Scientific style: features. Language features of scientific style

The scientific style, the features of which are the subject of research for linguists, is a collection of specific speech techniques used primarily in the scientific, scientific, technical, popular science sphere to express and formulate ideas, hypotheses, and achievements that are diverse in content and purpose.

General characteristic of scientific text

A scientific text is a result, result or report on research activity, which is created for a circle of persons who have the appropriate qualifications for its perception and evaluation. In order to make it as informative as possible, the author should resort to the use of a formalized language, special means and methods of submitting material. Most often, a scientific text is a work published or intended for printing. The texts of the scientific plan include specially prepared materials for oral presentation, for example, a report at a conference or an academic lecture.

The characteristic features of the scientific style are the neutrality of tone, the objective approach and information, the structuredness of the text, the availability of terminology and specific linguistic means adopted among scientists for a logical, adequate presentation of the material.

Varieties of scientific style

The prevalence of the written form of the existence of works of scientific style determines the validity, weightedness, clarity of their content and design.

The division of scientific texts into types and types is explained, first, by the difference in objects described by numerous disciplines, the content of research activities of scientists, the expectations of a potential audience. There is a basic specification of scientific literature that divides texts into scientific and technical, scientific, humanitarian, scientific and natural. It is possible to single out more private sublanguages that exist within each of the sciences - algebra, botany, political science, etc.

MP Senkevich structured the types of scientific style in terms of the degree of "scientific character" of the final product and singled out the following types:

1. Actually scientific style (otherwise - academic) is typical for serious works intended for a narrow circle of specialists and containing the research concept of the author - monographs, articles, scientific reports.

2. The presentation or generalization of the scientific heritage contains secondary information materials (abstracts, annotations) - they are created in a scientific-informative or scientific-abstractive style.

3. A separate advertising and scientific area is occupied by industrial advertising, which represents the results and benefits of specific goods - new achievements in technology, electronics, chemistry, pharmacology and other applied fields of science.

4. Scientific reference literature (reference books, collections, dictionaries, catalogs) is intended to give an extremely concise, accurate, without details, information to the reader only facts.

5. A special sphere of application in the educational and scientific literature, here the science bases are laid down and the didactic component is added, which provides illustrative elements and materials for repetition (educational publications for various educational institutions).

6. Popular scientific publications present biographies of outstanding people, the history of the origin of various phenomena, a chronicle of events and discoveries and are accessible to a wide range of interested persons, thanks to illustrations, examples, explanations.

Properties of scientific text

Text created in a scientific style is a standardized closed system.

The main features of the scientific style are the correspondence to the normative requirements of the literary language, the use of standard turns and expressions, the use of the possibilities of the "graphic" language of symbols and formulas, the use of references and notes. For example, clichés are generally accepted in the scientific community: it is a question of the problem ..., it should be noted that ... the data obtained during the research led to the following conclusions ..., let's proceed to the analysis ... etc.

To transfer scientific information, the elements of the "artificial" language - graphic: 1) graphics, circuits, blocks, drawings, drawings are widely used; 2) formulas and symbols; 3) special terms and lexical features of scientific style, for example, names of physical quantities, mathematical signs, etc.

The reference device (footnotes, references, notes) forms a more accurate idea of the subject of speech and serves to realize the quality of scientific speech, such as the accuracy of citations and the verifiability of sources.

So, the scientific style, the characteristics of which are characterized by the correspondence to the norm of the literary language, serves accuracy, clarity and laconism in the expression of research thoughts. For scientific utterance, the monologic form is characteristic, the logic of the narrative is revealed consistently, the conclusions are formalized as complete and full in meaning phrases.

The semantic structure of the scientific text

Every text of a scientific style has its own logic of construction, a certain finished form that corresponds to the laws of structuring. As a rule, the researcher adheres to the following scheme:

• Introduction to the essence of the problem, substantiation of its relevance, novelty;
• The selection of the subject of the study (in some cases, the object);
• Setting goals, solving in the course of achieving certain tasks;
• Review of scientific sources that in any way affect the subject of research, a description of the theoretical and methodological basis for the work; Substantiation of terminology;
• Theoretical and practical significance of a scientific work;
• The content of the scientific work itself;
• The description of the experiment, if it is conducted;
• Results of the study, structured conclusions on its results.

Language features: vocabulary

The abstract tone and generalization form the lexical features of the scientific style:

1. The use of words in their specific meanings, the predominance of words with abstract meaning ( volume, patency, resistance, conflict, stagnation, word formation, bibliography , etc.).

2. Words from everyday life acquire a terminological or general meaning in the context of a scientific work. This applies, for example, to technical terms: clutch, coil, tube , etc.

3. The main semantic load in the scientific text is borne by the terms, however their share is not the same in different types of works. Terms introduce into circulation certain concepts, the correct and logical definition of which is a necessary condition for a professionally written text ( ethnogenesis, genome, sinusoid ).

4. For the works of scientific style, abbreviations and complex words are typical: publishing house, GOST, Gosplan, million, scientific research institute.

Language features of scientific style, in particular, in the field of vocabulary, have a functional orientation: the generalized abstract nature of the presentation of the material, the objectivity of the views and conclusions of the author, the accuracy of the information presented.

Language features: morphology

Morphological features of scientific style:

1. At the grammatical level, with the help of certain forms of the word and the construction of word combinations and sentences, the abstractness of the scientific text is created: it is noted that ... it seems that ... etc.

2. Verbs in the context of a scientific text take on a timeless, generalized meaning. And mainly forms of the present and past time are used. Their alternation is not given either "picturesqueness" or dynamics to the narrative, on the contrary - they indicate the regularity of the phenomenon described: the author notes, indicates ...; Solving problems , etc., helps to achieve the goal .

