Тема 7. «Stylistic variation in English speech»

Phonostylistics. Stylistic variation in English speech

As it has already been mentioned non-segmental features can be arranged into three

groups: characteristics from the first group represent intonational phonemes; in the second

group there are features which act more or less as a constant auditory background to

everything a person says (voice quality); features from the third group overlay other

suprasegmental characteristics in the stream of speech for specific emotional reasons. So,

vocal characteristics from the second and the third groups are involved in the stylistic

variation of English speech. Stylistic variation of English speech is studied by

phonostylistics. Phonostylistics studies the way the phonetic means are used in particular

situations, which exercise the influence of extralinguistic factors which are usually present

in a set. According to those factors particular reasons for phonostylistic variety are singled

out – these are called phonetic style-forming and style-modifying aspects. These aspects are

the purpose of communication, the participants which take part in communication process

and the setting – conditions in which the process of communication takes place. All these

factors are interdependent and interconnected. The purpose of communication is a styleforming factor. Among other style-forming factors the following ones may be singled out:

− the form of communication (monologue / dialogue, spoken / written); 41

− the degree of formality (formal / informal, public / non-public);

− the degree of spontaneity.

We should also present style-modifying factors. Among those are

− degree of preparedness (prepared, spontaneous),

− number of participants (public, non-public),

Phonetic styles are recognized by the number of characteristics which are the result of

interaction of linguistic and extralinguistic factors. Such characteristics are called intonation

style markers. Intonation style markers are restricted to certain kinds of situational contexts.

The aim of all the speakers in the process of communication is the efficiency of

communication. Each style marker is realized by means of specific prosodic parameters.

Those stylistically marked modifications of prosodic features represent the invariants of the

intonation patterns common to all the registers of the particular style. The invariant is a

basic set of recurrent patterns, which is occasionally distributed by the introduction of

specific prosodic and paralinguistic features. The invariant can be thus looked upon as the

norm or the ideal speech behaviour for this particular sphere of communication – a phonetic

style. These invariants represent clear-cut examples of texts actualized in phonetic styles.

The choice of intonational style by the speaker is determined primarily by the purpose of

communication and then by number of other extralinguistic factors. Proper usage of

prosodic parameters provides for the efficiency of communication.

M.A. Sokolova, K.P. Gintovt and others distinguish five styles

5

:

− Informational;

− Academic (scientific);

− Publicistic (oratorial);

− Declamatory (artistic);

− Conversational (familiar).

It appears necessary to categorize the above-mentioned five phonetic styles into two

groups on the basis of their degree of formality. First four phonetic styles, namely

informational, academic, publicistic and declamatory, may be united into one group on

account of their formal character; the conversational style goes into the second group

according to their informal character.

Informational style is sometimes qualified as “formal” or “neutral” because in

comparison with other styles it is least of all influenced or correlated by extralinguistic

factors. Such speech may be labeled as educational informational descriptive narratives

(texts read in class), press reporting and broadcasting. This style is manifested in the written

variety of an informational narrative read aloud. The reading should not be subjected to the

contextual variables because the aim of the speaker is to convey the information contained

in the text without any additional meanings attached to it. Such speech can be represented

by a monologue, dialogue or polylogue; such speech is always formal; it is always prepared;

it may be actualized in the written or spoken form; it may be either public or non-public.

There are a few prosodic parameters which characterize the intonation style markers of

this phonetic style. It seems to be convenient to describe these prosodic features in the order

of the components.

− Temporal component – the length of the intonation groups is adjusted so that the groups

are not too long for the speaker to pronounce and for the listeners to comprehend. The

syntagms may appear approximately equal in length, the tempo with which the syntagms are

5 Соколова М.А., Гинтовт К.П. и др. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка – М.:1996. 42

actualized is relatively slow, and its variation is not great. There are pauses at the end of

intonation groups; these pauses are not shorter than the limit for pause perception which is

no less than 200 milliseconds. The pauses appear in more or less the same spaces, rather

periodically. There are not any pauses of hesitation or theatrical pauses as the purpose of

speech is solely conveying information. The length of pauses and syntagms makes the

speech careful and distinct, so that it acquires rhythmic isochronous character.

− Dynamic component – loudness is relatively stable. It is varied within the limits of a

normal range (45 – 90 dB). Within the sentence the loudness slightly decreases towards the

end of the sentence.

