts, legal laws, regulations, charters, instructions, official correspondence, business papers, etc. But, despite the differences in content and variety of genres, the official business style as a whole is characterized by common and most important features. These include:

1). accuracy, excluding the possibility of other interpretations;
2). locale standard.

These traits find their expression:

a) in the selection of linguistic means (lexical, morphological and syntactic);
b) in the preparation of business documents.

Let's consider the features of official business style.

The main area in which the official business style operates is administrative and legal activity. This style satisfies the need of society for documenting various acts of state, social, political, economic life, business relations between the state and organizations, as well as between members of society in the official sphere of their communication.

Texts of official business style of speech represent a huge variety of genres: charter, law, order, regulation, contract, instruction, complaint, recipe, various kinds of statements, autobiography, explanatory note, questionnaire, statistical report, etc.

The expression of legal will in business documents determines the properties, main features of business speech and the social and organizational use of language. The genres of official business style perform informational, prescriptive, and ascertaining functions in various fields of activity, therefore the main form of implementation of this style is written.

Despite the differences in the content of individual genres and the degree of their complexity, official business speech has common stylistic features: accuracy of presentation, which does not allow the possibility of differences in interpretation; detail of presentation; stereotyping, standard presentation; the dutifully prescriptive nature of the presentation. To this we can add such features as formality, rigor of expression of thought, objectivity, logic - which is characteristic of scientific speech.

The function of social regulation, which plays the most important role in official business speech, imposes on the corresponding texts the requirement of unambiguous reading. In this regard, each text should be characterized by such accuracy in the presentation of information that would not allow the possibility of different interpretations. An official document will serve its purpose if its content is carefully thought out and its language is impeccable.

It is this goal that determines the standard design of many business documents (personnel records sheet, questionnaire, receipt for payment of housing and communal services, etc.).

Consider an example: “When studying any international agreement, and in particular an agreement on the elimination of double taxation, it is first necessary to clearly define its scope in two aspects:

- taxes covered by the agreement;
- territories covered by the agreement.”

Even in this short passage there are words and phrases with an official legal connotation (international agreement, double taxation, taxes), the phrase “needs to be determined” expressing the obligation, such features as the severity of expression of thought, impartial statement, complete impersonality of presentation.

The official business style is characterized by a tendency to reduce the number of meanings of words, up to narrow terminology. Therefore, texts of this style often provide precise definitions of the words and concepts used. Polysemy (polysemy), metaphorical use of words, use of words in figurative meanings are unacceptable, synonyms are used to an insignificant extent (as a rule, they belong to the same style).

Typical for business language are complex words formed from two or more words: tenant, employer, material and technical, above, below, etc. The formation of such words is explained by the desire of business language to accurately convey meaning and unambiguous interpretation. The same purpose is served by phrases of a “non-idiomatic” nature, for example, destination, higher education institution, tax return, joint-stock company, housing cooperative, etc. The uniformity of such phrases and their high repetition lead to the clichédness of the linguistic means used, which gives the texts of an official business style a standard character.

Official business speech reflects not individual, but social experience, as a result of which its vocabulary is extremely generalized in semantic terms, i.e. Everything that is sharply unique, concrete, and unique has been eliminated, and the typical has been brought to the fore.

Business speech is characterized by the use of verbal nouns (replenishing the budget, providing housing, serving the population, taking measures) and participles (given, indicated, above-named). Complex denominative prepositions are widely used (in part, along the line, on the subject, in order to avoid, upon reaching, upon returning).

Typically, a sentence contains a fairly large amount of information and is designed to be read again. Simple sentences are often complicated by homogeneous members, which is due to the need to exhaust the subject of the message. Passive structures are actively used; complex sentences with a subordinate clause: “The procedure for conducting the meeting and examining additional evidence, if it was presented, to the appellate instance is determined by the presiding officer. As a general rule, explanations from the persons participating in the case and their representatives are first heard. First, the person who filed the appeal and his representative speak. In the event of an appeal by both parties, the plaintiff will act first.”

