Соколова - теоретическая фонетика англ

120 Chapter V. Phonostylistics

Now that we have outlined the contours of the style, our next step will be to analyse prosodic characteristics of this particular intonational style. The following prosodic parameters should be considered: pitch (variations ofpitch direction, pitch level, pitch range), loudness, tempo (the rate of the utterance and pausation). It also includes rhythm and timbre as they have very specific suprasegmental expression of various emotional, expressive and evaluative overtones.

It would be fair to admit here that when faced with a text of some kind what appears to be a mass of coordinated data a starting point for analysis is often difficult to choose.

As it was suggested above, the ideal start is an informational text, most commonly heard in class. The analysis of it here is carried out by the procedure of systematic phonological opposition: the phonostylistic organization of reading will be systematically compared with the spoken version (in the forms of a monologue and dialogue).

The description of the informational phonetic style will proceed in the following order:

1. The phonostylistic analysis of the written informational texts (reading). I

2.The analysis of the spoken variety of such texts.

3.Comparative analysis of spoken and written informational mono­ logues.

b) informational texts (reading)

recent years it has become fashionable in education to extol the importance ofspoken language with a depreciation ofthe values ofread­ ing, consequently the skill in reading now is often inadequate. This situ­ ation needs considerations. As was stated, there is a gap between spoken and written varieties of the language and the task ofthe teacher is to dif­ ferentiate these forms ofthe language appropriate to speech and writing and to assign to each their "proper" sphere. It is perhaps just to say that many teachers and lecturers recognize the gap but are unable to improve this state of affairs because ofthe lack of materials and methods.

These two varieties of the language are a result of two activities that differ in psychological and intellectual terms.

Talking is easier than the laborious solitary acts of reading. The re­ luctant reader will have to be given more cogent reasons for the eftorts required to him. Reading aloud is even harder. In class it has purely edu­

5.3. Stylistic Usc ofIntonation	121

cational purposes to stimulate pupils or students for prose and poetry appreciation and comprehension. Needless to say a written passage does not always coincide with a phonopassage. In reading aloud a written passage may be broken into several phonopassages or, on the contrary, short passages may be combined into one long lasting phonopassage.

As it has been mentioned, reading and speaking differ totally in the speech production activity. In teaching to read we are simply helping to transfer from one medium to another. Reading and speaking each re­ quires differently directed intensive efforts. Obviously, the phonetic fea­ tures of these varieties of texts will show considerable differences.

We would like to start the phonostylistic analysis of the reading of the text, in which some customs and traditions of Cambridge University life are described.

May Week in Cambridge (Reading)l

The -+most 'interesting and bi'zarre time of the year to visit ,Cambridge Iis during ,May Week. II This is -+neither in ,May, Inor it is a II For -+some ,reason \ which nobody now re>members I 'May Week is the 'name 'given to the t first 'two 'weeks in June. I the -+very end of the University 'year. III

The "'paradox is "'pleasantly 'quaint. I but is "'also "'in a way "'{!]!1. II "'May Week denotes 'notso much a particular 'period q(,time Ias the "'gen­ eral'atmosphere ofreldxation and un,winding \ at the -+end of the year's

I

Any phonostylistic analysis falls into several steps. Obviously the first procedure will be the description ofthe speech situation which com­ prises the purpose, setting and participants. In reference to this text we may say that the main purpose of the reader is to give information. The speaker sounds dispassionate and rather reserved.

The presenter of the text is a student of Oxford University who has advanced RP accent. The reading is addressed to a group of students, Russian learners of English.

The next step is to define other extralinguistic factors, the degree of preparedness among them. The analysed text may be characterized as half prepared as it was read through beforehand.

communicative centre of a phrase communicative centre ofa phonopassage

122 Chapter V. Phonostylistics

Now we shall look at the prosodic characteristics. One should un­ doubtedly begin then into phrases, then into intonation groups, correspondingly, the of pauses is varied according to the textual units. Pauses are made

within the phrase and between them. Among the prosodic features we should mention the following:

Loudness is relatively stable and normal, but close to the phonopas­ sage boundaries there is a gradual decrease of it. Thus it is easy to spot the boundaries by loudness contrasts between the final and initial into­ nation groups of two adjacent phonopassages. The same could be said about levels and ranges: there is a distinctly marked decrease of them within the phonopassage.

The rate of utterances is normal or rather slow, not noticeably var­ ied. Together with the medium length of pauses the general tempo may be marked as moderate.

The rhythm may be characterized as systematic, properly organized, interpausal stretches have a marked tendency towards the rhythmic iso­ chrony.

One of the main style differentiating feature) on the prosodic level is the accentuation of the semantic centres. It is expressed commonly by terminal tones, pre-nuclear patterns, pitch range and pitch level, degree of loudness on the accented syllables, and also by the contrast between the accented and non-accented segments of the utterance. As regards this particular text we may say the following:

The most common terminal tone is a expressive high falls are used; in low-rising ones are

The -+most 'interesting and bi'zarre time ofthe year to visit ,Cambridge is during ,May Week.

