Phonetics as a branch of linguistics 3 страница
You ͵did it|
As we’ve said already intonation helps to produce the effect of prominence, the placing of nucleus on a particular syllable marks out the word to which it belongs as the most important in the intonation group. It highlights the focus of information in the utterance indicating that it’s new (it’s called rheme) while the rest of the given information is called theme as it’s either known to the listener or can be easily understood from the context. Thus intonation can structure the information content of an intonation group or a phrase. This function is called accentual.
The location of the nucleus is of considerable linguistic importance. The most common position for it is on the last lexical word. In this case sentence stress is normal. But there are cases when a speaker may shift the nucleus to an earlier part of the intonation group for contrastive or emphatic purposes. In this position the stress is logical.
I’m ˈgoing to ˈleave ˎsoon| (normal)
I’m ˈgoing to ̖leave soon| (contrastive, meaning I’m going not to stay)
I ‵am going to leave soon| (emphatic)
The position of the nucleus can also differentiate the actual meaning of the sentences, as in the example:
I have ˈplans to ˎleave| (=I’m planning to leave)
I have ̖plans to leave| (=I have some plans that I have to leave)
By putting the stress on one particular word, the speaker shows that he is treating the word as the carrier of new information, and that the information of the other words is not new and can be easily understood from the situation.
The next function of intonation is the attitudinal one. Intonation enables us to express emotions and attitudes and this adds a kind of special meaning to spoken language. The ability of intonation to express attitudes is associated with tones and pitch range features accompanied by voice quality and tempo and loudness changes. Some phoneticians make a distinction between the attitude towards what the speaker is saying and his/her emotional state.
Then there are also culture-specific norms of demonstrating emotions and attitudes. This makes it difficult for a foreign learner to interpret what he/she has heard and to use an appropriate intonation pattern in a certain situation. For example, Russian falling tone when used in English parting remarks may seem offensive or even insulting to native speakers of English, who usually use rising tone in saying good-bye. On the other hand English emotional High Falls or a wide pitch range may sound unnatural and pretentious to Russian speakers.
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This function of intonation is closely connected with paralinguistics which includes facial expressions, gestures and body movements.
In the last few years the attention of phoneticians has been focused on a larger context in which sentences occur – that is discourse, in the structuring of which intonation plays a significant role. Generally intonation helps to focus the listeners’ attention on aspects of the message that are most important and to regulate the conversational behaviour of the participants.
As we’ve said already the placing of the nucleus on a certain syllable of one particular word signals that the information conveyed by it is most important and new. It’s clear that the placement of the nuclear tone is at least partly determined by the larger context. The chosen other parameters of the intonation group can also indicate whether they are used to present new information or refer to that which is already possessed by the listener, is common knowledge or part of the cultural background. Foreign learners of English, having in general less common ground or shared knowledge with the native speaker, might also have some difficulty in deciphering the message.
Another area of intonational discourse function is the regulation of conversational behaviour. Speakers use various intonation components to indicate to others that they have finished speaking, that another person is expected to speak, that a particular type of response is required, etc.
Some phoneticians also distinguish a semantic function of intonation (other terms are distinctive or phonological). Some parameters of the intonation pattern are capable of differentiating the actual meaning of a phrase or utterance of the same grammatical structure and the same lexical composition:
I don’t like to read ˎanything| (=вообще не люблю читать)
I don’t like to read anything| (=не люблю читать все подряд)
Intonation can also be in contradiction with the syntactic structure and lexical content of the utterance, thus neutralizing them:
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- Do you know what I’m here for? - ͵No (=question)
- I’ve broken your vase. - →How ˎnice of you (=sarcasm, reprimand)
One more important function of intonation, singled out by some phoneticians, is a stylistic one, as intonation is used to characterize a particular style or a variety of oral speech. As it’s rather a wide topic it will be discussed in a separate units later.
To sum it up we can say that all the functions of intonation overlap and can be viewed as different aspects of discourse function.