In this passage, the first sentence is a complex sentence with a subordinate clause. The following sentences contain several participles (participating, submitting), a passive verb (being heard), and a complex denominative preposition (in the case). Strict logic and precision of presentation determine the sequence of actions in the presented situation. This text acts as a regulation and establishes the procedure for considering an appeal.

OFFICIAL BUSINESS SPEECH STYLE

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 Linguistic features of an official business style of speech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.1 Lexical features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2 Morphological and word-formation features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.3 Syntactic features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2 Genre diversity of official business style of speech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

List of sources used. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Introduction

The most important functions of this style - communication and influence - are implemented in such official documents as laws, regulations, decrees, orders, contracts, agreements, business correspondence, statements, receipts, etc. This style is also called administrative, since it serves the sphere of official, business relations, area of law and public policy. Its other name - business speech - indicates that this style is the most ancient of book styles, its origins are in the business speech of the era of the Kievan state, in which legal documents (agreements, “Russian Truth”, various charters) were created already in the 10th century. century.

The official business style stands out among other book styles for its stability, isolation and standardization. Despite the wide variety of business documents, their language is strictly subject to the requirements of official business presentation: the accuracy of the wording of legal norms and the need for absolute adequacy of their understanding, the composition of the mandatory elements of document design that ensure its legal validity, the standardized nature of presentation, stable forms of arrangement of material in a certain logical sequences, etc.

For all forms of business writing, strict compliance with the literary norm is required at all language levels: the use of lexical and phraseological means of a colloquial, colloquial nature, dialect, professional slang words is unacceptable; non-literary variants of inflection and word formation; conversational syntactic constructions. The official business style does not accept expressive elements: evaluative vocabulary, high or low words (joking, ironic), figurative expressions. The most important requirement for the language of a document is objectivity and “dispassionateness” in the presentation of facts.

The official business style operates primarily in written form, but its oral form is not excluded - speeches by government and public figures at ceremonial meetings, sessions, and receptions. The oral form of business speech is characterized by a complete style of pronunciation, special expressiveness of intonation, and logical stress. The speaker can allow a certain emotional elevation of speech, even interspersing foreign-style language means, without, however, violating the literary norm. Incorrect accents and unliterary pronunciation are unacceptable.

In official papers, the set of language means used is predetermined. The most striking feature of the official business style is linguistic cliches, or so-called cliches (French. clich). A document is not expected to show the individuality of its author; on the contrary, the more clichéd a document is, the more convenient it is to use (see examples of clichés below)

1) accuracy, excluding the possibility of other interpretations;

2) locale standard.

These features find their expression a) in the selection of linguistic means (lexical, morphological and syntactic); b) in the preparation of business documents.

Let's consider the features of vocabulary, morphology and syntax of the official business style.

2 Linguistic signs of official business style of speech

2.1 Lexical features

Official business speech reveals a tendency towards vocabulary that is extremely generalized in terms of semantics, where everything that is acutely peculiar, specific, and unique is eliminated, and the typical is brought to the fore. What is important for an official document is not the living flesh of a given phenomenon, but its “legal” essence.

Official business speech reflects not individual, but social experience, as a result of which its vocabulary is extremely generalized. In an official document, preference is given to generic concepts with broad and poor semantics, with a limited number of semantic features:

premises (cf.: apartment, workshop, hangar, lobby, shelter, monastery, apartments), person (cf.: individual, person, man, girl, guy, small, owner, tenant, passerby), parent (cf.: mother , father, father, mother, ancestor), serviceman (cf.: soldier, lieutenant general, artilleryman, recruit, soldier, serviceman, sailor), punishment (cf.: reprimand, fine, arrest, scolding, reprimand), arrive ( cf.: to come, to arrive, to sail, to gallop, to burst in, to arrive, to arrive) and others.

The lexical (dictionary) system of the official business style, in addition to general book and neutral words, includes:

1) linguistic cliches (clichés, clichés): raise a question based on a decision, incoming and outgoing documents, control over execution is assigned upon expiration of the deadline.

