Intonation

RHYTHM + SPEECH + TEMPO + TIMBER [tæmbә]

MELODY

STRESS

LOUDNESS TONE DURATION

PROLONGATION

AMPLITUDE OF VIBRATIONS PITCH PAUSATION

RESPIRATION RATE OF VIBRATIONS

So by intonation Russian phoneticians usually understand speech melody, pitch, stress, tone, loudness, rhythm etc. On the surface the approach looks heterogeneous, but beneath the surface there are more distinct interconnections.

Rhythm is defined as a regular co-occurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables. The definition shows that rhythm is closely connected with stress. Stress is connected with loudness (the stressed syllable is pronounced louder than others). Loudness depends upon the amplitude of vibrations (the greater the amplitude – the louder the sound). And the amplitude of vibrations in its turn depends upon the force of exhalation - that is respiration.

Speech melody is a contour consisting of different tones. A tone is either no change in pitch (level tone) or a change in pitch (fall, rise…). Pitch is based upon the rate of vibrations (see above).

Tempo is the rate of an utterance (it can normal, fast be slow). Tempo of an utterance influences the duration of the syllables. The more durable the utterance is, the more prolonged are the sounds and the syllables (prolongation). There can never be constant prolongation of sounds or syllables, that’s why there occur some pauses (pausation). The number of pauses influences the tempo of the utterance.

Timber is the quality of a musical sound, a special colouring of the speaker’s voice. It’s used to express various emotions and moods.

Conclusion. In the treatment of intonation as one thing (pitch or contour) phoneticians just single out the most important phonetic item and view it as the cause of possible semantic modifications. As to Russian phoneticians, they consider intonation to be a more complicated thing. So the attitudes, emotions and logic conveyed by an utterance are dependent on a number of intonation components.

19. Reasons for phonetic modification

In regional and social accents of english

English language is not homogeneous. We can differentiate between different regional and social accents which appeared due to some historical and geographical reasons. Variants, dialects and accents of English have different lexical, grammatical and phonetic peculiarities. Let’s speak about some reasons for phonetic modification in regional and social accents of English, such as Received Pronunciation (RP), General American (GA), Scottish (Sc), Irish (Ir), Welsh (W) and Cockney (C).

The first process to mention is rhoticism. Rhoticism is pronunciation of the sound [r] defined by the letter r, in any position of the sound chain. Rhotic accents are those which actually pronounce [r] corresponding to orthographic r. Rhoticism is present in GA, Scottish and Irish English. RP is not a Rhotic accent, but most speakers of it do pronounce orthographic r word-finally before a vowel. Because of rhoticism these accents loose a number of phonemes, though phonological oppositions always remain practically the same.

Ex. RP bird [bə:d] – board [bo:d]

Sc [bird] - [bo:rd]

The meaning remains the same, so the phonological opposition is possible.

In GA [r] may replace the glide of RP diphthongs:

Ex. RP tear [tiə] – tour [tuə]

GA [tir] - [tur]

The very sound [r] is different in different accents. In Northern accents it may be uvular, in Sc it is most usually a flap (more over, they pronounce [Өr] as [∫r]: through /∫ru:/ ), GA [r] is of greater retroflexion (загиб языка) than RP one.

Another process causing phonetic modification in regional and social accents of English is diphthongization. It’s a slight shifting of the organs of speech position within the articulation of one and the same vowel. Diphthongization changes the quality of a sound during its articulation. The main reason – the rule of economy of effort. → the stability of articulation which we need for pronouncing the monophthong are broken → simplification takes place. For ex. RP [/\] → Cockney [æi] (blood /blæid/ ). [æi] is quite a new phoneme. The nucleus is open & front, while [/\] is open & back, so fronting takes place.

A reverse process is monophthongization. Monophthongization means acquiring equal quality, so that articulating organs are more or less stable, which results in the stationary nature of the vowel. The rule of economy of effort also works here. In regional accents RP diphthongs become monophtongs because of the weakening of the glide and strengthening of the nucleus or vice versa. Ex. RP [ai] - GA [i:] → weakening of the nucleus and strengthening of the glide; [ai] – open and front, [i:] – close and front, so narrowing takes place: e.g. either.

A few words about GA.

GA is a type of educated American speech. GA pronunciation is known to be the pronunciation standard of the USA. GA is the form of speech used by radio and TV. GA is different from RP; the most significant changes take place in the system of vowels. It’s connected with the earlier mentioned processes. Ex.:

[iə] → [i] + [r] dear [dir] – Monophthongization (weakening of the glide and strengthening of the nucleus)

+ appearance of [r] caused by rhoticism.

[a:] → [ei] vase [veiz] – loss of stability of articulation – diphthongization ([a:] in RP is back, open, broad;

the nucleus of [ei] is front, mid, narrow → fronting + narrowing).

There are some changes in the system of consonants as well.

1) [t] and [∫] become voiced in the intervocalic position. The rule of economy of effort also works here. It’s easier to pronounce lenis consonants [d] and [3 =ж] than fortis [t] and [∫], because the force of exhalation and the degree of muscular tension they need is weaker. Ex. latter RP [lætə] – GA [lædə]; version RP [vә:∫n] – GA [vә:r3n]

2) [l] is fairly dark in all positions – the rule of the economy of effort – the tip of the tongue contacts the teeth instead of the alveolar ridge because it’s much easier;

3) [j] is usually weakened or omitted. – news [nu:z]. etc.

A few words about Cockney.

Cockney is a social accent – the speech of working-class areas of the Greater London. In this accent we also come across articulatory simplification. Ex.:

Consonant : [Ө] → [f] (interdental turns into labio-dental). They are both fricatives, constrictive; it’s a natural non-verbal movement – the economy of effort (thin [Өin] – [fin]).

Vowel: [o:] → [o:ə] – diphthongization, stability of articulation is broken (paw [po:] – [po:ə]).