Теоретическая фонетика английского языка (803492), страница 19
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Intonation Pattern as the Basic Unit of Intonation~"Why77are you 'making such a ,mess of it?,... ..The examples show that different types of pre-nuclear patterns do notaffect the grammatical meaning of the sentence but they can conveyspeaker's attitude.Summing up, we may say that minimally an intonation pattern consists of one syllable, which is its nucleus, Maximally it may include threeother elements: the head, the pre-head and the tail.The meaning of the intonation group is the combination ofthe meanconveyed by the terminal, pre-nuclear part, pitch level and pitchrange.Obviously the elements of the intonation pattern can be combined invarious ways and express a variety of meanings, Compare the meanings ofthe following utterances:Not at ,all.
(calm, reserved)~ Not at ,all. (weighty, considered)~ Not at ,all. (encouraging, friendly)~ Not at 'all. (questioning)~ Not at 'all. (surprised)~ Not at \fall. (protesting)The number of possible combinations is more than a hundred, but notall of them are of equal importance. So in teaching it is necessary to selecta limited number ofintonation patterns which are frequently used in English discourse and which have a particular communicative value.In these sections we have considered in a very general way the components of intonation. It follows from this overview that all of them areclosely interconnected in the processes of speech production and speechperception.
We must point out here that the changes in pitch, loudnessand tempo are not accidental variations. The rules governing these changes are highly organized. Irrespective of the individual prosodic characteristics that can be traced in each speaker, these changes tend to becomestandardized, so that all speakers of the language use them in similar waysunder similar circumstances. These characteristics of intonation structures may be called intonation units which form the prosodic system ofEnglish.78Chapter IV. Intonation4.4.
NotationWhat is the best suitable way of representing intonation in the text?There are a variety ofmethods for recording intonation patterns in writing and we can look at the advantages and disadvantages of some of thecommoner ones. The first three methods reflect variations in pitch only:1. The method introduced by Ch. Fries (1965) involves drawing a linearound the sentence to show relative pitch heights:He's gone to the /o/Vice.2. According to the second method the syllables are written at different heightsacross the page.
The method is particularly favoured by D. Bolinger (1972):I absolutely deny it.Bolinger's book has the cover title:atontiInsymbols, i. e. by a downward and an upward arrow or a slantwise stress mark.More than that. Pitch movements in the pre-nuclear part can be indicatedtoo. Thirdly, it is very convenient for marking intonation in texts.One ofthe disadvantages ofthis method is that there is no general agreement about the number of terminal tones and pre-nuclear patterns Englishintonation system requires in order to provide an adequate description. Sothe simplest (D.
Jones) recognizes only two tones, a fall and a rise easy todistinguish, but not sufficient for phonetic analysis. We should definitelygive preference to a more complex system, such as J. D. O'Connor andG. F. Arnold's, which has no fewer than ten different nuclear tones. It isquite sufficient for teaching pronunciation even to advanced learners. Themost detailed indication of the pre-nuclear part of the intonation pattern isintroduced in the textbook «npaI<'I'Jl'IeCKM Q:>oHeTHKa aHf.JIHHCKoro H3blKa»(CoKOJIOBa M. A.
I1 )]p., 2001) in whichJ. D. O'Connor and G. F. Arnold'ssystem underwent further modification. All the relevant pitch changes inthe pre-nuclear part are indicated by arrows placed before the first stressedsyllable instead of an ordinary stress-mark, cf. :That 'isn't as 'simple as it 'sounds. o794.5. Functions ofIntonationnThat -+isn't as 'simple as it 'sounds.That "'isn't as 'simple as it 'sounds.That isn't as 'simple as it 'sounds.}IThis method is quite inconvenient as its application wants a specialmodel of print.3. According to third, "levels" method, a number of discrete levels ofpitch are recognized, and the utterance is marked accordingly.
This methodwas favoured by some American linguists such as K. L. Pike (1958) and otherswho recognized four levels ofpitch: low, normal, high and extra-high, numbering them from 1-4. Since most linguists who have adopted this methodhave favoured low-to-high numbering, we shall use this in our example:23 1He's gone to the office.This notation corresponds to the pattern of the example illustrating thefirst method.4. The fourth method is favoured by most of the British phoneticianssuch as D.
Jones, R. Kingdon, J. O'Connor and G. Arnold, M. Halliday,D. Crystal and others, as well as by Russian phoneticians who have successdeveloped it. This method has a number of advantages. Firstly, notonlyvarlations ofpitch but also stressed syllables are marked. Secondly, distinct modifications of pitch in the nuclear syllable are indicated by specialWe believe it is clear from the above that this system deserves recognition not only because it reflects all relevant variations of the two prosodiccomponents of information but also because it serves a powerful visual aidfor teaching pronunciation.Our further point will be the description of the functional aspect ofintonation in different textual discourse units. To establish the linguistic relevanceofprosodic features it is necessary to look for contrasts or oppositions, whichcan show their linguistic significance.
In the next section we are going to lookat each component of intonation, or, in other words, each prosodic feature,pitch, loudness and tempo and the way they function in speech.4. 5. Functions of Intonation4.5.1. Communicative function as the basic function ofintonationOur further point will be the description of intonation on the functionallevel. Intonation is functional, i.
e. it is used in a language for par80Chapter IV, Intonationticular purposes and is never merely decorative. Within any language intonation is systemic: different speakers tend to use the same patterns for thesame purposes. If the speaker uses wrong intonation he can easily slip inaccent or can even be misunderstood.Intonation is a powerful means of human communication. It has agreat value for expressing ideas and emotions and contributes to mutualunderstanding between people. One of the aims of communication is theexchange of information between people.
The meaning of an English utterance, i. e. the information it conveys to a listener, derives not only fromthe grammatical structure, the lexical composition and the sound pattern.It also derives from variations of intonation, in other words the prosodicparameters ofthe utterance.Because of the complex nature of intonation and its high linguisticpotential, there is no agreement among phoneticians about the functionalaspect of intonation. The functions of intonation have been very differently described and classified.
Thus, T. M. Nikolaeva (2004) names threefunctions: the functions of delimitation, integration and semantic function. N. V. Cheremisina (1982) singles out the following functions: communicative, distinctive (or phonological), culminative (accentual), integrative, delimitating, expressive, aesthetic. According to A. Gimson(1981) intonation has two basic functions: accentual and non-accentual.The classification of P. Roach (2001) includes attitudinal, accentual,grammatical and discourse functions. D. Crystal (1995) distinguishes thefollowing functions: emotional, grammatical, informational, textual, psychological, indexical. J.
C. Wells (2006) recognizes such functions as attitudinal, grammatical, focusing (accentual, informational), discourse(cohesive), psychological, indexicaLIt can be argued that since intonation is viewed as a powerful means ofcommunication, its basic function is communicative. It follows from thisthat it is impossible to divorce any function of intonation from that ofcommunication. No matter how many functions are named, all of themmay be regarded as the realization of the communicative function.The communicative function of intonation embraces all its numeroususes, which can be grouped in the following way: the use of intonation todistinguish meanings and the use of intonation to organize, or structurethe oral text.
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