2) professional terminology: arrears, alibi, black cash, shadow business;

3) archaisms: I certify this document.

In an official business style, the use of polysemantic words, as well as words with figurative meanings, is unacceptable, and synonyms are used extremely rarely and, as a rule, belong to the same style: supply = supply = collateral, solvency = creditworthiness, depreciation = depreciation, appropriation = subsidy and etc.

2.2 Morphological and word-formation features

The word-formation and morphological features of the official business style are inextricably linked with its general characteristics: the desire for accuracy, standardization, the impersonal and obligatorily prescriptive nature of the presentation.

The inappropriateness of the expressive coloring of official speech makes it impossible to use interjections, modal words, a number of particles, words with suffixes of subjective assessment, adjectives in the comparative and superlative degree. Nouns denoting positions are usually used in the masculine form (accountant, director, laboratory assistant, postman, controller and etc.).

In official business speech, the highest percentage of infinitives compared to other verb forms is observed among all functional styles. This is due to the purpose of most official business documents - to express the will of the legislator. Here is an example from the Convention on the Rights of the Child: "The child has the right to freely express his or her opinions; this right includes the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of any kind, whether or not granted, whether orally, in writing or in print, in the form of works of art or through other media of the child's choice.".

Of the conjugated forms, the present tense forms are most often used here, but with a different meaning compared to the scientific style. This value is usually defined as the present prescription. The verb form does not denote a permanent or ordinary action, but an action that the law requires to be performed under certain conditions:

"The accused is guaranteed the right to defense."

When designating a person in an official business style, nouns are used that designate a person based on a characteristic determined by some action or attitude, which is intended to accurately designate the “roles” of the participants in the situation: defendant, tenant, tenant, reader, guardian, adoptive parent, plaintiff, witness, etc.

Nouns denoting positions and titles are used in the masculine form even when they refer to female persons: police officer Smirnov, defendant Proshina and the like.

Among the word-formation models of nouns, verbal formations are widely represented, including na-nie, sometimes with a prefix and non-: non-compliance, non-recognition, decision, execution. For example: “Children left without parental care and located in educational institutions, medical institutions, social protection institutions and other similar institutions have the right to: maintenance, upbringing, education, comprehensive development, respect for their human dignity, ensuring their interests.... "(Family Code of the Russian Federation, p. 149).

Stringing nouns with the suffix -nie can be considered a striking sign of an official business style: “Preparation for a crime is the search and adaptation of means or instruments or the deliberate creation of conditions for the commission of crimes...”

The official business style is rich in constructions with a verb that takes on purely grammatical functions. The number of verbs that act as grammatically supporting words and serve to express almost only grammatical meanings amounts to many dozens: conduct (campaigning, installation, observation, negotiations, preparation, searches, development, investigation); make (additions, corrections, clarifications); give (consultation, appointment, justification, explanation, refutation, refusal, assessment, instruction, permission, clarification, order, recommendation, consent, instruction); conduct (voting, meeting, research, testing, search); undergo (examination, training, inspection) and so on.

Extremely characteristic of official speech are the methods of composite word formation - stem and word composition, fusion, as a result of which in the lexicon of a business language two (or more) root formations are represented by a very extensive collection: marriage, offense, taxation, land use, passenger transportation, disability, tenant, landlord, dacha owner, paper holder, cultural and entertainment, material and technical, repair and construction, administrative and economic, autumn-winter, bakery, apartment intermediary, knowledge-intensive, transport-intensive, low-paid , low-income, person-ruble, vessel-day, passenger-seat-mileand many others.

The business style’s predilection for complex words is easily explained: they are transparent in structure and meaning, and have idiomatic effects. To an even greater extent, the need for semantically clear names is met by the phrase; the number of names created in this way in the official business style amounts to many thousands of units: vehicles, wages, official, confectionery, securities, travel document, reception point, executive committee, cashless payments, work injury, bodily injury, public places, occupational disease, catering establishment, high-demand goods, training without separation from work, the right to rest, a search warrant, demotion, loss of rights....

