Melody as the main component of intonation

Word accentuation tendencies in English.

Though the word accent is free in English still its position is restricted by some tendencies.

1) Recessive tendency. This tendency characteristic of all Germanic languages is to place the accent on the initial syllables of nouns, adjectives and verbs.

2) The presence of many short words in English has caused another tendency in the position of word accent.

This is the so-called rhythmic tendency. It was the use in English speech of short words, many of which are unstressed form-words, that has created the peculiar reason of English speech consisting of alternating a stressed syllable with an unstressed one. This tendency may be diachronically rhythmical (e.g. ˈ radical, ˈ colony) and synchronically rhythmical (e.g. e ˈ xami ֻ nation).

3) There’s the 3d tendency – retentive – the tendency to retain the accent in a derivative on the same syllable on which it falls in the original or parent word from which this derivative is immediately formed. ˈperson – ˈpersonal

The numerous variations of E. word stress are systematized in the typology of accentual structure of E. words worked out by G.P. Torsuev. He classifies them according to the number of stressed syllables, their degree or character. The distribution of stressed syllables within the word accentual types forms accentual structures of words, e.g. the accentual type of words with two equal stresses may be represented by several accentual structures: ˈ well- ˈ bred [⊥⊥ ], ˈ absent- ˈ minded [⊥_⊥_], or ˈ good- ˈ looking [⊥⊥_].

Accentual types and accentual structures are closely connected with the morphological type of words, with the number of syllables, the semantic value of the root and the prefix of the word.

Phonotactics and phonotactic patterns in English.

It is easy to understand that syllabic structure of a language as its phonetic structure is patterned, which means that the sounds of a language can be grouped into syllables according to certain rules. The part of phonetics which deals with this aspect of a language is called phonotactics. Phonotactic possibilities of a language determine the rules of syllabic division. Theoretically 2 variants are possible:

a) the point of syllable division is after the intervocalic consonant;

b) the point of syllable division is inside the consonant.

In both cases the first syllable remains closed according to phonotactic rules of the English language, because the short vowel should be checked. The results of experimental analysis show that the point of syllable division in such words like ‘pity’, ‘topic’, ‘measure’ is inside the intervocalic consonant. In English this kind of syllable is always closed if the syllabic vowel is short and checked while in Ukrainian the syllables with the same structure, which is of (C)VCV(C) type, are always open, e.g. ву-хо, м’я-та.

Another type of intervocalic consonant clusters is of VCCV(C) type and is based on the distribution of segmental phonemes. The words ‘agree’ and ‘abrupt’ should be divided into syllables in the following way: /ə ˈgri׃/, /ə ˈbrʌpt/ because such combinations of consonants as /gr/ and /br/ are permissible initial clusters for the English language. On the other hand, there are clusters that can never be found in initial position and should be broken by syllabic boundary, e.g. ‘admire’ /əd- ˈmaɪə/ and ‘abhor’ /əb-ˈhɔ׃/. But there are cases when distributional criteria may fail. In this case when the number of intervocalic consonants is three as in word ‘extra’ /ˈekstrə/ we have to state the possible points of syllable division:

a) /ˈek-strə/ - back street;

b) /ˈeks-trə/ - six try;

c) /ˈekstr-ə/ - mixed ray.

In such cases the subconscious feeling of the native speaker that makes him divide the words of such types into /ˈek-strə/ could be relied on. This natural way of division is fixed in the pronunciation dictionary. The compound words like ‘toast-rack’ present no difficulty from this point of view because the syllabic boundaries should correspond to morpheme boundaries.

5)The Degrees of Word - Stress

Syllables may be pronounced with different degrees of stress – stronger or weaker.

Several degrees of word-stress are distinguished, but for practical purposes it is generally sufficient to distinguish two main degrees of stress – primary stress and secondary stress.

Thus, in the word examination / ɪg ˈzæmɪ ֻneɪʃn/ the strongest or primary stress is on the fourth syllable / ֻneɪ/, whereas a weaker or secondary stress on the second syllable

/ ˈzæ/, the other syllables are said to be unstressed.

