Задания для самостоятельной работы студентов

QUESTIONS:

1. Give semantic characteristic of informational (formal) style.

2. What are main peculiarities of this style in terms of basic nuclear tones, tempo, rhythm, internal boundaries placement used here?

3. What is Stepping Head?

4. Analyze and read extracts exemplifying this style. Take into account the tone-marks provided.

5. Do you agree that both extracts can be said to belong to the same variety?

6. Find any extract of your own exemplifying informational style. Single out its phonostylistic peculiarities and be ready to act it out in class.

Practical material

Sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge ♫

>Earth has ˈnot ˙anything to ‘show ¦ more _\fair ˈDull would he ˙be of ‘soul who ˈcould ˙pass ‘by A ˌsight ˙so “touching in its “majesty:│ ˈThis ‘City now doth ˙like a “garment ˌwear.│ The ˌbeauty of the _\morning ‘silent, _\bare,│ >Ships, _\towers, >domes, ˇtheatres and ˇtemples lie ˈOpen into the ˇfields and to the _\sky; ˈAll ‘bright ¦ and ‘glittering in the ˈsmokeless _\air. ˆNever did ˇsun ¦ more ˈbeautifully ‘steep ¦ In his ˈfirst ‘splendor, ‘valley, ‘rock, or ‘hill│ ˈNe’er ‘saw I “never _\felt,│a “calm so _\deep! The ↘river ¦ ‘glideth at his ˈown ˈsweet _\will:│ ”Dear “God!│the ˈvery ‘houses ˈseem a‘sleep; And ˈall ¦ ˙that “mighty _\heart is _\lying _\still!

W. Wordsworth (1770-1850)

Unit 2. Scientific (academic) style Explanation

In scientific (academic) style intellectual and volitional intonation patterns are concurrently employed. The speaker’s purpose here is not only to prove a hypothesis, to create new concepts, to disclose relations between different phenomena, but also to direct the listener’s attention to the message carried in the semantic component. Although this style tends to be objective and precise, it is not entirely unemotional and devoid of any individuality. Scientific style is frequently used, for example, by university lectures, schoolteachers, or by scientists in formal or informal discussions.

Attention is focused here on a lecture on a scientific subject and reading aloud a piece of scientific prose, that is to say, the type of speech that occurs in the written variety of language, in one-sided form of communication (monologue), in prepared, public, formal discourse. The lecturer’s purpose is threefold:

1. he must get the ‘message’ of the lecture across to his audience;

2. he must attract the attention of the audience and direct it to the ‘message’;

3. he must establish contact with his audience and maintain it throughout the lecture.

To achieve these goals he makes recourse to a specific set of intonation means. The most common pre-nuclear pattern (that part of the tune preceding the nucleus) is (Low Pre-Head + ) Stepping Head. The Stepping Head makes the whole intonation group sound weighty and it has a greater persuasive appeal than the Falling Head. Occasionally the High Head may occur as a less emphatic variant of the Stepping Head. This enables the lecturer to sound categorical, judicial, considered and persuasive.

As far as the terminal tone is concerned, both simple and compound tunes occur here. The High Fall and the Fall-Rise are the most conspicuous tunes. They are widely used as means of both logical emphasis and emphasis for contrast. A succession of several high falling tones also makes an utterance expressive enough, they help the lecturer to impress on his audience that he is dealing with something he is quite sure of, something that requires neither argument nor discussion. Thus basic intonation patterns found here are as follows:

(Low Pre-Head + ) (Stepping Head + ) Low Fall ( + Tail)

(Low Pre-Head + ) (Stepping Head + ) High Fall ( + Tail)

(Low Pre-Head + ) (Stepping Head + ) Low Rise ( + Tail)

(Low Pre-Head + ) (High (Medium) Level Head + ) Fall-Rise ( + Tail)

(Low Pre-Head + ) (High (Medium) Level Head + ) Mid-Level ( + Tail)

Variations and contrasts in the speed of utterance are indicative of the degree of importance attached to different parts of the speech flow. Less important parts are pronounced at greater speed than usual, while more important parts are characterized by slower speed. Diminished and increased loudness that contrasts with the normal loudness helps the listeners to perceive a word as being brought out.

Internal boundaries placement is not always semantically predictable. Some pauses, made by the speaker, may be explicable in terms of hesitation phenomena denoting forgetfulness or uncertainty (eg. word searching). The most widely used hesitation phenomena here are repetitions of words and filled pauses, which may be vocalic [ə(з:)], consonantal [m] and mixed [əm(з:m)]. Intentional use of these effects enables the lecturer to obtain a balance between formality and informality and thus to establish a closer contact with his listeners who feel that they are somehow involved in making up the lecture. Moreover, a silent pause at an unexpected point calls the listeners’ attention and may serve the speaker’s aim to bring out some words in an utterance.