The convenience of “analytical” models is expressed with particular clarity in the nomenclature of institutions, professions, positions, etc. that makes up a gigantic layer of official names: chief researcher, deputy regiment commander for engineering service, Moscow State University, St. Petersburg State Mining Institute (Technical University). Transcaucasian Railway, Volyn Household Chemicals Plant, State Duma deputy...

Used to compose documents, letters and business papers in institutions, courts and in any type of oral business communication, this is an official business style of speech.

general characteristics

This is a long-established, stable and rather closed style. Of course, it too underwent some changes over time, but they were insignificant. Genres that have developed historically, specific syntactic turns, morphology and vocabulary give it a rather conservative character.

To characterize the official business style, the language must be given dryness, compactness of speech, conciseness and the removal of emotionally charged words. Linguistic means already exist in a complete set for every case: these are the so-called language stamps or cliches.

List of some documents that require official business style:

international treaties;
government acts;
legal laws;
various regulations;
military regulations and charters of enterprises;
instructions of all kinds;
official correspondence;
various business papers.

General characteristics of linguistic style

Genres can be diverse, content can be different, but the official business style also has common essential features. First and foremost: the statement must be accurate. If the possibility of different interpretations is allowed, this is no longer an official business style. There are examples even in fairy tales: execution cannot be pardoned. The only thing missing is a comma, but the consequences of this error can go very far.

To avoid such situations, there is a second main feature that the official business style of documents contains - this is the language standard. It is he who helps to choose lexical, morphological, syntactic language means when drawing up business documents.

The order of words in a sentence is particularly strict and conservatistic; here much goes against the direct word order inherent in the structure of the Russian language. The subject precedes the predicate (for example, the goods are sold), and definitions become stronger than the word being defined (for example, credit relations), the control word comes before the controlled word (for example, allocate a loan).

Each member of a sentence usually has a place unique to it, which is determined by the structure of the sentence and its type, its own role among other words, interaction and relationships with them. And the characteristic features of the official business style are long chains of genitive cases, for example: the address of the Head of the Territory Administration.

Vocabulary of style

The dictionary system includes, in addition to commonly used bookish neutral words, certain clichés - clericalisms, that is, linguistic cliches. This is part of the formal business style. For example: based on a decision, incoming documents, outgoing documents, upon expiration of a deadline, control over execution, and so on.

Here we cannot do without professional vocabulary, which includes neologisms: shadow business, arrears, black cash, alibi, and so on. The official business style also includes the inclusion of some archaisms in the lexical structure, for example: this document, I certify with it.

However, the use of polysemantic words and words that have a figurative meaning is strictly prohibited. There are very few synonyms and they are included in the official business style extremely rarely. For example, solvency and creditworthiness, supply and delivery, as well as collateral, depreciation and amortization, subsidy and appropriation.

This reflects social experience, not individual experience, so the vocabulary is generalized. The conceptual series prefers generic concepts that fit well into the official business style. Examples: arrive instead of arrive, arrive, fly in, and so on; a vehicle instead of a car, plane, train, bus or dog sled; settlement instead of a village, a city, the capital of Siberia, a village of chemists, and so on.

So, the following elements of lexical constructions belong to the official business style.

A high percentage of terminology in the texts: legal - law, owner and property, registration, transfer and acceptance of objects, privatization, deed, lease, and so on; economic - costs, subsidies, budget, purchase and sale, income, expenses, and so on; economic and legal - sequestration, implementation period, property rights, loan repayment, and so on.
The nominal nature of the construction of speech due to the large number of verbal nouns, most often denoting a material action: shipment of goods, deferment of payment, and so on.
High frequency of prepositional combinations and denominate prepositions: to the address, by force, in relation to the matter, by measure, and so on.
Changing participles into adjectives and pronouns to enhance clerical meanings: this contract (or rules), current prices, appropriate measures, and so on.
Regulated lexical compatibility: the transaction is only concluded, and the price is set, the right is granted, and the payment is made.

