Intonation system of English in the process of historical development
Intonation in English: approaches, definitions, functions. Components of intonation and the structure of intonation group. The phonological aspect of intonation. Pronunciation and intonation achievement factors. Intonation as a text - organizing means.
| Рубрика | Иностранные языки и языкознание |
| Вид | курсовая работа |
| Язык | английский |
| Дата добавления | 15.04.2012 |
| Размер файла | 160,0 K |
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This article describes two specific sets of activities - song and video - and provides a template that readers can adapt and revise for their own populations and settings. It should be stressed that the general model can be adapted to a variety of pronunciation and grammar features.
Songs, particularly, may be chosen so that they are effective and engaging at almost any proficiency level. Song recordings and video clips are particularly useful for nonnative speakers teachers in English foreign language settings. Often in such situations few native speaker models are available, and teachers sometimes lack confidence in their ability to leach pronunciation. A final benefit of these types of activities is that besides building pronunciation and grammar proficiency, they also help improve students' listening.
There are several ways to proceed, depending on students' proficiency level, the amount of time available, and any other constraints. The following is one set of steps:
1. Have the song playing as students enter the class and/or play it through once as a warm-up before beginning the activity.
2. Distribute typed copies of the text to the students.
3. Have students, working in pairs or small groups, mark features.
4. Have students practice some of the words and put them into longer phrases and sentences.
5. Play the recording one more time, asking the class to speak along, and try to match the singer in the practiced features.
6. Have students create their own short dialogues and conversations using words and expressions from the song that have the practiced features. If desired, this step can be done after step 7.
7. Bring grammar into the activity by using a cloze exercise. [13,48]
2. Intonation as a text - organizing means
English intonation is a pretty complicated and varied phenomenon. There are dialectal and regional differences in intonation, for example, there is a noticeable difference between British and American intonation. Intonation may sound differently depending on whether the speakers have high or low voices, speak fast or slowly, loudly or quietly, energetically, emotionally, neutrally or listlessly. Men and women may have their own differences and preferences in intonation. For the purpose of studying, this variety may be described in several intonation patterns that are characteristic of English speech. Intonation is the music of the language. In English, we use tone to signal emotion, questioning, and parts of the sentence among many other things. It's important to recognize the meaning behind the tones used in everyday speech, and to be able to use them so that there are no misunderstandings between the speaker and the listener. It is generally true that mistakes in pronunciation of sounds can be overlooked, but mistakes in intonation make a lasting impression.
In general, linguists distinguish several main types of English intonation, where falling intonation and rising intonation are the two basic types. The fall-rise pattern has the meaning of both, i. e. both closed and open meaning. This signifies both definiteness and indefiniteness simultaneously, in the sense that a referent is instantiated but the utterance is not yet completed or in the sense that the speaker feels some hesitancy, reservation, doubt or uncertainty. The rise-fall pattern incorporates the fall of completion or assurance of the first pattern with the emotional overtone of a high pitch in the middle of the utterance. This is a so-called swell tone used for emphatic meaning: as the tone swells, the meaning or emphasis increases. Other main types of intonation include high fall, low fall, fall-rise, high rise, midlevel rise, low rise. They are variations of the two basic types of intonation. Language learners should master the typical patterns of standard falling and rising intonation before studying their variations.
Pitch is an important component of accentuation, or prominence, both at the level of individual words and at the level of longer utterances. Pitch is the degree of height of our voice in speech. Normal speaking pitch is at midlevel. Intonation is formed by certain pitch changes, characteristic of a given language, for example, falling intonation is formed by pitch changes from high to low, and rising intonation is formed by pitch changes from low to high. The pitch of the voice is determined by the frequency with which the vocal cords vibrate., The frequency of vibration of the vocal cords is in turn determined by their thickness their length and their tension. The modal pitch of the voice, i. e. one's natural average pitch level, depends on the size of the vocal cords. In general, men have thicker and longer vocal cords than women and children do. As a result, the modal pitch of a man's voice is generally lower than that of a woman or a child. In addition to its modal pitch, every individual voice has a pitch range which can be achieved by adjustments of the vocal cords. [14, 26] By tightening the vocal cords, a person can raise the pitch of the voice (vocal pitch); by loosening them, one can lower vocal pitch. There is also a natural variation in pitch associated with the amount of air that is expended during speech. When the airflow through the glottis is great, it causes the vocal cords to vibrate quickly.
