Memorization. The Prosodic System of English

Theory

The Prosodic System of English

Test

Memorization

· Functions of the syllable: 1) constitutive; 2) distinctive; 3) identificatory

Suggest one-word/phrase answers to the following statements/questions:

№	Question	Answer
	Words can be cut up into units called …
	Do syllables serve any meaning-signalling function in language?
	A word contains at least … syllable
	Each word can be cut up into … called syllables
	There are … syllable types
	… and sonorants are syllable-forming elements
	How many degrees of word stress are singled out in English?
	The limit for the number of syllables in English is … …
	What symbol is used to designate a syllabic consonant?
	How is the syllable preceding the stressed syllable designated?

Answer the following questions:

1) Define the notion syllable.

2) Tell the difference between language and speech?

3) Enumerate the syllable types.

4) What are the functions of the syllable?

5) What information does the word stress contain?

13.1 A general notion of prosody

In linguistics, prosody (pronouncedn /'prɒsədi) is the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance (statement, question, or command); the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus; or other elements of language that may not be encoded by grammar or choice of vocabulary.

13.2 Intonation as a complex unity of prosodic features

Alongside of the term "intonation" the term "prosody" is widely used. "Prosody" and "prosodic" denote non-segmental phenomena, i.e. those which do not enter into the system of segmental phonemes. D. Crystal defines prosodic features as "vocal effects constituted by variations along the parameters of pitch, loudness, duration and silence".

From the definition of prosody and intonation we can clearly see that both the notions include essentially the same phenomena. But the terms "intonation" and "prosody" are used differently by different linguists.

The notion of prosody, consequently, is broader than the notion of intonation as it can be applied to the utterance, the word, the syllable, whereas prosody of the utterance and intonation are equivalent notions.

13.3 Intonation: definition, approaches, functions

Intonation is a complex unity of non-segmental, or prosodic features of speech: 1. melody, pitch of the voice; 2. sentence stress; 3. temporal characteristics; 4. rhythm; 5. timbre. Intonation organizes a sentence, determines communicative types of sentences and clauses, divides sentences into intonation groups, gives prominence to words and phrases, expresses contrasts and attitudes.

Functions of intonation

• Emotional function's most obvious role is to express attitudinal meaning – sarcasm, surprise, shock, anger, interest, and thousands of other semantic nuances.

• Grammatical functionhelps to identify grammatical structure in speech, performing a role similar to punctuation.

• Informational function helps to draw attention to what meaning is given and what is new in an utterance. The word carrying the most prominent tone in a contour signals the part of an utterance that the speaker is treating as new information.

• Textual function helps larger units of meaning than the sentence to contrast and cohere. In radio news-reading, paragraphs of information can be shaped through the use of pitch. In sports commentary, changes in prosody reflect the progress of the action.

• Psychological function helps us to organize speech into units that are easier to perceive and memorize. Most people would find a sequence of numbers, for example, difficult to recall. The task is made easier by using intonation to chunk the sequence into two units.

• Indexical function, along with other prosodic features, is an important marker of personal or social identity. Lawyers, preachers, newscasters, sports commentators, army sergeants, and several other occupations are readily identified through their distinctive prosody.

13.4 Components of intonation and the structure of English tone-group

Different kinds of meanings are expressed by different sound means. Lexical and grammatical meanings are made using sound segments and rhythmic patterns that form the shell of morphemes and words. Syntactic structure is expressed primarily by grammar linking words and their order.

But the utterance also has other functional characteristics. Main ones define its purpose (statement, question and motivation) and its communicative structure (rheme, which is the semantic focus, and theme). Modal assessments of the content of the statement, such as its prominence, are less important and optional. These functional characteristics are expressed in several linguistics means but intonation is the most significant.

There are two types of intonation means: phrasal accents usually placed on the stressed syllables of words, and integral (non-accent) characteristics relating to the certain phrase or to the whole sentence. The most important functions of intonation are performed by the accents.

A remarkable feature of major intonation components (pitch, loudness, tempo) is that each of them can be used both locally (in the phrasal accents) and integrally as a general description of the intonation group, grammatically expressed by phrase or by the whole sentence. Possible dual use of prosodic attributes of different types is presented in the table below.

Two ways of using of prosodic attributes

	Using of accentual components	Using of integral components
Pitch	Ascending tone on the stressed syllable	Inclination (slow rise on the group of words)
Loudness	High intensity on the stressed syllable	Loud pronunciation of the whole intonation group
Tempo	Length of stressed vowel	Slow tempo of the intonation group

Tones are divided into two classes: static and kinetic. Static are level tones, their number corresponds to the number of pitch levels. Kinetic tones are classified according to the following criteria:

a) the direction of the pitch change;

b) the interval of the pitch change;

c) the relative position of the pitch change within the speaker’s voice range.

According to Roger Kingdon [1958] the most important nuclear tones in English are:

The Low Fall – the voice falls from a medium to a very low pitch.

The Low Rise – the voice rises 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 a medium to a high pitch and then falls to a very low pitch.

Low Fall \No

Low Rise /No

High Fall \No

High Rise /No

Fall-Rise \/No

Rise -Fall ^No

Roughly speaking the falling tone of any level and range expresses "certainty", "completeness", "independence". Thus a straight-forward statement normally ends with a falling tone since it asserts a fact of which the speaker is certain. It has an air of finality, e.g.

Where's John? – He ->'hasn't,come yet.

What's the time? – It's \nearly 'five o\c1ock.