Morphology of style

Morphological features of the official business style include, first of all, the frequency (repeated) use of certain parts of speech, as well as their types, which help in the language’s desire for accuracy and ambiguity of statements. For example, these:

nouns that name people based on action (tenant, taxpayer, witness);
nouns that call people by position or rank, including women strictly in the masculine form (salesman Sidorova, librarian Petrova, sergeant Ivanova, inspector Krasutskaya, and so on);
particle non- in verbal nouns (non-compliance, non-recognition);
the use of derivative prepositions in a wide range (due to, in connection with, to the extent of, by virtue of, on the basis of, in relation to, and so on);
constructions in the infinitive (to provide assistance, to conduct an inspection);
present tense of verbs in a different meaning (a fine will be charged for non-payment);
complex words with two or more stems (employer, tenant, repair and maintenance, material and technical, below-mentioned, above-mentioned, and so on).

Style syntax

The characteristics of the official business style consist of the following syntactic features:

Simple sentences are used with many series of homogeneous members. For example: An administrative penalty may include fines for violations of labor protection and safety regulations in construction, industry, agriculture and transport in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.
There are passive structures of this type: payments are made strictly at the specified time.
Nouns prefer the genitive case and are strung with beads: the results of the activities of customs control units.
Complex sentences are filled with conditional clauses: in cases of subscribers’ disagreement with the processing of their personal data in terms of the methods and purposes of processing or in full, subscribers sign a corresponding statement when concluding a contract.

The sphere of official business style in genre diversity

Here, first, you need to highlight two areas of subject matter: official-documentary and everyday-business styles.

1. The official documentary style is divided into two categories: legislative documents related to the work of government bodies - the Constitution, charters, laws - this is one language (J), and diplomatic acts related to international relations - memoranda, communiqués, statements, conventions are a different language (K).

2. Everyday business style is also subdivided: correspondence between organizations and institutions is the j language, and private business papers are the k language. The genres of everyday business style include all official correspondence - commercial correspondence, business letters, as well as business papers - autobiography, certificate, act, certificate, statement, protocol, receipt, power of attorney, and so on. Standardization, characteristic of these genres, facilitates the preparation of papers, saves language resources and prevents information redundancy.

Standardization of business papers

Specially selected words in an official business style ensure communicative precision, giving documents legal force. Any piece of text must have a single interpretation and meaning. For such high accuracy, the same words, terms, names are repeated many times.

The form of the verbal noun complements the features of the official business style with an analytical expression of actions and processes: instead of the word “supplement” the phrase “make additions” is used, instead of “decide” - “make decisions” and so on. How much harsher it sounds to be “responsible” instead of just “responsible.”

Generalization and abstraction to the highest degree and at the same time the specific meaning of the entire lexical structure are the main features of the official business style. This inconceivable combination, used simultaneously, gives the document the possibility of a single interpretation and, in the totality of information, legal force. The texts themselves are full of terms and procedural vocabulary, and, for example, appendices to contracts contain nomenclature vocabulary. Questionnaires and registers, applications and specifications help terminology to be deciphered.

In addition to emotionally charged text, the use of any swear words, reduced vocabulary, jargon, or colloquial expressions in documents is unacceptable. Even professional jargon is inappropriate in the language of business correspondence. And most of all, because it does not meet the requirements of accuracy, since it is assigned strictly to the sphere of oral communication.

Oral business speech

The unemotional and dry logic of texts, the standard arrangement of material on paper differs significantly from oral speech, which is usually emotionally charged and asymmetrical according to the principles of textual organization. If oral speech is emphatically logical, the communication environment is clearly official.

The peculiarities of the official business style are that oral business communication, despite the professional topic, should proceed in the sphere of positive emotions - sympathy, trust, respect, goodwill.

This style can be considered in its varieties: clerical and business style is simpler, but the language of public administration, diplomatic or legal requires special attention. The areas of communication in these cases are completely different, so the style of communication must also be different. Statements, protocols, orders, decrees - everything that is thought out, written down, read, is not as dangerous as oral negotiations, business meetings, public speaking, and so on. The word, like a sparrow, cannot be caught if it flies out.

