Put down stress marks in the sentences below. Translate them into Russian-

1. The abstract is short. Abstract this theory. 2. This accent is on. the first syllable. Mark it with a weak accent. He accents the word» It's the word "son" you are to accent. 3. A conflict took place. They conflict with this theory. It's finished in a conflict. Still, they con­flict. 4. The contest wasfriendly. They contest this statement. It's a contest. They contest it. 5. The contract was signed. They contract serious diseases. It's a contract. These diseases they contract.

9. Read the following compounds. Translate them into Russian.

'throw-back, Uook-out, fflashbacki Qie-idown, 'look-iround, lali iin, 'head 'first, 'head-'on, iknocker-lup,ilooker-'on, 'runner-lup, iwash-ing-'up, 'pick-up

VIII. STRONG AND WEAK FORMS. UNSTRESSED VOCALISM

In actual speech there is a great number of words which are pro­nounced in the weak or contracted form. They are more common than non-contracted or full forms. It applies to all styles and different man­ner of speech — formal or informal, slow or rapid tempo.

Given below are the lists of essential weak and contracted forms.

The Use of Weak and Contracted Forms

1. If a word is stressed the strong form must be used.

2. Strong forms are used at the end of the intonation group
<even if the word is unstressed, e.g.

Where did Mary come irom? /Iwss did imsan ₄клт fn>m/

The only exceptions are pronouns. They retain the weak form in final position, e.g.

John suspects her./idstm sas^pekts Ьэ/ We adore them, /wi- s_vdo: 5эт/

3. Demonstrative pronoun that always has the strong form (even
if not stressed), e.g.

That's exactly what I want. /Basts igizaekth wot ai,wont/ That play I saw was wonderful. /9set iplei ai iso: wsz»d

4. Weak forms ending in /э/ are not used before vowels (see
table for special forms).

5. The weak forms of words beginning with /h/, e. g. have, has,
lie, him, etc. may or may not be preceded by /h/. The /h/ is in­
variably used following a pause, for example at the beginning of
a sentence. In other cases the use of the /h/-forms is in free varia­
tion with /h/-less forms.

6. Have as a main verb is usually in the strong form, s de­
laines contracted forms with have may be used: I've, we've, they've
{never he has, she has), e.g.

'I've, 'we've, ithey've a 'bit of a problem, /'aiv, 'wi:v, iSeiv э 'bit 9v э_чртЫзт/

7. Scnorants /1, m, n/ in contracted forms are typically syllabic.
e.g.

I John¹11 come. /1(%оп1_хклт/ ibread and _vbuiter /'oread n

8. <ls> is pronounced as /z/ after all lenis (excluding /z, 5,
and after vowels:

Tibs 7

Essential Weak Forms

 

Class	Word	Weak Forms
articles	a an the	/э/ not before vowels /эп, n/ only before vowels /?a, ffi/ before vowels
conjunctions	and as than that but or	/and, an, n/ /az/ /San/; /ffsen/ is hardly ever used /Sat/ /bat/ /o-, a/ before consonants /эт, or/ before vowels
particles	there to	/ffa/ before consonants /0эг/ before vowels /ta/ before consonants /tu/ before vowels
prepositions	at for from of to' into through	/at/ /fa/; /far/ before vowels /fram/ /av/: /a/ often used before /ö/ /ta/; /tu:, tu/ used before vowels /mta/; /intu/ before vowels /Bra/
verb be	am ('m') are ('re) is ('s) was were	/эт, т/ /a/; /ar/ before vowels /s, z/ /wa/; /war/ used before vowels
auxiliary v^rh have	has ('s) have ('ve) had (*d)	/az, s, z/ /av, V/ /ad, d/
other auxiliary and modal verbs	do does can will shall would should must could	/da, du/ /dAZ/ /кэп/ AM/'' /ad, d/ /sd, d/ /mast, mas/ /kud, kd/

I9L

Продолжение

 

Class	Word	Weak Forms
pronouns	them us our you he she we me her	/Ээт, EFm/ /as/ /a-/ (is also used in stressed contexts) /juV. /Ju/ /hi, hi, t, i/ /Л. Л/ /wi, wi/ /mi, mi/ /ha, з:/; /э/ before consonants
negatives	not nor	/not, at/ /no/ before consonants /пэг/ before vowels

Essential Contracted Forms

 

Deriva­tion	Full Form	Written Con­tracted Form	Spoken Con­tracted Form	Comments
be	I am you are he is she is it is we are they are	I'm you're he's she's it's we're they're	/aim/ /jo:, jua/ /hfcz/» /W* /its/ /'wte/ /Зеэг/	Лкг, juar/ before vowels /wfcar/ "1 before /Эеэг/ / vowels
have	I have you have he has she has it has we have they have	I've you've he's she's it's we've they've	/aiv/ /J«v/ * fill'Of /its/ /wkv/» /9eiv/	Not necessarily used if have is a main verb. Cannot be used iF have is a main verb. Not necessarily used if have is a main verb.
shall will	I shall you will he will she will	I'll you'll he'll she'll	/ail/ г Ä/

■ These may be contracted /tiB, Jiz, w», Juv, wiv, Jul, wid, Jud/,

Продолжение

 