Sentence stress makes the utterance understandable to the listener by making the important words in the sentence stressed, clear and higher in pitch and by shortening and obscuring the unstressed words. Sentence stress provides rhythm in connected speech. All words have their own stress in isolation, but when they are connected into a sentence, important changes take place: content words are stressed and function words aren't; thought groups (i. e. logically connected groups of words) are singled out by pauses and intonation; the stressed syllables occur at regular intervals and are usually higher in pitch than the unstressed syllables; the unstressed syllables are blended into a stream of sounds between the stressed syllables; emphatic stress may be used in the sentence to single out the most important word; the last stressed word in the sentence gets the strongest stress with the help of falling or rising intonation. Developing the ability to hear, understand and reproduce sentence stress is the main prerequisite to mastering English intonation. Rhythm (from Greek ?химьт - rhythmos, "any measured flow or movement, symmetry") is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events. The study of rhythm, stress, and pitch in speech is called prosody; it is a topic in linguistics. Narmour describes three categories of prosodic rules which create rhythmic successions which are additive (same duration repeated), cumulative (short-long), or countercumulative (long-short). Cumulation is associated with closure or relaxation, countercumulation with openness or tension, while additive rhythms are open-ended and repetitive. Richard Middleton points out this method cannot account for syncopation and suggests the concept of transformation. A rhythmic unit is a durational pattern which occupies a period of time equivalent to a pulse or pulses on an underlying metric level, as opposed to a rhythmic gesture which does not. [15,78] (see Appendix 2)
2.1 Dynamic approach to rhytmization and intonation phrasing
In accordance with the cognitive aim of modern linguistics the focus of researchers' attention is now gradually displaced from isolated phrase or sentence to systemic analysis of connected text, and from the latter to a man who generates and comprehends such a text. Methodological changes are accompanied with the revaluation of the linguistical status and functional role of concrete language means, especially those which are directly connected with the communicative intention of a speaker and the process of its realization. Prosodic speech cha-racteristics and their language correspondence give us a bright example of such revaluation: if 10-15 years ago one should prove the necessity of including speech prosody into the field of linguistic analysis, now problems of speech prosodic organization become predominant not only in phonetics but are also involved in such branches of linguistics as syntax and semantics. At the same time many problems of phrase and text prosody remain unsolved, need theoretical comprehension and experimental research in the frame of integral speech generation model which must explain in particular the sound patterns of a speaker activity. The opposite relation is also important: prosodic studies can lead to more thoughtful and concrete conceptions of speech generation and understanding. [16,82]
My report is devoted to the processes of Rhythmization and Intonation Phrasing in connected speech transmitting complex information content. Both processes lead to a text division which I will call further “Rhythmo-Intonational Phrasing” or just prosodic phrasing for shortness. More concretely, this type of prosody phrasing is the division of a text into frag-ments of different size (from a rhythmical period or phonological phrase = syntagma in Russian Phonetics, up to a paragraph or supraphrase unit). This division is performed by a speaker with specific sound means on the base of text semantics and syntax and in accordance with the universal principles of speech rhythmic organization.
As an illustration let us consider an example from Russian. It is taken from the book of R.I. Avanesov “Russian literary pronunciation”, with the author's tran-scription which reflects the different degree of breakness (discontinuity) of speech at prosodic boundaries. As we see, Avanesov distinguishes 4 degrees of prosodic breakness: |, /, //, // / in accordance with the increasing degree of breakness.
Capital Russian letters in this example designate syntagmas (or rhythmic periods).
This Russian sentence illustrates the hierarchical nature of prosodic phrasing. The idea of the hierarchy is that each unit is made up of some number of units from the next lower level. This example shows also that there can be distinguished at least two basic layers: rhythmic layer with its basic unit = syntagma and proper intonation layer with its basic unit = intonation phrase.