Pre-nuclear patterns are not greatly varied: falling and level types of heads prevail. Several falls within an intonation group are typical:

The "'paradox is "'pleasantly 'quaint Ibut is "'also "'in a way 'apt. II

The contrast between accented and unaccented segments of phrases is not great, which is known to be a marker of any reading in general; the stress is decentralized, i. e. equally distributed on accented syllables of pre-nuclear patterns.

5.3. Stylistic Use ofIntonation	123

			Table 7
	Prosodic Characteristics of Informational Texts Reading
VOice colouring			The speaker sounds impartial, dispassionate, reserved,
			resonant
Delimitation			The text is divided into phonopassages - phrases ­ inter­
			national groups; pauses are mostly at syntacticaljuncturcs,
			normally of medium length but for the end of the passage
Style-marking		Loudness	normal (piano) throughout the text, varied at the pho­
prosodic			nopassage boundaries
features
		Levels and	decrease ofleveL, and ranges within the passage
		ranges
		Rate	normal (moderate) or -slow, not variable
		Pauses	mostly syntactical of normal length, occasional emphatic
			ones for the semantic accentuation
		Rhythm	systematic, properly organized isochronic, decentralized
			accentuation
Accentuation		Terminal tones	common use offmal categoric falls; in non-final segments
of semantic			mid-level and low rising tones are often used
centres		Pre-nuclear	common u'>c offalling and level heads or several falls within
		patterns	one interpausal unit
		Contrast be­	not great
		tween accent­
		edand unac­
		cented
		segments

c) informational monologues (speaking)

Much has been said earlier about the differences between reading and speak.ing. Our aim here is to demonstrate them on the prosodic level using concrete examples. Now the text "May Week in Cambridge" was repro­ duced spontaneously by the same speaker in the form of a monologue. He did it in a rather formal manner and addressed the same group ofstudents.

May Week in Cambridge (Reproduction)

-+As you probably >know Ithe uni"'versities of'Oxford and ,Cambridge I are

the -+two 'oldest universities in	I and be-+c;ause of>that, I because of
their ,age Ithey have -+many	which to Joreigners \ might -+appear

very ,strange. II-+One ofthese tra>ditions Iis 'May Week in 'Cambridge. III This

124 Chapter V. Phonostylistics

is par'licu/ar/y ~trange Ias it "'doesn't'happen in ,May Iand is "'not in 'fact a II It "'stretches 'over'two weeks, the and the '8h weeks ofthe 'term. II There is 'no 'real'reasonfor 'callingit May, Week land per>haps \it is "'herald­

ing the 'comingof'Mav Iwhich is till "'then \ in yavour of'more 'serious matters \ like exami'nations. III There're many ....different ac.(ivities I which ....go on during ,May,Week Ifor the "'most'partthere are 'many>plays

on by indi"'vidual'collegeso,ciefies, I"'very often 'taking place out,doors I in

....College 'gardens. III There are 'also	Iwith ....crews of,eight Icom­
peting in 'bumpingraces. III What [ ....mean	races Iis when the ,aim is
>to I>bump Iback ofthe 'boat Iin front ofyou	on the ....Cam ,river. II

The purpose of the communication in the setting described accounts for the businesslike, dispassionate, detached, impartial voice colouring. Occa­ sionally, the speaker sounds interested, involved, especially, when he speaks about his own experiences.

Speaking about the delimitation of spoken texts it should be pointed out that it depends on the degree ofspontaneity. The basic writ ofa spoken mono­ logue is also a 'phonopassage but its stretch is greatly varied, much greater than in reading. As in oral speech the rules of syntax are not strictly followed, pas­ sages are broken into utterances which do not often coincide with sentences. Pauses at the end ofthe phrase are commonly optional; hesitation pauses often break a syntagm into several intonation groups and occur both intentionally and non-intentionally. They may be filled and non-filled (silent):

What I ....mean ,bumping races Iis when the ,aim is >to I>bump \ ....back ofthe 'boat \ in front ofyou Ion the ....Cam ,river. III

As the speaker addresses a comparatively small group of people the loudness is not greatly varied but for the decrease towards the end of the passage. The increase ofloudness is evident at the start of the phonopassage and on its emphatic communicative centres. This may be also referred to levels and ranges.

The rate ofutterances is remarkably varied. In the majority of cases it is normal, but increases towards allegro on less significant units and decreases towards lento on emphatic centres of the phrase or supraphrasal units.

The length of pauses depends on their syntactical and semantic value, the maximum length being at the passage boundaries.

This spoken monologue is characterized by non-systematic rhythrni­ cality; the rhythmicality within the phonopassage is achieved by the nation of all prosodic parameters.