Deriva­tion	Full Form	Written Con­tracted Form	Spoken Con­tracted Form	Comments
	it will we shall/will they will	tfii we'll they'll	/'Itl/ /Wi:l/ /foil/
had+ should/ would	I had (should) would you had (should) would he had/would she had/would it had/would we had/would they had/would	I'd you'd he'd she'd it'd we'd they'd	/aid/ /jad/ /hi;d/ Affcd/ /itad/ /wfcd/ /Seid/	Context usually makes it clear whether had or should/ would is meant.
not	are not were not do not shall not will not cannot must not dare not	aren't weren't don't shan't won't can't mustn't daren't	/d;nt/1 /wa:nt/ /daunt/ /Jamt/ /waunt/ Aant/ /'nusnt/ /desnt/	Also used in aren't. All auxiliaries may combine with n't to form contracted forms and only the most significant and/or irregular are given here. There are many more such as isn't, wasn't, couldn't, shouldn't /iznt, woznt, kudnt, 'Judnt/.
let	let us	let's	/lets/	Only as auxiliary verb.
there	there is there are there wil! there would	there's there are there'll there'd	/Эеэг, Яег, Ээг/ /Яеагэ, Зегэ/ /Эта!,»э1/ /Dead, ifed/	/'ffearer, 'Эегэг/ be­fore vowels

The older contracted form of aren't and Isn't was uln't. This Is tiow heard only In
7-182 193

iBob's _vhere. /ob _t/ iVan's,come. /ivsenz _чклт/ Boy's gone, /tboiz _vgon/

<is> is pronounced as /s/ after the fortis (excluding /s, X, tf/)j

Uack's here, /'dsseks _vhi3/ (Robert's gone, /irrjbsts _%gon' I Pete's come. /ipi:ts ₄клт/

<is> is pronounced as /iz/ after /s, z, J¹, g, t)7, <has> is pro­nounced as /3z/, e.g.

Max is coming later, /imseks iz ikAmirj Jeite/

Mr. Hodge has arrived, /miste 'tradj эг a,raivd/

Jones has decided to leave, /icfceunz ez difsaidid ta _%li:v/

9. Some common grammatical words do not have a regular weak form, e.g.

on, up, when, then, one, what, where

As has already been mentioned, unstressed vowels in English may either change their quality and quantity or remain unchanged. For example the indefinite article a may be pronounced as /э/, which differs from /ei/ qualitatively. He may be pronounced as /hi'/ which diilers from /hi:/ quantitatively. In the word potato the final /9U/ remains unchanged though it occurs in an unaccented syllable /pa'teitsu/.

The major role in the system of unstressed vocalism in English belongs to the neutral vowel /a/. It originated as a result of the development of the analytical grammar structures, which led to the reduction of some vowels not only in inflexions but also in other parts of lexical and grammatical words.

According to the data of modern phoneticians /i, э, u, ou/ are always unstressed, /ei, ai/ are unstressed rather often, /d:, л, э: au, is/ are rarely unstressed, ja., u:, i:, 01, еэ, иэ/ are practically never unstressed.

The neutral vowel /з/ may alternate with any vowel of full formation, e.g.

/i:/—/э/ the /5i:/— the lesson /Зэ Uesn/

/e/—/9/ pence /pens/—three pence /trepans/

/se/—/э/ land /lsend/—England /lirjgfend/

/a/—/3/ particle /«ptttikl/—particular /psltikjula/

Ы—Ш a combine /э ikombain/—to combine /Ь кэт'Ьат/

/и/—/э/ fully /ifult/—playfully /ipleifah/

/и:/—/э/ to him /tu- him/—to the table /ta Ъ Iteibl/

/Л/—/Э/ some Mm/—tiresome /itaiasgm/

/3.7—/э/ herd /ha:d/—shepherd /^!j"ep3d/.

/ei/—/э/ face /feis/—preface /iprefas/

/ai/—/э/ shire /J¹ аю/—Yorkshire /ijo:kjty

/аи/— Ш mouth /mau0/—Plymouth /'рктэО/

/эй/—/э/ folk /fouk/—Norfolk /'пэ:Гэк/ /га/—/э/ revere /nivis/—reverence /irevarens/ /еэ/—/э/ there's /Öeaz/—there's S

On the phonological level the question arises about the phonemic status of the neutral vowel /э/. Is it an independent phoneme, or a va­riant of the phoneme with which it alternates? This question can be answered in terms of the distinctive function of the phoneme. In pairs like, for example, some /элт/ — some /sam/ /3/ performs distinctive function. In the sentence / read some /алт/ book some means "a certain". In the sentence / read some /sam/ books some means "several". Similar pairs in which the members differ in quality prove the independent phonemic status of the /э/ phoneme.

From the position of the Moscow and Leningrad phonological schools the relations between the vowel of full formation and /э/ in the pairs mentioned above should be viewed differently.

The representatives of the Moscow phonological school consider such relations to be interaHophonic, because Ы is considered by them in the pairs like /sAm/ — /ssm/ to be an allophone of the /л/ phoneme, or hyperphoneme.

The representatives of the Leningrad school state that in the above examples /3/ and /л/ undergo interphonemic changes and that they are separate phonemes.

In the Russian language vowels in unstressed syllables may coincide in speech. E.g. /0, a/ in the first pretonic syllable are both pronounced as /л/: /л/ ват, IЦ лень.

