How to determine conversational style of speech. Conversational style

There are different styles of speech in the Russian language. Each of them has its own characteristic features that make it possible to distinguish them from each other. One of these is the conversational style of speech. It also has its own language features and functions. What is conversational style of speech?

The style of speech, the functions of which is to enable people to exchange thoughts, knowledge, feelings, impressions, and also simply maintain contact with each other, is called colloquial.

This includes family, friendly, everyday business, and informal professional relationships. Mostly this style used in everyday life, which is why its second name is “household”.

The conversational style of speech, the definition of its main features and the identification of features have evolved ordinary people for many years. Much has changed, but the main features that are not found in other styles of speech have remained unchanged:

  • Ease. A person may, in the process of communication, express his opinion about certain events, or he may not. Therefore, such communication is informal.
  • Spontaneity. This sign is that the speaker does not prepare to express his opinion, but does it spontaneously during a conversation. At the same time, he thinks more about the content of his words than about their correct presentation. In this regard, when people communicate, there is often inaccuracy in phonetic and lexical terms, as well as carelessness in the construction of sentences.
  • Situational. It assumes dependence on the existing situation in which contact between people occurs. Thanks to the specific setting, time and place of communication, the speaker can shorten his statement. For example, when going shopping at a store, a person can briefly say to the seller: “Please, one sliced ​​​​and a carton of milk.”
  • Expressiveness. The characteristics of spoken language are also different in that when communicating, people dramatically change their tone of voice, intonation, rhythm, pause, and logical emphasis.
  • Use of non-verbal means. During a conversation, people very often use facial expressions and gestures that help them better express their feelings.

The conversational style of speech, the definition of its main features, allows you to understand how it differs from other text styles.

What genres is the style used in?

Spoken language describes how people interact with each other. In this regard, there are certain substyles and genres of such language. Substyles of conversational style of speech are divided into colloquial-official and colloquial-everyday.

Genres of conversational style of speech are represented by the following categories:

Genres and substyles of colloquial speech allow us to understand how language is used in a given situation and how it differs. After all, the text in different styles characterized differently.

Linguistic features of everyday language

Features of the conversational style of speech lie primarily in pronunciation. Often people put the wrong emphasis, which is unacceptable for more rigorous texts, for example, written in a scientific style.

Lexical features

Lexical features in colloquial speech they talk about the ease of communication and its expressive coloring. During a conversation, people often change words in one part or another, for example, they say angry, smart, wise, sarcastic, jabber, bother, quietly, little by little, well, and so on.

In everyday speech, phraseological units are often used, because a person has a dominant way of thinking when everyday communication. Observing some phenomenon, he makes a generalization. Examples: “There is no smoke without fire”, “The grave will correct the hunchback”, “Slower than water, lower than the grass” and so on.

The linguistic features of the conversational style also lie in the fact that this style of text has its own word formation. Nouns often change their suffixes, for example, good man, old man, huckster, reveler, feeder, and so on.

Conversational style text may also contain words that refer to persons feminine according to their specialty, position, occupation, for example, director, secretary, doctor. In addition, there are suffixes of subjective assessment, thanks to which the message acquires the greatest color, for example, thief, naughty girl, little house, feisty and others.

Colloquial adjectives can also change their suffixes like this: big-eyed, big-tongued. In addition, people often apply the prefix “pre” to adjectives, resulting in pre-kind, pre-nice, pre-unpleasant, and so on. Verbs that speak about everyday speech look like this: to misbehave, to wander, to cheat.

Morphological features

Morphological features of the colloquial style of speech imply the use of parts of speech in the wrong case. For example, nouns in prepositional case: he is on vacation, plural noun in nominative or genitive case: agreements, not contracts, several tomatoes, not tomatoes, and so on.