5.3. Stylistic Use oflntonation

125

Terminal tones are fmal and categoric, the emphasis being achieved by the use of high (medium) abrupt falls, or several falls within one interpausal unit. Low rising and Mid-level tones are common for initial or non-final intonation groups to bind them together into a phrasal unit:

In >Oxford Iwe don't have a ,May Week. II

Types of heads are varied: level heads of one accentuated pre-nuclear prevail, sometimes several partially accented syllables occur be­ tween them. Descending falling heads are also quite common, they are oc­

casionally broken by the "accidental rise":

'Personally II come from 'Oxford University, Iso ....1 know tfar more about 'Oxford. II

As the monologue is quite spontaneous the contrast between accented and non-accented segments is great; centralized type of stress helps to un­ derline the semantic centres:

This is par'ticularly ~trange Ias it "'doesn't'happen in ,May Iand is "'not in 'fact a 'week. II

Now the auditory analysis of various informational monologues and phonetic research allow us to conclude that this description may be applied to the majority ofspoken monologues produced within the register and may be treated as a model informational spoken monologue.

Table 8

Prosodic Characteristics of Infonnational Monologue (Speaking)

\bice colouring			The speaker sounds
			dispassionate, hll~ine~~like. reserved, occasionally in­
			terested
			--------------­
I			2
Delimitation			The text is divided into
			phonopassages phrases - intonation groups; a num­
			ber of hesitation and breath~taking pauses (filled and
			silent) break phrases into a great number of intonation­
			al groups, destroying their syntactic structure
Style-		Loudness	normal (or piano); contrastive at the passage boundar­
marking			ies; diminuendo (decrease) towards the end oht; in-
prosodic			crease ofloudness on semantic centres
features

	126			Chapter V. Phonostylistics
				Table 8 (Continued)
	Style-		Levels and	decrease oflevels and ranges within the passage; various
	marking		ranges	ranges and levels bind together several successive se­
	prosodic			quences into a larger unit
	features
			Rate	variable, allegro on interpolations, lento on emphatic
				semantic centres
			Pauses	varied, the length depends on the syntactical and se­
				mantic value ofthe segment, the maximum length be­
				ing at the passage boundaries
			Rhythm	non-systematic, subjective isochrony, centralized
				stress distribution, the rhythmicality within the pho­
				nopassage is achieved by the alternation of all prosod­
				ic features
	Accen­		Terminal	common use of final categoric falls on semantic cen­
	tuation of		tones	tres, non-fmal falls, mid-level and rising tones on non-
	semantic			final intonation group; the emphasis is achieved by the
	centres			use of high falls (very abrupt for a male voice)
			Pre-nuclear	varied, common use oflevel heads with one accentuat­
			patterns	ed pre-nuclear syllable; descending falling heads are of­
				ten broken by the "accidental rise"
			The contrast	great, achieved by the centralized stress pattern, in­
			between ac­	crease ofloudness, levels and ranges on semantic cen­
			cented and	tres, high categoric falls; emphatic stress on them and
			unaccented	other variations of all prosodic characteristics
			segments

Our task now is to compare the prosodic characteristics ofthe two vari­ eties ofthe language in this register. The results ofthe comparison are shown in Table 9.

We can make the following conclusion:

1.Written text (read aloud) and spoken text belonging to the same pho­ netic style have different prosodic realizations.

2.In oral speech prosodic characteristics are more vivid, expressive and varied.

3.The speaker often uses some hesitation phenomena (hesitation pauses, semantic noises and temporizers) intentionally, which enables him to obtain the balance between formality and informality and establish con­ tact with the public.

4.The speaker uses various hesitation phenomena unintentionally which enables him to gain the time in search for suitable expression or idea and thus not interrupt the flow ofspeech.

5.3. Stylistic Use ofIntonation

127

5.In spontaneous speech an intonation group doesn't always coincide with a syntagm. Pauses at the end ofthe phrase are optional.

6.The reading is characterized by a decentralized stress distribution whereas speaking - by a centralized one.

7.In spontaneous speech communicative centres are more vividly empha­ sized; the emphasis is achieved by a wider range of terminal tones, greater degree ofloudness and prominence of accented segments.

8.The reading is rhythmical, oral speech rhythm is non-systematic, un­ predictable, variable.

Table 9

Comparison of Intonation Models of Informational Monologues

	Phonostystic		Varieties ofthe language
	characteristics
			Reading	Speaking
	1		2	3
	Voice		impartial, dispassion-	dispassionate, businesslike, re­
	colouring		ate, reserved resonant	served, occasionally interested
	Delimitation		phonopassages ­	phonopassages - phrases - into­
			phrases - intonation	nation groups; a number ofhesita­
			groups; pauses are	tion and breath-taking pauses
			mostly at syntactical	(filled and non-filled) break
			junctures normally of	phrases into a great number ofin­
			medium length, but for	tonation groups, destroying their
			the end ofthe passage	syntactic structure
	Other	Loud-	normal (piano)	normal (piano), contrastive at the
	style­	ness	throughout the text,	boundaries, decrease towards the
	marking		varied at the phonopas­	end ofthe passage; increase on se-
	prosodic		sage boundaries	mantic centres
	features
		Levels	decrease of levels and	decrease oflevels and ranges with­
		and	ranges within the pas­	in the passage; various ranges and
		ranges	sage	levels bind together several se­
				quences into a larger unit
		Rate	normal (moderate) or	variable; allegro on interpolations,
			slow, not variable	lento on emphatic centres
		Pauses	not greatly varied,	varied; the length depends on the
			mostly syntactical, oc­	syntactical and semantic value of
			casionallyemphatic	the segment, the maximum length
				being at the passage boundaries