In English and Ukrainian words of two or three syllables one degree of stress is distinguished, all the other syllables are unstressed.

English Ukrainian

telegram / ˈ telɪgræm / гамір [ГˊAMIP]

proclaim /prə ˈ kleɪm / вepxoвний [BEPXˊOBHИЙ].

In English in words of four or more syllables a primary (or stronger) stress and a secondary (or weaker) stress are distinguished,

e.g. fundamental / ˈ fʌndə ֻ mentəl /

examination / ɪg ˈzæmɪ ֻneɪʃn/

Some Ukrainian words of four and more syllables are pronounced with a primary and a secondary stress but most polysyllabic Ukrainian words have only one stress,

e.g. безсмертний [ˌБЕЗСМˊЕРТНИЙ], викорінювання [ˌВИКОРˊІН’ЮВАН’А]

безпорядки [БЕЗПОР’ˊАДКИ], верховний [BEPXˊOBHИЙ].

· 5 to the degree;

From the purely phonetic point of view it is possible to distinguish as many degrees of stress as there are syllables in a word. Daniel Jones in his work “An Outline in English Phonetics” (Cambridge, 1960) gives the following distribution of the degrees of stress in the word “possibility”.

/ ˈpɒ – sɪ – ֻbɪ – lɪ – ti /

The majority of British and Russian phoneticians distinguish 3 degrees of word-stress:

– primary (the strongest);

– secondary (the second strongest);

– weak (other degrees of stress);

The American scholars B. Bloch and G. Trager find four contrastive degrees of word stress, namely: loud, reduced loud, medial and weak stresses. Other American linguists also distinguish 4 degrees of stress: primary, secondary, tertiary and weak. The difference between secondary and tertiary stresses is very subtle and seems subjective. The second pre-tonic stress in such words as ‘liberation’, ‘recognition’ are marked by secondary stress in RP while in GA they are said with tertiary stress. In GA a tertiary stress affects the suffixes -ory, -ary, -ony of nouns, -ate, -ize, -y of verbs, which are considered unstressed in RP.

There are actually as many degrees of stress in a word as there are syllables. A. Gimson, for example, shows the distribution of the degrees of stress in the word

3 2 4 1 5

e - ˈ xa - mi - ֻ na - tion.

Speech melody

melody as the main component of intonation

In graphical representation of English intonation only two components of intonation are actually reflected – speech melody and sentence stress.

They are graphically denoted in the following way:

A dash (―) represents a stressed syllable pronounced with level pitch.

A dot (∙) represents an unstressed syllable.

A downward curve (╮) represents a stressed syllable pronounced with a fall in pitch within that syllable.

An upward curve (◞) represents a stressed syllable pronounced with a rise in pitch within that syllable.

These signs are written on the staves, i.e. between two horizontal (parallel) lines which represent the upper and lower limits of voice pitch or the range of the voice, and thus, show the contour of intonation and are called tonogram.

A tonogram may be represented in such a way:

∙ ∙

―∙ ∙ ―∙ ∙ ―∙ ∙

∙ ∙

↑ ↑ ↑ ↑

Pre-Head Head Nucleus Tail

The temporal component of intonation can be indicated graphically only as far as pauses are concerned. Two vertical strokes (||) denote a long pause, which usually occurs at the end of a sentence. A single vertical stroke (|) denotes a short pause inside a sentence. A vertical wavy line (ξ) denotes a pause that is extremely short.

Rhythm

Rhythm in speech may be defined as the regular recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables in a sense group.

A.M. Antipova defines rhythm as a complex language system which is formed by the interrelation of lexical, syntactic and prosodic means. Prosody creates similarity and isochrony of speech elements. Rhythmicality marks every text segment: rhythmic groups, intonation groups, phrases and phonopassages. The detailed prosodic analysis of the oral text termed by O.S. Akhmanova “frasirovka” reveals its rhythmicality.