14) The English language is spoken in a variety of ways. It’s the official language of the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and in a number of former British colonies. English spoken in these countries differs in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. The varieties of the language are conditioned by language communities. Speaking about the nations we refer to the national variants of the language, that is the language of a nation, the standard of its form, the language of its nation’s literature.
It’s important to distinguish between dialect and accent. Dialect refers to variations in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation, while accent means a type of pronunciation, that is the way sounds, stress, rhythm and intonation are used in the given language community. Today all the English-speaking nations have their own national variants of pronunciation (and national pronunciation standards) and their own peculiar features that distinguish them from other varieties of English. National pronunciation standards are associated with radio and TV newsreaders and public figures. It is generally accepted that for the "English English" the national standard is "Received Pronunciation" (RP), for the "American English" - "General American", for the "Australian English" - "Educated Australian".
National standards are not fixed; they undergo constant changes due to various internal and external factors.
Within a national language there are a number of territorial or regional standards. Regional standards are used by most educated people in the region, and show a certain degree of deviation from the national standard. In Britain several groups of regional accents are recognized: Southern, Northern, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish. In the United States there are three major groups: Southern, Western and Eastern. Less educated people use numerous local accents which can be either urban or rural. For certain economic, political and cultural reasons one of the dialects becomes the standard language of the nation. This was the case of London dialect whose accent became RP.
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An individual may speak RP in one situation (with teachers, at work, etc.) and then use a native local accent in other situations. This phenomenon is called diglossia. It shouldn't be mixed up with bilingualism which is the command of 2 different languages.
Correspondingly every social community has its own social dialect and social accent (professional, educational, according to one's age, gender, etc.).
It is evident that language means are chosen consciously and unconsciously by a speaker according to his perception of the situation. Individual speech of members of the same language community is known as idiolect.
10.1. British English
RP is believed to be a social marker, a prestige accent of an Englishman, often referred to as the “Queen’s English” or “BBC English”. It’s estimated that only 3-5% of the population of Great Britain speak RP and some phoneticians even say that there are more foreign speakers of English who use RP that native English speakers themselves. Nowadays RP is not homogeneous. Three types are distinguished within it: the conservative RP (the language of the royal family, aristocracy and court), the general RP (spoken by most educated people and BBC announcers) and the advanced RP (used by young people). This last type of RP is believed to reflect the tendencies typical of changes in pronunciation. Some of its features may be results of temporary fashion; some are adopted as a norm.
The status of RP has changed in the last years. It used to be associated with high-class society, aristocracy, authority and competence. Nowadays, however, RP speakers may be disliked because they sound “posh”. Though most BBC announcers still speak RP, other national TV and radio channels have become tolerant of broadcasters’ local accents.
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As we’ve mentioned already, pronunciation is subject to all kinds of innovations. Considerable changes are observed in the sound system of the present-day English:
- there is a tendency for all short vowels to be made nearer the centre of the mouth;
- the vowels [i:] and [u:] become more diphthongized (and more fronted);
- [eɪ] is becoming shorter or more like a pure sound [e]: said [sed], again [əˈgen];
- the diphthong [ʊə] tends to be [ɔ:]: sure [ʃɔ:], poor [pɔ:];
- [æ] is often replaced by [a]: have [hav], and [and];
- in rapid speech [h] is lost in the pronouns and the auxiliary “have”: her [ɜ:], he [i:], had [æd];
- palatalized final [k] is often heard: weak [wi:k’], Dick [dɪk’];
- the sound [t] in the intervocalic position is made voiced: better [ˈbedə], letter [ˈledə];
- the dark [ł] is used instead of [l]: believe [bɪˈłi:v];
- [j] is lost following [l, s, z, n]: suit [su:t], illuminate [ɪˈlu:mɪneɪt], exuberant [ɪgˈzu:b(ə)r(ə)nt], neutral [ˈnu:tr(ə)l];
- [ʧ, ʤ] become affricates: fortune [ˈfɔ:ʧu:n], duty [ˈʤu:tɪ];
- pre-consonantal [t] becomes a glottal stop: don’t come [dɜʊnʔˈkʌm].
