Self-Study Assignments

Task 1.1a. Below there is an extract from a feature article.Read the text to yourself to make sure that you understand each sentence.

Why does English have no phrase like “Bon appetite”? Has it ever occurred to you that there is no simple way of expressing your hope that someone will enjoy what he is about to eat? If you are entertaining and say to your guest as you put his dinner before him “I hope you like it”, then he will probably think one of two things: either that there is an element of doubt about the meal, or that there is an element of doubt about him! – that the food is perhaps unusual and he will not be enough a gastronomic sophisticate to appreciate it. You can be certain of one thing – he will not interpret “I hope you like it” in the same way that the Frenchman interprets “Bon appetite” – as a wish that focuses itself on the eater, and not on what is to be eaten. Those opposed to English cooking will no doubt explain the lack by pointing to the quality of food in this county; it’s so bad they will say, that no one ever really believes that it could be enjoyed. Hence, no need for a phrase that enjoins enjoyment. But surely not even English food can be as bad as that.

Task 1.1b. Read the text again and define which phonetic style and what type of this style it belongs to. Comment upon the extralinguistic factors that may influence the reading of this text aloud:

a)-the topic and the purpose of reading;

- who the reader might be;

- the place of reading;

b) - the variety of language;

- the degree of formality;

- the degree of preparedness;

- the type of information present in the text.

Task 1.1b. Think over the linguistic characteristics of the extract. Describe lexical and grammatical means used in the text (the choice of words, grammatical forms and structures). Make predictions about phonetic peculiarities of reading this text aloud.

Task 1.2. Listen to the reading of the extract (“Лондонский лингафонный курс”: Track 102). Mark internal boundaries (pauses). Underline the communicative centre and the nuclear word of each intonation group. Mark the stresses and the tunes. Notice whether your predictions about the phonetic features of the text were correct.

Task 1.3. Practise each sentence of the extract aloud using your intonation marks. Imitate the speaker’s reading.

Task 1.4. Record your reading to let the teacher and your fellow-students listen to your performance.

Task 2. This task is meant to develop your ability to hear and reproduce intonation used in a lecture on a scientific subject.

Task 2.1a. Listen to part of a lecture on the urban and architectural development of London (“Лондонский лингафонный курс”: Track 106). Pay attention to the way intonation helps the lecturer to get the message across to the audience and direct the listeners’ attention to the topic. Notice how the lecturer uses the speed of utterance to let the listeners take notes of what he is saying. Make a list of phonetic peculiarities of academic style as they are displayed in this lecture.

Task 2.1b. Comparephonostylistic featuresof delivering this lecture with the teacher’s introduction of the new material in geometry (the laboratory work on phonetic styles: task 7). Make a list of similarities and differences. How can you account for them?

Task 2.2a. Listen to the first and the second paragraphs of the lecture again and this time follow the transcript (“Лондонский лингафонный курс”: transcript 1_6e). Listen and indicate the intonation of these paragraphs in your copy.

Task 2.2b. Practise reading the extract of the lecture aloud.

Task 3. This task is intended to have you acquainted with Publicistic Style and develop your ability to hear and reproduce intonation used in publicistic style

Task 3.1. Read information about Publicistic style (Theory Sheet on Styles of Speech.Phonetic Styles. – P.9) and answer the questions below:

1. What other term for publicistic style do youknow?

2. What types of public speaking belong to Publicistic Style?

3. What is the basic aim of a public speaker?

4. What role does intonation play in public speaking?

5. What is special about the use of pitch ranges and levels in publicistic style?

6. How can timbre add to the success of public speaking?

7. Which pre-nuclear patterns are preferred in political speeches?

8. What nuclear tones are generally used in political speeches?

9. In what way does the speed of utterance depend on the degree of formality of speaking?

10. How is Publicistic Style characterized in terms of rhythmicality?

11. What kind of pauses do political speech-makers use?

12. What is called a ‘rhetorical silence’? What is it used for?

Task 3.2a. Listen to part of a political speech (“Лондонский лингафонный курс”: Track 108). Listen to it carefully, sentence by sentence. Notice the way intonation helps to persuade the audience and to produce an emotional impact on them.

Task 3.2b. Listen to the first and the second paragraphs of the political speech again and this time follow the transcript (“Лондонский лингафонный курс”: transcript 1_8e). Listen and indicate the intonation of these paragraphs. Then comment upon the prosodic characteristics of the political speech. Practise reading the text aloud.

Task 3.3a. Below you will find an extract from another political speech. Read the text silently to yourself to make sure you understand each sentence clearly.

Ladies and gentlemen! I would like to talk to you for a moment about the current situation. Never before has this country faced such a crisis point. And what is needed is courage and honesty. Should we fail to deal with the situation firmly, the consequences could be absolutely disastrous for us all. It is at the moment such as this that the true character of a nation shines through. But I seriously believe that the right action taken now will resolve the problems that are facing us so menacingly.

What we must all realize is that the way ahead is hard and sacrifices must be made, but on no account and in no circumstances must our resolve be shaken. It is quite obvious that those who do not firmly believe as I do that this is so are mistaken. Were we to act as they suggest we would face a situation from which we might never recover and this must not be allowed to happen.

Task 3.3b. Readthe text through again and comment upon the following points:

- the topic and purpose of speaking;

- the speaker and the listeners: their social status and relationships;

- the place where the speech is being made.

Think how these factors will influence the presentation of the speech.

Task 3.3 c. Split up sentences of the speech into intonation groups. Mark the pauses, stresses and tunes. Practice the text aloud using your intonation marks.

Task 3.3d. Recordyour reading to let your teacher and your fellow-students listen to your performance.

Transcripts

Transcript 1_6e:

You will all have seen from the handouts which you have in front of you that I propose to divide this course of lectures on the urban and architectural development of London into three main sections, and perhaps I could just point out, right at the beginning, that there will be a good deal of overlap between them. They are intended to stand as separate, self-contained units. Indeed, I would go as far as to say that anyone who tried to deal entirely separately with the past, the present, and the course of development in future, would be misrepresenting the way in which urban growth takes place.

Now by way of introduction, I’d like to try and give some indication of how London itself originated; of what developmental trends were built into it, as it were from, from the very outset; and of how these trends have affected its growth. It started, of course, not as one, but as two cities. The Romans built a bridge across the Thames at a point where the estuary was narrow enough to make this a practical proposition; and the encampment associated with the bridge grew up on the north bank of the of the river. The principal fort of this encampment was on the site now occupied by the Tower. Further to the west, at a point where the river was fordable, an abbey – the Abbey of Westminster – was founded, and two towns grew up side by side – one centred on the Roman camp, and the other on the Abbey.

Transcript 1_8e:

The time has almost come, ladies and gentlemen, when the Government must ask you – the electors of Great Britain – to renew its mandate. It is as a member of the Government that I stand before you this evening, and the task I have set myself to review the many things which the Government has achieved since the last General election, and to outline the path which we hope to follow in the future, when, as I am confident will be the case, you return us to the office with an even greater parliamentary majority.

No one will deny that what we have been able to do in the past five years is especially striking in the view of the crisis which we inherited from the previous Government. With wages and prices spiraling upwards; with a record trade deficit of hundreds of millions of pounds; and with the pound sterling afflicted by the evaporation of international confidence, the country was then on the brink of financial disaster and economic collapse.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14