Syntactic features

The characteristic features in the field of syntax in the colloquial style of speech are very unique. The linguistic features of the conversational style are expressed as follows:

  • the most common form of dialogue is used;
  • they speak in monosyllabic sentences, and if they use complex constructions, they are mostly complex and non-conjunctive;
  • often use interrogative and exclamatory sentences;
  • use sentence words that express affirmation, negation, etc.;
  • widely use incomplete sentence constructions;
  • interrupt communication or abruptly switch to another thought for some reason, for example, due to excitement;
  • use introductory words and phrases that have different meanings;
  • use plug-in sentences, which tear apart the main structure in order to explain something, clarify something, and so on;
  • often use emotional and imperative interjections;
  • repeat words such as “No, no, no, that’s not true.”
  • inversion is used to emphasize the meaning of a particular word;
  • use special forms of the predicate.

The syntactic characteristics of conversational style include the use complex sentences, in which the parts are connected by lexical-syntactic means. So, in the first part there is an assessment of the action, and the second part substantiates the first, for example, “Good girl, she did everything right.”

In order to better understand what kind of language this is, an example of a colloquial style of speech should be given:

“Can you imagine, Petrovna, I go into the barn today, and Mikey isn’t there! I screamed and screamed at her, but she didn’t respond! Then I went to all the neighbors and asked them if anyone had seen it. But alas... Then I decided to go to our local police officer, he accepted the application and promised to sort everything out.”

Another example of a conversational style of speech in the form of dialogue:

- Hello! Are there tickets to Nizhny Novgorod for tomorrow evening?
- Good afternoon! Yes, at 17.30.
- Great! Please reserve one for me at this time.
- Okay, give me your passport and wait.
- Thank you!

Having considered what a conversational style of speech is, it becomes clear that this is simple arbitrary communication between people, which has its own characteristic features. The functions of the conversational style are to enable members of society to interact with each other in an informal setting.

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 conversational 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 by the special conditions of its functioning: informality, ease and expressiveness verbal communication, lack of preliminary selection of linguistic means, automaticity of speech, routine content and dialogic 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 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 similar cases the vocabulary of conversations is enriched with book words and terms.

For a casual conversation, a necessary condition is the absence of formality, confidentiality, open relationship between participants in a dialogue or polylogue. The attitude towards natural, unprepared communication determines the attitude of speakers towards linguistic means.

In the conversational style, for which the oral form is primordial, the most important role is played by the sound side of speech, and above all by intonation: it is this (in interaction with a peculiar syntax) that creates the impression of conversationality. Relaxed speech is characterized by sharp increases and decreases in tone, lengthening, “stretching” of vowels, scanning of syllables, pauses, and changes in the tempo of speech. By sound, you can easily distinguish the full (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 conversational style, the law of “savings” applies speech means", therefore, 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, piece, 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 - excellent), acting in the function superlatives.

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. Significant and especially frequent use of personal and demonstrative pronouns. 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 are 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 have been fixed in the genitive plural of 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 the distribution of case forms: the nominative dominates here, which in oral remarks replaces the 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. Placement of an important word from the subordinate clause at the beginning of the sentence: I like bread to be always 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 is generally a 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 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, educated people is quite literary, and at the same time it differs sharply from book speech, bound by the strict norms of others. 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

Informal communication in an informal setting is the most common description of this functional style. Examples of conversational style texts contain colloquial vocabulary, and the information in them is presented mainly on everyday issues.

The oral style is used in everyday speech. That is why writing is often implemented in dialogues.

This article gives the corresponding definition, talks about the features, and also examines examples of texts in a colloquial style of speech.

Peculiarities

The style in which each of us expresses our thoughts, emotions and feelings is conversational. It is characterized by the absence of language selection. This is due to the fact that most people “speak first and think later.”

At the same time, the conversational style always contains shades of the speaker’s personality - it allows for slang, jargon, and other things that are not inherent in such strict styles as business or scientific.

Example speech, small text:

Have you tried it? - I glanced at the cheese. - Dad said it was delicious.
- Of course it’s delicious, since he devoured it yesterday on both cheeks!
- But now you don’t hamster like you’re in last time“You’re having lunch,” I laughed.

