THEORETICAL PHONETICS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE Склярова Наталья Геннадиевна

Южный федеральный университет
THEORETICAL PHONETICS OF
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Склярова Наталья Геннадиевна
доктор филологических наук, профессор кафедры
теории и практики английского языка
panochka@bk.ru
Ростов-на-Дону
2008
Unit 3
SUPRASEGMENTAL
PHONETICS
Unit 3
Topic 3
ENGLISH
INTONATION
Questions
1. The definitions of intonation
and the syntagm and their
interconnection.
2. Elements of a syntagm
3. The components of intonation.
4. Functions of intonation.
The definitions of intonation and the syntagm and their
interconnection.
Intonation is a complex unity of communicatively relevant
variations of non-segmental, or prosodic features of speech
which include melody, sentence stress, tamber and
temporal characteristics such as tempo, rhythm, duration
and pausation.
Each component of intonation has its own peculiarities,
but in spoken language they cannot be separated from one
another and function as a whole.
The definitions of intonation and the syntagm and their
interconnection.
syntagms
sense-groups
breath-groups
tone (intonation) groups
syntactic approach
semantic approach
extra-linguistic approach
phonological approach
A syntagm is the shortest possible unit of speech
from the point of view of meaning, grammatical
structure and intonation.
The definitions of intonation and the syntagm and their
interconnection.
syntagm
word
number of words
subject group
predicate group
homogeneous
members
member of
a sentence
sentence
simple
sentence
subordinate
clause
principal
clause
two clauses
(sentences with
object clauses)
THE ELEMENTS OF A SYNTAGM
1. Pre-head
2. Head (body, or scale)
3. Nucleus
4. Tail
The components of intonation.
The pre-head forms the initial part of the intonation
pattern consisting of unstressed syllables preceding the
first stressed one.
low
unemphatic
rising
high
emphatic
The components of intonation.
The head (body, or scale) is the part of the intonation
pattern including all the stressed and unstressed
syllables up to the last stressed one
the head
the first stressed
syllable in a syntagm
R. Kingdon
the body
stressed syllables of a
syntagm without the
first and the last
scale
descending
ascending
stepping
scandent
falling
sliding
rising
The components of intonation.
Nucleus (focal point of a syntagm) is an obligatory
component of a syntagm which is the last stressed
syllable carrying the basic tone.
Nuclear tone is the change of pitch within the last
stressed syllable of the syntagm.
level (static, tones of
unchanging pitch)
high level
mid level
moving (kinetic, tones of
changing pitch)
simple (changing
complex (changing in
in one direction) more than one direction)
low level
high fall high rise fall-rise
low fall low rise
rise-fall
The components of intonation.
The tail is the final part of the intonation pattern which
includes all unstressed syllables following the nucleus.
rising
level
falling
(ascending)
occurs when the
(descending)
occurs after the
preceding fall is occurs when the
even low-pitched
complete, or fall of the nuclear
nuclear tone or when the nuclear tone does not
after a rising
tone is even but reach the lowest
nuclear tone
on a mid level
level
nuclear tone + tail = terminal tone
THE COMPONENTS
OF INTONATION
1. Sentence stress
2. Melody
3. Rhythm
4. Tempo
5. Tambre
6. Pause
The components of intonation.
Sentence stress is the greater prominence of some
words among other words of the utterance
'
'
This is a very important
syntagm stress
(unemphatic, normal
sentence-stress)
emphatic
sentence-stress
idea
syntactic
(subsidiary) stress
syntagmatic
(primary) stress
marked (special)
position (logical
sentence-stress)
unmarked
(normal)
position
The components of intonation.
Melody is the distinct variations in the following
parameters: direction of pitch, pitch level, pitch range,
pitch angle
Pitch range is the interval between the highestpitched and the lowest-pitched syllables.
unemphatic speech
normal
emphatic speech
wide, narrow
three pitch levels
low, mid, high
extra high, extra low
pitch levels
Change in pitch direction takes place in the nucleus
where the pitch goes distinctly up or down.
The components of intonation.
Rhythm is the regular occurrence of stressed and
unstressed syllables
basic unit of the rhythmical structure
stress group (accentual group, pause group, breath
group, rhythmic group)
The whole phrase or just one word
prosodic
nucleus
(peak
of
prominence,
nucleus
of
the
rhythmic group)
proclitics - unstressed syllables
2-4 syllables
preceding the nucleus
1 stressed
enclitics
unstressed
syllables
others
following the nucleus (typical of
unstressed
English)
The components of intonation.
Tempo is the relative speed of pronunciation
normal
slow
fast
Important parts of the utterance are pronounced slower.
Unimportant parts are pronounced faster.
Tambre is the special colouring of the voice
quality:
whisper, breathy, creak,
husky, falsetto, resonant
qualification:
laugh, giggle, sob, cry,
tremulousness
The components of intonation.
Pause is a stop of pronunciation for a short
period of time before starting again.
breathing
pauses
syntactic
(temporal)
pauses
hesitation
pauses
unfilled
(silent)
emphatic
pauses
filled (voice)
[ə, з:, m, з:m]
short optional pauses separate syntagms within a phrase
longer obligatory pauses manifest the end of the phrase
very long pauses, separate phonetic wholes
Unemphatic and emphatic intonation
English unemphatic speech
sentence-stress is distributed
equally among the notional words
in a syntagm; the stressed
syllables occur at more or less
regular intervals of time;
a pitch distribution in a syntagm
forms a regular descending scale;
the pitch of the initial unstressed
syllables is lower than that of the
first stressed syllable;
the last stressed syllable (and the
unstressed ones that follow it)
have one of the two principal
intonation contours (low-rising or
low falling).