128	Chapter V. Phonostylistics

By way ofconclusion we would advise future teachers of English to drift the traditional, non-stylistic approach to the language teacbing in tbeir future practical work and pay special attention to tbe differences be­

tween the two varieties of the language.

d) informational dialogues

Now we shall focus on the dialogues within the sphere of the informa­ tional style discourse.

It is quite obvious that there are certain things common to all dialogues as opposed to monologues and we would like to describe them here.

Firstly, a dialogue is a coordinated simultaneous speech act of two par­ ticipants or rather a speaker and a listener. In this form of communication participants expect eacb otber to respond and conversation is controlled by generally accepted rules of speech behaviour. The most important of them is taking conversational turns. It is essential that in any successful conversation "give-and-take" between the sender and receiver should be maintained.

The attention-getting function is established by putting all sorts ofques­ tions, agreement question tags to show the interest and guide the course of the talk towards a given theme and also by using all sorts of response non-response words and utterances both of verbal and non-verbal charac­ ter. The speakers sometimes talk simultaneously. The utterances tend to be incomplete since the context can make perfectly plain to them what was be­ ing intended thus making redundant its vocal expression.

Hesitation phenomena are of primary significance in dialogues. Voice­ less hesitation is very frequent, it tends to occur relatively randomly, not just at places of major grarnmaticaljunctions, which is more the pattern ofwrit­ ten English read aloud. \biced hesitation consists of hesitant drawls, verbal and non-verbal fillers such as el, ehm, mm.

Dialogue is often accompanied by means of non-verbal communica­ tion facial expressions (a raised eyebrow, a glance towards the partner, etc.), gestures, body movements and noises such as artificial clearing of the

5.3. Use ofIntonation 129

throat, snorts, sniffs, laughs and other paralinguistic features of signifi­ cance.

On the lexical and grammatical level there is a comparatively high proportion of errors which do not seem to bother the speakers.

Interpolations are commonly inteJjectional, their function is primarily to indicate that attention is being maintained.

We should also mention here all sorts of introductions, afterthoughts, parenthetical words.

Dialogues are commonly characterized by a large number of loosely coordinated clauses, the coordination being stmcturally ambiguous, and loosely coordinated sentence-like structures.

The phonostylistic analysis of a sample of informational dialogue will allow us to single out the prosodic distinctive features, marking this variety of dialogues.

The talk is about two oldest universities of Britain - Oxford and Cam­ bridge. This is a mono-thematic talk, though the speakers display some ob­ vious differences of opinion on the subject matter.

Oxford and Cambridge Universities

A: I think some .....people might be interested >to \ oknow Iwhat>the \prin cipal 'differences are \ between the "'sort ofedu'cation you >get Iat .....Oxford and ,Cambridge Iand "'any 'other 'type ofUni'versity edu,cation. II

B:>Um... 11

A:>What? \ '"What:y the 'sort of>thing \ that you would 'hif!hlighl? II

B:,Natura/JJ!. \ >difJerences Iin

A: 'Yes. "
B: I sup,pose... I	one. I>Why, \for example one would
A: >Well, Iwhat the university
>choose... II
B: Ah, II ,see. II

A:Xes... to "'go to 'one ofthose uni>versities \ orapp'ly to one ofthose universi ties \ "'other to 'take the 'extra exam. II

B:,Yes. II >Er, I ,certainly, I>er, II thinkjust >this I is 'social life in inverted

'commas >is \ >er \ a >very I	thing about the university \ >which
in a way's I "'certainly a Ipart ofedu'cation you rej:eive I when you go to
'Oxford or 'Cambridge... II
A: The tu.....torial ,system I I >think I is a	good system I >which's

been \par"'ticularly "'finely 'turned up in (bford and ,Cambridge...