A rising tone of any level and range on the contrary expresses "uncertainty", "incompleteness" or "dependence". A general question, for instance, has a rising tone, as the speaker is uncertain of the truth of what he is asking about, e.g.

I think I'll go now. – >Are you,ready?

Michael is coming to London. – \ls he 'coming,soon?

Parenthetical and subsidiary information in a statement is also often spoken with a rising tone, or a mid-level tone, because this information is incomplete, being dependent for its full understanding on the main assertion, e.g.

I'm not sure I can join you now. – If you > like | we can \go to the 'picnic \later.

Encouraging or polite denials, commands, invitations, greetings, farewells, etc. are generally spoken with a rising tone.

What shall I do now? – >Do go,on.

Could you join us? – >Not,now.

A falling-rising tone may combine the falling tone's meaning of "assertion", "certainty" with the rising tone's meaning of dependence, incompleteness. At the end of a phrase it often conveys a feeling of reservation; that is, it asserts something and at the same time suggests that there is something else to be said, e.g.

Do you like pop-music? –,Some,times. (but not in general)

e. g. I \/think his face is fa'miliar (the divided variant)

The falling-rising tone, as its name suggests, consists of a fall in pitch followed by a rise. If the nucleus is the last syllable of the intonation group the fall and rise both take place on one syllable – the nuclear syllable. Otherwise the rise occurs in the remainder of the tone unit, cf.:

Do you agree with him? – \/Yes.

What can I do to mend matters? – You could ap\/ologize,to her.

The final level tone is always more prominent than the others, e.g. I'm afraid I can't manage it. – In \view of 'all the > circumstances | \why not 'try a \gain?

In subordinate structures this tone may be replaced by a rising-type tone.

In non-subordinate structures this tone has a particular range of meaning (boredom, sarcasm, etc.) which is very similar in force to other nuclear semantic functions.

Low-Level tone is very characteristic of reading poetry. Though occasionally heard in reading Mid-Level tone is particularly common in spontaneous speech functionally replacing the rising tone. That is why it should be by no means ignored in teaching.

There are two more nuclear tones in English: Rise-Fall and Rise-Fall-Rise. But adding refinement to speech they are not absolutely essential tones for the foreign learner to acquire; Rise-Fall can always be replaced by High Fall and Rise-Fall-Rise by Fall-Rise without making nonsense of the utterance in the way in which a foreign or other unsuitable intonation does.

14.1 The Intonation Group

An intonation group may be a whole sentence or a part of it. In either case it may consist of a single word or a number of words. An intonation group has the following characteristics: 1. It has at least one accented (stressed) word carrying a marked change in pitch (a rise, a fall, ets). 2. It is pronounced at a certain rate and without any pause within it.

The pitch-and-stress pattern or the intonation pattern of the intonation group consists of the following elements:

1. the pre-head – unstressed or partially stressed syllables which precede the first full stressed syllable;

2. the head (scale, body) – the intonation pattern extending from the first stressed syllable up to (but not including) the nuclear syllable;

3. the nucleus – the syllable bearing the nuclear (terminal) tone;

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

He told me he would think of it.

pre-head head nucleus tail

There are different types of pre-heads, heads and tails.

14.2 Types of heads

Head patterns are classified into three groups: descending, ascending and level according to the way it begins from the point of view of pitch movement.

Descending heads move down from a medium or a high pitch level to the low one. The first stressed syllable is the highest.

In the stepping head the stressed syllables gradually descend in pitch levels, unstressed or partially stressed syllables are pronounced on the same level as the preceding stressed ones. This head conveys the impression of the balanced, active, “normal” mood of the speaker.

I don’t want to go to the cinema.

The unstressed syllables may gradually descend in pitch too. In this case the head is called a falling head.

A fall in pitch may not be gradual but rather jumpy which is achieved by a considerable lowering of the pitch inside the stressed syllables or by pronouncing unstressed syllables at a much lower level than the preceding stressed ones. Such a head is called the sliding head. It usually reflects an excited state of mind and, sometimes, a highly emotional attitude to the situation.

I don’t want to go to the cinema.

Ascending heads are the opposite of the descending heads: their stressed syllables move up by steps with the intervening unstressed ones continuing the rise and in this case it is a rising head.

I don’t want to go to the cinema.

If the voice moves up jumpy the head is called climbing. Unstressed syllables glide up too.

In level heads all the syllables are pronounced on the same level (or gradually ascends towards the nucleus) either high or medium or low. So there are three level heads correspondingly. It is shown by the tone mark before the first stressed syllable.

Low head conveys an impression ranging from cool and indifferent to sulky and hostile.

14.3 Types of pre-head

There are two types of pre-head: the low pre-head and the high pre-head. The low pre-head is pronounced at a low pitch and may occur in all unemphatic and many emphatic utterances. Its main semantic function is to mark the comparative unimportance of initial unstressed syllables.

The high pre-head is pronounced at a high pitch level. It has a clearly emphatic function. Before a rising tone it usually gives a bright, lively, encouraging character to the utterance. The high pre-head is marked by the tone-stress mark placed before the first syllable above the line of print.

14.4 Types of tails

There are two types of tails: the low tail and the rising tail. The low tail goes after the falling tone and is pronounced at a low pitch.

Show me.

The rising tail occurs after the rising tone and gradually rises in pitch producing the very effect of the rising tone whilst the word carrying the syntagmatic stress is pronounced on the lowest level in the sense-group.

Really?

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