The peculiarity of the unstressed vocalism of Russian is that an unstressed vowel never preserves its full form. Cases like potato /pa'teitgu/, artistic /o:itistik/ are very common in English, e.g. /ib/ paragraph /ipasragrof/

conservatoire /kanJseivatva:/ radar /ireida:/, /ireida/ /1/ graduate /tgrsedjuit/

surface /'seihs/

effect /lifekt/

ticket /itikit/ /эй/ also /Id:Is9U/ zero /tziaröu/ /л/ tumult /ltju:mAlt/

There are some digraphs in English which are pronounced in unstressed syllables either as /э/ or /1/, e. g. er — teacher /ftiitfa/ ar—mortar /'mo:to/ or—motor /imauts/ et—foreign /iform/ ir—elixir /iihksa/ ie—hobbie /Ihobi/ ou(s)—famous /ifeimas/

7* 195

Questions

1. Are weak and contracted forms common for actual speech? 2. Give examples in which articles, conjunctions, particles and preposi­tions are pronounced in the weak forms. 3. Give examples in which the verbs to be, to have and the negatives not, nor are pronounced in the weak forms. 4. Give examples in which auxiliary verbs are pronounced in their weak forms. 5. What are essential contracted forms for the verbs to be, to have, shall, will, had + should, would, for the nega­tive not, particles let, there} Use them in your own examples or in the examples taken from literature. 6. What rules for the use of weak and contracted forms do you know? 7. What role does the phoneme /э/ play in the system of unstressed vocalism? 8. With what vowels of full formation does hi alternate? 9. What phonological status does Ы possess? 10. What are the peculiar features of English unstressed vocalism?

Exercises

•1. Transcribe these words. Single out the pairs of phonemes in which /э/ al­ternates with the vowel of full formation in the unstressed position.

armour (броня) —army (армия)

allusion (намек) —illusion (иллюзия)

tell 'em (скажи им) —tell him (скажи ему)

sitter (живая натура) —city (город)

forward (передний) —foreword (предисловие)

experiment (опыт) —experiment (экспериментиро­
вать)

some (некоторое количество) —some (некоторый, какой-то)

that (который, относительное —that (тот, указательное ме-

местоимение) стоимение)

variety (разнообразие) —various (различный)

estimable (достойный уважения) —estimate (оценивать)

*2. Transcribe these words. Underline the vowels of full formation in the un­stressed position.

protest n, content n, comment n, abstract adj, asphalt n, cannot, epoch, blackguard, export n, humbug, expert n, institute

*3. Transcribe these words. Read them. Mind the dropping off of hi in the unstressed position.

often, session, special, difficult, some, can, conference, dictionary, April, have

*4. a) Transcribe these words and underline the sounds of full formation in the pretonJc syllables, b) Give examples of Russian vowel reduction in a similar position.

emission usurp aorta

eleven Uganda oil-painting

ensign upturn coyote

abstract urbane aerologist

objective idea hereunder

orchestral outwit Eurasian

S. Read the exercise. Pay attention to the strong and weak forms which are singled out.

Red and white. /Ired (3)n,wait/ That man said: "That's good." /'Sset imaen _vsed iSssts»gud/ Let's do it tomorrow, /llets Idu: it ts.nrarau/ I'm a student, /aim э _vstjudsnt/ These boys are naughty. /Jöi:z 'boiz э ₄no:ti/ These books are interesting. /I8i:z ibuks эг _kin-tnstirj/ These bags are black. /'Öi:z ibsegz э Jilgsk/ Which is cor­rect? /iwitj* iz kajekt/ I have many books, /ai lhaev 'mem _vbuks/ He needs some books, /hi 'ni:dz ssm _vbuks/ I want some book, /ai iwont isAra,buk/

Come for the ticket. /1клт fa 5з»tikit/ Come for a change, /1клт far 3 _vfeind5/ Would you like to stay? /iwud ju Uaik ta ₄stei/ Do you want to argue? /Idu ju iwrjnt tu,agju:/ You shouldn't have done it /ju Ijudnt av _kdAn it/

Control Tasks

*1. Transcribe these words. Use them to illustrate the peculiar feature of the 2j [English unstressed vocalism,

latchkey, simplicity, protest n, skylark, pantheon, bulldog, out­door, dining-room, into, mildew, woodcut, heart-burn, humpback, highway, simplify, highbrow, convoy, rainbow, raincoat, underwear, armature

2. Give some examples from the English language to illustrate the qualitative
and quantitative changes of vowels in the unstressed position.

3. Prove the functional independence of the id phoneme in the English language.

*4. Transcribe the passage below. Write out some examples of the strong and weak forms. Mark them with SF, WF, accordingly.

The Guardian newspaper is famous for its misprints. Why, there is even a Guardian, misprint preserved in brass for posterity. Some years ago the El Vino wine bar decided to put up a plaque in honour of Philip Hope-Wallace, its most faithful and probably wittiest habit­ue. And so, mentioning his eminence as a wit, raconteur and critic, it was duly placed above his usual seat on the wall and unveiled at a small ritual.

'I don't want to seem ungrateful,' said the recipient, peering at it closely, 'but there's only one "1" in Philip and you've put in two.'

'How can that be?' gasped the management. 'We were careful to check with the Guardian.'

IX. INTONATION

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 (duration, tempo, pausation); 4. rhythm; 5. tamber (voice quality).

Intonation is very important. It 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. The two main functions of intonation are: communicative and expressive.

There are two main approaches to the problem of intonation in Great Britain. One is known as a contour analysis and the other may be called grammatical.

