Лексикология английского языка

Informal style

Informal vocabulary is used in one’s immediate circle: family, relatives, or friends. One uses informal words when at home or feeling at home.

Informal style is relaxed, free-and-easy and familiar. But it should be pointed out that the informal talk of well-educated people considerably differs from that of the illiterate or the semi-educated; the choice of words with adults is different from the vocabulary of teenagers; people living in the provinces use certain regional words and expressions. Consequently, the choice of words is determined in each particular case not only by an informal (or formal) situation, but also by the speaker’s educational and cultural background, age group, and his occupational and regional characteristics.

Informal words and word-groups are divided into three types: colloquial, slang and dialect words and word-groups.

3. Colloquial words

Among other informal words, colloquialisms are used by everybody, and their sphere of communication is comparatively wide, at least of literary colloquial words. These are informal words that are used in everyday conversational speech both by cultivated and uneducated people of all age groups. The sphere of communication of literary colloquial words also include the printed page.

Vast use of informal words is one of the prominent features of 20th century English and American literature. It is quite natural that informal words appear in dialogues in which they realistically reflect the speech of modern people.

However, in modern fiction informal words are not restricted to conversation in their use, but frequently appear in descriptive passages as well. In this way the narrative is endowed with conversational features. The author creates an intimate, warm, informal atmosphere.

“Fred Hardy was a bad lot (пользовался дурной славой). Pretty women and

an unlucky knack for backing the wrong horse had landed him in the

bankruptcy court by the time he was twenty-five…” (From W.S. Maugham).

Here are some more examples of literary colloquial words. Pal (кореш, друг) and chum (приятель, дружок) are colloquial equivalents of friend; girl, when used colloquially, denotes a woman of any age; bite and snack (quick meal – перекусить) stand for meal; hi, hello are informal greetings, and so long a form of parting; start, go on, finish and be through (покончить) are also literary colloquialisms.

A considerable number of shortenings are found among words of this type. E.g. pram, exam, fridge, flu, zip, movie.

Verbs with post-positional adverbs are also numerous among colloquialisms: put up, put over, make up, make out, turn up, etc.