As many phenomena in language and speech, Rhythmo-Intonational Phrasing can be viewed and analyzed statically and dynamically. Under the static approach the researchers' attention is concentrated on the the task of revealing the inventory of prosodic means which create the division and on the nature of correspondence between prosodic constituents, semantics and syntactic structure of already “made" utterance (sentence). The static approach is preserved even in generative phonology where the above mentioned correspondence is described by a set of special mapping rules which operate within limits of a whole, already made sentence. Assuming that there is a good deal of variability in a speaker's choice of prosodic phrasing some authors working in generative tradition offer special restructuring rules to derive the variants of phrasing from some initial prosodic structure which is called basic or neutral prosodic form of the sentence. These restructuring rules account of such relevant phrasing factors as the length of prosodic constituents, presence of contrastive prominence, speech style, speaking rate and so on. [17,58]
2.2 Segmental and supersegmental phonology
Four basic trends in the study of the language.
Speech sounds and their study.
Mechanisms of speech. Basic methods in the study of articulation.
Articulatory basis.
Acoustic approach to the study of speech sounds. Basic methods of the acoustic analysis of speech sounds.
Functional approach to the study of speech sounds. Phonetics and phonology. Schools of phonology. Generative phonology. The essentials of cognitive phonetics.
Perceptual trend in the study of speech sounds.
Principles of the classification of the sounds. The sound system of English. (a contrastive description with that of Armenian).
Coarticulation. The notion of coarticulation, its mechanism. Types of coarticulatory processes. Coaticulation as a universal phenomenon. Basic coarticulatory trends in English. Coarticulation of consonants. Coarticulaton of consonants and vowels. Elision.
Suprasegmental phonology.
Syllable as a phonetic and phonological unit. Basic universals in phonotactics. English syllabification.
Word stress, its nature. Types of word stress, basic tendencies in its incidence.
Main functions of word stress.
Prosody. Phrasal stress. Intonation. Rhythm.
Components of prosody. Main distinctive differences of the prosodic systems of English and Armenian.
Phrasal stress, its nature, degrees and function.
Intonation.
Conclusion
Intonation is a language universal. There are no languages which are spoken without any change of prosodic parameters but intonation functions in various languages in a different way.
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. O'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. Hallyday's theory is based on the syntactical function of intonation.
The founder of the American school of intonation K. Pike in his book "The Intonation of American English" 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.
There is wide agreement among Russian linguists that on perception level intonation is a complex, a whole, formed by significant variations of pitch, loudness and tempo closely related. Some Russian linguists regard speech timbre as the fourth component of intonation. Neither its material form nor its linguistic function has been thoroughly described. Though speech timbre definitely conveys certain shades of attitudinal or emotional meaning there is no good reason to consider it alongside with the three prosodic components of intonation, i. e. pitch, loudness and tempo.
M. Sokolova and others write that the term prosody embraces the three prosodic components and substitutes the term intonation. It is widely used in linguistic literature, it causes no misunderstanding and, consequently, it is more adequate. They feel strongly that this term would be more suitable for their book too, but, unfortunately, it has not been accepted in the teaching process yet.
Many foreign scholars (A. Gimson, R. Kingdon) restrict the formal definition of intonation to pitch movement alone, though occasionally allowing in variations of loudness as well. According to D. Crystal, the most important prosodic effects are those conveyed by the linguistic use of pitch movement, or melody. It is clearly not possible to restrict the term intonation by the pitch parameters only because generally all the three prosodic parameters function as a whole though in many cases the priority of the pitch parameter is quite evident.
There is no general agreement about either the number or the headings of the functions of intonation which can be illustrated by the difference in the approach to the subject by some prominent Russian phoneticians. T. M. Nikolayeva names three functions of intonation: delimitating, integrating and semantic. L. K. Tseplitis suggests the semantic, syntactic and stylistic functions the former being the primary and the two latter being the secondary functions. N. V. Cheremisina singles out the following main functions of intonation: communicative, distinctive (or phonological), delimitating, expressive, appellative, aesthetic, integrating. Other Russian and foreign phoneticians also display some difference in heading the linguistic functions of intonation.
D. Crystal distinguishes the following functions of intonation.
Emotional function's most obvious role is to express attitudinal meaning - sarcasm, surprise, reserve, impatience, delight, shock, anger, interest, and thousands of other semantic nuances.
Grammatical function helps to identify grammatical structure in speech, performing a role similar to punctuation. Units such as clause and sentence often depend on intonation for their spoken identity, and several specific contrasts, such as question/statement, make systematic use of it.