B: Xa. II

130	Chapter V Phonostylistics			5.3. Stylistic Use ofIntonation				131
A: ...though it ,does exist in ,other universities. II You have a "'great 'deal more
				Occasional emphatic pauses and frequent use of hesitation pauses (both
	,freedom I about what you are going >to \ "'what 'course of>study you are			filled and silent) are also characteristic of this talk:
	pre-+cisely going to >follow. II			B: .Yes. II >Er, I,certainly, I>er, II thinkjust >this I'social life in inverted 'com
B:	,Ya.11
A:	There's "'very much 'left >to \one's own ,choice. You >have... II In 'my course			mas \ >is \ >er \ a >very at'tractive thing about the university...
	I remember II could look up -+pages and 'pages ofthings that I couldpoten­
	tially ,do. II			Among style-marking prosodic features we should mention the follow­
B:	,Yes. II			ing:
A: It was -+really just a ,question of,one .sitting 'out Iwhat I "'really wanted to				Loudness is normal or reduced (piano), varied at the block boundaries.
	,tin. III			Important variation in loudness suggests the degree of seriousness of the
				thematic information. Sometimes the speakers lower their voices to an in­
	The participants are post-graduates, students ofthe Russian language of			audible mumble or simply trail off into silence, which is undoubtedly con­
Oxford and Cambridge Universities who know each other quite well. They				nected with changes in levels and ranges that are lowered and narrowed for
are in the same age group (mid-twenties) and share the same university ed­				many monosyllabic responses.
ucational background as mature students.				The rate is flexible as the speakers wish it to be. A speaks very slowly, B ­
	They discuss quite spontaneously a serious topic, in which they are			a bit faster, but for both of them the speed is characteristically uneven.
competent, interested, but not emotionally involved and concerned.				The rhythm is non-systematic, greatly varied, interpausal stretches have
	The subject matter is serious and the speakers sound rather formal,			a marked tendency towards subjective rhythmic isochrony; rhythmicality
businesslike, but occasionally interested and even involved.				within the block is achieved by the variation of all prosodic parameters.
	To maintain contact the participants use words like: yes, right, sure, of			The accentuation of semantic centres is achieved by the use of emphat­
course, expressing immediate reaction as well as all kinds of non-verbal				ic and compound tones (High Falls, Fall-Rises, Fall + Rises), increase of
sounds and noises like hm, mm, er, um, aha, etc.				loudness, widening of the range of nuclei, changes in the rate of utterances
	The speakers are relaxed and not worried about the impression they are			and by a great contrast between accented and unaccented segments of
creating unlike a lecturer or a public speaker. Slips and errors of grammar				phrases.
occur and do not bother them. Similarly, slight carelessness of pronuncia­				Pre-nuclear fragments are usually very short - heads with one accented
tion is common, thus we may speak about occasional deviations from the				pre-nuclear syllable are most common. High pre-heads occur very often.
elaborated code.				The observations made during the auditory analysis of this dialogue and
	As any dialogue is a simultaneous act on the part of the sender and ad­			a great number of similar dialogues allow us to sum up the phonostylistic
dressee' they are both mutually dependent and adapt to each other's strate­				characteristics of informational spontaneous dialogues.
gies. Intonation contributes to establishing and maintaining contact be­								Table 10
tween the participants.
					Prosodic Characteristics of Informational Spontaneous Dialogues
	The dialogue falls into coordinated blocks, split into dialogical units
(stimulus - response). Each unit is characterized by semantic and phonetic
				Voice			businesslike, detached, occasionally interested
integrity, by certain prosodic interrelated features. The ends of utterance
				colouring
pauses are frequently absent due to the rapid taking up cues:
				Delimi­			coordinated block -	dialogical units (stimulus ­ re­
B: Isuppose				tation			sponse) - phrases -	intonation groups, frequent absence
							of end-of-utterance pauses due to the rapid taking up of
A:	Well, what the university offers one. fJihy, for example one would choose...
							cues; frequent use of hesitation pauses (filled and silent),
B:	Oh,Isee.						occasional silence for purposes of emphatic pause

132								Chapter V. Phonostylistics
								Table 10 (Continued)
		Loudness		nonnal or reduced (piano expression); variation ofit at
				block boundaries and also for the accentuation of semantic
				centres; occasional inaudible lowered mumbles and trailing
				off into silence occurring by the end ofthe segments
								--------------------------
		Levels and			especially for the contrastive accentuation
		ranges		ofsemantic centres; narrowed pitch ranges for many
		Rate		slow or
				and interpolations, I.l1i:1.1i:l.I.lvj				uneven, as flexible
				as one wishes it to be
		Pauses		may be of any length; their length being the marker of
				contact between the speakers; simultaneous speaking is
				quite common; silence ofany stretch occurs for the sake
				of emphasis and as a temporizer to gain some time before
					the view
		Rhythm		non-systematic, greatly varied, interpausal stretches have
				a marked tendency towards the subjective rhythmic i80­
				chrony; rhythmicality within the block is achieved by the
				variation of all prosodic parameters
~------+---------~~~~~~~~~.~~~~~~~~~.								------
Accen­		Terminal		regular use offalling (high and medium) final and cate­
tuation		tones		goric tones, the increase ofthe range of the nuclei on the
ofse­				semantic centres; occasional usage oflevel and low rising
mantic				tones in non-fmal groups, ofemphatic tones (High Fall,
centres				Fall-Rise, Rise-Fall) on emphatic semantic centres; high
				nr£vnrvrti.-." of narrow ranges throughout the responses
		I-------lc~c~~~
		Pre-nuclear		common use oflevel heads, usually with one accented pre­
		patterns				and high pre-heads, longer pre-nuclear
								do occur, then sudden
						within the segments characterize them
		The contrast				the variations in all prosodic parame­
		betweenac­
		cented and
		unaccented
		segments

Comparing informational monologue - dialogue l'HUHU"LY acteristics we can make the following conclusions:

1.The structural hierarchy ofa monologue is: phonopassages - phrases intonation groups; whereas the one of a dialogue is: dialogue blocks dialogue units - phrases - intonation groups.