In the case of reading aloud scientific prose the most widely used pre-nuclear pattern is also (Low Pre-Head + ) Stepping Head. Sometimes the broken Stepping Head is found, if an accidental rise occurs on some item of importance. The Stepping Head may be replaced by the so-called heterogeneous head, i.e. a combination of two or several heads. Occasionally the Scandent (Climbing) Head (characterized by an upward pitch movement over the stress-groups) is employed which is an efficient means of making a sentence or an intonation group more emphatic. Final intonation groups are pronounced predominately with the low or the high falling tone. Non-final intonation groups present more possibilities of variations. In addition to the simple tunes found in final intonation groups the following compound tunes are used: the Fall-Rise and the Rise-Fall. But the falling nuclear tone ranks first, the Low Rise or Mid-Level are much less common.

It should be borne in mind that the falling nuclear tone in non-final intonation groups in most cases does not reach the lowest possible pitch level. Compound tunes make the oral representation of a written scientific text more expressive by bringing out the most important items in an utterance. Moreover, they secure greater intonational cohesion between different parts of a text. Thus the following intonation patterns may be added to those listed above:

(Low Pre-Head + ) (Stepping Head + ) Rise-Fall ( + Tail)

(Low Pre-Head + ) (Heterogeneous Head + ) Low Fall ( + Tail)

(Low Pre-Head + ) (Heterogeneous Head + ) High Fall ( + Tail)

(Low Pre-Head + ) (Heterogeneous Head + ) Fall-Rise ( + Tail)

(Low Pre-Head + ) (Sliding Head + ) High Fall + Rise ( + Tail)

(Low Pre-Head + ) (Scandent Head + ) Low Fall (+ Tail)

(Low Pre-Head + ) (Scandent Head + ) High Fall (+ Tail)

The speed of utterance of reading scientific prose fluctuates from normal to accelerated, but it is never too fast. This can be explained by the greater length of words and the greater number of stressed syllables within an intonation group. Variations in speed also depend on the communicative centre. Since a communicative centre is brought out by slowing down the speed of utterance and less important words in the intonation group are pronounced at greater speed, the general speed of utterance is perceived as accelerated.

Reading scientific prose is characterized by contrastive rhythmic patterns. This is predetermined by the correlation of rhythm and speed of utterance. It is generally known that slow speed entails regular rhythm while in accelerated speech rhythm is less regular. Pauses are predominantly short, their placement and internal boundaries are always semantically or syntactically predictable. Hesitation pauses are to be avoided. The following examples serve as a model of scientific style.

(A) Academic kind of lecturing:

Well > now I’d like to ↘turn ˈnow to as‘sessment,│and I ^→ hope you won’t ‚mind if I ^→ use this oppor_\tuni‚ty to ↘try to give ˈsome indi‚cation of [əm] ║ a ^→ more ‘modern,│more _\recent ap_\proach _\to the asˌsessment _\problem than per↘haps ˈI myˈself was ˈbrought ˈbrought ‘up on.│And I _\want very ^→ _\arbitrarily if I ‚may to di_\vide this into _\three ‚headings│and to > ask [ə:] ˈthree ˈthree _\questions: as^→sessment ˇwhy,│as^→sessment ˇwhat,│ and as^→sessment _\how. So ^→ this really ‚means I ↘want to ˈtalk aˈbout ↑first of all the ‘purposes of as‚sessment ‘why we are asˌsessing at ˇall, [əm] _\secondly the ^→ kind of _\functions and ^→ processes that are ‘being as‚sessed, │and ↘thirdly I want to ˈtalk about tech_\niques.│And I shall I shall ↘have to ˈgo ˈthrough this ‘fairly ‚rapidly, and I _\hope that ^→ if it’s ‘too _\rapid you’ll ↘pick me up in ˈquestion time ‘afterwards.║

_\Well, ^→ first of all the ‘purpose of asˌsessment.║Now I ^→ think there are ˇfour, _\roughly ‚speaking, ‘four ‚purposes [ə:] which I ↘want to disˈcuss very _\briefly.║The ‘first ˌpurpose of as‚sessment > is│if I may ^→ use a de‘rogatory ‚term ^→ purely ad‘ministrative. And ‘by ad‚ministrative I ‚mean [з:] the ^→children are >tested in ↘order to ˈmake a deˇcision a↘bout the ˈkind of edu>cation that ^→ they should _\have│and ˇgenerally [əm] the as^→sessments are ‘done│in _\order to de‚cide ^→whether children ‚are as the _\term now ‚is ↘suitable for eduˈcation in _\school.║

(B) Reading scientific prose

The ^→various ˇmeanings│may be ^→classified under ↑two ˈgeneral _\heads│– the ^→optative sub>junctive and the po‘tential subˌjunctive.║The ‘optative sub‚junctive ↘repreˈsents ˈsomething as de‘sired, de‘manded, or re‘quired (by a _→ person or by _\circumstances). ║ The po‘tential sub‚junctive ↘marks ˈsomething as a ↑mere conˈception of the ‘mind, but at the ^→ same ˇtime, ↘repreˈsents it as ↑something that may _\probably or _\possib‚ly ‘be or be‘come a reality or on the ‘other ‚hand as > something that is ^→ contrary to ‘fact.║