35. Types of intonation
INTONATION |
|
NEUTRAL |
NON-NEUTRAL |
UNEMPHATIC |
EMPHATIC |
Types of Intonation
Unemphatic - to express only the intellectual content of the thought - not to express one’s own attitude or emotions and not to give any particular prominence to any part of the utterance
|
- Emphatic expressing one’s own attitude or emotions - make the whole of the utterance particularly significant - to make one or more words more prominent than the others
|
To emphasize the whole of the utterance we can:
- widen the range of the utterance or narrow it
- modify the head: we can use the Low Head or Sliding Head instead of the Stepping Head
- increase stress on all the stressed words
To give prominence to separate words we can:
- use the “Special” Rise
- omit stresses on all the words
- stress one of the words that are normally unstressed in unemphatic speech leaving stress only on the nucleus
- use one of the main widely-ranged tones
36. The structure of intonation pattern
The structure of Intonation Pattern
(the maximal structural type)
PREHEAD SCALE NUCLEUS TAIL
HEAD
Head and pre-head form the pre-nuclear part of the intonation pattern. The pre-head can be of 2 main types: ascending and level. Pre-nuclear part can take a variety of pitch patterns.
Main Types of the Scale / Head
- the regular descending scale and its variant (in which the pitch gradually descends to the nucleus)
- the ascending scale (in which the syllables form ascending sequence)
- the level scale (when all the syllables stay more or less on the same level)
- the scandent scale (where unstressed syllables are lower than the following stressed syllables)
Nucleus is obligatory intonation pattern; it is present in every sentence. All the other intonation patterns are optional and they may present and may not. Nucleus can be of 3 types:
falling
rising
level
In the tail determines the tone of the nucleus. Thus after a falling tone we have descending type of the tail; after a rising tone – ascending; and after level tone – level type of the tail.
Pitch Levels
High
Medium
Low
It depends on how we start to pronounce 1st stressed syllable.
Variations in pitch range occur within the normal range of the human voice. It’s the distance between the highest and the lowest levels in the sentence.
The Pitch Range
Normal Wide Narrow
(of low, medium and high levels)
37. The stylistic use of intonation
Intonation plays a central role in stylistic differentiation of oral texts.
Intonation patterns vary in accordance with types of information present in communication. Presumably there may be patterns used for:
intellectual purposes;
emotional and attitudinal purposes;
volitional and desiderative purposes, by which the substantive (реальный) goals of speakers are carried out.
One of the objectives of phonostylistics is the study of intonational functional styles. An intonational style can be defined as a system of interrelated intonational means which is used in a certain context or social sphere and serves a definite ain in communication. Now many linguists distinguish 5 main style categories.
Functional Phonetic Styles
- Informative (formal)
is characterized by the predominant use of intellectual intonation patterns. It occurs in formal discourse where the task set by the sender of the message is to communicate without giving it any emotional and volitional evaluation. This style is mainly used by radio and television announcers. It is considered to be stylistically neutral.
The characteristic feature of informational style is the use of Falling Head or Low Fall, normal or slow speed of the utterance and regular rhythm. Pausation is semantically predictable, that is, an intonation group here always consists of words joined together by sense. Intonation groups tend to be short, duration of pauses varies from medium to long. Short pauses are rather rare.
- Scientific (academic)
In that style intellectual and volitional intonation patterns are concurrently employed. The speaker’s purpose is not only to prove a hypothesis, e.g., but also direst the listener’s attention to the message carried in the semantic component. This style is frequently used by university lecturers, school-teachers etc.
- Declamatory (artistic)
The emotional role of intonation increases, thereby intonation patterns used for intellectual, volitional and emotional purposes have an equal share. The speaker’s aim is to appeal simultaneously to the mind, the will and the feelings of the listeners by image bearing devices. It is used in stage speech, classroom recitation, and verse-speaking or in reading aloud fiction.
- Familiar (conversational)
is typical of the English of everyday life. It occurs both within a family group and in informal external relationships. It is the emotional reaction to a situational or verbal stimulus that matters. Nevertheless, intellectual and volitional intonation patterns also have a part to play.