There is also a strong tendency for elision, reduction and assimilation.
There has appeared a new classification of RP types: general, refined and regional. Refined RP is defined as an upper-class accent; the number of people speaking it is declining. Regional RP represents, in fact, Regional Standards, among which one has become very popular and is said to be substituting RP in general. This is the so-called “Estuary English”. It is a variety of modified regional speech, a mixture of non-regional and local south-eastern English pronunciation and intonation. Estuary English speakers place themselves “between Cockney and the Queen”.
The phonetic features of Estuary English include:
- the use of [w] where RP uses [l] in the final positions or in a final consonant cluster: faulty = fawty; all full = awful;
- glottal stop for [t] and [d]: Scoʔland, neʔwork;
- elision of [j] after “n, l, t, s”: news [nu:z], tune [ʧu:n], absolute [ˈæbsəlu:t], assume [əˈsu:m];
- [ɪ] is prolonged in the final position and may tend towards the quality of a diphthong: very [ˈveri:], city [ˈsɪti:];
- triphthongs [aʊə] and [aɪə] smooth into one long [a:]: hour [a:], tired [ta:d].
Estuary English intonation is characterized by frequent prominence given to prepositions and auxiliary verbs, in some cases the nuclear tone can fall on prepositions:
Let’s get \to the point.
The pitch of intonation patterns in Estuary English appears to be narrower than that of RP.
Estuary English nowadays is believed to describe the speech of a far larger and currently more linguistically influential group than advanced RP speakers. The popularity of Estuary English among the young is significant for the future. The RP speakers may be aware that RP (Conservative and Advanced) can arouse hostility and general RP is no longer perceived as a neutral accent. So Estuary English is attractive to many, as it obscures sociolinguistic origins.
10.2. American English
The formation of the American English underwent under the influence of minorities' languages, but its starting point was the English language of the 17th century. The American language has fewer dialects as Standard English had already existed when first English settlers came to America. Still three main types of cultivated speech are recognized in the USA: the Eastern type, the Southern type and Western or General American. The following phonetic features of GA are distinguished:
- length is not differentiated in [i:] - [ɪ] and [u:] - [ʊ];
- [e] is more open;
- [æ] is used in the words in which RP has [a:], often before a combination of [s] with another consonant, but when there is no letter “r” in spelling: dance [dæns], can’t [kænt];
- there is no vowel [ɒ], which is replaced by [ɑ:]: god [gɑd:], clock [klɑ:k];
- there are no diphthongs, ending in [ə], all vowels occurring before “r” within a syllable become “r-coloured”: more [mɔ:r], heard [hɜ:rd], letter [ˈletɚ];
- [r] is retroflex (pronounced with the tip of the tongue curled back) and is used in all the positions where there is an “r” in spelling;
- [1] is hard: relieve [rɪˈłi:v];
- [t] between vowels is voiced: better [ˈbedə], letter [ˈledə];
- when [t] follows [n], it is omitted and the vowel becomes nasalized: twenty [ˈtwenɪ], winter [ˈwɪnə];
- in [ju:] [j] is not pronounced in all positions: mute [mu:t], super [ˈsu:pɚ], nuclear [ˈnu:klɪɚ];
- in "where", "when", etc. [w] is pronounced as [hw];
- the suffixes -ory, -ary, -mony have an additional secondary stress (sometimes called tertiary): ˈdictioˌnary,ˈ testiˌmony, laˈbora.tory.
Intonation is smoother and seems rather dull and monotonous due to the narrower pitch range and Mid-level Head. Level-rising tones in special questions and statements are also common in American English:
- What’s your name? - Sixbie.
So as we can see the norms of GA and RP pronunciations are highly variable and are subject to further changes.
15) A speaker uses a great number of varieties of the language according to the situations he finds himself in. As he/she moves through the day, so the variety of the language he/she uses is moving. It is changed instinctively or consciously at home, with friends, at work, so on. An educated speaker is multilingual. Functional stylistics studies certain aspects of language variations. The aim of it is to analyze language habits and identify the linguistic features which are restricted to certain social contexts, to explain them and to classify them.