The first is represented by a large group of phoneticians: H. Sweet, D. Jones, G. Palmer, L. Armstrong, I. Ward, R. Kingdon, J. О 'Con­nor, A. Gimson and others. It is traditional and widely used. Accord­ing to this approach the smallest unit to which linguistic meaning can be attached is a tone-group (sense-group). Their theory is based on the assumption that intonation consists of basic functional "blocks". They pay much attention to these "blocks" but not to the way they are connected. Intonation is treated by them as a layer that is superim­posed on the lexico-grammatical structure. In fact the aim of commu­nication determines the intonation structure not vice versa.

The grammatical approach to the study of intonation was worked out by M. Halliday, The main unit of intonation is a clause. Intona­tion is a complex of three systemic variables: tonality, tonicity and tone, which are connected with grammatical categories. Tonality marks the beginning and the end of a tone-group, Tonicity marks the focal point of each tone-group. Tone is the third unit in Halliday's system. Tones can be primary and secondary. They convey the atti­tude of the speaker. Halliday's theory is based on the syntactical function of intonation.

The founder of the^TAmerican school of intonation is K. Pike. In his book "The Intonation of American English" he considers "pitch phonemes" and "contours" to'be the main units of intonation. He des­cribes different contours and their meanings, but the word "meaning" stands apart from communicative function of intonation. A. Anti-pova in her "System of English Intonation" characterizes the approach of the American school to the study of intonation system as "mechani­cal".

MELODY

Speech melody or pitch of the voice is closely connected with sen­tence stress. Crystal states that "the only realizations of stress, which are linguistic, which are capable of creating an effect of relative pro­minence, of accent, are those which are effected with the complex

help of pitch, quantity and quality variations. The most important is pitch." ^L

Successive contours of intonation singled out of the speech flow may be defined differently: sense-groups (semantic approach), breath-groups (extra-linguistic approach), tone groups (phonological definition)^a intonation groups, tone (tonetic) units, pitch and stress patterns. Each tone unit has one peak of prominence in the form of a nuclear pitch movement and a slight pause after the nucleus that end the tone unit and is usually shorter than the term "pause" in pausation system.

The tone unit is one of the most important units of intonation theory. It contains one nucleus, which is often referred to as nuclear tone, or peak of prominence. The interval between the highesfand the lowest pitched syllable is called the range of a sense-group. The range usually depends on the pitch level: the higher the pitch, the wid­er the range. High, medium and low pitch of the voice is shown on the staves. The change of pitch within the last stressed syllable of the tone-group is called a nuclear tone. It may occur not only in the~nu-cleus but extend to the tail — terminal tone.

The inventory of tonal types given by different scholars is dif­ferent. Sweet distinguishes 8 tones: - level, ' high rising,, low ris­ing, ^лhigh falling,»low falling, ^v compound rising, ^л compound falling, - rising-falling-rising. Palmer has four basic tones: falling, high rising, falling-rising, low rising. He also mentions high-fall­ing and "low level" and describes coordinating tonal sequences ("" identical tone groups), and subordinating tonal sequences (■' " dissimilar tone groups). Kingdon distinguishes high and low, normal and emphatic tones and gives rising, falling, falling-rising (divided and undivided), rising-falling, rising-falling-rising and level tone (the latter is not nuclear). O'Connor and Arnold give low and high falls and rises, rise-fall, fall-rise, and a compound fall 4- rise (the latter is considered a conflation of two simple tunes). Halliday recognizes seven major types, \ ',,, ^л, ^v, ⁴⁺, ^л+/.

Vassilyev gives ten tone units. He states that tones can be moving and level. Moving tones can be: simple, complex and compound. They are: Low Fall; High Wide Fall; High Narrow Fall; Low Rise; High Narrow Rise; High Wide Rise; Rise-Fall; Fall-Rise; Rise-Fall-Rise. The most common compound tones are: High Fall + High Fall; High Fall 4- Low Rise. Level Tones can be pitched at High, Mid and Low level.

Methods of indicating intonation are different: wedge-like symbols, staves with dots and dashes, which correspond to unstressed and stressed syllables within the voice range, tonetic stress marks, numeri­cal system, etc. The system of staves is the most vivid, the system of

¹ Crystal D. Prosodic Systems and Intonation in English.— Cambridge,
1969,— P. 120.

² Crystal's terminology.

tonetic symbols is the most economical and vivid, that's why they are most popular in our textbooks.

'The tonetic units that constitute the total tone pattern (contour) are the following:

1. unstressed and half stressed syllables preceding the first stressed
syllable constitute the prehead of the intonation group;

2. stressed and unstressed syllables up to the last stressed syllable
constitute the head, body or scale of the intonation group;

3. the last stressed syllable, within which fall or rise in the intona­
tion group is accomplished, is called the nucleus; the syllable marked
with the nuclear tone may take a level stress;

4. the syllables (or one syllable), that follow the nucleus, consti­
tute the tail, e.g.

It's been a 'very igood, even ing for me.

Г

prehead

scale nucleus

tail

The most important part of the intonation group is the nucleus, which carries nuclear stress (nuclear tone).

According to the changes in the voice pitch preheads can be: rising, mid and low:

rising

• * •

mid

4 f #

low

Scales can be: descending, ascending and level.

According to the direction of pitch movement within and between syllables, descending and ascending scales can be: stepping, sliding and scandent;

 

descending stepping descending sliding descending scandent

 

_	*
	t	*\
—		I - *

ascending stepping

ascending sliding

ascending scandent

nmminiS 1 ^the_f^^{ds ш the} descending scale is made specially

SB5 th/f ^1C4 ^arrrJ^s P^{]aced before} the dash-mark which indicates the stressed syllable on the staves, or before the word

made specially prominent in the text— f\/ accidental rise, e.g. 'John

is |very _tbusy.

