II. The form and function of the main components of the speech melody.

The main component of the speech melody is a terminal tune (tone), which is the necessary component of the tone-unit. The most important functionally.

All the tunes that can be heard in the speech may be classified according o the following features:

• absence or presence of changes in the direction of the tone. According to this all the tunes may be divided into kinetic (falling and rising) and static (level tunes);

• the character of the change in the direction of the tune. Here we may distinguish simple tunes (level, falling and rising), compound tunes (fall-rise, rise-fall, rise-fall-rise);

• the level of the beginning of the tune (low and high)

• the range of the tune (narrow and broad).

According to these characteristics it is possible to distinguish a great variety of tunes. But from the point of view of their usage and for the teaching purposes it is wiser to operated with the following inventory of the tones.

Low Fall, Mid Fall and High Fall of broad and narrow variation;

Low rise, High rise and Mid rise of broad and narrow variation;

Low level, Mid level, High level;

Low Fall-Rise, Mid Fall-Rise and High Fal-Rise;

High Fall-Rise.

It is clear with simple tunes. Compound tunes are the tunes which are characterized by double movement in the direction of the nuclear tone – fall-rise and rise-fall.

Sometimes there may be distinguished complex tunes. To them one may refer divided tunes: falling – rising \ +/, rising-falling / + \, and sometimes such configurations as Rise Fall + Rising tone, and Rise Fall + Fall Rise.

The meaning of the terminal tunes.

Only the structures that carry a certain meaning maybe included into the description of an intonation system of a language. Such structures present phonological units of the speech melody or tonems.

How many tonems we may find in English? This question is still open for investigation. In the works of native and foreign linguists one may count form 2 to more than a dozen of tonems. Neither of the theories got enough valid proofs and facts to prove its scientific validity. In fact the number of tonems depends on the way the author interprets the word “meaning”.

A great number of experiments and investigations on the function of intonation show that the meaning of the tune is contextually dependant. Thus e.g. A. Cruttenden, analyzing the main meanings given to the tunes by O’Connor and Arnold, came to the conclusion that the meaning of the rise-fall which was described by the authors as “impressed” and “challenging” depends on the agreement or disagreement of the speaker with the facts mentioned.

He’s got two wives I don’t like the man

I ^know You’ve never even ^spoken to him

And now the question comes: what will happen if we free the meanings from the contextual overlap. Won’t it be just the emphatic realization of falling tune.

Only this example may prove that the number of tonems depends upon the degree of abstractness (степень абстрактности) of the meanings it may posses.

Probably the meaning of the tune may be viewed from the two main aspects: external (contextually dependant, concrete meaning) and internal (deep) – contextually free, abstract meaning.

The definition of this very abstract meaning is one of the most difficult tasks in the area of intonology, the one that arouses many arguments. K. Pike was positively sure that it is possible to evaluate the abstract meaning of any tone. On the other hand, such outstanding linguist as D.Crystal believed that the description of intonation without any relation to the situation and context is too general and indistinct.

The form and the meaning of the pre-terminal part of the contour.

The pre-terminal part of the contour includes scale or head and a pre-head. According to the relation to the first stressed syllable, pre-head may be high and low. All the scale or heads are usually classified according to the following features:

• height level of the first stressed syllable /high, mid, low/

• distribution of the unstressed syllable in relation to the first stressed one /falling, rising, level/

• distribution of the unstressed syllable in relation to the stressed ones /if the same level than stepping, if they are lower – sliding, if they are higher – scandent/

The meanings of the scale are even more difficult to determine than those of the tones. According to the most general approach the scale in combination with tunes serves to express emotional and modal meanings.

It is possible that the opposition high/low scale may serve to express negative and positive emotions, because these relations can be conveyed by the height level and tambre. In any case the preterminal part of the tone group should correlate with the beginning of the terminal tune.

Functions of the melodic component of intonation.

The functions of the melodic component of the speech melody include all the complex of the functions of intonation. Melody determines the connections between the parts of the sentences, shapes and opposes different types of utterances, conveys emotional and modal meanings. These functions are traditionally called linguistic functions.

Semantic function.

During the realization of this function the change of the melodic structure leads to the change in relation of the utterance and reality. The classical example to it is the following opposition (Palmer)

He does not give his books to \anybody (он не дает книг никому)

He does not give his books to ˇanybody (он не всякому дает книги)

One more example is given by Cruttenden.

\All the rabbits aren’t in the cages (v kletke ne bilo krolikov)

ˇAll the rabbits aren’t in the cages (ne vse kroliki v kletke)

The examples of the kind are numerous but their semantic interpretation is difficult not only for the learners of the foreign language but also for the native speakers as well.