5. Порівняльна характеристика одиниць мови та мовлення (Units of language vs. Speech)

Language and speech can be the two main objects of analysis in our attempt to understand the nature and functioning of oral verbal communication. These global concepts structurally can be divided into smaller units. Here we will outline in brief the taxonomy of language versus speech units. Ch. W. Kreidler gives the description of the LANGUAGE UNITS as follows:

In their use of language speakers express themselves mainly in sentences which can be organized into texts.

Sentences consist of phrases, and phrases consist of words. Every word consists of at least one morpheme, a minimal unit that contributes in some way to the meaning of the word.

A morpheme is expressed in some sequence of the phonemes of a language. A phoneme is an abstract unit (‘a sound in the mind’) which is realized in speech as different segments in different positions. The features which are present in all the allophones are distinctive features.

Phonology may also be thought of as a collection of phonemes and a collection of rules for putting these units together to express the meanings of morphemes, words, phrases, sentences and texts which are the units used in describing language. Thus, the units of LANGUAGE from largest to smallest are:

TEXT – SENTENCE – PHRASE – WORD – MORPHEME – PHONEME - DISTINCTIVE FEATURE

The UNITS OF SPEECH:

1. The concept of discourse is used to refer to any act of speech which occurs in a place and during a given period of time. Discourse in this meaning is ‘spoken discourse’.

2. A discourse consists of at least one utterance, which is defined as a stretch of speech produced by a single speaker, with silence before and after, on the part of that speaker.

3. An utterance consists of at least one tone unit, a sequence of words spoken in a single breath, a stretch of speech which has describable melody or intonation, one out of a fairly small inventory of intonation contours that exist in the language. The melody results from the vibration of the speaker’s vocal cords at different frequencies in the articulation of a tone unit; thus parts of it are produced at different pitches.

4. Tone units are broken into smaller ‘chunks’ – rhythmic groups (= feet, phonetic words). These are made up of a stressed syllable and all the following unstressed syllables up to (but not including) the following stressed syllable.

5. A rhythmic group consists of at least one syllable and usually a number of syllables. The syllable is an element which is hard to define. It is one or more speech sounds, forming a single uninterrupted unit of utterance. Articulatorily it is the smallest unit of speech production, and auditorily it is the smallest unit of speech perception.

6. A syllable consists of at least one segment and usually of more than one. These different segments are the allophones (‘sounds in the month’) of the phonemes (sounds in the mind’). In the production of speech the speaker’s vocal organs arc continually moving from one position to another.

7. In the articulation of a segment, the vocal organs have some particular setting - the lips are rounded or stretched, the tongue is low in the mouth or not, it has a flat surface or not, the vocal cords are vibrating or not, etc. Each such position or movement is an articulatory feature. Typically a segment can consist of from three to twelve articulatory features.

Thus, the units of SPEECH from largest to smallest are: DISCOURSE – UTTERANCE – TONE UNIT – SYLLABLE – SEGMENT – ARTICULATORY FEATURE