Elements of intonation. Components of intonation

In any language, intonation serves to externally frame a sentence. With the help of intonation, our listener understands whether a sentence is a narrative, a question, a request or an exclamation. For example, the sentence “It's warm today” can be a statement, a question, or an exclamation, depending on the intonation with which the sentence is pronounced. Intonation also expresses our emotions: surprise, irritation, joy, dissatisfaction, etc.

Each language has its own special, characteristic intonation, noticeably different from the intonation of other languages. In English, intonation plays a particularly important role due to the highly analytical nature of the language. (In analytical languages, relationships between words are expressed not with the help of endings, as in the Russian language, but with the help of function words: prepositions, articles, auxiliary verbs, as well as with the help of intonation.)

The components of intonation are:

• - melody of speech, which is carried out by raising or lowering the voice in a phrase (compare the pronunciation of a narrative and interrogative sentence);
• - rhythm of speech, i.e. alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables;
• - tempo, i.e. speed or slowness of speech and pauses between speech segments (compare slow speech and tongue twister speech);
• - timbre, i.e. sound coloring, giving speech certain emotional and expressive shades (timbre “cheerful”, “playful”, “gloomy”, etc.);
• - phrasal and logical stress, which serve as a means of highlighting individual words in a sentence.

As mentioned above, long sentences are divided into separate semantic groups, which depend on the general meaning of the sentence, its grammatical structure and style of speech.

Each semantic group has a certain intonation, which indicates the completeness or incompleteness of the thought in it. Usually only the last semantic group indicates that the thought in a given sentence is complete; in the previous semantic groups, intonation is used, which indicates the incompleteness of the thought. For example, in the sentence: “In June, July and August, children do not go to school” in the first three semantic groups: “In June, July and August” the thought of the sentence is not completed, and, accordingly, intonation is used, which indicates this.

The number of semantic segments in a sentence depends on the rate of speech, i.e. whether we pronounce sentences quickly or slowly. For example, when dictating sentences, the rate of speech will be much slower than in spoken speech. Thus, there will be more meaningful segments during dictation, and they will be shorter.

English intonation differs significantly from Russian, both in melody and phrasal stress. Lowering or raising the voice on the last stressed word in a sentence are the two main tones of English intonation (indeed, Russian too) - a falling tone and a rising tone.

The role of intonation in acting is obvious, as well as in oratory. The correctness of the selection of words in speech, their sound and effect on the public, has long been studied and is undeniable. Let's try to understand in more detail what intonation is, what it is, where it is used, etc.

What is the intonation in Russian? Types of intonation.

The means of phonetic organization of speech (intonation) is divided into three types:

1. Narrative;
2. Interrogative;
3. Exclamation.

The first type is characterized by smooth and, accordingly, calm pronunciation of speech. The story flows smoothly, periodically slightly raising the voice (intonation peak) and lowering it (intonation decrease). This method is usually not used constantly. In any case, the speaker or actor has to use the second and third types of phonetic organization. Question intonation is characterized by a rise in the tone of voice at the beginning, and a decrease in tone towards the end of the phrase. In general, the name clearly reflects the essence of this species.

For exclamatory intonation, the opposite state of affairs is more typical: the tone rises towards the end of the utterance. A pronounced emotional color easily attracts the attention of the public. Obviously, neither method is used independently.

Actors, like speakers, are characterized by a transition or gradual alternation of one type with another. Correct intonation should be developed during classes with teachers. You can also achieve development at home. To do this, you can use a method such as reading aloud. At the same time, you need to pay attention to the punctuation marks placed at the end of the sentence. Comprehension is impossible without developing the correct intonation.

Correct intonation: what is this?

The pace of the story is also important. Or more precisely, the speed of reproduction of the monologue. A fast pace is typical for excited speech. But the slow one is for the solemn occasion. Smooth transition from one speed to another is often used in various fields. Of course, intonation in Russian is impossible without intensity (voice strength). This is an opportunity to either add an emotional color to the story, or vice versa – to slow down the momentum. The first case is observed when expressing emotions such as fear or joy. But a decrease in the strength of the voice is typical for expressing sad feelings, loss of loved ones, etc. Correct intonation is not possible without logical pauses, which are simply necessary for the public to comprehend what the speaker or actor has said. And lastly, in order to express your emotions qualitatively through various means and types of intonation, good diction is important. Without her, no performance is possible. In general, it involves many components, both theoretical preparation and practice. Of course, speech should be distinguished by logical expressiveness, but emotional expressiveness is no less important. A thought that the speaker has not felt will not touch the viewer, no matter how well the technical intonation of the voice is worked out.