The main features of the formal business style of speech are brevity, accuracy and influence. To achieve these goals, you will need an appropriate selection of words, correctly composed structures, correct syntax, and standardization in your mind of entire blocks of prepared speech. Just as in written business text, there is no place for emotionally charged vocabulary in oral speech. It is better to choose a neutral one, to be closer to the standards of clerical language means in order to accurately state what is planned.

Requisites

The most striking characteristic of the official business style is not even the text itself, but all the essential elements of its design - the details. Each type of document has its own information set, provided for by GOST. Each element is strictly assigned to a specific place on the form. The date, name, registration number, information about the compiler and all other details are always located the same way - some at the top of the sheet, others at the bottom.

The number of details depends on the content and type of document. The sample form shows the maximum details and the order in which they are located on the document. These are the State Emblem of the Russian Federation, emblems of an organization or enterprise, images of government awards, code of an organization, enterprise or institution (All-Russian classifier of enterprises and organizations - OKPO), document form code (All-Russian classifier of management documentation - OKUD) and so on.

Stencilization

Machine processing, computerized office work - a new era in the process of standardization. Economic and socio-political life is becoming more complex, technological progress is gaining momentum, therefore the features of the official business style are to justify economically the choice of one language option from all possible and to consolidate it in practice.

Using a stable formula, an accepted abbreviation, and a uniform arrangement of all material, drawing up a document is much faster and easier. This is how all standard and template letters, tables, questionnaires, etc. are compiled, which allows information to be encoded, ensuring the informative capacity of the text, with the ability to expand its full structure. Such modules are implemented into the text of contracts (lease, work, purchase and sale, etc.)

From fifty to seventy percent of word usage in a document is procedural vocabulary and terminology. The subject of the document determines the unambiguity of the context. For example: The Parties undertake to comply with the above rules. The word “parties”, used outside the document, is very ambiguous, but here we can read a purely legal aspect - the persons who enter into the agreement.

Among book styles, the official business style is the most clearly defined. It serves legal and administrative activities when communicating in government agencies, in court, during business and diplomatic negotiations: business speech provides the sphere of official business relations and functions in the field of law and politics. The official business style is implemented in the texts of laws, decrees, orders, instructions, contracts, agreements, orders, acts, in business correspondence of institutions, as well as in legal certificates, etc. Despite the fact that this style is subject to serious changes under influenced by socio-historical changes in society, it stands out among other functional varieties of language due to its stability, traditionalism, isolation and standardization.

The authors of the textbook “Culture of Russian Speech” note: “Business style is a set of linguistic means, the function of which is to serve the sphere of official business relations, that is, relations arising between state bodies, between or within organizations, between organizations and individuals in the process of their production, economic and legal activities.” And further: “The breadth of this sphere allows us to distinguish at least three substyles (varieties) of business style: 1) the actual official business style (clerical); 2) legal (the language of laws and decrees); 3) diplomatic" 1.

Standardization of business speech (primarily the language of mass standard documentation) is one of the most noticeable features of the official business style. The standardization process is developing mainly in two directions: a) the widespread use of ready-made, already established verbal formulas, stencils, stamps (for example, standard syntactic models with denominate prepositions in order, in connection with, in accordance with, etc., which is quite is natural, since it greatly simplifies and facilitates the process of compiling standard texts of business papers), b) in the frequent repetition of the same words, forms, phrases, structures, in the desire for uniformity in the ways of expressing thoughts in similar situations, in the refusal to use expressive means of language .

The process of standardization of business speech is closely related to the process of phraseologization. This can be seen in examples of the use of verbonominants (verb-nominal phrases) in numerous documentation, which in business language become a universal means and are often used instead of the actual verb forms parallel to them: provide assistance (instead of help), repair (instead of repair), carry out an investigation (instead of investigating), etc. Verbonominants widely penetrate business language due to the fact that in some cases their use becomes mandatory (there is no other way to say it): to allow a marriage, to commit a crime, to perform duties, to take a position, to assign responsibility . Their meaning may not coincide with the meaning of the verbs parallel to them: the combination conduct competition is not identical to the verb compete. Verbonominants not only name the action, but also express certain additional semantic shades and accurately qualify certain phenomena. For example, hit-and-run is a terminological phrase that is the official name for a certain type of road accident.