5.3. Stylistic Use ofIntonation

133

2.In a dialogue there is a wider range ofcontrasts in prosodic and paralin­ guistic effects.

3.In a dialogue there is a strong tendency to keep the utterances short, to break up potentially lengthy intonation groups wherever possible. The average length of units in the majority of cases falls within the range of words. Relatively high proportion of incomplete phrasal segments is noticeable. Phrases are commonly short at the beginning, longer as

topics are introduced, longer still as argument develops and short again as the end approaches.

4.In a dialogue there is no stable pattern ofrhythm.

5.The tempo (rate + pauses) in a monologue is normally less varied but in both cases it is conditioned by the importance of information, the flu­ ency of speakers, their familiarity with the topic (theme) and experi­ ence in speaking. In general in a monologue slower speech is expected.

By way of conclusion we would like to say that informational style is widely used in classroom interaction which makes it a useful model for teaching and learning the production of spoken English.

e) press reporting and broadcasting

It has already been stated above that press reporting and broadcasting is a rather complicated non-homogeneous phenomenon and may be varied from the stylistic point ofview.

The chief function of a newspaper and news bulletin is to inform, to present a certain number of facts to a reader, a listener, or a viewer with the effect of giving the impression of neutral, objective, factual reporting. All types of discourse in that style share some important prosodic features.

It should be noted, however, that the speech of radio and television an­ nouncers is somewhat different, because a TV news reader accompanies vocal expression by non-verbal means of communication (facial expres­ sion, gestures). The radio announcer tends to exaggerate certain prosodic features to be better understood by the listeners.

Here is an example of radio news coverage:

-"Thirty-five vvehicles \ 'were in"'volved in a tmultiple col'Usion \ on the

"'M 'I 'motorway this omorning. II The -"accident oc>curred Iabout "'three miles of the 'Newsport 'Pagnell vservice area I when an ar-"ticulated vlm:!:J:. I "'carrying a 'load of-ySteel bars I'j1JJ:kknifgd and II A "'number of 'lorrydrivers and vmotorists II were un,able to pull J!Jl in time Iand ran 'into the

134 Chapter V Phonostylistics

overturned v vehicle l-tcausing g/tll!Jilg/pikup. III "'Someofthe 'steelbarsfrom the >load I were -+flung by the .Impact I across the 'central re'serve into the 'southbound vcarriagewav Iwhich was re-tStricted to 'single-lane 'working be­ cause of re'pairs and re-v swfacing I >causing I "'several 'minor ,accidents. I

With "'both 'carriagewaysvblocked Ipolice	the motorwayfor a ,time Iand
di"'version signs were 'postedat the 'nearest	roads. III "'Breakdown 'vehicles

and vambulances Ihad con-tsiderable >difJiculty I in reaching the 'scene ofthe ,accident Ibecause of'fgg· II This was in Iand the 'flashing'am­ ber ,/ightsignals Ihad been -+switched ,on \for-tmostofthe ,night. So jar Ithere are -+no re>ports Iof"'anyone 'seriously \ in the II

Voice colouring may be characterized as unemotional, dispassionate, reserved, but very resolute and assured, a typical case of a newsreader's "neutral position", deliberately underlying the effect of objectiveness on the part of the newsreader.

Loudness ranges from normal to forte; it is especially varied at passage boundaries.

Levels and ranges are usually normal, but contrasted when each news item is introduced and also at the semantic emphatic centres.

Pauses tend to be rather long, especially when they occur between pas­ sages, longer still between the bulletin items. The location ofpauses is com­ monly predictable, syntactically or semantically determined.

Rate is not remarkably varied. It is normally slow, rarely allegro: delib­ erately slow (lento) on communicatively important centres.

Rhythm exhibits a stable pattern.

Types of heads vary, the most common being descending (falling and stepping), very often broken by accidental rises.

Another very common phenomenon is the variation of descending and ascending heads of different levels to convey the information in a really in­ teresting way, especially in the enumeration of the events:

-+Lane ,discipline Iwas -+much worse in this ,country Ithan in A'merica II and the "'habitsof'driverswhen 'overtaking Iwere par'ticularlybad. II ,One 'saw tjar too much 'dangerous "pulling out Iwithout an -+adequate >signai \ having been .,given.