Only under the condition of proper mental assessment and expression of a personal attitude towards the spoken text can the listener be interested. Indeed, in this case, such components of intonation as emotional stress and thoughtful pauses, determined by both the mood and feelings of the speaker, are clearly manifested.

There is no doubt that punctuation and intonation are closely interconnected. Once you forget about punctuation marks, speech immediately becomes monotonous, turns into a lifeless gray monolith that can only make the listener yawn. But the main functions of intonation are aimed at increasing interest in the story, breaking it down into semantic pieces (so-called syntagms). Some experts contrast intonation with prosody. It is enough for the average person to know that, unlike intonation that operates with phrases, prosody is based on syllables. To the basic elements of intonation usually include: 1. Accents. 2. Pauses. 3. Timbre. 4. Melodics. 5. Temp. However, in reality, all elements of intonation exist in unity. Only science can consider individual components for its own purposes. It is worth pointing out negative examples of intonation. Thus, typical mistakes usually include monotony of speech, too high (low) tone of the entire text of the speech, rising intonation at the end of narrative sentences and insufficient expressiveness of speech. You need to work hard on such shortcomings every day, especially if constant performances are expected.

School textbooks distinguish these types of sentences by intonation: non-exclamatory and exclamatory. The second type is characterized by the expression of strong feelings.

Many people mistakenly believe that intonation sentences are interrogative, exclamatory and declarative. However, this division is carried out not on the basis of intonation, but on the purpose of the speaker’s statement. The famous researcher of the great and powerful language, Vsevolodsky-Gerngross, in his works, on the question of what intonations are, identifies at least 16 types of intonation. Among them: invitational and comparative, imperative and vocative, persuasive and enumerative, pleading and affirmative, etc. Describing the definition of intonation, this scientist notes that it is the most ephemeral component of colorful oral speech. In this case, the most important acoustic characteristics of intonation are melody, duration and intensity.

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Essay

nAtopic: “Intonation andits components»

Introduction

Main part

1General characteristics of Russian intonation

2Stress as a component of intonation

2.1 Logical stress

2.2 Emphatic stress

3 Melodics as a component of intonation

4 Speech themes as a component of intonation

4.1 Communicative significance of speech rate

4.2 "Absolute" speed

4.3 "Relative" speed

5 Timbre as a component of intonation

6 The strength of sound and its place in the structure of intonation

7 Pause as a component of intonation

7 .1 Logical pauses

7 .2 Artistic breaks

Conclusion

Introduction

Intonation is a very complex and far from established concept in linguistics. Typically, intonation is understood as a set of means of organizing sound, oral speech. These funds include:

1. emphasis;

3. pauses (breaks in sound);

4. the strength of the sound of individual words in speech;

5. rate of speech;

6. timbre of speech.

The elements of intonation really exist only in unity, although for scientific purposes they can be considered separately. Intonation is supersegmental in nature. It seems to be built on top of the linear structure of speech. True, as V.N. points out. Vsevolodsky - Gerngross, when the content of the statement contained in the words is inaccessible to perception, one can observe, as it were, intonation “in its pure form.” Firstly, this occurs when perceiving speech in a foreign language that is incomprehensible to the listener; secondly, when listening in difficult conditions (for example, through a wall), when it is impossible to make out words. In both cases, only intonation is captured.

Intonation is a mandatory feature of oral, sounding speech. Speech without intonation is impossible. The richness and content of speech, its expressive capabilities are ensured not only by the richness of the vocabulary and mastery of verbal expression, but also by its intonation flexibility, expressiveness and diversity.

Intonation occupies an important place in the structure of language and performs various functions:

· with the help of intonation, speech is divided into intonation-semantic segments (syntagms)

· intonation shapes various syntactic structures and types of sentences

· intonation is involved in the expression of a person’s thoughts, feelings and will

The wealth of expressive possibilities of intonation is undeniable; it has been noted more than once by researchers. For example, V.N. Vsevolodsky-Gerngross counts 16 intonations in Russian speech:

Isolation of a particular word can also be carried out by a relative change in the tempo of speech. If ordinary calm speaking is characterized by some average tempo, then against the background of this, the transmission of semantic and emotional nuances may be associated with the acceleration and deceleration of the tempo.

Slowing down the tempo, as a rule, gives individual words or entire phrases greater weight, significance, and sometimes even pathetic solemnity. Against the backdrop of casual, fluent speech, slowing down the tempo is used as a powerful means of expression.