It is important to realize what kind of English is used in the process of teaching. We all agree that we are to teach the norm of English. But there isn't much agreement as far as the term "norm" is concerned. This term is interpreted in different ways. Some scholars associate “norm” with the so-called "neutral" style. According to this conception all stylistically marked parameters do not belong to the norm. More suitable, however, seems to be the conception which considers the norm as a complex of all functional styles.
There are 3 so called levels of functional stylistics: lexical, syntactic and phonetic. We shall deal only with phonetic stylistics or phonostylistics.
Phonostylistics studies the way phonetic means of the language function in various oral realizations of the language. The choice of the phonetic means suitable to this or that situation depends on a number of factors, among which extra-linguistics ones are very important as they result in phonostylistic varieties.
The most important extra-linguistic factor is the aim of utterance, which is a sort of strategy for the language user. People speak in order to inform, persuade, instruct, narrate, etc. In each particular case speakers select a number of intonational means that serve his/her purpose and make his/her speech more effective. That is why the aim of utterance is considered to be a style-forming factor, whereas the rest are style-modifying ones.
The nature of intercourse or the form of speech can also influence the choice of a phonetic style. It suggests listening, speaking, or exchanging remarks and may be a lecture, a discussion, a conversation, etc. Depending on the number of participants it may be a monologue, a dialogue or a polilogue. The last factor sets the degree of speech spontaneity or preparedness. An utterance can be qualified as fully spontaneous, when the verbal realization of speech is simultaneous to reproduction of the idea in the mind of the speaker. Speech is half-prepared when the speaker has thought over what he/she is going to say (for example, a teacher giving explanations at a lesson). Speech is fully prepared when the speaker prepares the reading of a piece of prose (or poetry) or when he/she quotes. In this case the speech is prepared in advance, is written on paper and is generally read.
Other style-modifying factors include social and psychological situations. The occupations of the speaker and the listener, the social status, age and gender determine the degree of formality of speech and the attitudes expressed (it may be a friendly talk, a formal conversation, public or non-public speech, etc.). If the situation is formal the speaker will tend to articulate more slowly and carefully. Individual sounds will be given their full forms, none will be omitted. In a very informal situation, on the other hand, he/she will be more likely to speak quickly, less carefully, and some sounds will either change their form or be omitted entirely.
All these factors are interconnected and interdependent in everyday life situations and it’s normally the combination of several of them that characterizes the phonetic style.
The task of phonostylistics is firstly, to identify the set of phonetic expressive means, which are stylistically significant; secondly, it must outline a method of analysis, which would allow to arrange these features in such a way as to facilitate the comparison of the use of one language with any other; thirdly it must decide on the function of these features by classifying them into categories, based on the extra-linguistic purpose they have.
One of the most urgent problems of phonostylistics is the classification of phonetic styles. Different scholars name different styles according to the principle the classification is based on. We give preference to the classification suggested by the phoneticians of our faculty. Taking the aim of utterance as the main principle of their classification they distinguish the following phonetic styles:
• Informational
• Scientific or academic
• Publicistic
• Declamatory
• Familiar or conversational
Any of these styles has a great many varieties in accordance with style-modifying factors. Besides any of these styles may be realized either in the form of reading or in the form of speaking.
Speaking and reading are two different psychic processes in which the sounding utterance is generated in different ways. When a person reads a text, he/she has a ready piece of information, written on paper. So he/she doesn't have to think what to say. The only thing he/she has to think of is how to say, how to make it sound proper, according to the norm of the language, suitable for the situation. As a result the usage of phonetic means is characterized by a high degree of regularity.