Other features of the official business style (besides standardization) are accuracy, imperativeness, objectivity and documentation, specificity, formality, and conciseness.

The linguistic means of the official business style form a relatively closed system, the basis of which is specific units of three levels: lexical, morphological and syntactic.

At the lexical level, in addition to commonly used and neutral words, we can distinguish: a) words and phrases used mainly in official documents and fixed in administrative and clerical speech (proper, due, above, undersigned, failure to fulfill, forward, bearer, guarantor, protect rights and freedom, ensure equality, etc.); b) terms, professionalisms and phrases of a terminological nature, which is determined by the content of official documents (the most common terms are legal, diplomatic, accounting: act, collection, legislation, respondent, recall (ambassador), ratify, applicant, etc.).

Many of the words with the coloring of an official business style form antonymic pairs: plaintiff - defendant, democracy - dictatorship, punished - acquitted, aggravating - mitigating (circumstances), etc.

In connection with the streamlining of the approach to terminology, two concepts began to be distinguished: “vocabulary with the coloring of an official business style” and “clericalism”. The first name reflects the place of the corresponding words in the system of general literary language, their functional and stylistic coloring. For example, the lexical units recipient (this) or due, non-subordinate, undersigned, compensation, appeal, collection, discovery, superior, etc. in business documents should be considered functionally colored. The second name, “clericalisms,” can refer to the same lexical units, but only when they are unintentionally used in a text with a different stylistic overtones, for example, in a journalistic or colloquial style, i.e. in cases of functionally unjustified transfer 2 . For example, in N. Kislik’s poem we read: “I am writing to you - everything is to you. I’ve loaded the communications service up to capacity...” The phrase “communication service” can be attributed to clericalism (though it performs a certain stylistic function in a given literary text). In the lexical system of the official business style, it is not clericalisms that function, but words with the coloring of the official business style. A specific feature of the lexical system of the official business style is also the presence in it of archaisms and historicisms, which are often used in the nominative function (for example, in the texts of diplomatic documents - assurance of respect, this, such, that, His Majesty, His Excellency, sir, etc. ). This style completely lacks slang, colloquial words, dialectisms, and words with an emotionally expressive connotation. Often used here are complex abbreviations for elephants, abbreviated names of various organizations and institutions (ZhREO, ZhES, research institutes, Central Design Bureau, KTS, Labor Code, student council, trade union committee, workshop, etc.).

Notes:

1. Culture of Russian speech. M., 1998. P. 216.

2. The reason for the penetration of elements of the official business style, for example, into everyday speech can be explained by the widespread mass mastery of this style.

T.P. Pleschenko, N.V. Fedotova, R.G. Taps. Stylistics and culture of speech - Mn., 2001.

The official business style is much more common in life than you might think. You see it in instructions, in any documents of organizations (no matter government or commercial), in legislative acts, in methodological developments, and so on.

The main function of this style is to inform – convey extremely accurate and concise information. Therefore, the information richness of texts written in an official business style is very high, although difficult to understand.

Read about all styles of speech (text).

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Characteristics of formal business style

Among the main style features are the following:

informational orientation - in order to remain in the exclusively administrative and legal sphere of activity;
accuracy and standardization of wording - sometimes to the detriment of ease of perception;
rigid logical structure of both sentences and the text itself as a whole;
lack of emotionality and evaluativeness - in texts written in an official business style, there are either facts or reasonable hypotheses, and a subjective approach to the things presented is completely excluded.

At linguistic levels, style features manifest themselves as follows:

in vocabulary - as a rule, the texts use mainly words and terms of the official business sphere;
in morphology - clericalisms and linguistic clichés (set expressions) are actively exploited; complex prepositions;
in syntax - texts of the named style are composed mainly of significant length, voluminous sentences, as a rule, complex and complicated in various ways.