It clearly highlights slang expressions that are not applicable anywhere else than in everyday dialogue.

It should be taken into account that the conversational style in to a large extent Extra-linguistic factors also influence: facial expressions and gestures, as well as the surrounding environment, etc. are of significant importance.

Signs of conversational style:

  • simplicity;
  • specifics;
  • saturation with emotions, sometimes excessively, expression;
  • imagery.

Examples of conversational style texts can be obtained by simply recording an everyday conversation, for example, between neighbors or a buyer and seller in a bakery.

The influence of a relaxed communication environment

The more relaxed the atmosphere, the greater the freedom of speech. She becomes more emotional, and colloquial expressions are widely used.

It is not uncommon for this style to simplify word forms, drop vowels, double words, and use suffixes of subjective assessment; the first two signs are especially intensified when the rate of speech accelerates.

A. P. Chekhov, "Revenge"

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov illustrates well the features of the style under consideration in his work “Revenge” - this is a clear example of a conversational style of speech. A small text of a monologue can already say a lot on this topic.

The character in the story begins to speak expressively: “Open it, damn it!” Please note that no other style allows swearing. His next sentence is no less revealing: “How long will I have to freeze in this through wind?” Its construction is abrupt, the manner of conveying information is simple and unpretentious. This is a conversational style of speech. It was not for nothing that examples of texts from literature began with Chekhov’s “Revenge”.

Features of conversational style

“Revenge” also shows the characteristic features of a conversational style:

  • preference for interrogative and exclamatory sentences over declarative ones;
  • use of interjections;
  • personal pronouns and verbs are reduced to the first or second person form.

Letter from A. S. Pushkin to his wife

The letter that Alexander Sergeevich wrote on August 3, 1834 to his wife, Natalya, is also a short text of a colloquial style of speech (examples are divided into sentences for consideration in greater detail).

The famous poet begins it with these words: “It’s a shame, wife.” This appeal is obvious and is used in everyday life. Sentences: “What kind of desire is there to drag yourself to a nasty provincial town to see bad actors playing a bad old opera badly?” and: “I asked you not to drive around Kaluga, yes, apparently, you have such a nature,” - contain all the elements of a conversational style of speech, such as:

  • evaluative derivational suffixes (gorodishko);
  • inversion of word order in sentences;
  • the use of a plural form for a word that, in fact, according to the rules of the Russian language, does not contain it (Kaluga - according to Kaluga);
  • most verbs are used in the present tense.

Lexical means

The conversational style of speech (short text examples will be discussed later in the article) uses the following lexical means:

  • phraseological units;
  • diminutive suffixes;
  • expressive-emotional coloring of vocabulary;
  • words-contractions and truncations;
  • suffixes of subjective evaluation.

Standard designs and typed forms

IN everyday life Spontaneous, unprepared speech predominates - people are used to expressing themselves without caring about word forms and without thinking about them. Therefore, it is not uncommon, and even frequent, to hear standard constructions, certain stereotypes for each specific daily situation. If we consider a short text of a colloquial style of speech, examples from the store will be as follows: “Three hundred grams of cookies... Weigh it by ten. Please give me a package of butter.” From public transport: “Are you getting off at the next one? I need to go to the Airships stop, where should I get off? Will you take me to Tractors?”

Forms of etiquette are also required. After all, if the speech is unprepared and less formal, this does not mean that it is rude and extremely impolite.

“Hello, good afternoon, how are you, what’s new,” these are still well-established constructions that do not lose relevance in conversations. An example of a conversational style of speech - a small text-dialogue between comrades who have just met - will contain these expressions in 99% of cases.

Individuality

For the same reason of spontaneity described in the previous paragraph, speech acquires individuality and originality. Thus, even there are countless stereotypical forms and designs, and in different times one or another comes into fashion in certain circles or, on the contrary, goes out of it, becomes obsolete, then, however, sometimes returns. But the informal communication setting does not set formal boundaries - people can use or not use familiar and established expressions as they choose. Untyped means are what convey the nature of the speaker’s speech.

