Семинарское занятие № 15 Тема: Intonation

Discussion Points:

1. Define the notion of intonation. Enumerate its constituents.

2. Give the definitions of an intonation pattern, an intonation group and a syntagm. Differentiate between them.

3. Describe the pitch-and-stress structure of the intonation pattern. What parts of the intonation pattern can be distinguished and what are their meanings? What is the meaning of the intonation group formed of?

4. Define the tempo of speech. Enumerate and characterize different kinds of pauses.

5. What methods can be used for recording intonation patterns in writing? Which do you find the most adequate?

6. What is the main function of intonation? Characterize the ways in which it is realized?

7. What are the two main approaches to the problem of intonation in Great Britain?

8. What is the grammatical approach to the study of intonation?

Семинарское занятие № 16 Тема: Rhythm

Discussion Points:

1. Give various definitions of rhythm. What makes it a very general term?

2. Characterize the languages according to the type of rhythm. What group do Russian and English belong to?

3. Define the rhythmic group. Point out different views on the division into rhythmic groups. Enumerate other rhythmic units.

4. Characterize rhythmicality in poetry. Enumerate prosodic, phonetic, structural and semantic devices that help the impression of rhythmicality.

5. Speak about the rhythm in fairy-tales. What are its most characteristic features?

6. Analyze rhythmicality in prosaic texts. Describe prosodic characteristics of various rhythmic units.

7. Compare prosaic and poetic rhythm and point out differences in the prosodic organization.

8. Point out the main functions of rhythm.

9. Give examples of exercises that can help Russian learners of English practice rhythm.

Семинарское занятие № 17 Тема: Style Characteristics of Intonation

Discussion Points:

1. Speak about the main goals of phonostylistic studies. Compare functional and phonetic styles and point out the differences and similarities between them.

2. Define an extralinguistic situation and characterize its components.

3. Enumerate and give a short characteristic of the main style-forming factors.

4. Point out style-differentiating characteristics.

5. Give different classifications of phonetic styles and choose one you consider the most adequate. Give reasons for your choice.

6. Give the definition of an intonational style. What determines its choice? Explain what distinguishes one intonational style from another.

7. Define the invariant of the style forming intonation patterns. What constitutes the norm of speech behaviour?

Семинарское занятие № 18 Тема: Characteristics of Intonational Styles

Discussion Points:

Analyze the five intonational styles: informational style, academic style, publicistic style, declamatory style and conversational style according to the following points:

a. the registers that are distinguished;

b. the purpose of communication: reading or speaking, prepared speech or spontaneous;

c. the main functions of intonation;

d. the participants: general characteristic, timbre;

e. the setting: formal or informal, public or private;

f. style-marking prosodic features: loudness, levels and ranges, rate, pauses, rhythm;

g. accentuation of semantic centres: terminal tones, pre-nuclear patterns, contrast between accented and unaccented segments;

h. use of paralinguistic features: facial expressions, gestures, etc.