Informational function helps draw attention to what meaning is given and what is new in an utterance. The word carrying the most prominent tone in a contour signals the part of an utterance that the speaker is treating as new information.
Textual function helps larger units of meaning than the sentence to contrast and cohere. In radio news-reading, paragraphs of information can be shaped through the use of pitch. In sports commentary, changes in prosody reflect the progress of the action.
Psychological function helps us to organize speech into units that are easier to perceive and memorize. Most people would find a sequence of numbers, for example, difficult to recall. The task is made easier by using intonation to chunk the sequence into two units.
Indexical function, along with other prosodic features, is an important marker of personal or social identity. Lawyers, preachers, newscasters, sports commentators, army sergeants, and several other occupations are readily identified through their distinctive prosody.
Bibliography
1. Bolinger D. Intonation and itsUses,Stanford, 1989. - 355p.
2. Brazil D. Discourse Intonation. / D. Brazil, M. Coulthard, C. Johns. - London, 1975. - 515p.
3. Brazil D. The Communicative Value of Intonation in English. Discourse Analysis monograph.8. Birmingham, 1985. - 318p.
4. Brown G. Listening to Spoken English. / G. Brown-M., 1984. - 324p.
5. Chomsky N. The Sound Pattern of English / N. Chomsky. M. Halle-N. Y., 1968. - 267p.
6. Crystal D. Prosodic Systems and Intonation in English/D. Crystal. - Cambridge, 1969. - 503p.
7. Crystal D. Investigating English Style. /D. Crysral, D. Davy. - L., 1973. - 402p.
8. Hughes A. English Accents and Dialects. An Introduction to Social and Regional Varieties of British English. /A. Hughes,P. Trudgill. - L., 1979. - 382p.
9. Lass R. Phonology. An Introduction to Basic Concepts/R. Lass. - Cambridge, 1995. - 374p.
10. Roach P. English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course/P. Roach. - Cambridge, 2001. - 417p.
11. Roach P. Phonetics. / P. Roach. - Oxford University Press, 2002. - 303p.
12. Shakhbagova D. A. Varieties of English Pronunciation. M. - 1982. - 406p.
13. Trudgill P. Sociolinguistics. An Introduction. - Harmondsworth, 1981. - 489p.
14. J. Durand, B. Laks. Phonetics, Phonology, and Cognition. Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics, 2002. - 343p.
15. Vassiliev V. A. English Phonetics. A Theoretical Course. M., 1976. - 416p.
16. Л.В. Златаустова,Р.К. Потапова, В.В. Потапов, В.Н. Трунин-Донской. - 447p.
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20. Dalton, Christiane; Seidlhofer, Barbara. 1994. Pronunciation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
21. Dzib, Alma. 2007. Prosodia. in: Siders, Proceedings: Language and Education IV. Mexico City: Universidad Pedagogica Nacional.
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Appendix 1
In a statement, the intonation falls on the last syllable of a sentence.
.
There is a similar pattern in an information (WH) question; these structures are identified by both the question word that starts the sentence and by the intonation pattern.
An information question contrasts with a “yes/no" question in which the intonation rises on the final syllable.
In a series, the first item (s) has rising intonation and the last one has falling intonation.
Appendix 2
The three RP vowels [], [],. [] correspond to only two vowels in GA - [a] and []. This combined with the articulatory differences between RP {d] and GA [a] and a difference in vowel distribution in many sets of words makes it very complicated. The following chart vividly shows it:
|
RP |
GA |
||
|
Dad |
[] |
[] |
|
|
dog |
[] |
[a] |
|
|
path |
[] |
[] |
|
|
dance |
[] |
[] |
|
|
half |
[] |
[] |
Appendix 3
Many differences involve the pronunciation of individual words or groups of words. Here are some of these:
|
RP |
GA |
||
|
Asia |
[] |
[] |
|
|
cordial |
[] |
[] |
|
|
either |
[] |
[] |
|
|
leisure |
[] |
[] |
|
|
lever |
[] |
[] |
|
|
schedule |
[] |
[] |
|
|
shone |
[] |
[] |
|
|
tomato |
[] |
[] |
|
|
vase |
[] |
[] |
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