English emphatic speech
the descending scale may be
either completely absent or it
may be partially destroyed;
the characteristic tones are not
necessarily confined to the end
of the syntagm;
the tones display a greater
variety of pitch variations;
the range of intonation in a
syntagm may be widened or
narrowed.
Functions intonation
1. Intonation serves to organize connected speech
phonetically, thus making it intelligible. It is achieved
through breaking speech continuum into smaller
constituents (delimiting function), uniting them into a
complete text (integrating function), establishing relations
between them and distinguishing them from each other.
2. Intonation serves to determine the communicative types
of sentences, which are differentiated in speech according
to the aim of utterance from the point of view of
communication.
3. Intonation serves to structure the content information of
a textual unit into new and given.
4. Intonation serves to perform neutralizing or
compensative function.
Functions intonation
5. Intonation serves to differentiate the meaning of
syntagms and sentences of the same grammatical structure
and/or the same lexical composition (distinctive function)
6. Intonation serves to convey the speaker’s feelings,
emotions and attitude to the situation he is placed in and
he often uses it to influence the attitudes and behaviour
of the listener.
7. Intonation serves to characterize a particular style or
variety of oral speech which may be called the stylistic
function.
Conclusion
Intonation
as
a
phonetic
phenomenon and a syntagm as a
phonetic unit of speech are closely
connected as components of
intonation are realized within the
elements of a syntagm thus
performing various communicative
functions.
COMPULSORY LITERATURE
Бурая, Е.А., Галочкина, И.Е., Шевченко, Т.И.
Фонетика
современного
английского
языка.
Теоретический курс. – 2-е изд. испр. – М.: Академия,
2008.
Леонтьева,
С.Ф.
Теоретическая
фонетика
современного английского языка. – М.: Менеджер,
2011.
Склярова,
Н.Г.
Теоретическая
фонетика
английского
языка:
Учебное
пособие
для
самостоятельной работы студентов 3 курса. - 4-е изд.
- Ростов н/Д: ИПО ПИ ЮФУ, 2011.
Теоретическая фонетика английского языка / Под
ред. М.А. Соколовой. – М.: Владос, 2004.
SUPPLEMENTARY LITERATURE
Dickushina, O.J. English Phonetics. – М. – Л.: Просвещение,
1965.
Vassilyev, V.A. English Phonetics. A Theoretical Course. – М.:
Высшая школа, 1970.
Евстифеева, М.В. Теоретическая фонетика английского
языка. Лекции, семинары, упражнения. – М.: Флинта, Наука,
2011.
Первезенцева, О.А. Теоретическая фонетика английского
языка. – М.: Прометей. 2006.
Соколова, М.А., Тихонова, И.С., Тихонова, Р.М., Фрейдина,
Е.Л. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка. – М.:
Феникс, 2010.
Торсуев, Г.П. Проблемы теоретической фонетики и
фонологии. – М.: Изд-во ЛКИ, 2008.
Шевченко, Т.И. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка.
– М.: Юрайт. 2012.
INTERNET RESOURCES
Красса
С.И.
Полный
курс
лекций
по
теоретической фонетике английского языка на
английском
языке
//
http://www.durov.com/study/1119378694-206.html
Теоретическая фонетика английского языка //
http://www.comenglish.ru/foneticheskiyangliyskiy/teoreticheskaya-fonetika-angliyskogoyazyka
Первезенцева О.А., Фрейдина Е.Л., Ковпак Н.А.,
Козачук О.Г., Нестерова Т.Д., Сейранян М.Ю.
Теоретическая фонетика английского языка.
Практикум // http://phoenix.dubna.ru/ph-books/bsoderz/s-teor-pr.pdf
REFERENCE LITERATURE
1. Ахманова О.С. Словарь лингвистических
терминов. – М.: Советская энциклопедия, 1966.
2. Баранов А.Н., Добровольский Д.О., Михайлов
М.Н., Паршин П.Б., Романова О.И. Англорусский словарь по лингвистике и семиотике. –
2-е изд., испр. и доп. – М.: Азбуковник, 2001.
3. Трахтеров А.Л. Английская фонетическая
терминология. – М.: Изд-во литературы на
иностранных языках, 1962.
4. Языкознание. Большой энциклопедический
словарь / Гл. ред. В.Н. Ярцева. – 2-е изд. – М.:
Большая Российская энциклопедия, 1998.
Intonation, pitch (speech melody), pitch direction, pitch
level,notions
pitch
Basic
range, pitch angle (rate), sentence stress, syntagm stress (unemphatic
stress, normal sentence-stress); syntagmatic stress (primary sentencestress), syntactic stress (subsidiary sentence-stress), logical stress,
emphatic stress, unmarked (normal) position of syntagmatic stress,
marked (special) position of syntagmatic stress, the end-focused
nucleus, the contrastive-focused nucleus, full stress, partial stress,
tambre, tempo, rhythm, stress group (accentual group, pause group,
breath group, rhythmic group), prosodic nucleus, proclitics, enclitics,
pausation, syntactic (temporal) pauses, emphatic pauses, hesitation
pauses, breathing pauses, unfilled pauses, filled pauses.
Syntagm (intonation group, sense-group, breath-group), intonation
pattern, pre-head, low pre-head, high pre-head, rising pre-head, head
(body, scale), ascending scale, descending scale, level head, stepping
head, falling head, sliding head, scandent head, rising head, special
(accidental) Rise, Upbroken Descending Head, nucleus, focal point of
a syntagm, communicative center, level tone, moving tone, simple
tone, complex tone, Low-Fall, Low-Rise, High-Fall, High-Rise, FallRise, Rise-Fall, High-Level, Mid-Level, Low-Level, tail, level tail,
rising (ascending), falling (descending) tail, terminal tone.
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внимание