− Pitch component – basic prosodic features concern the semantic focus of the syntagms

and the way it is made prominent. It is usually expressed by terminal tones, pitch level,

range, and location of the nucleus in the intonation group. Pitch varies slightly, the speaker

uses normal range of pitch, the speech is realized on the middle or low level, within the

syntagm the pitch slightly decreases towards the nucleus of the intonation group. Terminal

tones are mainly expressed by low falling/rising tones. The difference between the stressed

and unstressed syllables is not great.

− Tamber – the speaker basically uses impartial, dispassionate and reserved voice.

Academic style is often described as both intellectual and volitional. The speaker’s aim

is to attract the listener’s attention, to establish close contacts with the audience and to direct

the public attention to the message carried in the text. The speaker endeavors to discuss the

point he/she wants to prove. This aim is basically achieved through argumentation. It is

frequently presented in academic and educational lectures, scientific discussions at the

conferences, seminars, in class. Such speech is presented in written or spoken form; it exists

in the form of a monologue, dialogue or a polylogue. It may bear public or non-public

character. It may be prepared or spontaneous.

− Temporal component – the speech is clearly segmented into intonation groups. The

length of the segments is adjusted by the speaker so that the groups are not too long. The

syntagms are roughly equal in length, the tempo is normal, it may be varied by the speaker

and sound relatively slow on the most important parts of the text, and its variation is not

great, though it is flexible. Pauses between utterances are rather long; the speaker may use

pauses to bring out relevant parts of utterances. The pauses appear in more or less the same

spaces, rather periodically. There are not many pauses of hesitation. The length of pauses

and syntagms makes the speech careful and distinct, so that it acquires rhythmic

isochronous character. It is properly organized, especially when the speaker states most

important points.

− Dynamic component – loudness is varied, especially when the speaker states most

important points. It is varied within the limits of a normal range (45 – 90 dB). Within the

sentence the loudness may decrease towards the end of the sentence.

− Pitch component – basic prosodic features concern the semantic focus of the syntagms

and the way it is made prominent. Pitch varies within the normal range of pitch; the speech

is realized on the middle or low level, within the syntagm the pitch may increase or decrease

towards the nucleus of the intonation group. Terminal tones may be expressed by low/high

falling/rising tones, complex tones may be used. The difference between the stressed and

unstressed syllables is not great.

− Tamber – the speaker uses authoritative, instructive, self-assured voice. It may bear

edifying and imposing manner.

This intonational style tends to be concerned and emotional. 43

Publicistic (oratorial) style attracts the public attention through all sorts of direct

oratorical performances. Oratorical skills need special training. The speaker uses special

techniques which are designed to influence the listeners. These techniques serve to impose

the speaker’s ideas on listeners. Such speech is presented in written or spoken form; it exists

in the form of a monologue, dialogue or a polylogue. It is always public. Another important

feature of this style is that the speech is never spontaneous. A publicistic speech is most

always written, well rehearsed and read aloud, cultivating the apparent spontaneity to avoid

the impression of complete preparedness. The manifestation of this style is heard in

political, judicial speeches, sermons, parliamentary debates, at congresses, meetings, press

conferences.

− Temporal component – the length of the intonation groups is adjusted so that the speaker

is capable to pronounce the most relevant parts of the text separately. The syntagms may

appear approximately equal in length. The tempo is varied, though not greatly. The speaker

may slow own to make most important parts prominent and increase the tempo when less

important point is mentioned. There are pauses at the end of intonation groups; there might

appear a stop of phonation before the emphatic semantic centre to bring out this part of the

syntagm. The pauses appear in more or less the same spaces, rather periodically. The speech

acquires rhythmic isochronous character. The rhythm is well organized; rhythmic groups are

periodic, which produces the effect of strict rhythmicality.

− Dynamic component – loudness varies greatly to achieve a certain psychological effect. It

is varied within the limits of a wide range (90 – 110 dB). Within the sentence the loudness

decreases or increases to bring out specific parts of the text.

− Pitch component – pitch varies greatly, the speaker uses both wide and narrow ranges of

pitch, though the speaker tends to use wider ranges. The speech is realized on the high level,

especially at the start of the initial intonation groups. Pre-nuclear movements of pitch are

mainly realized in a descending character, but there are frequent accidental rises used to

increase the emphasis. Terminal tones are mainly emphatic; they may be contrasted to

distinguish between various segments of speech. It is expressed by high/low, falling/rising,

simple/complex tones. The difference between the stressed and unstressed syllables is great.

− Tamber – the speaker sounds dignified, self-assured, concerned and personally involved.