Certain functions of rhythm in speech continuum emphasize its functional aspect.

1. Integrative/constitutive function. Rhythm serves to unite text segments into a whole.

2. Delimitative function. Rhythm cuts the discourse into elements.

3. Volitional function. Rhythm expresses different degrees of emotional effect on the

listener.

4. Style differentiating function. Rhythm distinguishes the style of speech.

Rhythm in speech may be defined as the regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in a sense group.

The most typical characteristic feature of English rhythm is a tendency to make stressed syllables follow each other at more or less equal intervals of time,

e.g. The ˈweather in ˈEngland can ˈchange very ֻ quickly. ||

The more unstressed syllables there are between the stressed ones, the quicker they are said.

e.g. ˈMary ˈwent to ֻ London.

ˈMary has ˈgone to ֻ London.

ˈMary will be ˈgoing to ֻ London.

group. There are as many rhythmical groups as there are stressed syllables. Unstressed, syllables have a tendency to cling to the preceding stressed syllabic (enclitics). Only initial unstressed syllables always cling to the following stressed syllable (proclitics). Correct reading habits require to attach the unstressed syllables to the preceding stressed one.

The number of unstressed syllables between the stressed ones may be different, and to keep equal intervals of time vowels may become shorter or longer depending on the number of preceding or following unstressed syllables. If there are few adjoining unstressed syllables vowels become longer. If there are many adjoining unstressed syllables vowels become shorter.

There is a strong tendency in connected English speech to avoid stressing two or three syllables in succession. Under the influence of this tendency words normally pronounced with two equally strong stresses or with primary or secondary stress in isolation very often lose one of the stresses in connected speech,

e.g. She is, kind, ∣' jolly and well - ֻ bread.|| She is a 'well-bread ֻ girl.||

He is a 'well-known ֻ poet.|| His name is 'well - ֻ known.||

He is fif''teen years - ֻ old.|| He is 'just fif ֻ teen .||

Under the influence of the same tendency of English rhythm notional words which are usually stressed lose their stress,

e.g. You've 'probably done 'better than you ֻthink.

NOTE:

The word-substitute "one" (not a numeral!) as in "good one", "black one", "that one", etc.

is usually unstressed.

e.g. I ˈ don't like the ֻgreen dress,| ˈ show me the ֻblack one.

Rhythm is so typical of an English utterance that the incorrect use of rhythm betrays the non-English origin of a speaker even in case of correct pronunciation. To acquire a good English speech rhythm one should arrange sentences into intonation groups and then into rhythmic groups, link every word beginning with a vowel to the preceding word, weaken unstressed words and syllables, obscuring the vowels in them, making the stressed syllables occur regularly within an intonation group.

□ One-stress rhythm

It is found in utterances with one prominent syllable. One-stress rhythmic structures of the minimal size are observed in utterances consisting of one monosyllabic word.

Expanded variants of one-stress rhythmic structures are those in which there are unstressed syllables either following (enclitics) or preceding (proclitics) the stressed one or both. They occur:

1. when the utterance consists of one polysyllabic word;

2. when there are several words but only one of them carries important information. In this case there's often a partially stressed syllable among the proclitics or enclitics.

ֻWho? ֻCome! ֻLook!

Oc ֻ casionally!

Just ֻdo it!

□ □ Two-stress rhythm

It occurs in utterances consisting of twomonosyllabic words or one compound two-syllabic word used when both twowords (or parts of words) carry equally important information. In this case the first stress is usually static while the second one - kinetic (nuclear) or else both stresses can be kinetic (Fall-Rise divided)

Right now. All-right. Make haste. That's true.

Next door. Good-bye. Come on.Bad news.

□ □ □ Three-stress rhythm

It occurs in utterance consisting of three monosyllabic words (notional words) or two words if one of them is two-syllabic and has two equal stresses all of which carry important information.

ˈJane can't ,go. ֻTry once,more. ˈThat's too ˅small.

ˈPlease take,these. ֻNot quite,sure. ˈNot yet ˅here?

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