The official-business style is considered to be the style associated with the service of the administrative-public and legal sphere of activity. It is used in the preparation of documents and letters to the structures of the state level. In addition, the style is used in the process of oral communication, which is of a business nature.
General style description
The official business style, in contrast to other book styles, is characterized by relative stability and isolation. Undoubtedly, over time, certain changes have occurred in it, but its main features have remained unchanged. This direction is characterized by dryness, conciseness, the absence of words that are emotionally colored.
In the official documentation, the list of used language means is predetermined. The most striking feature of the style is language stamps (cliches). The documentation is not intended to express the individuality of its originator. On the contrary, the more clichéd the paper is, the more convenient it is to use.
Characteristic features of the style
In an official business style, papers of various genres are drawn up (state certificates, laws, international agreements, instructions, etc.). However, despite their differences, in general they share common features: language standard and accuracy, which exclude the possibility of other interpretations.
If the information can be interpreted in different ways, then the document is not drawn up in a business style. For example, in the phrase “confirm cannot be denied,” putting a comma in different places can have serious consequences.
You can avoid these moments by adhering to language standards. It is they that make it possible to make the right choice in syntactic, lexical and morphological linguistic means when compiling important papers.
Particular attention is paid to the order of words in a sentence. In papers drawn up in an official business style, the direct word order inherent in the Russian-speaking system is often violated. The governing concept can precede the managed concept (allocate a loan), subject to stand before the predicate (the goods are sold), and the definitions can be more significant than the concept being defined (debt obligations).
All members of a phrase, as a rule, have places characteristic only of them, determined by the characteristics of the sentence, interaction with other words. Distinctive features of the style are strings of words in the genitive case (message from the Head of Agriculture).
The lexical side of the official business style
In addition to the common vocabulary, the direction includes cliché-clericalism (it is required to prove, quality control, according to your order, etc.). The presence of professional vocabulary is also characteristic, with the inclusion of neologisms (marketing, manager, etc.), archaisms (sowing paper, entrusted department, named above) in the structure of sentences.
However, the use of polysemous words is unacceptable. Business-style synonyms are rare. These include concepts such as cost-effective and profitable, provision and delivery, priority and advantage, incident and incident.
In the official business direction, it is not individual and personal experience that is used, but the experience accumulated by the society. That is why vocabulary has generalized characteristics. In the conceptual range, generic concepts prevail (technology instead of a computer / TV, a room instead of a workshop / apartment / office, a face instead of a person / woman / guy, etc.).
So, the official style is characterized by such components of lexical structures as:
- A large percentage of terms in the content of texts.
- The nominal nature of the preparation of sentences due to the many verbal nouns, in most cases reflecting an action of an objectified nature (signing papers, deferred payment, etc.).
- Multiple use of abominable prepositions and prepositional combinations (to the question, to account, to measure, etc.).
- Converting participles into pronouns / adjectives in order to enhance the meanings of clericalisms.
- Strictly established lexical compatibility (the right is exclusively granted, and payment is made, etc.).
The morphological and syntactic side of the official style
Morphological features of this style include a high frequency of the use of certain parts of speech with their types, which enhance the accuracy and unambiguity of utterances. These include:
- Nouns that name people according to their position / rank in the masculine form (librarian Kuznetsova, lawyer Novikov), on the basis of action (reader, accused, victim, adoptive parent).
- Particle not- in the context of verbal nouns (failure to provide, non-compliance).
- The widespread use of derivative prepositions (by virtue of, due).
- Infinitive phrases (to do business, to carry out an inspection).
- Present tense verb forms in a different meaning (a penalty will be charged for non-payment).
- Compound words with two or more stems (above, employer).
Simple sentences are characterized by the use of several series of homogeneous members. The nouns in them are mostly genitive. For structures of a complex type, the presence of conditional clauses is characteristic.
Official style in a variety of genres
Here it is worth highlighting 2 areas of style:
- Officially documentary. It, in turn, is divided into the following categories: legislative documentation related to the activities of state bodies and acts of a diplomatic nature concerning international relations.
- Everyday business. It is customary to distinguish correspondence between various institutions, structures and private business documents. All correspondence related to official affairs belongs to the genres of this direction. Its characteristic standardization helps to facilitate the compilation of all kinds of documentation, save language resources, and prevent information redundancy.
Oral business speech
If everyday speech is characterized by emotional coloring, deviations from the principles of textual construction, then in a business conversation dry logic and the absence of violent emotions prevail. Also, business speech is distinguished by the standard arrangement of information on paper, emphasized by consistency.
A feature of the official style is that oral business communication, despite the professional bias, must have a positive atmosphere. There should be notes of goodwill, mutual respect and trust in the conversation.
This style can be considered in its varieties. Areas related to public administration, legal and diplomatic activities require special attention. The stationery and business variety is a little simpler. The spheres of communication in all these cases are different, in this regard, the communication styles will also differ. Minutes, decrees and statements (ie everything that is first thought out and then written down) are not as dangerous as oral speeches and negotiations.
The characteristic features of the official oral style are considered to be accuracy, brevity, and influence. These characteristics can be achieved only with the use of an appropriate selection of words, correctly constructed structures, syntactic norms and standardization in the mind of a large amount of information. Similar to the written form of a business text, there are no emotionally charged remarks in oral speech. Within the framework of this direction, it is worth adhering to neutrality, giving preference to the standards of stationery language means, which will allow you to express your thoughts as accurately as possible.