"Dragon Chronicles"

Julia Galanina in her “Chronicles of Dragons” boasts a unique atmosphere, because she used a conversational style not only in the dialogues, but throughout the book. Here are short examples of texts:

“And as always, I need more than everyone else. Besides me, not a single fool climbed the fence.”
“And dragons are dangerous things. And harmful, and nasty, and frankly selfish, and also a dragon!”

Phonetics

The linguistic means that are used at the phonetic level of the language in a conversational style include two main features:

  • Simplification, truncation, compression, that is, an incomplete type of pronunciation. This is not a necessary property that a conversational style of speech can have. Examples of texts (5th grade, by the way, in some regions study this book as part of the school curriculum) - "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and other parts of this series. The vernacular trait is clearly expressed in the character Hagrid. Quote from "...Prisoner of Azkaban": "First of all, this morning... he resigned from his position. I can’t, I say, risk it if... well, this happens again." Unfortunately, the Russian translators did not fully convey all the simplified word forms; this is more evident in the original text, but in this quote it is already possible to distinguish “grit,” which means “says.”
  • Intonation is a purely individual feature that emotionally colors any, even stereotypical, construction. An example of a conversational style of speech is a short text from the story “A Hypothetical Case” by the author O’Henry: “Will you be Mr. Phineas K. Gooch?” said the visitor, and the tone of his voice and intonation contained at once a question, a statement and a condemnation.

Vocabulary and phraseology

Linguistic means related to the lexical and phraseological level:

  • IN percentage speech is clearly dominated by neutral, specific, common vocabulary, also called interstyle. It is the basis of the language. Neutral vocabulary and therefore has no emotional and/or expressive overtones. This makes it a universal option for use in any style: both colloquial speech and business, scientific, journalistic. Examples of conversational style texts that contain neutral vocabulary (essentially the author’s language literary texts, except, perhaps, for fairy tales and similar genres, for the most part only contains inter-style words) - this is “Chameleon” by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov and “Teddy” by Yuri Pavlovich Kazakov.
  • Neutral colloquial vocabulary. It includes words like “doctor’s wife”, “understand” and others.
  • Terminology: socio-political and general scientific, nomenclature.
  • Emotional-evaluative colloquial vocabulary. It can carry a negative or positive assessment. All words from it are divided into three groups, of which: 1) the assessment is included in the very meaning of the word; 2) in a figurative sense; 3) the word contains subjective evaluative suffixes. The epithet “expressive” is also applicable to this vocabulary.
  • Standardized figurative means. These include metaphors, phraseological units, hyperboles and litotes. “We drink from the cup of existence with our eyes closed” (M. Yu. Lermontov). This artistic metaphor, colloquial ones have a shade of the same vernacular. An example of a colloquial style of speech, text-dialogue: “- What is he? - And he, as usual, says, let’s break through! - Who else would I worry about, but this one will really break through. - Otherwise! He’s as cunning as a fox! He’ll fool anyone !"
  • Professionalisms and jargons. It is worth considering that each example of a piece of spoken language in fact often contains most of the devices given here: it cannot illustrate only one property. Thus, the above dialogue, in addition to the metaphor “cunning as a fox,” also has the jargon “will deceive.”

Morphology

  • The nominative case is most common.
  • Personal and demonstrative pronouns predominate, as well as adverbs and particles.
  • The participle is rarely used, the gerund is almost never used.
  • The boundaries of temporary forms are blurred. This means that they are freely changed and used for purposes other than their intended meaning.
  • There are verbal interjections.

An example of a conversational style is a small dialogue text that illustratively illustrates the morphological linguistic level of the topic under consideration:

“He went there,” Petya waved his hand.
- Where is this - there? - I asked him.
- Well, there’s a store there. Products. Mom asked me to be stingy, so I decided to run away quickly.
“That’s how the skunk ran away?” “That’s exactly what happened.”


