Speak on the accentual structure of English words. Illustrate your answer with examples. Contrast word stress in English and your native language. Do the practical task.

The sequence of syllables in the word is not pronounced identically. The syllable or syllables that are uttered with more prominence than other syllables are called accented or stressed. The correlation of varying prominences of syllables in a word is understood as accentual structure. According to A.C. Gimson, the effect of prominence is achieved by any or all four factors: force, tone, length and vowel colour. The word stress in English is not only free, but it may also be shifting performing the semantic function of differentiating lexical units, parts of speech grammatical forms.

Linguists distinguish 3 degrees of stress:

1) Primary – the strongest;

2) Secondary – the second strongest;

3) Weak – all other.

Functions of word stress:

1) Constructive – it constitutes a word, organizes syllables into language unit with the definite accentual structure;

2) Identificatory – it enables a person to identify a succession of syllables as a definite accentual pattern of a word;

3) Distinctive – it differentiates the meaning of words with their forms.

Tendencies of word stress:

1) Received tendency – stress is placed on the root syllable (typical for German words);

2) Rhythmical tendency – appearance of the secondary syllable in multisyllabic words (typical for French borrowings);

3) Retentive tendency – instability of the accentual structure – a derivative often retains the stress of the original word.

Intonation

Intonation is a phonetic phenomenon and characteristics of speech expressing a communicative purpose or intention of a speaker. A unit of intonation is intonation pattern which usually coincides with syntagm. Syntagm is a part of an utterance, logically and semantically finished and characterized by hesitation before and after it. The main function of intonation is expressing intention of a speaker.

Phonostylistics. Phonetic characteristics of speech

Phonostylistics is a subbranch of theoretical phonetics studying phonetic characteristics of speech and factors influencing them. Phonetic characteristics:

1) Pronunciation of separate sounds;

2) Speech tembre;3) Pitch, loudness;4) Hesitations and pauses;5) Intonation in general;6) Speed or fluency.

Factors that influence phonetic characteristics:1) Form of communication;2) Intention of a speaker;3) Sex and age of a speaker;4) Social background (provenance);5) Degree of spontaneity;6) Degree of formality

 

Speak on the Germanic Branch of the Indo-European languages. Classify the modern and old Germanic languages. Do the practical task.

The family of Germanic languages is a branch of the Indo-European language family. All languages within this family are derived from a parent Indo-European language of early migrants to Europe from southwestern Asia. The major subdivisions within the present day Indo-European languages spoken in Europe are Romance, Germanic, Slavic, Celtic (Breton, Welsh, Irish, Scottish) and Baltic (Latvian, Lithuanian) languages.

From the middle of the 1st millennium BC, there is evidence of Germanic populations in southern Scandinavia and northern Germany. Their migrations from the 2nd century BC onwards are recorded in history. The linguistic and archaeological data seem to indicate that the last linguistic changes affecting all of the Germanic languages took place in an area which has been located approximately in Southern Sweden, Southern Norway, Denmark, and the lower Elbe.

During their expansion, the Germanic tribes, who spoke an Indo-European language, mixed with other European tribes whose language is unknown. About 80 percent of Germanic word roots are of non-Indo-European origin.

The Germanic languages are organized into three groups, North Germanic, West Germanic and East Germanic. Gothic, an East Germanic language, is the oldest Germanic language of which much is known. The main text corpus is a Bible translation by the bishop Ulfila from the 4th century C.E. (Common Era, also known as AD). The East Germanic languages (Gothic, Vandalic, Burgundian, Lombardic, Rugian, Herulian, Bastarnae, and Scirian) do not have present-day descendants.

 

 