Also the semantic centre of the preceding intonation group may be re­ peated at the beginning of the next utterance. Lexically it may be the same word or word combination or a related one. This is done to chain the

es tightly into a phonetic whole (phonopassage). On the prosodic

5.3. Stylistic Use ofTntonation

135

close connection is expressed by the use of the Low Rising Tone in the ini­ tial intonation group:

At the "'opening 'meeting in ,London olast ,night ISir -+John Stone... 'criti­ Ithe "'standard of'motorway driving in this ,country. He ,said that there was ,evidence Ithat "'many ofthe 'basic 'disciplines of ,motorwav use Ihad yet

to be vlearned Iby British ,drivers.

One can see here that in the text sentences are not long and not compli­ cated in their structure. The intonation groups are quite short so that the listener would not lose thread of what is being reported.

Terminal tones are usually final and categoric, falls prevail. Falling-ris­ ing tones (or even Rise-Fall- Rises) are often heard in the initial short into­ nation groups introduced to draw the listener's attention:

A "'numberof'/orrydrivers and vmotorists I

to l!1!1l 'YJ2 in time...

With "'both 'carriageways vblocked Ipolice 'closedthe motorwayfor a ,time... II

Table J I

Prosodic Characteristics of a News Bulletin Reading

(Press Reporting and Broadcasting)

	r'"	---------------
	\bice colouring				dispassionate, impartial, but resolute and as­
					sured; the effect of "chilly distant sounding"
					(usually achieved by special training ofthe an­
					nouncers)
	Delimitation				phonopassages - phrases - intonation groups
	Style-		Loudness		normal or increased, contrasted at the pho­
	marking				nopassage boundaries
	prosodic		Levels and		normal; decrease towards the end of the pas­
	features
			ranges		sage; noticeable increase at the start of any
					new news item
			Rate		not remarkably varied; slow, rarely allegro; de­
					liberately slow (lento) on communicatively
					important centres
			Pauses		rather long, especially at the end of each news
					item
			Rhythm		stable, properly organized

136									Chapter V. Phonostylistics
									Table 11 (Continued)
Accen­		Tenninal					frequent use offinal, categoric falling tones on
tuation of		tones					the semantic centres and falling-rising or ris­
semantic									ones in the initial intonation groups
centres
		Pre-nuclear					common use ofdescending heads (very often
		patterns					broken); alternation ofdescending and as­
		! ------ _ t _					cerlolIlg heads
							not great
		The contrast
		between the
		accented and
		unaccented

Comparing phonostylistic characteristics of the reading of an infor­ mational text and a news bulletin we can make the following observa­ tions:

1.News bulletin read aloud conveys mainly factual infonnation, attitudi­ nal function of intonation is of secondary importance here.

2.The prosodic parameters are not greatly varied in both registers of the style except for such occasions in news bulletins when pitch levels, types of heads and pauses are alternated to break the monotony of speech and draw the listeners' or viewers' attention to something very important in the message. This often happens when events are enu­ merated. Marked prosodic variations are also observed at the be­ ginning and the end of each new paragraph or topic.

3.Voice quality is a very important marker of news coverage reading. It is very easily identified, often labelled as "distant", "indifferent", "im­ partial", "neutral". It is true, of course, for events of routine charac­ ter. When tragic events are broadcast, for instance, all the prosodic features are changed to convey the meaning.

4.In the "news bulletin reading" the use ofbroken descending heads and fall-rises on initial intonation groups is more common.

5.Pauses tend to be longer, the general tempo is faster than in the reading of informational educational texts.

6.The "broadcast" reading is more properly rhythmically organized. Highly skilled newsreaders are capable of making the meaning clear by careful control of rhythm.

5.3. Stylistic Use ofIntonation	137

5.3.3. Academic style

This phonetic style is often described as both intellectual and volitional. The speaker's aim is to get the information across to the listener, to educate, to instruct. It is frequently manifested in lectures, scientific discussions, at conferences, seminars and in classes.

It can be suggested here that the most pure manifestation of the aca­ demic phonetic style is realized in a lecture. Admittedly, there can be differ­ ent types of lectures, they vary in the degree of formality, the competence and the individual manner ofthe lecturer and so on.

No public lecture is ever spontaneous, since all of them, even those in which no notes are used, will have been to some extent prepared in advance and therefore represent the written variety of the language read aloud.

Here is an example of a carefully prepared lecture read aloud in public addressed to a fairly-sized audience.