When a person produces a spontaneous text, that has not been written or prepared beforehand, he has to think of both: what and how to say. When such a person starts speaking he/she has only an intention to make an utterance. In most cases he/she doesn't even know how long the utterance is going to continue. The speaker has to decide spontaneously how to express what he intends using proper lexical, phonetic and grammatical means. The main thing that differs reading and speaking is the segmentation (or delimitation) of speech into phrases and intonation groups. In reading a phrase corresponds to a written sentence. The end of the phrase is marked by a pause with a complete stop of phonation and by the falling nuclear tone. Intonation groups in the text which is read coincide with syntagms. Each intonation group has a semantic centre.
Intonation groups of a spontaneous text may be syntactically complete or incomplete (they may lack a semantic centre). The end of the intonation group is characterized by the absence of any pause and often is pronounces with the mid-level or even rising nuclear tone. While reading a person makes mainly syntactic pauses, those which mark the end of a phase or an intonation group. Sometimes a reader makes emphatic pauses too, to emphasize the following part of utterance. While speaking a person makes three kinds of pauses - syntactic, emphatic and hesitation, among which hesitations prevail. Hesitation pauses are characteristic of spontaneous speech belonging to any style.
In spontaneous speech semantic centres are more prominent, they are much louder, pronounced at a much higher pitch and are much slower compared to the rest of the utterance. We can say that rhythm in spontaneous texts is often non-systematic, variable and unpredictable.
Normally, each act of communication is addressed at a listener, so it’s important to understand what perceptional characteristics of an oral text have a style-differentiating value for him/her. The most important ones are considered to be delimitation (or segmentation), the accentuation of semantic centres and the speaker’s timbre.
16) 1) Informational Style
It seems to be the most neutral as its main purpose is to convey information without expressing any emotions or attitudes. It is the least marked kind of situationally influenced English. This kind of style is used mostly in broadcasting, press reporting, oral representation of any information or a written text, in formal business conversations and classroom teaching.
Among the prosodic features characteristic of this style we should mention the following:
• Low Fall/Rise with Descending Heads and High Level Head;
• stable and normal loudness;
• normal or relatively slow speed;
• mostly syntactic pauses;
• systematic and properly organised rhythm.
17)) Declamatory Style
It is used on stage, TV screen or in class in reading aloud prose or poetry. Its aim is to appeal simultaneously to the mind and emotions of the listener, so this style is highly emotional and expressive. It requires special training. On the prosodic level the following features are the most common:
• falling, level nuclear tones with Low/High Level or Stepping Head;
• varied loudness;
• rather slow speed;
• properly organized and stable rhythm.
18)) Academic Style
It is used in lectures, scientific discussions, conferences, etc. Its purpose is to inform, to win the attention and interest of the public, to establish a contact with the audience. As it is an intellectual and volitional type of speech (the speaker appeals to the intellect and will of the listener) it requires some emotional colouring. It is achieved by varying prosodic features, by the alternation of pauses, types of heads and terminal tones, by using tempo contrasts:
• High/Low Falls and Fall-Rises with Stepping Head;
• rather high loudness;
• a large proportion of pauses that serve to bring out semantic centres;
• normal or relatively slow speed
• systematic and properly organized rhythm.
19) Publicistic Style
This is the style of public discussions on political, judicial or economic topics, sermons, parliamentary debates. Its aim is to persuade, to influence, to involve the audience into the talk and to make the listeners take the speaker’s point of view. It is never spontaneous and is often even rehearsed. This style is extremely emotional, mimics and gestures are widely applied.
The prosodic features are the following:
• a lot of High Falls and Fall-Rises with Descending and Ascending Heads;
• changes of loudness from fortissimo to whispering;
• rather slow speed;
• intonation groups are not short, separated with rather long mostly syntactical and emphatic pauses;
• properly organized rhythm.
20) Conversational Style
This is the style of every-day communication between friends, relatives, well-acquainted people. It is relaxed, characterized by the lack of planning, so it is unpredictable, there are a lot of errors, slips, hesitations, elliptical constructions:
• falling or rising tones with Level or Falling Heads;
• normal loudness;
• varied speed;
• intonation groups are rather short separated by pauses, mostly hesitations, which can be both silent and filled;
• irregular rhythm.
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