Syntax

  • In conversational style, simple sentences are more often used than compound or complex sentences. Their construction is characterized by a certain “stringing” on top of each other, the specificity of the transmitted information.
  • Often found, in particular, they lack the main members.
  • The structure is nonlinear, sometimes fragmentary. Interruptions in intonation and phrases rearranged on the fly are the consequences of spontaneity of speech. The conversational style fully allows for the active use of connecting constructions, expressed in introductory words and all kinds of particles.
  • Interjective phrases as one of the ways to express thoughts in a conversational style.
  • Free word order - in this case, the important is usually expressed first (however, this is not a prerequisite).

Literary and colloquial speech

Conversational speech in its primordial manifestation is oral. IN works of art it needs special means of imitation. The author himself may write in a speech close to conversational, but more often he uses it in conversations between characters. Thus, each hero acquires individuality.

A short text of conversational style of speech (examples from " Heart of a Dog"Bulgakova): "Indecent apartment. But how good. Why the hell did he need me? Will he really let him live? What a weirdo. But if he only blinked an eye, he would have such a dog that he would gasp.”

We have fully considered the colloquial style of speech and examples of texts. The 5th grade of the school curriculum involves the study of functional styles of speech, but colloquial is the style that is encountered constantly, every day, both in works of art and in environment(primarily in her).

In order to display the colloquial style of speech, examples of texts from literature have already been given above. Simply demonstrative sentences were placed equally with them.

Newspaper style

Where else can we use a conversational style of speech? Examples of texts from newspapers are a much more controversial issue. In journalism there are indeed features characteristic of him. Newspapers from the “closer to the people” series are completely dotted with stereotypical phrases from everyday life. But still, the newspaper style can only be called conversational to the fullest extent. If the conversational style of speech is considered, short examples of texts are often taken from works of fiction.

If book styles (scientific, official business, newspaper journalistic, artistic) are used primarily in official settings and in writing and require constant care about the form of expression, then conversational style used in informal settings. The degree of speech preparedness may vary. In everyday conversation, she is usually completely unprepared (spontaneous). And when writing a friendly letter, pre-written drafts can also be used. But this preparedness never reaches the degree that is characteristic of book styles.

All this leads to the fact that the dominant of the conversational style, especially colloquial speech that exists in the oral form of informal personal communication, is to minimize concern about the form of expression of thoughts. And this, in turn, gives rise to a whole series linguistic features conversational style.

On the one hand, the colloquial style of speech is characterized by high degree language standardization. Typical, standard constructions are convenient for spontaneous (unprepared) speech. Each typical situation has its own stereotypes.

For example, etiquette stereotypes include the following phrases: Good afternoon!; Hello!; What's new?; Bye! Stereotypes used in urban transport: Are you leaving next?; in the store - Weigh the oil, three hundred grams etc.

On the other hand, in a relaxed atmosphere, the speaker is not limited by the strict requirements of official communication and can use untyped, individual means.

It should be remembered that spoken language serves not only the purposes of communication, but also the purposes of influence. Therefore, the conversational style is characterized by expressiveness, clarity and imagery.

Among characteristic features conversational style can be distinguished as follows:

Language means Examples
Language level: Phonetics
Incomplete pronunciation type. Grit instead of speaks; hello instead of Hello.
Intonation as one of the main means of expressiveness and organization of speech: rapid changes in intonation, timbre, tempo, play of intonation colors, etc.

The organizing role of intonation in non-union proposals, in sentences with free combination of parts, etc. ( We walked / it was raining; Subway/here?)

Faster pace when pronouncing greetings, farewells, first names and patronymics ( Tanya, hello!); when expressing motivation, especially when combined with the emotion of irritation. ( Shut up!)

Slow pace with lengthening of vowels while emphasizing conviction - lack of conviction ( Yes. Of course); to express surprise ( - He has already arrived. - Are you here?), etc.