A fast pace usually characterizes emotional, excited speech. He is also a natural at fast-paced storytelling.

Frequent pauses are characteristic of excited speech. Changing the volume from a heart-rending scream to a gentle whisper also conveys shades of feeling.

Finally, the timbre of speech plays a very significant role. Just as a separate sound has its own timbre, speech also has its own coloring - timbre. Timbre as an element of intonation has not yet been studied at all, but there is no doubt that different timbre colors are characteristic of certain types of emotional speech.

So, let's take a closer look at the properties of intonation and the multidimensional nature of each of its components.

1 General characteristics of Russian intonation

The most ephemeral component of oral speech is intonation. In writing it is conveyed conditionally. Yes, there are question marks and exclamation marks, commas and ellipses. But we will never know what Russian speech sounded like in distant eras, before the advent of sound recording devices. Perhaps loudly and emphatically emotionally, as is customary today in the South of Russia, or perhaps, as in the North, somewhere in the Arkhangelsk region - in detail, with long pauses, and without raising your voice?

In a more strict sense Andintonation is a linguistic term used in two meanings. In a more precise sense, intonation is understood as a system of changes in the relative pitch of a syllable, a word, and a whole utterance (phrase).

One of the most important functions of intonation of an entire phrase is to determine the completeness or incompleteness of a statement; namely, the completeness of intonation separates phrase, a complete expression of thought from part of a sentence, from a group of words. Wed. I. the first two words in the phrases: “Where are you going?” and “Where are you going?” Of course, the carrier of this intonation can be a separate word or even a separate syllable. Wed. "Yes?" -- "Yes".

Another equally important function of the intonation of an entire phrase is to determine the modality of the utterance - distinguishing between narration, question and exclamation. These types of intonation are basic in all languages ​​of the world.

1. Narrative or indicative intonation is characterized by a noticeable decrease in the tone of the last syllable, which is preceded by a slight increase in tone on one of the previous syllables. The highest tone is called intonation peak, the lowest -- intonation drop. In a simple, uncomplicated narrative phrase there is usually one intonation peak and one intonation decrease. Where narrative intonation unites a more complex complex of words or phrases, individual parts of the latter can be characterized by either an increase or partial decrease in intonation (a decrease in intonation is especially often observed in enumeration), but less low than the end of the phrase. In such cases, a declarative phrase may contain either several peaks and one final low, or several lows less low than the final one.

2. Interrogative intonation is of two main types: a) in cases where the question concerns the entire statement, there is a rise in tone on the last syllable of the interrogative phrase, stronger than the rise in voice noted above in the narrative phrase (the latter, being cut off on a rise, creates the impression of incompleteness of the statement , which does not occur after raising the interrogative intonation); b) interrogative intonation is characterized by a particularly high pronunciation of the word to which the question primarily refers. From the position of this 548 words at the beginning, end or middle of a phrase depends, of course, on the rest of its intonation pattern.

3. B exclamation point intonation must be distinguished: a) exclamatory intonation, characterized by a higher pronunciation of the most important word than in a narration, but lower than in a question; b) motivating intonation with numerous gradations, from request and encouragement to decisive orders; the intonation of the latter is characterized by a lowering of tone, close to narrative intonation

These types of intonation are sometimes combined by researchers into the concept of intonation logical, i.e. intonations that determine the nature of the statement, and are contrasted with intonations emotional, i.e., the intonations of affectively deformed speech.

Finally, the third, no less important function of intonation is compound And disconnection syntagms - words and phrases - members of a complex whole. Wed. for example, the intonation of the phrases: “The sleeve was stained, covered in blood,” “The sleeve was stained, covered in blood,” and “The sleeve was stained, covered in blood.” However, as is clear from this example, a change in intonation, expressing a change in the syntactic form of a phrase, is closely connected here with a change rhythmic relationships, in particular with the distribution of pauses.

One more point: despite the fact that in different situations we speak differently (everyday tongue twister is one thing, but reading a report is another), the intonation of each person is individual, almost like a fingerprint. Thanks to this, and not just the timbre, we instantly recognize the voice of a friend calling us on the telephone receiver.

Does linguistics provide an answer to the question of how individual intonation is formed? Here are the explanations of Maxim Krongauz, director of the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian State University for the Humanities: “In general, intonation may be the most mysterious area of ​​phonetics. Research into intonation is just beginning. Therefore, here, rather, we can make some assumptions. There are various phonetic characteristics of what actually forms the sound image of the interlocutor, in particular, perhaps not very pleasant for us during a conversation, or maybe, on the contrary, immediately attractive. Mastery of this device – almost always intuitive – greatly helps a person in communication.”

