Підручник для студентів старших курсів

Units of general literary language (общелитературные единицы) are found in any functional style, among them: 1) functional words – auxiliaries, modal and link verbs, articles, prepositions, conjunctions; 2) words of general use, e.g. verbs of saying, thinking, etc.
Since the main function of the language of science is that of intellective communication, the general mode of scientific reasoning is unemotional, generalized, devoid of the author’s stylistic idiosyncrasy. Hence the following general features of scientific vocabulary:

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  words are mainly used in their direct nominative, not transferred meanings to ensure the adequate perception of scientific information. Hence a very important feature of scientific vocabulary – its stylistic neutrality.
  
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  alongside stylistically neutral lexical units, bookish words of Greek, Latin or French origin are also used as part and parcel of a scientific text vocabulary. They are found both, within special and general scientific terminology, on the one hand, e.g. amplification, acceleration, method, analysis and in the general scientific stratum, on the other, e.g. heterogeneous, simultaneous, hierarchy, milieu, etc.
  

But it does not mean to say that stylistic neutrality ousts expressivity and stylistic imagery from a ST altogether. Means of expressivity are not entirely excluded, but they are of a specific character:

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  quantitative expressivity predominates in a ST and is often conveyed by: a) adjectives in the Comparative or Superlative Degrees, e.g. much more numerous, finer differences, the most obvious distinctions, etc.; b) emphatic and limiting adverbs and particles: very, merely, simply, really, far (more), mainly, mostly, exactly, entirely, e.g. really effective, very far from conservative, much the same, etc.;
  
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  metaphorical and metonymical imagery which is found in general scientific layer of the scientific vocabulary is mostly trite, e.g. to cast (throw) light on smth., to bear in mind, to draw a parallel, to exhaust a problem, the untrained ear, etc. All these units are traditionally used in a scientific text as stereotype, clichéd expressions.
  

Metaphorical imagery may also serve as a basis for creating new terms in different scientific areas, e.g. in medicine Adam’s apple, in electronics a black box, in linguistics an empty morph, etc.
Rather a rare use of genuine imagery in a ST should be treated as the manifestation of the author’s stylistic individuality.

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  expressivity can take a form of subjective modal evaluation, as in expressions of certainty/doubt, possibility/impossibility, necessity/absence of
  necessity, usefulness/futility, e.g. there can be no doubt whatsoever that …, it is hardly acceptable that…, it is worth noting that …, it will be futile to …, it is quite possible to assume that…, etc.
  
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  expressivity can be also presented by certain emotive lexemes, i.e. words with inherent expressive-evaluative connotations, e.g. It should be emphasized that …, the most interesting thing about it is that …, one of the striking peculiarities of … is …, etc.
  

However varied means of expressivity in the vocabulary of a ST may be, they never aim at rousing the reader’s aesthetic feelings. They are used to favour the cogency of scientific reasoning and to facilitate eliciting scientific information, otherwise stated, they directly serve the main functional-communicative aim of the scientific functional style.
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