Stepping Head Broken Stepping Head Heterogeneous Head

or a descending sequence of syllables interrupted by several falls. However, the Stepping Head the Broken Stepping Head and a descending succession of syllables interrupted by several falls are used more frequently in reading descriptive texts while the Heterogeneous Head prevails in reading scientific texts.

The nuclear tone in final intonation group is generally the Law Fall or, less frequently, the High Fall. The principal nuclear tones in non-final intonation groups are the Law Fall, the High Fall and the Fall – Rise. The simple tunes are more frequent in descriptive texts while the compound tunes are more typical of scientific texts. The Law Rise, the Rise Fall and the Mid-Level are rarely used when reading a piece of descriptive prose. The Law Fall, especially the one which does not reach the lowest possible pitch-level, is preferable here.

The speed of utterance in reading descriptive prose is relatively slow and as a result there are no marked variations in rhythm. Pauses may be different in length, but long pauses are more common.

When reading aloud a dialogic text, representing the speech of the characters in drama, novel or story, it should be born in mind that it is different in the matter of intonation from a descriptive text, representing the author’s speech (monologue).

The intonation adequate for reading dialogic texts has much in common with that of actual conversation. But the speaker should remember that the intonation of dialogic texts is not a pure and simple reproduction of the intonation that might be heard in the natural speech of living people. Before being used in reading dialogic texts the intonation of actual conversation is subjected to some kind of reshaping. Thus one can say that the intonation of speech of the character is always stylized. The stylization of colloquial intonation implies that only the most striking elements of natural speech are made use of. For example, the ‘Irish accent’ which an actor might adopt on stage is usually a stylization, that is to say, a sufficient number of phonetic features to give the impression of Irish speech.

Speaking about the pre-nuclear pattern of dialogic texts, it should be noted that the Low or High Pre-Head may be combined with any variety of descending, ascending or level heads. In the terminal tone both simple or compound tunes are widely used. It is interesting to note that the Fall-Rise occurs more frequently in reading dialogic texts than in actual conversation. The pitch-level in most utterances is generally high and the range is wide.

The overall speed of utterance in reading is normal or compared with natural speech, and as a result the rhythm is more even and regular. Pauses are exclusively either connecting or disjunctive, thereby they are always semantically predictable. Hesitation pauses do not occur, unless they are used for stylization purposes.

Practical Tasks

1. Transcribe the following words.

Declamatory, representation, descriptive, frequency, occurrence, descending, compound, especially, preferable, dialogic, drama, spontaneous, to be subjected, to be stylized, accent, sufficient, exclusively, purpose, adequate.