- Publicistic (oratorial) (d+s)
is characterized by predominance of volitional intonation patterns against the background of intellectual and emotional ones. The general aim of this intonation style is to exert influence on the listener, to convince him that the speaker’s interpretation is only correct one and to make him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech. It is typical for political speech-makers, radio and television commentators etc
38. The orthoepic norm. Variations within the orphoepic norm
In the case of English there exists a great diversity in the spoken realization of the language and in terms of pronunciation.
Any National Language |
|
The Written Form - A generally accepted standard - The same throughout the country |
The Spoken Form - Vary from locality to locality (1) Standard Pronunciation (2) Territorial / Regional Dialects |
The Orthoepic Norm
Standard pronunciation Literary ronunciation Orthoepic norm |
American and British linguists Russian linguists
|
Standard Pronunciation
Socially accepted variety of a language
A codified norm of correctness – standard and acceptable in all kinds and types of discourse
The orthoepic norm: Orthoepy = the correct pronunciation of the words of a language
Educated people
Radio and TV announcers
Pronunciation dictionaries
At schools, colleges, universities
Understandable to all the population in the country / speakers of other countries
The Orthoepic Norm
= A regulator which determines:
The inventory of variants
The borders of variation
Acceptable / non-acceptable variations in pronunciation
Changes of Standard Pronunciation
Internal factors: the normal evolution of the language |
External factors: e.g., the movement of population |
Variations within the Orthoepic Norm (RP)
Sunday
again
often
education
RP = Received Pronunciation
Standard type of British pronunciation
Regionless
Public school pronunciation
BBC pronunciation
The UK: 3-5 %
Present day RP Types of RP
Conservative RP
General RP Advanced RP
+ Near RP Southern
|
Older generations, certain professional and social groups Most commonly used Young generations, certain professional circles Many native speakers
|
39. National varieties of English pronunciation
It is common knowledge that over 300 million people now speck English as first language. It is the national language of Great Britain, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada (part of it)
Australian English
Cultivated Australian
General Australian
Broad Australian / Uneducated Popular Australian |
accepted norm of standard pronunciation the most characteristic type (~ 75%) a substandard norm
|
- It is non-rhotic
- Consonants do not differ significantly from those in RP
- The development of General Australian vowels. General tendencies:
- to become more front(ed)
- to become closer
- to be diphthongized
[æ] > [e]: hand [hend], can [ken]
[æ] can be diphthongized: man [mæən]
[ɜ:] > [æ]: bird (= bad) heard (= had)
[i:] > [əi]: see [si:] > [səi] feed [fi:d] > [fəid]
[ʊ] > [ə] (unrounding): book [bʊk] > [bək], look [lʊk] > [lək]
The schwa is busier than in RP: [ɪ] > [ə] boxes, dances, darkest, velvet, acid
Differences in word stress
Three main tendencies
1) to keep the primary stress on the first syllable: `defect, ` relay
2) to shift the primary stress in compound words: green` grocer, `hillside, + tertiary stress: `head ̗ master,
3) to place the primary stress on the root syllable: hos` pitable
New Zealand English
Similar to that of Australia
1) the lengthening of the short sound [i] in the last or initial unstressed syllable: city, very; before [bi:-], report [ri:-]
2) [i] > [ə] (in unstressed syllable): did [dəd], it is [ət əz]
3) the elision of [i], [ə] before sonorants : history [‘histri:], Zealand [‘zilnd]
4) the shortening of long vowels: tall [tɒl], oral [ɒrl]
