The Six o’Clock News Good evening. And here’s the Six o’Clock News from Washington with j.C. Kennedy and Warren Wolf.

Last night there was an earthquake in Mandagna. The earthquake destroyed the Central Bank. Many buildings fell down. The Mandagna army is in the capital. They are helping survivors. The International Red Cross sent planes with food and medicine to the area this morning.

• David, Frida and I were wondering if you and Marry would like to have a night out with it some time.

• So, I would like that very much.

• What did you have in mind?

• Well, perhaps we could go and see a play, and then have something to eat afterwards.

• That would be great. When?

• We were thinking on Friday.

• Should be OK.

• Well I’ll have to check with Mary but I don’t think we’re doing anything.

• All right. Perhaps you could let me know tomorrow?

• OK, or I’ll phone later. Good, see you then and thanks for the invitation.

• Hello, excuse me. Sorry to bother you. Would it be possible for me to leave my bags here for an hour or so?

• I’m very sorry, but I’m afraid that’s impossible. We can’t be responsible for anything left here. So, I’m afraid we can’t allow passengers to leave baggage.

• Oh, I see. Oh well, thanks anyway.

• I’m sorry. I can’t be more helpful.

• It’s all right. I quite understand.

Note that, speech behaviour is directly connected with the role behaviour. Everyone behaves in different ways: at home as parents, a brother or a son, in the office as a chief or a subordinate etc. A person is a social being and he behaves according to the social role. Speech communication is influenced considerably by such extralinguistic factors as:

• Aim of speech.

• Social status of the speakers.

• Their relations.

• Age, sex distinctions, etc.

• The situation in which communication is carried on.

These circumstances are termed extra-linguistic factors.

Different ways of pronunciation caused by extralinguistic factors are called phonetic styles. The broadest and most widely recognized division of English speech is into formal and informal styles.

The formal style covers those varieties of English that one can hear from a lecturer, a public speaker, a radio announcer etc. These types of communication are used in official and business talks. Informal Style is used in personal every-day communication. Most typically informal speech takes the form of a conversation.

The leading role in the stylistic differentiation of oral speech belongs to intonation. Each style is characterized by certain distinctive intonation features.

When using formal style the speaker sounds dispassionate.

Low Fall

N

mark this style

ormal or slow speed

Regular rhythm

Descending Scale

When having a friendly conversation (informal style) the speaker shows active participation, interest.

Different terminal tones

V

mark this style

arious scales

Normal or fast speed

Silent or hesitation pauses

According to the degree of formality in one case and familiarity in the other, the two styles can be subdivided into: