Задания для самостоятельной работы студентов

QUESTIONS:

1. Give semantic characteristic of scientific (academic) style.

2. When does this style occur?

3. Speak on the most essential characteristics of the academic kind of lecturing. What is the lecturer’s purpose?

4. What is Scandent Head?

5. What is hesitation phenomenon? When is it used?

6. Speak on the most essential characteristics of reading aloud scientific prose.

7. Analyze and read the extract presented under the heading of academic kind of lecturing. Why is the lecturer trying to obtain a balance between formality and informality? What evidence is there that he is trying to do so?

8. Analyze and read the extract exemplifying scientific prose. Compare it with the lecture. What are linguistic similarities and differences between them? Can these oral texts belong to the same style?

Practical material

Sonnet 66 ♫

ˈTired with ˈall _\these,│for ˈrestful ‘death I >cry:│ ˌAs, to beˈhold de‘sert a >beggar ˙born,│ And ˈneedy “nothing ’trimmed ¦ in _\jollity,│ And ˈpurest >faith unˈhappily for>sworn, And ˈgilded ‘honour ‘shamefully misˆplaced,│ And “maiden ‘virtue „rudely >strumpeted,│ And “right perˇfection “wrongfully dis>graced, And “strength by “limping _\sway dis_\abled, And _\art ˌmade ‘tongue-ˌtied by au_\\thority, And “folly ¦ ‘doctor-like conˈtrolling _\skill, And “simple “truth mis‘called sim>plicity, And ˈcaptive >good atˈtending ˈcaptain _\ill. >Tired with >all these,│from >these ¯would I be _\gone, ‘Save that, ¦ to ‘die,│ I ˈleave my _\love aˌlone.

W. Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Unit 3. Declamatory style Explanation

In declamatory style the emotional role of intonation increases, thereby intonation patterns used for intellectual, volitional and emotional purposes have an equal share. This style comprises two varieties of oral representation of written literary texts, namely: reading aloud a piece of descriptive prose (the author’s speech) and the author’s reproduction of actual conversation (the speech of characters). The speaker’s aim is to appeal simultaneously to the mind, the will and feelings of the listener by image-bearing devices. Declamatory style is generally acquired by special training and it is used, for example, in stage speech, classroom recitation, verse speaking or in reading aloud fiction.

The intonation of reading descriptive prose has many features in common with that of reading scientific prose. In both styles the same set of intonation means is made use of, but the frequency of their occurrence is different here.

In the pre-nuclear part the Low Pre-Head may be combined with the Stepping Head, the broken Stepping Head, or a descending sequence of syllables interrupted by several falls. It is interesting to note that the Scandent Head is not found in reading descriptive prose, it is confined to scientific prose.

The nuclear tone in final intonation groups is generally the Low Fall, or, less frequently, the High Fall. This is due to the fact that both in scientific and descriptive prose the prevailing sentence type is declarative, necessitating the use of the falling tone. The principal nuclear tones in non-final intonation groups are the Low 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 following oral texts may serve as examples of reading descriptive prose:

1. She ˈlooked at the ‘Queen,│who ˈseemed to have ↘suddenly ↘wrapped herself up in ‘wool. ˈAlice ˈrubbed her ‘eyes,│and ˈlooked a_\gain. She ˈcouldn’t ˙make ‚out ¦ ‘what had ˇhappened at “all…║

2. The ˈshop ˈseemed to be ˈfull of ˈall ‘manner of ˌcurious ‚things│– but the ↘oddest ˈpart of it ‘all ‚was, that whenˈever she ˈlooked ‘hard at any ˇshelf, to ˈmake ˙out eˈxactly what it ˙had ˇon it,│↘that par↘ticular ‚shelf was ↗always ˈquite _\empty,│ though the ˈothers ˇround it were ↘crowded as ˈfull as they could _\hold…║

(from “Alice in Wonderland” by L. Carroll)

When reading aloud a dialogic text it should be borne in mind that the intonation representing speech of the characters is always stylized. As far as the pre-nuclear pattern is concerned, 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 and compound tunes are widely used. Special mention should be made of the falling-rising tone which has a greater frequency of occurrence in reading dialogic texts than in actual situation. The overall speed of utterance in reading is normal or reduced as compared with natural speech, and as a result the rhythm is more even and regular. Pauses are either connecting or disjunctive, thereby internal boundaries placement is always semantically or syntactically predictable. Hesitation pauses do not occur, unless they are deliberately used for stylization purposes.

To select an intonation pattern for a particular utterance one has to take into account the author’s suggestion as to how the text should be read (eg. the playwright’s remarks, and stage directions in drama). Moreover, one has to consider the character’s social and educational background, the kind of relationship existing between him and other characters as well as the extra-linguistic context at large.

Here is an example of a dialogic text:

“And ↗how many ↗hours a ↗day ˙did you ˈdo ‘lesions? – ˌsaid ‚Alice in a ↗hurry to ↗change the ˇsubject.

“ˈTen ˙hours the ‘first day,” ˌsaid the ˌMock ‚Turtle, “ˌnine the ‚next,│and ‘so ˌon.”

“What a ‚curious “plan!” exˌclaimed ˌAlice.

“‘That’s the ‚reason they are ˙called “lessons,” the ˌGryphon reˌmarked, “beˌcause they ˇlessen from day to _\day.”

↗This was ↗quite a ↗new i‘dea to ˌAlice,│and she ˈthought it ‘over a ˌlittle│be↗fore she ↗made her ↗next re_\mark.

“ˌThen the eˆleventh ˌday must have ‚been a “holiday?”

“Of “course it ˌwas,” said the ˌMock _\Turtle.

“And „how did you ˙manage on the “twelfth?” ˌAlice ˌwent on _\eagerly.

“That’s e_\nough about _\lessons,” the ˌGryphon interrupted│in a ↘very de↘cided _\tone: “↘Tell her ↘something about ‘games ˌnow.”║

(from “Alice in Wonderland” by L. Carroll)