You will "'all have 'seen from the 'handouts I which you have in vfront of you I that 01 pro"'pose to di'vide this 'course of vlectures I on the 'urban and 'architectural de'velopment of, London Iinto "'three 'main ,sections, II and per> -haps I I could 'Just point 'out, 'right at the he.,ginning, I that there will be a "'good 'deal of 'overlap be.tween them. II T.hey are in-+tended to >stand I as ,separate, I-+self-contained ,units. 111'deed, \ I would 'go as far as to >say Ithat 'anyone \ who "'tried to 'deal entirely 'senaratelv with the ,past, Ithe ,present, I and the ""course ofdevelopment in the yfuture, Iwould be 'misrepre'sentingthe 'way in which 'urban 'growth takes ,place. II

Now by -+way ofintro,duction, II'd "'like to 'try and 'give some indi>cation of"'how'London it'selfQ,riginated; II of""what de'velopmental'treI:lds. were built ,into ,it, as it ,were, \from the -+very ,outset; I and of how -+these >trends have

-+affected its ,growth. II	cities. II The, Ramans built
It -+started, of,course, Inot as vD11£, but as

a "'bridge a'cross the >Thames I at a "point where the 'estuary was 'narrow g'nough to "make this a practical'propo,sition; \ and the en-+campment as.,saci­ a1£d with this obridge I"'grew 'up on the 'north 'bank ofthe ,river.

The -+principal Jim ofthis enr-ampment Iwas "'on the 'site now 'occupiedby the , Tower. 111-+Further to the vwest, at a "point where the 'riverwas ~fordable, Iflf.L '~ - Ithe -+Abbey of, Westminster - Iwas ,founded, Iand the "'two 'towns'grew 'up oSide by ,side -I ""one centred on the vilomaJ:l camp, Iand the -+otheron the ,Abbey.

-+Now in my ,next ,lecture II "hope to 'demonstrate in Vdetaill that "'this 'state ofgf'fairs I this double vfocus, Ias we might ,call it - Iwas of"'crucial importance for the 'subsequent'growth o!,London as a '@'

138	Chapter V. Phonostylistics

This is a public lecture about the growth and development of London addressed to a fairly-sized audience. The lecturer is evidently a specialist, therefore he sounds very self-assured and comfortable with the subject, knowledgeable about the topic. The purpose of the lecturer is to deliver the message across to the audience. To implement this goal he tries to engage the attention and interest of the listeners, to maintain contact.

The speaker uses all sorts ofrhetorical strategies to involve the audience and to implement his objectives:

1'dlike you to consider what happened as the two towns began to expand. What do you think the main consequences ofthe expansion were?

The speaker outlines the points he is going to lecture about, uses all sorts ofphrases to cla.ri1Y his position and underline each new item in the text:

You will all have seenfrom the handouts which you have infront ofyou that I propose to divide this course oflectures on the urban and architectural devel­ opment ofLondon into three main sections and perhaps I couldjust point out, right at the beginning that there will be a good deal ofoverlap between them.

Indeed l wouldgo asfar as to say. ..

Now by way ofintroduction Iid like to try and give some indication of .. Now in my next lecture Ihope to demonstrate in detail. ..

The relationship between the lecturer and the audience is on the whole rather formal. At the same time he sounds interested, involved, enthusiastic about the subject of his talk.

Table 12

Prosodic Characteristics of Academic Style Presentation

		Voice colouring						"11ft		ve, lIltpV:S11ll:\, edifying, instructive,
								self-assured
		Delimitation						phonopassages - phrases intonation groups
		Style-mark-		Loudness				increased, sometimes to forte
		ing prosodic		Levels and				remarkably varied within the passage; gradual de-
		features
				ranges				crease within the supraphrasal unit
				Rate				normal, slow in the most important parts ofthe lec­
								ture (rules, conclusions, examples); rate is as flexible
								as the lecturer wishes it to be

	5.3. Stylistic Use ofIntonation										139
											Table 12 (Continued)
					-~~
									ses		rather long, especially between the phonopassages; a
											large proportion ofpauses serving to bring out com­
											municatively important parts of utteranccs; occasion­
											al use of breath-taking pauses
								Rhythm			properly organized, especially while giving the rules,
											the laws, drawing conclusions, etc.
		Accen­					I Tel:minal				high proportion of compound terminal tones (High
		tuation of					Itones				Fall + Low Rise; Fall-Rise, Rise-Fall-Rise); a grcat
		semantic									number of high categoric falls
		Icentn,,_
								Pre-nuclear			frequent use ofstepping and falling heads; alternation
								pat terns			ofdescending and ascending heads, especially in enu­
											merations
								Th ~ contrast			not great
								bet "een the
								aceented and
								un :ccented
								seg nents

Now we would like to give an outline of the specific characteristics of the academic style presentation:

1.Academic presentations are generally well prepared and even rehearsed by a trained lecturer.

2.The lecturer sounds self-assured, authoritative, instructive and edify­ ing.

3.The degree ofloudness is determined by the size of the audience.

4.The prosodic features of the academic style presentation are varied. We can observe marked variations of terminal tones, pre-nuclear patterns, ranges, tempo and loudness.

5.The rhythmical organization of the text is properly balanced by the al­ ternation of all prosodic features which gives the acoustic impression of "rhythmicality".

6.High falling and falling-rising terminal tones are widely used as a means of both logical and contrastive emphasis.

We have described common prosodic features which can be viewed as

markers of academic style. It should be mentioned that today academic presentations vary considerably depending on the following factors: the topic, the number oflisteners, their qualitative charactersistics (ethnic, so­