3. The predominant verbs of the imperfect species (about 80%) also give the scientific text a generalized meaning. Verbs of perfect type are used in stable turns: consider ...; We will show by examples , etc. Also used are vaguely personal and impersonal forms with a shade of necessity or necessity: characteristics are referred to ...; You need to be able to ...; Do not forget about ...

4. In the passive sense, returnable verbs are used: it is required to prove ...; Explained in detail ...; Etc. Such verb forms allow to emphasize the description of the process, structure, mechanism. The same meaning for brief passive participles: o the limit is given ...; The norm can be understood , etc.

5. The scientific speech also uses short adjectives, for example: the attitude is characteristic .

6. A typical sign of scientific speech is the pronoun we are used instead of I. This technique forms such features as authorial modesty, objectivity, generality: In the course of the study, we came to the conclusion ... (instead: I came to the conclusion ...).

Language features: syntax

The language features of the scientific style in terms of syntax reveal the connection of speech with the specific thinking of the scientist: the constructions used in the texts are neutral and commonly used. The most typical is the method of syntactic compression, when the volume of the text is compressed while increasing its informativeness and semantic content. This is realized by means of a special construction of word combinations and sentences.

Syntactic features of scientific style:

1. Use of the defining phrases "noun + noun in the genitive case": metabolism, currency liquidity, device for dismantling , etc.

2. Definitions expressed in the name of the adjective are used in the meaning of the term: unconditioned reflex, hard sign, historical digression , etc.

3. For the scientific style (definitions, reasoning, conclusions), a composite nominal predicate with a noun is characteristic, usually with a verb-ligament omitted: Perception is the basic cognitive process ...; Deviations from the normative realizations of the language are one of the most striking features of a child's speech. Another common "predicate formula" is a compound nominal predicate with a brief participle: it can be used.

4. Adverbs in the role of circumstances serve to characterize the quality or property of the phenomenon under investigation: significantly, interestingly, convincingly, in a new way; All these and other events are well described in the historical literature ....

5. The syntactic structures of sentences express conceptual content, therefore the standard for a writing scientist is a full-sentence sentence of a narrative type with an allied link between its parts, with a lexical content neutral in terms of style and the standard order of words: It should be said that zoopsychologists have long, persistently and unsuccessfully tried to educate The most developed anthropoid (chimpanzee) sound language. Among complex sentences, structures with one subordinate dominate: Between the intellect and the language there is an intermediate primary communicative system, which is called the functional basis of speech.

6. The role of interrogative sentences is to draw attention to the material presented, to express assumptions and hypotheses: Maybe the monkey is capable of a gesture speech?

7. To implement a detached, deliberately impersonal submission of information, impersonal offers of various types are widely used: the status of equitable genres includes friendly communication (conversation on souls, chatter, etc.) ... Thus, the desire to be an objective researcher, speaking on behalf of the generalized scientific community .

8. In order to formalize the cause-effect relationship between phenomena, scientific speech uses complex sentences with a cohesive and subordinate union relationship. Often there are complex unions and allied words: in view of the fact that, despite the fact that, because, while, while, while, while others are widely distributed, complex sentences with subordinate explanatory, determinative, reasons, Conditions, time, effect.

Communications in the scientific text

The scientific style, the peculiarities of which consist in the specific use of linguistic means, rests not only on the normative basis of the language, but also on the laws of logic.

So, in order to logically express their thoughts, the researcher should use the morphological features of the scientific style and syntactic possibilities for linking the individual parts of his statement. This goal is served by various syntactic constructions, complex sentences of various types with "clip-words", specifying, participial, participial turns, enumerations, etc.

Here are the main of them:

• Comparison of any phenomena ( like ..., so ... );
• The use of concluding sentences containing additional information about what was said in the main part;
• Adverbial turns also contain additional scientific information;
• Introductory words and word-combinations, plug-in constructions serve for communication between semantic parts both within one sentence and between paragraphs;
• "Clip-words" (for example, thus, therefore, meanwhile, in conclusion, in other words, as we see ) serve to establish a logical connection between different parts of the text;
• Homogeneous members of the sentence are necessary to enumerate logically similar concepts;
• Frequent use of cliched structures, logicality and conciseness of the syntactic system.

So, the scientific style, the features of the means of communication which we have considered, is a fairly stable system that is difficult to change. Despite the extensive system of opportunities for scientific creativity, the regulated norms help the scientific text "keep the form".

Language and style of popular scientific text

The presentation of the material in popular scientific literature is close to neutral, general literary, as the reader is offered only specially selected facts, interesting aspects, fragments of historical reconstructions. The form of presentation of this kind of data should be accessible to non-specialists, therefore, the selection of the material, the system of proofs and examples, the manner of presentation of information, and the language and style of works related to popular science literature differ slightly from the actual scientific text.

It is possible to visualize the features of the popular scientific style in comparison with the scientific one using the table:

Scientific style	Popular style
The author and the reader are equally aware of the subject of the utterance.	The author acts as an expert, the reader - as an "amateur".
The abundance of general scientific vocabulary and terminology, often with complex formulations and proofs.	The terms are explained by the language available to the reader, the main results are given without details.
Neutral style.	There is verbal expression.

The popular science style involves many means belonging to the national language, but features of a peculiarity are given to it by the functional features of the use of these means, the specifics of the organization of the text of such a scientific work

So, the peculiarities of the scientific style are specific lexical and grammatical means, syntactic formulas, thanks to which the text becomes "dry" and accurate, understandable for a narrow circle of specialists. The popular science style is intended to make the narrative of a scientific phenomenon accessible to a wider range of readers or listeners ("just about complex"), so it approximates the degree of influence to works of art and journalistic style.