This type of scale is called

up broken descending scale.

The falling tones convey completion and finality, they are categor­ic in character. The rising tones are incomplete and non-categoric. Of all the level tones mid level tone is used most frequently. The level tones may express hesitation and uncertainty.

Attitudinal function of intonation can be observed in utterances consisting of one word and in utterances consisting of more than a single word. In the latter cases it is not only that the type of the nu­cleus is important but also the pitch of the utterance preceding the nu­cleus: prehead and head. The attitudinal function of different tonal types in statements, special and general questions, commands and in­terjections is accurately and thoroughly described in the "Intonation of Colloquial English" by J. D. O'Connor and G. F. Arnold and in our textbooks on phonetics.

SENTENCE STRESS, OR ACCENT

Sentence stress is a greater prominence of words, which are made more prominent in an intonation group. The special prominence of accented words is achieved through the greater force of utterance and changes in the direction of voice pitch, accompanied by changes in the quantity of the vowels under stress (in unstressed position vowels may undergo qualitative changes, see unstressed vocalism).

The difference between stress and accent is based on the fact that in the case of stress the dominant perceptual component is loudness, in the case of accent it is pitch. Degrees of stress in an utterance cor­relate with the pitch range system. Nuclear stress is the strongest — it carries the most important information. Non-nuclear stresses are subdivided into full and partial. Full stress occurs only in the head of an intonation group, partial stress occurs also in the prehead and tail. Partial stresses in the prehead are most frequently of a low va­riety, high partial stress can occur before a low head. Words given partial stress do not lose their prominence completely, they retain the whole quality of a vowel.

In tone-groups stress may undergo alternations under the influ­ence of rhythm, but there are some rules concerning words that are usually stressed or unstressed in an utterance.

Given below is the list of words that are usually stressed:

Nouns.¹ Adjectives. Numerals. Interjections. Demonstrative pro­nouns. Emphatic pronouns. Possessive pronouns (absolute form). In­terrogative pronouns. Indefinite pronouns: somebody, someone, some­thing, anybody, anyone, anything (used as subject). Indefinite neg­ative pronouns: no, none, no one, nobody, nothing. Indefinite pro-

Such as "thing", "person", "place" are unstressed.

nouns some, any (expressing quality). Indefinite pronouns: all, each, every, other, either, both. Indefinite quantitative pronouns: much, many, a little, a few. Notional verbs. Auxiliary verbs (negative con­tracted forms). Two-word prepositions. Two-word conjunctions. Par­ticles: only, also, too, even, just.

The words that are usually unstressed:

Personal pronouns. Reflexive pronouns. Reciprocal pronouns. Relative pronouns.¹ Possessive pronouns (conjoint form). Indefinite pronouns: somebody, someone, something, anybody, anyone, anything (used as object). Indefinite pronouns some, any (when expressing quan­tity). Auxiliary verbs² (affirmative form). One-word prepositions and conjunctions. Articles. Particles: there, to. Modal verbs (contract­ed forms and general questions are exceptions).

The meaning of the verbs may, should, must changes depending on whether they "are stressed or unstressed, e. g. You '•may go — possi­bility. You may 'go — permission.

Stresses in an utterance provide the basis for identification and understanding of the content, they help to perform constitutive, dis­tinctive and identificatory function of intonation. These functions are performed jointly with the pitch component of intonation.

RHYTHM AND TEMPO

Rhythm is the regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syl­lables. It^is' so'typical of an English phrase that the incorrect rhythm betrays the non-English origin of the speaker even in cases of "cor­rect" pronunciation.

The'phenomenon of rhythm is closely connected with the phonetic nature of stress.

The units of the rhythmical structure of an utterance are stress groups от rhythmic groups. The perception of boundaries between rhythmic groups is associated with the stressed syllables or peaks of prominence.

Unstressed syllables have a tendency to cling to the preceding stressed syllables — enclitics, or to the following stressed syllables — proclitics. In English, as a rule, initial unstressed syllables cling to the following stressed syllables, non-initial unstressed syllables are enclitics:

**^~^ — usual rhythm pattern,.T>, — exceptions with the

initial unstressed syllables.

Each sense-group of the sentence is pronounced at approximately the same period of time, unstressed syllables are pronounced more

¹ The pronoun which in non-defining clauses is usually stressed, e.g. I
gave him a spade, which tool he hid in the barn.

² In general questions the affirmative forms may be stressed and unstres­
sed.

rapidly: the greater the number of unstressed syllables, the quicker they are pronounced. Proclitics are pronounced faster than enclitics. Rhythm is connected with sentence stress. Under the influence of rhythm words which are normally pronounced with two equally strong stresses may lose one of them, or may have their word stress realized differently, e. g.

'Picca'dilly—-'Piccadilly 'Circus—'close to Picca'dilly

I princess—a 'royal prin'cess

lindiarubber—a 'piece of india'rubber—an Hndiarubber _vball

PAUSATION AND TAMBER

Pausation is closely connected with the other components of into­nation. The number and the length of pauses affect the general tempo of speech. A slower tempo makes the utterance more prominent and more important. It is an additional means of expressing the speaker's emotions.