Dwell on the Mass Media in the UK

There are several different types of media in the United Kingdom: television, radio, newspapers, magazines and websites. The country also has a strong music industry. The United Kingdom has a diverse range of providers, the most prominent being the state-owned public service broadcaster, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The BBC's largest competitors are ITV plc, which operates 11 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, and News Corporation, which holds a large stake in the satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting and also operates a number of leading national newspapers. Regional media is covered by local radio, television and print newspapers. Trinity Mirror operates 240 local and regional newspapers, as well as national newspapers such as the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Mirror. Traditionally British newspapers have been divided into "quality", serious-minded newspapers (usually referred to as "broadsheets" because of their large size) and the more populist, "tabloid" varieties. For convenience of reading many traditional broadsheets have switched to a more compact-sized format, traditionally used by tabloids. In 2008 The Sun had the highest circulation of any daily newspaper in the United Kingdom at 3.1 million, approximately a quarter of the market. Its sister paper, the News of the World, had the highest circulation in the Sunday newspaper market, and traditionally focused on celebrity-led stories until its closure in 2011. The Daily Telegraph, a centre-right broadsheet paper, is the highest-selling of the "quality" newspapers. The Guardian is a more liberal "quality" broadsheet and the Financial Times is the main business newspaper, printed on distinctive salmon-pink broadsheet paper. Trinity Mirror operates 240 local and regional newspapers in the United Kingdom, as well as national newspapers such as the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Mirror A large range of magazines are sold in the United Kingdom covering most interests and potential topics. British magazines and journals that have achieved worldwide circulation include The Economist, Nature, and New Scientist, Private Eye, Hello!, The Spectator, the Radio Times Radio in the United Kingdom is dominated by the BBC, which operates radio stations both in the United Kingdom and abroad. The BBC World Service radio network is broadcast in 33 languages globally. Domestically the BBC also operates ten national networks and over 40 local radio stationsThe United Kingdom has no analogue television. A free to air digital service is made up of two chartered public broadcasting companies, the BBC and Channel 4 and two franchised commercial television companies, (ITV and Channel 5).

 

Speak on the periodization of the history of the English language: the peculiarities and general characteristics of chronological divisions in the History of English. Describe the development tendencies in the Modern English. Do the practical task.

The history of the English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany. At that time the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language. But most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders - mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles came from England and their language was called English - from which the words England and English are derived.

Old English (450-1100 AD) The invading Germanic tribes spoke similar languages, which in Britain developed into what we now call Old English. Old English did not sound or look like English today. Native English speakers now would have great difficulty understanding Old English. Nevertheless, about half of the most commonly used words in Modern English have Old English roots. The words be, strong and water, for example, derive from Old English. Old English was spoken until around 1100.

Middle English (1100-1500) In 1066 William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy conquered England The new conquerors (called the Normans) brought with them a kind of French, which became the language of the Royal Court, and the ruling and business classes. For a period there was a kind of linguistic class division, where the lower classes spoke English and the upper classes spoke French. In the 14th century English became dominant in Britain again, but with many French words added. This language is called Middle English. It was the language of the great poet Chaucer (c1340-1400), but it would still be difficult for native English speakers to understand today.

Early Modern English (1500-1800) Towards the end of Middle English, a sudden and distinct change in pronunciation (the Great Vowel Shift) started, with vowels being pronounced shorter and shorter. From the 16th century the British had contact with many people from around the world. This, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, meant that many new words and phrases entered the language. The invention of printing also meant that there was now a common language in print. Books became cheaper and more people learned to read. Printing also brought standardization to English. Spelling and grammar became fixed, and the dialect of London, where most publishing houses were, became the standard. In 1604 the first English dictionary was published.

Late Modern English (1800-Present) The main difference between Early Modern English and Late Modern English is vocabulary. Late Modern English has many more words, arising from two principal factors: firstly, the Industrial Revolution and technology created a need for new words; secondly, the British Empire at its height covered one quarter of the earth's surface, and the English language adopted foreign words from many countries.

 

Speak on the Style of English Newspaper: its substyles, their functional and linguistic characteristics. Identify problems a translator may encounter dealing with the newspaper style. Do the practical task.

English newspaper style can be defined as a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means which is perceived by the community as a separate linguistic unity that serves the purpose of informing and instructing the reader.

It is possible to distinguish within this style the following substyles:

1. Brief news items.

The principal function of a brief news item is to inform the reader. It states facts without giving explicit comments/ news items are essentially matter-of-fact, and stereotyped forms of expression prevail(преобладающий, доминирующий).

2. Advertisements and announcements.

Their principal function is to inform the reader. There are two basic types of advertisements and announcements in the modern English newspaper: classified(по группам разделяют, нап: бизнес, предложения, свадьба и т.д) and non-classified.

3. The headline.

The headline \the title given to a news item or an article\ is a dependent form of newspaper writing. It is in fact a part of a larger whole. The main function of it is to inform the reader briefly what the text that follows is about.

4. The editorial.

Its function is to influence the reader by giving an interpretation of certain facts. Editorials comment on the political and other events of the day. Their purpose is to give the editor’s opinion and interpretation of the news published and suggest to the reader that it is the correct one.