5) [ɑ:] > [æ]: dance, grass (American influence)
6) [ʃ] > [ʒ]: Asia, version
7) [aʊ] > [æʊ]: cow [kæʊ], town [tæʊn]
8) the pronunciation of words base on spelling: cowper [ku:pə] > [kaʊpə]
In colloquial speech of people there are some peculiarities of Cockney and North England dialects:
- [u:] → [ju:]: boot [bju:t], moon
- [ei] → [ai]: same [saim], great
- [ɜʊ] → [aʊ]: cold [kaʊld], known
[h] can be dropped in the beginning of the word: (h)e’d, (h)is
Canadian English
[t] > [d]: bitter
[nt] > [nd] > [n]: twenty, plenty
The insertion of [t]: also [`ɔltsoʊ], sense [sents]
The elision of [t]: Toronto [`trono]
[l] is dark: feel – feelings
The elision of [h]: historical
Rhotic: cart [kɑrt], court [kɔrt], here [hɪr], poor [pʊr]
[w] > [ʍ]: when, why
[ɪ] > [e]: evolution, zebra
[ɪ] is lengthened or diphthongized: bit, sit [sɪət]
[ɑ:] > [æ]: class, dance, bath
Differences in word stress
1) the first stressed syllable: address, research
2) the tertiary stress (-ary, -ory, -mony, -ery): dictionary, laboratory
3) French influence: valet [`vælɪt]/[ˈvæleɪ] > [væ`leɪ], bouquet [`bʊkeɪ]/[bʊ`keɪ] > [bʊ`keɪ]
40. The linguistic situation in Great Britain today
Juxtaposition
RP: regionless accent, orthoepic norm
|
A wide system of social and regional types of pronunciation
|
Some Terminology
Diglossia
Bilingualism Idiolect Dialect
Accent
|
The standard form + one of the regional dialects Two different languages Individual speech Differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, word-order Differences in pronunciation
|
Typical tendencies of changes in RP
1. Some diphthongs are smoothed out:
fire [faiə] → [faə] → [fa:]
2. The diphthong [ʊə] is rapidly disappearing: sure [ʃʊə] → [ʃɔ:]
3. [ju:] → [u:]
4. Spelling pronunciation tendency: often [ˡɒftən]
5. The final [ɪ] sound is prolonged: happy [ˡhæpɪ] → [ˡhæpi]
6. The use of the glottal stop before / instead [p, t, k, ʧ]:
stop talking [ˡstɒptɔ:kɪŋ] → [ˡstɒʔtɔ:kɪŋ]
7. The neutral vowel [ə]
- appears in a lot of cases: system [ˡsɪstɪm] → [ˡsɪstəm]
- is omitted in –tion, -ion: action [ˡækʃən] → [ˡækʃn]
8. Assimilation:
- [t] + [j] → [ʧ]: mature [məˡtjʊə] → [məˡʧʊə]
- [d] + [j] → [ʤ]: education [ˌedjʊˡkeɪʃn] → [ˌeʤʊˡkeɪʃn]
- [s] + [j] → [ʃ]: issue [ˡɪsju:] → [ˡɪʃ(j)u:]
41. Regional types of pronunciation in the UK
Welsh English
Wales is a bilingual area. The speech situation in linguistics is known as exoglossic. In Wales English dominates over Welsh in urban areas, in the west and north-west of the country vice versa Welsh dominates over English. However, Welsh English at the level of educated speech and writing is not much different from that of English English. Most differences are found at the level of more localized dialects.
The principal phonological differences between WE and RP are the following:
In vowels:
1. there is the distribution of [æ] and [a:] in the England, e.g. last, dance
2. unstressed orthographic “a” tends to be [æ] rather than [ə], e.g. sofa [‘so:fæ]
3. there is no contrast between [Λ] and [ə], e.g. rubber [‘rəbə]]
4. [i] at the end ia a long vowel, e.g. city [‘sitti:]
5. in words like tune few we find [iu] rather than [ju:]
6. [ei], [зu] may become monophthongs, e.g. boat [bo:t]
7. [iə], [uə] do not occur in may variant of WE, e.g. poor [‘pu: wə]
In consonants
1. WE is non-rhotic, [r] is flapped. Intrusive and linking [r] do occur.
2. Consonants in intervocalic position before short vowels are doubled, e.g. city
3. voiceless plosives tends to be strongly aspirated, e.g. pit
4. [l] is clear in all positions
Scottish English
The status of Scottish English is still debated. Some linguists say that it is a national variant. Others say that it is a dialect. Nowadays educated Scottish people speak a form of Scottish Standard English which grammatically and lexically is not different from English used elsewhere, although with the obvious Scottish accent.