Pauses made between two sentences are obligatory. They are longer than pauses between sense-groups and are marked by two paral­lel bars /Ц/. Pauses made between sense-groups are shorter than pauses made between sentences. They are marked I l_t I \l, I \\L

Pauses are usually divided into filled and unfil ed, corresponding to voiced and silent pauses. Silent pauses are distinguished on the ba­sis of relative length: brief, unit, double and treble. Their length is relative to the tempo and rhythmicality norms of an individual. The exception is "end-of-utterance" pause, which length is controlled by the person who is about to speak.

Another subdivision of pauses is into breathing and hesitation.

Pauses play not only segmentative and delirnitative functions, they show relations between utterances and intonation groups, perform­ing a unifying, constitutive function. They play the semantic and syntactic role, e. g. There was no love tost between them (they loved each other). There was no love j lost between them (they did not love each other).

Attitudinal function of pausation can be affected through voiced pauses, which are used to signal hesitation, doubt, suspence. Such pauses have the quality of the central vowels /э, s:/. They may be used for emphasis, to attach special importance to the word, which follows it.

The tamber or^Tthe voice quality is a special colouring of the speak­er's voice. It is used to express various emotions and moods, such as joy, anger, sadness, indignation, etc.

Tamber should not be equated with the voice quality only, which is the permanently present person-identifying background, it is a more general concept, applicable to the inherent resonances of any sound. It is studied along the lines of quality: whisper, breathy, creak, hus­ky, falsetto, resonant, and qualification: laugh, giggle, tremulousness, sob, cry (the list compiled by Cafford and Laver).

STYLISTIC USE OF INTONATION

There are five verbal functional styles (also referred to as registers or discourses): 1. the belles-lettres style, 2. publicistic style, 3. news­paper style, 4. scientific prose style, 5. the style of official documents. In the case of oral representation of written texts we speak about into-national peculiarities of: descriptive and scientific prose, newspapers, drama, poetry, tales, public speeches, spontaneous speech and phatic communion. They are briefly the following:

Sense-groups. In reading descriptive and scientific prose, tales or newspaper material they depend on the syntax or the contents. They are shorter in drama than in descriptive and scientific prose, they are normally short in public speeches. In poetry the main unit is the line, which corresponds to a sense-group and consists of more than six syllables.

Tones. Mostly falling with a High Narrow Fall in non-final sense-groups of descriptive and scientific prose (High, Mid, Low Falls in final sense-groups, a Fall-Rise in non-final sense-group). Abrupt in reading newspaper. Simple and complex in final and non-final sense-groups in reading drama. Mostly slow falling, rising and level (the Level Tone is often combined with the High Level Scale). Compound tones: Fall + Fall, Fall + Level, Rise + Fall — in reading poetry. The Rising Tone is more frequent in reading non-final groups of tales than in the descriptive prose. Complex tones are often used in the dia-logical parts. The tonetic contour of tales is characterized by pitch fluctuations. In public speeches Falling Tones in non-final sense-groups are more abrupt than in final sense-groups. Compound tunes are frequent. They are mostly Fall-|-Fall. In solemn speeches Level Tones combined with the High Level Scale are often used to convey the attitude of the speaker.

Pitch. In reading descriptive and scientific prose and in newspaper material it is mid. It is rather wide in public speeches — narrow in reading poetry. It fluctuates in reading tales. It is wider in reading drama, than in reading the descriptive and scientific prose.

Stress. It is mostly decentralized in monologues and narrative parts, centralized in dialogues and emphatic parts.

Rhythmic organization. In reading tales it depends greatly on the syntactical and compositional structure. In public speeches it is based on the rhythmic organization of rhythmic groups and sense-groups.

Tempo. The tempo is moderate, mostly constant in reading des­criptive and scientific prose and in newspapers, it is quicker in paren­thetic and absolute constructions. It is changeable and moderate in drama. It is constant and slow in poetry. The tempo of public speeches depends on the size of the audience and the topic. The climax of a speech is characterized by a change in tempo, range and loudness.

Pauses. They are mostly logical, In poetry the line usually ends in a pause (if there is no enjambement). In reading drama pausation de­pends on the structure and rhythmic organization. In public speeches pauses not only divide the utterance into sense-groups, but make cer-

tain units prominent. There are hesitation pauses..Long pauses often anticipate the main information and isochronous units — lines. It is the main lexico-grammatical and intonational unit of poetry. Lines constitute a stanza. Poetry is characterized by the following into­national peculiarities: 1. A wide use of simple tones. The Level Tone is often combined with the High Level Scale. 2. The most typical tones are: Fall + Fall, Fall + Level, Rise + Fall.

Questions

1. How is intonation defined? 2. What are the main approaches to the study of intonation? 3. Speak on: a) the melody or the pitch compo­nent of intonation; b) sentence stress; c) rhythm and tempo; d) pausa-tion and tamber. 4. Speak on the stylistic use of intonation.

Exercises

1. Read these words with the six main tones: (1) low fall, (2) low rise, (3) high
fall, (4) high rise, (5) fall-rise, (6) rise-fall.

Model: _vdeed,,deed, 'deed, 'deed, ^vdeed_s ^Adeed feed, cord, window, something, matter, quarter

2. Read these words and word combinations (a) with the undivided falling-
rising tone, (b) with the divided falling-rising tone.