To achieve the aim the speaker uses a variety of modal expressions in the voice to convey

additional meanings. The speaker also makes extensive use of paralinguistic effects – facial

expressions, gestures etc.

Declamatory (artistic) style attracts the attention of the audience through imagery. It is

a highly emotional and expressive intonational style. It, like oratorical skills, needs special

training. Attitudinal, volitional and intellectual functions of intonation are of primary

importance. They serve to appeal to the mind, will and feelings of the listeners through the

picture which is presented by the speaker. It is performed through all sorts of image-bearing

devices, which require rehearsing and professional skills. With the help of those techniques

the speaker imitates the manner of speech of his/her character. This style represents a

written form of the language read aloud or recited. It can be heard on stage, on the screen, in

TV studios.

− Temporal component – the length of the intonation groups is varied. The syntagms are

different in length; the tempo with which the syntagms are actualized is greatly varied –

changes in tempo are necessitated by the purpose of speech. There are many theatrical

pauses – prolonged emphatic pauses; there may also appear hesitation pauses which serve

the aim of the speaker. The pauses appear in varied spaces, not very periodically. Pauses 44

between the utterances have a tendency to be longer than the pauses between the syntagms

or intonation groups. The length of pauses and syntagms makes the speech emotionally

charged. The speech may preserve the rhythmic isochronous character or it may acquire

strategically worked out irregular character, especially when the speaker imitates

conversational manner of speech.

− Dynamic component – loudness is varied greatly within the limits of a wide range (45 –

120 dB). Variation is realized according to the size of the audience and emotional setting.

− Pitch component – basic prosodic features concern the semantic focus of the syntagms

and the way it is made prominent. The pitch is greatly varied. The speaker uses all ranges of

pitch, the speech is realized on all levels of pitch, and within the syntagm the pitch either

decreases or increases so that the speech bears emotional character. The location of the

semantic focus within the intonation group depends on the speaker’s perception of the

relevance. Terminal tones are mainly expressed by all types of tones. The difference

between the stressed and unstressed syllables is great.

− Tamber – the speaker may sound concerned, personally involved or indifferent; but the

speech is always emotionally rich.

There is a great deal of overlap between academic, publicistic and declamatory style,

when the basic aim of the speaker is to extend persuasive and emotional influence on the

listeners and thus volitional and desiderative information is predominant in the text.

Conversational (familiar) style is the most commonly used type of the intonational

style and consequently it is the variety, which is more familiar to the vast majority of

English-speaking people. This kind of English is a means for everyday communication; it is

heard in natural conversational interaction between speakers. It is sometimes called

informal, because it occurs in mainly in informal external and internal relationships in the

speech of relatives, friends.

In informal situations speakers are more relaxed. Therefore, they give less attention to

the effect they produce on the listeners, because in formal situations they monitor their

linguistic behaviour more strictly, sometimes unconsciously.

− Temporal component – the length of the intonation groups is varied. The length of the

syntagms is not equal, the tempo varied greatly. The variation of the temporal component is

due to the number of extralinguistic characters. There are a lot of hesitation pauses, or

breath-taking pauses as well. The pauses are not periodical. Thus the speech acquires no

rhythm.

− Dynamic component – loudness is varied. It is varied within the limits of a wide range

(45 – 120 dB). Within the sentence the loudness changes in all directions towards the end of

the sentence.

− Pitch component – pitch varies greatly. The speaker uses all ranges, levels and directions

of pitch. Terminal tones are varied. The difference between the stressed and unstressed

syllables is great. One should bear in mind that the speaker changes prosodic components of

speech under the influence of extralinguistic circumstances and he/she may not monitor

their speech behaviour properly.

− Tamber – characterizes the speaker’s origin, emotions other extralinguistic features.

Individual vocal features: tamber, tempo, voice quality, voice dynamics

We have described vocal characteristics of the second and the third groups and the way

they are involved in the stylistic variation of English speech. There are some other aspects

which should be discussed. These are individual vocal features. Listening to a speaker of

any language, one is soon aware of a certain constant background colouring to everything 45

that is said. In interpreting an utterance, one has to take account not only of what was said

but also of how it was said. It is a marker of the individual characteristics of a speaker as

well as of the relationships between participants. This phenomenon is closely related with

the notion of the participants of the situation. Such voice characteristics may be divided into

those, which appear to characterize the individual as a member of a significant social group,

and those, which characterize the individual as an individual.

