Intonation. The pitch of the voice. l l l l Different types of sentences distinguished by intonation are called communicative types. The communicative types pronounced with the falling tone: categorical statements; exclamations; disjunctive questions when the speaker is not asking fro information but he is sure that the listener agrees; commands; special questions; alternative questions (the final sense group)
Intonation. The pitch of the voice l The communicative types pronounced with the rising tone: l statements containing an implication; l requests; l general questions; l disjunctive questions when the speaker provokes the listener’s reaction
Intonation. The pitch of the voice l The pitch level of the whole utterance (or intonation group) is determined by the pitch of its highest-pitched syllable. l It shows the degree of semantic importance the speaker attaches to the utterance (or intonation group) in comparison with any other utterance (or intonation group), and also the speaker's attitude and emotions.
Intonation. The pitch of the voice Parenthetical phrases and other semantically less important intonation groups of an utterance are characterized by a lower pitch level than the neighbouring intonation groups, as, for example, in: l This castle /as far as I remember, / was build in the'15 th ‘century, or l ‘'Where did the 'charitable, gentleman /who had a , first-class ticket for this seaside re'sort / ‘find you? l
Intonation. The pitch of the voice The number of linguistically relevant pitch levels in English has not been definitely established yet: in the works of different phoneticians it varies from three to seven. l In unemphatic speech most phoneticians distinguish 3 pitch levels: low, mid and high. These levels are relative and are produced on different registers depending on the individual peculiarities of the voice. l Besides low, mid and high levels some phoneticians distinguish the emphatic (higher and lower) and the emotional (higher and lower) pitch levels l
Intonation. The pitch of the voice l American linguists K. Pike, J. Trager, G. Smith, R. Weils and others distinguish 4 relevant pitch levels (low, mid, high, extra-high), which they term "pitch phonemes". l The sequence of pitch phonemes in pronouncing an intonation group are called intonation contours.
Intonation. The pitch of the voice The pitch range of an utterance is the interval between its highest-pitched syllable and its lowestpitched syllable. According to circumstances the speaker changes his voice range. It may be widened and narrowed to express emphasis or the speaker's attitudes and emotions. l For example, if "Very good" is pronounced with a narrow (high) range it sounds less enthusiastic. Pronounced with a low narrow range it sounds sincere, but not emotional. If said with a wide range it sounds both sincere and enthusiastic. l Some phoneticians adopt the existence of two significant pitch ranges - wide and narrow, others distinguish three pitch ranges - wide, mid and narrow. l
Intonation. Stress Words grouped into an utterance are not all equally important. l Depending on the context or the communication situation some word appear to contribute more information than others. Those that are semantically more important are made prominent. l The special prominence given to one or more words in an utterance is called utterance stress. l
Intonation. Stress It has already been stated that stress is part of the phonetic structure of the word. We always know the place of stress in a word, the potential stress pattern of the word. l When the potential stress pattern is actualized in an utterance, i. e. when the word is made prominent, stress becomes a feature of the utterance. l The means, with the help of which the special prominence is achieved and the effect of stress is produced, are variations of pitch, loudness, length and quality. Acoustically, utterance stress is determined by variations of fundamental frequency, intensity, duration and formant structure. l
Intonation. Stress l As a rule the effect of utterance stress is created not by a single acoustic parameter but by a certain interaction of different parameters. l That is why utterance stress is a structural phenomenon. The acoustic structure of stress varies depending upon the type of stress and its position in an utterance.
Intonation. Stress l l l The subsystem of utterance stress in English includes three basic functional types: nuclear stress, nonnuclear full stress and partial stress. The main difference between these three types of stress is the difference in how the syllables that bear them are marked. The nuclear syllable is in most cases marked by a kinetic tone and is, therefore, perceived as the most prominent. Non-nuclear fully stressed syllables are more often marked by static tones, both are pitch prominent, both initiate tones. Partially stressed syllables are not pitch prominent, they do not initiate tones and their pitch characteristics depend on the pitch pattern of the preceding fully stressed syllables.
Intonation. Stress Because of the difference in the means, effecting partial and full stresses, these types are distinguished by a number of phoneticians as "stress" and "accent". l "Stress" is achieved by a greater force of articulation, resulting in greater intensity on the acoustic level and in greater loudness on the perceptual level. l "Accent" combines "stress" and pitch prominence (i. e. the acoustic features of intensity and fundamental frequency). Nuclear and non-nuclear full stresses are referred to as primary accent and secondary accent, respectively. l
Intonation. Stress l Each type of stress also has different positional variants: e. g. prenuclear and post-nuclear partial stresses. Their acoustic structure is different. l The distribution of stresses in an utterance depends on several factors. l G. Torsuyev points to the following factors: semantic, grammatical and rhythmical.
Intonation. Stress The crucial factor in determining the location, type and degree of stress in an utterance is the semantic factor, i. e. the meaning which the utterance is intended to convey. l The semantic centre of the utterance is singled out by the nuclear stress (or primary accent). This type of stress is opposed to the non-nuclear stresses by its greatest semantic importance. l In their turn non-nuclear full stresses (secondary accents) signal greater semantic value of the words than partial stresses. E. g. "Have you 'brought the 'form with you? " or When d'you 'intend leaving? " l
Intonation. Stress Notional words, due to their function in the language, are predisposed to be stressed in an utterance. l Formal words are likely to be unstressed. But in special conditions, when they are semantically important, form words may become stressed, e. g. "It is' not at 'all interesting". - "lt is interesting". l On the other hand, notional words, if the meaning requires, may become unstressed, e. g. “’Are you very busy just now? " or "Let me hear, how you get, on. " l
Intonation. Stress The grammatical structure of the utterance also determines its accentual structure. For instance, the inverted word order for expressing interrogation requires stress on the auxiliary verb. l The distribution of stresses in an utterance is also affected by the rhythmical laws of the English language. l Due to the rhythmical organization of the utterance notional words may be unstressed, and formal words, on the contrary, may be stressed: l Cf. "He' went ‘out. ”- “John went out". "At the entrance |there were' many people. " (but "At the' entrance to theatre there were' many people"). l
Intonation. Stress The specific character of word stress and utterance stress is conditioned by the domain of their functioning: word stress is an essential part of word-shape, whereas utterance stress is a feature of the utterance. l Stresses in an utterance fulfill the same three functions as other components of prosody: constitutive, distinctive and identificatory. l