Official business style: analysis of examples

Let's look at examples of our style so that its features become clearer.

Excerpt from the document:

According to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a limited liability company (hereinafter referred to as LLC) is a commercial organization approved by one or more persons, the authorized capital of which is divided into shares determined by the constituent documents. Unlike a joint-stock company, the right to a share is confirmed not by a security or a share, but only by a certificate, which, in accordance with the charter of the LLC, can be issued to its founders.

1 . In vocabulary From the above excerpt, the following layers can be distinguished:

words that are called commonly used: participants, documents, society, persons, limited;
terms: shares, limited liability company, code, founder, authorized capital, share, commercial organization;
speech clichés: according to the code, in contrast to, in accordance with.

2. Let's look at the morphology the specified excerpt from the document. The following points should be highlighted here:

verbal nouns predominate: organization, founders, participants;
often there are nouns with the general meaning of persons: persons, participants;
stringing of nouns in the instrumental and genitive case: Unlike a joint-stock company, the right to a share is confirmed not by a security or share, but only by a certificate that, in accordance with the charter of the LLC, can be issued to its founders;
predominance of participles and gerunds over verbs.

3. Syntax. There are also interesting points here:

sentences, as a rule, are voluminous (in this case we have two such sentences, and they completely make up the given passage);
the sentences use direct word order: a limited liability company is recognized as..., the authorized capital... is divided;
According to the purpose of the statement in the above passage, all sentences are narrative;
a complex sentence is further complicated, firstly, by participial phrases (defined by the constituent documents), and secondly, by homogeneous members (According to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a limited liability company (hereinafter referred to as LLC) is a commercial organization approved by one or more persons, the charter whose capital is divided into shares).

Excerpt from the document:

During the war in the village. Borovoe, 45 houses out of 77 survived. The collective farmers had 4 cows, 3 heifers, 13 sheep, 3 piglets. Most of the gardens on personal plots, as well as an orchard with a total area of 2.7 hectares belonging to the Krasnaya Zarya collective farm, were cut down. The damage caused by the Nazi invaders to the property of the collective farm and collective farmers is estimated at approximately 230,700 rubles.
There were 64 out of 370 residents in the village when our military units arrived.
There were cases of forcible removal of residents to work for the occupiers... Currently, it has been completely restored in the village. Borovoye farm of the collective farm "Red Dawn".

1. In vocabulary Let's note the following layers:

words of general use: survived, residents, gardens.
terms and established expressions: damage, removal, total area, Nazi invaders.
frequent speech clichés: remained in stock, the damage caused is calculated, took place, most of the gardens.
despite the rare inversion (there were cases of forcible removal), the word order is most often direct: most of the gardens... were cut down, the damage... was calculated, the inhabitants... were numbered;
a large number of numerals expressing statistical data: 4 cows, 3 heifers, 13 sheep, 3 piglets remained.

2. Let's analyze the morphology the given passage. As you can see, in this example the same as in the first:

verbal nouns and nouns with abstract meaning predominate: removal, work, occupiers, arrival, time, damage;
nouns that have a general meaning of persons: residents, occupiers, collective farmers;
there is a stringing of nouns in the instrumental and genitive case: damage caused by the Nazi invaders of the property of the collective farm and collective farmers.

3. In syntax The following points should be noted:

sentences are cumbersome, usually dryly informative;
the order of words is direct: caused by the Nazi invaders of the property of the collective farm and collective farmers;
In terms of purpose, the statements are usually narrative, and in terms of intonation they are non-exclamatory.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the official business style is one of the most insidious. His formulations are so refined that they are firmly etched in the memory, and therefore clericalism and linguistic clichés actively penetrate into the books, making them look like a bad translation from a foreign language.

Remember: the facelessness and detachment of business-style vocabulary for good literature is a great evil. behind the words and expressions you choose for your stories and novels. And if bureaucracy has penetrated them, drive them out mercilessly!