The principal phonological differences between SE and RP are the following:
In vowels:
1. Since SE is rhotic vowels such as RP [iə], [з:], [eə], [uə] do not occur, e.g. beer [bir];
2. Length is not a distinctive feature of Scottish, e.g. pool – pull are not distinguished;
3. the RP [æ – a:] distinction doesn’t exist, e.g. hat [hat];
4. In non-standard SE accent [u:] often occurs when RP has [au], e.g. house [haus – hu: s];
5. [o] and [ou] may be not contrasted, e.g. not – note [not];
6. in very many regional accents do, to are pronounces as [də], [tə];
In consonants
1. SE preserves a distinction between [ΛΛ] and [w], e.g. which [ΛΛitƒ] – witch
2. initial [p,t,k] are usually non-aspirated
3. non-initial [t] is often realized as glottal stop;
4. [l] is dark in all positions;
5. –ing is [in]
6. [h] is present
7. [θr] is pronounced as [ƒr], e.g. through
Northern Ireland English
Actually the English pronunciation standards in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are different.
The principal phonological differences between NIE and RP are the following:
In vowels:
1. the vowel system is similar to that of Scottish accents, post-vocalic retroflex frictionless sonorant [r] being used as in Scotland, e.g. bird [bird]
2. in words like bay, say the vowel is a monopthong [ε], precononantally it may be a diphthong of the type [εə - iə], e.g. gate [giət]
3. [o:] and [o] contrast only before [p,t,k]
In consonants:
1. [l] is mainly clear;
2. intervocalic [t] is often a voiced flap [d], e.g. [sidi:]
3. between vowels [ð] may be lost, e.g. mother [‘mo: ər]
4. [h] is present
42. Regional types of pronunciation in the USA
The sociolinguistic situation in the USA is very complicated. Generally speaking, the situation in the USA may be characterized as exoglossic, i.e. having several languages on the same territory, the balance being in favour of American English. The main types of cultivated speech are the following:
1. The Eastern type is spoken in New England and in New York City. It bears a remarkable resemblance to Southern English, though there are, of course, some slight differences.
It is characterized by the loss of [r] in the final and the preconsonantal positions, e.g. car, park;
In such words as ask, dance [a] is more traditional than [æ];
The dipthongs [ai], [au] are relatively stable;
[oi] changes into [ai], e.g. enjoy;
[Λ] is used in certain words instead of [з] as in [f Λst] for first;
2. The Southern type is used in the South and the South-East of the USA. It has a striking distinctive feature – vowel drawl, which is a specific way of pronouncing vowels, consisting in the diphthongization and even triphthongization of some pure vowels and monophthongization of some dipthongs, e.g. poor – [po] at the expense prolonging their nuclei and dropping the glides;
The intervocalic [r] often drop out, e.g. very [ve: i];
3. GA is spoken in the central Atlantic States: New York, New Jersey, Wisconsin and others. GA pronunciation is known as to be the pronunciation standard of the USA. GA is the form of speech used by the radio and television. It is mostly used in scientific, cultural and business intercourses.
43. Principal differences between GA and RP
GA pronunciation is known to be the pronunciation standard of the USA and RP is the pronunciation standard of the UK. There are a number of differences between these 2 standards.