Language level: Vocabulary and phraseology
A large percentage of neutral, specific, commonly used vocabulary. Sofa, bed, sleep, get dressed, faucet.
Neutral colloquial vocabulary. Doctor, usherette, knife, understand.
Some socio-political and general scientific terms, nomenclature names. Revolution, administration, governor, analysis, radiation, bulldozer, excavator.
Emotional-evaluative colloquial vocabulary. Hard worker, headless, poor fellow, parasite.
Standardized figurative means. Metaphors: get stuck in the city; what a bug you are!; phraseological units: bend your back; fill your pocket; hyperbole and litotes: terribly fun; terribly funny; You can go crazy from this computer science; I could eat a bull right now etc.
Interspersed with professionalisms, jargon, colloquial words, etc. We have four today couples. Yes with window. I wouldn't go crazy by the evening!
Language level: Morphology
Frequency of the nominative case compared to other cases. There's a store there/ Groceries// and the entrance is on the left/ under the stairs//
Frequency of personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns and adverbs, particles. Granny// Played cards with me/ fooling around// We were left... we were left alone/ me/ and her// And also John’s dog, that means// We fed this John/ and then sat down... I ran to her for cigarettes/ and we sat down to play/ the fool// Well, ten games a day// Here//
Lack of gerunds, rare use of participles (only past passive). You gave me a broken chair! Is it sewn or ready-made?
Free handling of tense forms (change of tenses, use of a tense form not in its meaning). And there we met. “Kolya, hello”... And we sit, or rather stand, chatting there, sitting on the bench for literally three hours. As we begin to remember how our bus got stuck, how they pulled us out.
Use of verbal interjections. Jump, jump, walk, bang, fuck.
Language level: Syntax
Short simple sentences, as if strung on top of each other. We lived in the country. We lived at the dacha. We always left early for the dacha. We also had a doctor.
Incomplete sentences, especially those with main clauses missing. - Tea?
- I'll have half a cup.
Restructuring of phrases on the fly, broken structure with interruptions in intonation. Activity of connecting structures, with introductory words and particles. My husband was a soldier. He served in the artillery. Five years. And so. They told him: “Here is a bride for you. Growing. Very good."
Activity of interjection phrases. Oh? What a strength!
Freer word order (words are arranged in the order in which thoughts are formed). In this case, everything important moves to the beginning of the sentence. Well, naturally, we lost money there. Because they were simple workers. I was a turner there.
She handed me such a wicker basket.
He was in Moscow then.

It should be remembered that, on the one hand, almost all norms of colloquial style are optional (optional), and on the other, the features of colloquial speech and colloquial style in general should not be transferred to official oral speech, much less written speech. The use of elements inherent in the conversational style in other styles (journalistic, artistic) must be stylistically justified!

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 writingpersonal 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 options: Hello, Leksey Mikhalych (Hello, Alexey Mikhailovich), “agreement” with emphasis on the first syllable (in scientific report, lectures, speeches, such emphasis 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, characterless 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; 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 subjective evaluation suffixes 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 conversational 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 level of morphology, 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 adjectives. Only in colloquial texts is it permissible to simplify the declension of phrases (I don’t have one hundred and twenty-five rubles, ask Yegor Petrovich), use case endings with –у (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), the use of comparative forms in – 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 sentences (I’m going to the store; Do you want coffee or tea?), impersonal 9It’s hot today), interrogative sentences (When will you be back?), incentive sentences (Come on quickly!), free word order (How to get to the Central Market?), in special predicates (And she’s dancing again; he’s sitting reading; he doesn’t know), omission in the main part of a complex sentence of a correlative word (Put it where you got it; cf.: Put it where you got it from), in the use of introductory, inserted constructions (I , 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). The emotional character of the text is given by 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 a dream 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 of sentences, free word order (you should rest for at least two weeks), and frequent use of homogeneous members. There is a limit 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).