The term voice quality has been given to this constant or near-constant background

auditory effect. For many years, epithets have been used to describe the essence of the

quality: for example, a “silvery” voice, or a “sexy” voice. Recently attention has been

focused on the phonetic constituents which together create the auditory impression of the

voice quality. In voice quality two main components are:

− the anatomical and physiological foundation of the speaker’s vocal equipment is

predetermined by the sex or age of the participants. Three factors involving work of

different speech organs can be isolated. One is the distance from the larynx to the lips,

which can be shortened or extended. This modification may give rise to acoustic effects

which relate to a certain voice quality feature. A second factor is the arrangement within the

mouth and pharynx of particular articulators. For example a constant forward setting of the

tip and blade of the tongue and rising of the front of the tongue towards the hard palate will

lend a certain ‘effeminate’ quality to a male speaker’s voice; it may also be responsible for

“lisping”.

− setting is acquired by social imitation and becomes permanent. One can reasonably

describe speakers as having a typical “Norwich, Glasgow, RP voice.” The arrangement of

articulators within the mouth: raising and backing of the tongue in the mouth is

characteristic of many Northern English dialects; permanent slight lowering of the soft

palate, even in oral sounds, will introduce a degree of nasalization into the voice. There also

is the habitual use of phonation types, for example many male speakers of English have

some creak and whisperiness in their voice quality.

These vocal features make the listener identify social attributes of members of

communication. The speech behaviour of the speaker conveys information about him/her as

well as about the receiver/listener of the verbal message. There are some factors which may

influence individual vocal features of the interlocutors.

− Gender: there are some pronouncing characteristics associated with the gender of the

speakers. Women tend to use higher pitch levels, their speech is generally characterized by a

more frequent use of complex tones. Women’s speech is usually associated with the wider

pitch range than that of men of the same social group. These features are conditioned by

physiological aspects of their speech organs. Speech behavior of men may be described as

“assertive”. Men are likely to use falling tones more often; they make use of a lower pitch

level and a narrower pitch range. They have a tendency to make sentences shorter and

control their speech behaviour less. Women are likely to keep to “supportive” speech

behaviour. There is a consistent tendency for women to produce more standard or

rhetorically correct pronunciation. They also use more “polite” patterns of assertive

intonation. They make extensive use of filled pauses and they have a tendency to introduce

conventional noises into their speech to express their attitude towards the partner in

communication. Effeminacy impressions are partly correlated with lisping or simpering

− Age: age is associated with the role structure of the family and in social groups, with the

assignment of the authority and status, and with the attribution of different levels of

competence. The older the participant of the communication, the more correct patterns of 46

speech he/she will use. Older people are inclined to use falling terminal tones more often,

than younger men of the same social group. Older people exercise more difficulty in getting

rid of accent or dialectal pronunciation features. Other pronunciation features associated

with age of the participants are the higher overall pitch of baby talk, the preference to

certain pitch contours and labialization when addressing young children.

− Formality of the speech: the interaction between the speakers depends on their level of

education and acceptance of the roles of social behaviour. The more formal the situation is,

the more closely will the participants monitor their speech behaviour. Formality of speech

may concern all prosodic characteristics of speech: for example, the more formal the

situation, the slower the rate of the utterance is.

− Occupation: occupation may classify the type of speech behaviour the participants will

orient towards. It also specifies the range of possible purposes of the process of speaking.

For example, lawyers, clergymen, undertakers have a peculiar tone of voice: narrowed pitch

range, frequent use of monotone, regular rhythm, fairly slow tempo. Teachers tend to use

falling tones more often; they increase loudness and decrease the tempo of speech.

Vocal devices also let the listener to estimate the emotional state of the other

communicant. Such devices are as follows:

− Pitch: the systematic sound melodies may be performed by the individuals at their normal

pitch height or delivered in a higher or lower key. Exaggerated pitch movements are used to

convey additional meanings. They are associated with an increase in volume whereas

restricted movement is quieter.

− Loudness: loudness indicates anger. Quietness is associated with intimacy or secrecy.

However, it should be mentioned that recent research discovered the strong tendency for the

interlocutors to converge on the same volume, each accommodating his volume to the

perceived volume of the other.

− Precision: the accuracy in pronunciation of sounds. The higher the levels of formality, the

more carefully the sounds are articulated.

− Continuity: depends upon the amount of pauses. Hesitation manifests itself in false start

and new beginnings, which occur mostly in informal speech.

− Tempo: the increase of tempo may suggest pressure of time or excitement. A slower

tempo suggests boredom.