The vocalic system:
- There is no strict division of vowels into long and short in GA
- The three RP vowels [ɒ], [æ], [a:] two vowels in GA – [a] and [æ]: dance RP [da:ns] – GA [dæns]
- Nasalization of vowels in GA when they are preceded or followed by a nasal consonant – name, small
- They have [i:] instead of [I] in words like very, pity
The consonantal system:
- [r]: car RP [ka:] – GA [kar]
- intervocalic [t]: latter RP [ˡlætə] – GA [ˡlætdə]
- in GA [l] is fairy dark in all positions
- the sonorant [j] is usually weakened or omitted in GA between a consonant (especially forelingual one) and [u:] – news [nu:z]
The accentual system:
- Some words have first-syllable stress in GA whereas in RP the strese may be elsewhere - address RP [əˡdres] – GA [ˡædres]
- In words of French origin GA tends to have stress on the final syllable, while RP has it on the initial one – ballet RP [`bæleI] – GA [bæ`leI]
- Some compound words have stress on the 1st element in GA and in RP they retain it on the second element – weekend
- Polysyllabic words ending in –ory, -ary, -mony have secondary stress in GA – dictionary [‘dIk ə nerI ]
Intonation
- In sentences where the most common pre-nuclear contour in RP is a gradually descending sequence, the counterpart GA contour is a medium Level Head
- The usual Medium or Low Fall in RP has its rising-falling counterpart in GA
- The Fall-Rise nuclear tone is different in RP and GA
44. Styles of pronunciation
Styles of pronunciation Functional phonetic styles
Styles of Pronunciation
- Different ways of pronouncing words when people adopt their language to particular situations
- These variations depend on:
the aim and the contents of the utterance
the circumstances of communication
the character of the audience
the relationship between the speaker and the listener
the degree of formality of their speech
the type of activity, etc.
Professor D. Jones
- the rapid familiar style
- the slower colloquial style
- the natural style used in addressing a fair-sized audience
- the acquired style of the stage
- the acquired styles used in singing
Professor R.I. Avanessov
common colloquial poetic academic the style of public address low colloquial |
literary style colloquial style (stylistically neutral) low colloquial
|
Professor L.V. Shcherba
- the distinctive principle: the degree of carefulness with which words are pronounced
Styles of Pronunciation |
|||
The full style a moderately slow tempo a careful pronunciation: - full forms of words - without vowel reduction or loss of consonants - without unnecessary (non-obligatory) assimilations
|
The colloquial style a fluent tempo - various forms of reduction - elisions of speech sounds (both vowels and consonants) - cases of non-obligatory assimilation |
||
|
The careful colloquial style = “normal” pronunciation
|
The careless colloquial style - the free use of reduction and non-obligatory assimilations: [giv mi:] > ['gimmi] (elisions of vowels and consonants, etc.)
|
|
17. Patterns of Distribution of phonemes
Distributional analysis
- The aim: to establish the distribution of speech sounds = all the positions or combinations in which each speech sound of a given language occurs (or does not occur) in the words of that language
1) Free variations
- The simplest pattern
- One and the same phoneme pronounced differently by one or different speakers (allophones)
- Interchangeable: [wɪʧ] – [ʍɪʧ]
2) Complementary distribution
- The allophones of the same phoneme
- Exclusive. Not interchangeable: [ten] – [tɔ:l]
3) Contrastive distribution
- Allophones of different phonemes
- Distinguish one word from another (minimal pairs): [bed] – [bæd]
4) Spoonerisms (W. Spooner)
- They may occur as mere slip of the tongue or jokes
- English people are especially greeting spoonerisms as hobby of teachers and students
Distinctive Oppositions and Their Types
Distinctive / Relevant: Different articulatory and acoustic features of speech sounds which make them allophones of different phonemes. The minimal distinctive feature: the only distinctive feature in which two speech sounds differ.
Non-distinctive / Irrelevant
= the oppositions of minimal pairs. A minimal pair is a pair of words that differ in meaning of one sound only: ten - pen
Phonological Oppositions
(based on the number of distinctive features):
Single: [ten] – [den]
1) voiceless fortis vs voiced lenis
Double: [pen] – [den]
1) voiceless fortis vs voiced lenis
2) labial (bilabial) vs lingual (forelingual)
Multiple: [bɪt] – [hɪt]
1) voiceless fortis vs voiced lenis
2) labial (bilabial) vs glottal
3) occlusive vs constrictive