(a) cousin, husband, country, London, midday, blackboard, quin­
sy, bedroom, bathroom, modern, cottage;

(b) sit down, good morning, good day, go on, come up, what's up

3. Read these words and word combinations (a) with the undivided rising-
falling tone, (b) with the divided rising-falling tone.

(a) please, read, begin, listen, bad, thank, well, what, right, come,
foreign, wrong, dear;

(b) put down, write down, clean the board, not large, behind Tom,
long ago, poor thing

4. Read these sentences. Observe (a) the low falling tone and (b) the high fall­
ing tone.

(a) She is,cold. (b) She is 'cold.

She is at the.hospital. She is at the 'hospital.

'Father is at _vhome. 'Father is at 'home.

'Don't go a^lone. 'Don't go a'lone.

'Don't I take the Jamp. 'Don't 'take the 'lamp.

He is inot ₄well. He is 'not 'well.

'Why are you ₄Iate? 'Why are you 'late?

'Betty is in _vbed. 'Betty is in 'bed.

'Mother is _vbusy. Mother is 'busy.

5. Read these sentences. Observe the tone marks.

1. I When are you.coming? 2. You can 'have it. to,morro\v. 3. I When did you 'last 'see your, parents? 4. She 'never 'really

Üooks very ^vwelL б, ^lMy books are jfairly,new. 6, It's 'easier to ispeak than to (understand. 7. 'What did you -say? 8. You might have ^v warned me. 9.,How long do you *want to 'keep it? 10. She 'won't Ido it any 'better than,you. 11. Would you Hike a'nother I lump of 'sugar? 12. You ican't go to the Iparty idressed like ^vthat, 13. Will you Iwait till I've lhad itime to 'look for it. 14. It's 'always the,same.

6. Read the following communicative types with the appropriate attitudes: (a) categoric statements (cool, reserved, indifferent, grim attitude)

low fall

1. I 'want to _vtalk to you. 2. I What _kcountry are you from? 3. I Ican't ispeak Spanish. 4, I was Jbusy that day. 5. You iknew he.was there.

(b) disjunctive questions (statement of a fact provoking the listener's reaction) They ⁴know about it,,don't they?

1. He 'read this book,,didn't he? 2. She (worked ^xhard at her English,,didn't she? 3, They are in the Vater,,aren't they? 4. iTom is already 4en,,isn't he? 5. Your isister (wants to Istudy 'German,.doesn't she? 6. I can 'do something,,can't I? 7. It's (five o'clock,.isn't it?

They _Nknow about it, ^don't they?

(You are sure that the listener agrees with what you say.) Read the same questions with the above shown sequence, (c) commands (firm and serious attitude)

iShow me your _xticket.

1. iTurn ion the flight, 2. 'Wash and 'iron your ₄dress. 3, 'Leave the idoor.open. 4. iDon't (go to the.concert. 5. lHang up the ^time-table. 6. Reipair the.tape recorder. 7. 'Finish this ₄worlc 8, 'Sew the ibutton on to your ^coat.

(d) exclamations (weighty and emphatic)

iHow ridiculous!

1. I'm fso,happy! 2. The iweather is Jovelyi 3. It's tall.over now! 4. iStop iteasing your _vsisterl 5. How Iquick the (young (people

»are! 6. 'What a itidy»room! 7. 'Lovely»weather! 8, I Wonderful 'language laboratory! 9. iSuch Iselfish lyoung»men!

(e) special questions (serious, intense, responsible)

What's the»time?

1. I When did you Icome _vhome? 2. 'What do you,do? 3. What did you Mo in the „evening? 4. iHow did you 'spend the 'time»yesterday? 5. Who is igoing to!do the»shopping?

Pronounce the saroe questions with the low rising tone to show interest.

What's all this,fuss about?

Pronounce the same questions with the rising nuclear tone, following the in­terrogative word to show disapproval.

,When did you *come there?

Pronounce the same questions with the high falling nuclear tone to show business-like interest.

What's the 'time?

Pronounce the same questions with the high rising nuclear tone to ask for a repetition.

'What's the 'time?

Pronounce the same questions with the falling-rising nuclear tone to plead for sympathy. Make the questions warm, affectionate, weary.

What's the,time? -v

Pronounce the same questions with the rising-falling tone to make it challeng­ing, antagonistic.

"'What's the,time?

(f) alternative questions (the final fall shows that the list is complete)

 

1. Would you like,bread or _vmeat? 2. Would you like,fish or ₄meai? 3. 'Would you like,fish or ₄eggs? 4. 'Would you like potatoes or to^matoes? 5. «Would you like carrots or ₄cabbage? 6. (Would you like,cucumbers or _tbeets? 7. Would you like,cof-fee or ^cocoa?

(g) statements containing an implication. What is implied is clear from the situation, it may be: suggestion, concern, polite correction, reluctance, careful dissent, grateful admittance.

am 'not,late.

j

1. "I ^vhope I am 'not,late.^x 2. ~You are 'not.right. 3. "1 'work systematically. 4. ~ I have no ¹time for,lunch today. 5. "I 'should have,done it. 6. "I Van't answer this question. 7. You 'can sing,perfectly.

(n) requests (pleadingly, reproachfully, reassuringly)

\ J

1. 'Cheer,up. 2. 'Do for,give me. 3. 'Don't,do it. 4. ⁴Come in. 5. 'Don't |do it a,lonel 6. 'Will you in,vite me? 7. 'Go,on.

