Exam Questions

1. Phonostylistics as a branch of linguistics.

2. Stylistic use of Intonation.

3. Functional Styles.

4. Intonational Styles.

An intonational style can be defined as a system of interrelated intonational means which is used in a social sphere and serves a definite aim of communication.

The choice of an intonational style is determined by the purpose of communication and the number of the other exralinguistic factors. They single out following styles:

• informational

• academic (scientific)

• publicistic (artistic)

• declamatory( oratorical)

• conversational(familiar)

The purpose of communication determines the types of intonation conveyed in oral texts.

Each of these types is realised by means of specific prosodic parameters. These stylistically marked modifications of all the prosodic features represent the invariant of the style forming intonation patterns common to all the register of the particular style.

Intonation patterns vary in accordance with types of information present in communication. There may be patterns used for:

1. Intellectual purposes

2. Emotional purposes

3. Volition and desiderative purposes by which the substantive goals of speakers are carried out.

The distribution of attitudinal and volitional patterns shapes the particular intonational style and distinguishes one from another. Each text is likely to include phonetic characteristics of different styles.

5. Intonational Styles and Modification of Sounds in Connected Speech.

6. Formal and Informal English.

7. Informational Style in writing and speaking

8. The prosodic characteristics of informational style.

I. s. is qualified as "formal", “neutral”. This style is manifested in the written variety of an informational narrative read aloud. The majority of these texts are of purely descriptive character and are simply called descriptive narratives. In oral speech may be presented in different forms: monologues, dialogues, and polylogues.

Press reporting and broadcasting are very close in its manner to this type of the style as the reader tends to sound impartial when reporting routine news or weather forecasts, for example. The news bulletin and broadcast talk have both written and spoken so they need to be read aloud. The informational style includes other spheres of communication: business and legal intercourse, the reading of administrative documents and so on.

The degree of formality in the character of participants' relationship may vary.

1. Broadcast texts and newspaper articles read aloud convey mainly the intellectual intonation as it is the language of factual statements; thus attitudinal and emphatic function of intonation is of secondary importance here.

2. The prosodic parameters are not greatly varied in both registers of the style but for several occasions in news bulletins when pitch levels, types of heads and pauses are alternated to break the monotony of speech and draw the listeners' or viewers' attention to something very important in a message.

3. The voice timbre is often labeled as "distant", "indifferent", "impartial", "neutral” for events of a routine character. When tragic events are broadcast all the prosodic features are switched to convey the meaning.

4. In the "news bulletin reading" type of the informational style the use of broken descending heads and fall-rises on initial intonation groups is more common.

5. Pauses tend to be longer, the general tempo is faster than that in the descriptive reading.

6. The "broadcast" reading is more properly rhythmically organized.