8.The intonation system of English.

Different authors define intonation differently.In a broad sense intonation is a complex unity of: 1.speech melody ,2.utterance-stress,3. rhythm, 4.voice timbre,5. pausation,6. tempo. In a narrow sense key components are speech melody ,utterance-stress, rhythm.

1 .Speech melody – is the variations of the pitch of the voice. 2. Words grouped into an utterance are not equally important. The special prominence given to one or more words into an utterance is called utterance-stress. The means with the help of which special prominence is achieved are variations of pitch, loudness, length, duration, etc. 3.Rhythm is a regular recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables at definite intervals. 4. Voice timbre is the combination of a sound that distinguishes it from other sounds of the same pitch and volume. 5. A pause is a complete stop of phonation. Pauses can be short or long, silent and voiced. 6.The tempo is connected with the rate (speed) of the utterance. The rate (speed) of speech can be normal, slow and fast. The parts of the utterance that are important usually sound slower.

An intonation group is a word or a group of words characterized by a certain intonation pattern and is generally complete from the point of view of meaning. The intonation group consists of the following elements:1.the pre-head – unstressed or partially stressed syllables which precede the first stressed syllable;

2. the head/body – includes the first stressed syllables and all the stressed and unstressed syllables before the nucleus;

3.the nucleus – the syllable which has the nuclear tone(strongly stressed syllable).

The nuclear tone is the most important part of intonation. Phoneticians single out from 4 to 12 nuclear tones. But the majority of them agree that the following nuclear tones make up the core of information: The Low Fall – the voice falls from a medium to a very low pitch. The Low Rise – the voices from a low to a medium pitch. The High Fall – the voice falls from a high to a very low pitch. The high Rise – the voice rises from a medium to a high pitch. The Fall – Rise – the voice first falls from a fairly high to a rather low pitch and then rises to a medium pitch. The Rise –Fall – the voice first rises from the medium to a high pitch and then falls to a very low pitch.

4.the tail – unstressed or partially stressed syllables following the nucleus.

Intonation performs a number of function. Among the most significant are the following:

1.constitutive f. – serves to form utterances as communicative units; 2.identificatory f. – serves to provide the certain basis for the hearer’s identification of the communicative type of an utterance, its semantic and syntactical structure within the situation; 3. Distinctive f. – manifests itself in several particular functions:

a)communicative – intonation serves to differentiate the communicative types of utterances, finality or non-finality of the utterance, the location of the semantic centre of the utterance; b) modal – intonation serves to differentiates modal meaning of the utterance, speaker’s attitudes, emotions;

c)stylistic – intonation serves to differentiate the pronunciation of different styles.