7. Read these sentences. Make the auxiliary and modal verbs that begin sen­
tences stressed to show greater interest.

1. iDoes it,matter? Does it,matter? 2. lls he going to,come? Is he Igoing to,come? 3. iDo you like,oranges? Do you 'like, oranges? 4. I Can you have an [afternoon,off? Can you have an lafterinoon,off? 5. iCould they,help it? Could they,help it?

8. Read these sentences. Make the possessive pronouns that are used as predic­
atives stressed.

1. IThis (thing was.mine. 2. IThis I thing was Jhis. 3. 'This ithing was _vyours. 4. IThis 'thing was _sours. 5. IThis 'thing was ^theirs.

9. Read these sentences. Make the final prepositions strong.

1. iNothing to be afraid of. 2. Whom are you _t talking to? 3. iWhat do you ₄want it for? 4. It was iMary he was ^looking for. 5. It was 'Bess he was _vthere with. 6. iWhere did she _tcome from? 7. What is she ₄here for? 8. It's a ithing unheard of. 9. 'This Iboy should be _vsent for. 10. IThis 'letter was «much talked about.

10. Read these sentences. Don't stress the correlative conjunction "as,.. as"-

1. I'll Icome as 'soon as he ^pleases. 2. I'll iread as Hong as the fchild Jikes. 3. It's tnot as 'simple as _vthat. 4. (Jane was as

^1 /-

/-/ — the high prehead

(pale as ä _vghost. 5. lUria was as 'slippery as an»eel.'6. iDid'you •say: "As I snug as a I bug in a jug?"

11. Read these sentences. Don't stress (or make weakly stressed) combinations: "or so", "or something", "each other", "one another". Don't stress the sub­stitute word "one".

1. He will 'come in an _vhour or so. 2. This ifruit will be Ired in a ₄month or so. 3. We'll ibuy a,coat or something to project you from the ₄cold. 4. He 'said """Good _xmorning" or something, and (Went |onwith his ₄work. 5-. He' 'really 'wanted a 'couple of»books or so. 6. He was a ^bootmaker and a _vgood one. 7. We have 'never ^quarrelled with each other. 8. The Ipassengers 'seemed to Jike one another.

Я2. Read these rhymes. Observe the regular alternation of stressed and un­stressed syllables according to the given stress tone marks.

Uack and (Jill went fup the,hill. To I fetch a ipail of»water. •Jack fell,down and I broke his,crown, And 'Jill came 'tumbling _vafter.

'Twinkle, itwinkle, 'little,star, 'How I 'wonder iwhat you ₄are. I Up albove the I world so,high 'Like a'diamond Jin the _vsky.

* * *

In 'winter 'I get lup at _xnight And I dress by I yellow 'candle | light. In 'summer jquite the 'other _vway I _^bave to Jgo to J>bed by _%day. ^г

Control Tasks

1. Transcribe and intone the sentences below. Pay attention to the differen-tiatory function of stress in the italicized words.

1. a) He spoke with no trace of accent, b) The way you accent these words tells me you were not born in England. 2. a) That's very ab-

's

what I call a silver'tip? thVtax'i-dr'iver"said contentedly, b') This is obviously a silver tip; no other metal would have been strong enough for the job. 5. a) You will need a permit in order to visit that place, b) The job has to be done very quickly; it does not permit of any delay.

¹ The mark Ijl indicates a stressed accented syllable In the scandent scale.

fi—182 209

6. a) We entered a very dark room, b) A darkroom is a room for photo­graphic processing. 7. a) Who is going to refund our losses? b) The re­fund did not amount to too much but it was extremely welcome. 8.

a) This is all the spending money you'll get from me for this month.

b) Spending money is easy, making it may prove more of a problem.

2. Read this text äs a radio commentator: I).Add extra loudness to your voice.
2) Watch the tempo of speech. 3) Articulate clearly and distinctly.

A World Without Wars, Without Weapons is the Ideal of Socialism

The international policy of the CPSU proceeds from the humane nature of socialist society, which is free from exploitation and oppres­sion and has no classes or social groups with an interest in unleashing war. It is inseparably linked with the basic, strategic tasks of the Party within -the country and expresses the common aspiration of the Soviet people to engage In constructive work and to live in peace with all the peoples.

The main goals and directions of the international policy of the CPSU:

— Provision of auspicious external conditions for refinement of
socialist society and for advance to communism in the USSR; removal
of the threat of world war and achievement of universal security and
disarmament;

— Constant development and expansion of cooperation between
the USSR and the fraternal socialist countries and all-round promotion
of consolidation and progress in the world socialist system;

— Development of relations of equality and friendship with
newly-free countries;

— Maintenance and development of relations between the USSR
and capitalist states on a basis of peaceful coexistence and business­
like mutually beneficial cooperation;

— Internationalist solidarity with Communist and revolutiona­
ry-democratic parties, with the international working class movement
and with the national liberation struggle of the peoples.

(From the draft new edition of the CPSU Programme)

3. Read this text as a dictation: observe correct rhythmic groups andsenten
stress.

Cutting off with a Shilling

marry

Sheridan, the famous English playwright, wanted his son Tom to rry a young woman of a large fortune. The youth was in love with

a penniless girl and refused pointblank to obey his father.

Out of patience with his son, Sheridan threatened him: "If you don't

immediately obey me, 1 shall cut you off with a shilling." "When you

really make up your mind' to cut me off with a shilling," said the youth, "you will have to borrow it first, sir,"

Sheridan burst out laughing and dropped the subject altogether.