Along with the process that can be conditionally called the “individualization” of intonation, there is also its opposite - the “socialization” of intonation. It is quite appropriate to talk about a peculiar fashion for one or another intonation depending on the era.

Maxim Krongauz believes that a fashion for a particular intonation arises from time to time, although it is more difficult to capture than a fashion for individual words and expressions: “Simply because for words there are dictionaries where we can describe a new meaning, but for intonation there are only scientific articles. But, of course, lately we can see this fashion more often than before. Many borrowed intonation contours unusual for the Russian language have appeared - the end of a phrase with high intonation, although usually in the Russian language, on the contrary, there is a decrease. The end of a phrase is marked by a decrease in intonation.”

For example, if a journalist finishes a report from the scene and turns to the presenter in the studio, he says something like this intonation: “Tatyana?” (emphasis on the last syllable).

Maxim Krongauz explains: “This is just a completely standard questioning intonation. This is a check of the connection: “I have finished and, thereby, mark the connection.” This, of course, is also new for Russian communication, but it is, let’s say, professional. Namely, imitation of the speech of English-speaking announcers and presenters with an increase in intonation at the end of the phrase... I can name some presenters who set the fashion, in particular, of course, the intonation of Leonid Parfenov has become fashionable. Some young presenters just copy her.”

Maxim Krongauz talks about changes in intonation over time, over the years, over centuries: “Intonation changes, but we cannot always clearly record vocabulary in time. But in fact there was no recording of intonation; recordings of oral speech also arose in the 20th century. Therefore, based on general considerations, we can say that yes, the intonation changes. It changes very slowly, it’s a conservative thing.” At the same time, Maxim Krongauz emphasizes, there are areas in which significant changes have occurred in a short period - these are theatre, television and radio.

Why can’t you now hear such precise phrasing, such expressive pauses as Levitan’s? Here is a subtle observation by Anna Petrova, teacher of stage speech, doctor of art history, professor: “It seems to me that in every era a person is realized in sound according to his time. The manner of speech very quickly becomes a cliche, acquires the character of a familiar and insufficiently lively and sincere sound. And then the search begins for another expression of the way of thinking, the way of feeling, the way of one’s time.”

The Soviet era is gone, and with it the sovereign intonations. The speech of journalists (the announcers have disappeared) has become closer to conversational and has become more democratic. But everything is good in moderation. Thus, Anna Petrova considers the now widespread rollickingness to be a manifestation of disrespect for the listener: “The influence of the media is immeasurable and, in general, almost invincible. They speak Russian specifically poorly! Because they reflect, as it were, the lower layer of existence: as they live monstrously, so they speak. A few words - that's all, and the rest is just squealing. It seems to me that this is a completely terrible layer of influence on people. It is very dangerous because it is contagious. Because anyone can do this. The lower we go in terms of the level of culture, the level of human capabilities, human realization, the easier it is. Honestly, I feel insulted for Russian culture.”

But along with negative phenomena in speech intonation (especially oral), there are also undoubted positive changes that have been occurring recently in the direction of studying this rhythmic-phonetic phenomenon. Perhaps it is precisely because of those decadent phenomena that have prevailed in the field of intonation of Russian speech in recent decades that domestic scientists, philologists, psychologists, and psycholinguists, seriously concerned about the influence of the low-lying layers of Western speech subculture on the centuries-old traditions of Russian intonation, have finally begun to comprehensively study this a multifaceted and extremely complex phenomenon, which was previously unjustifiably relegated to the recesses of traditional speech sciences. In recent years, a significant number of works, scientific articles, and publications have appeared devoted to the problems of speech intonation, the components of intonation, and the identification of its functional nature. Specialized forums have been opened on the Internet, where specialist philologists and people simply interested in the phenomenon of language intonation can not only obtain scientific information about this component of expressive speech, but also take part in a discussion of interesting issues of the functioning of intonation in everyday speech and its semantic-phonetic properties (For example, [email protected] ).

It should be noted that intonation acquires special significance in artistic prose and especially poetic speech. The peculiarity of poetic intonation, in comparison with prosaic intonation, is primarily that it has a regulated character, decreasing towards the end of each verse segment (line) and reinforced by a final verse pause . In this case, the decrease in intonation is determined by the rhythm of the verse, and not by the meaning of the sentences contained in it (often coinciding with it), due to which it decreases regardless of the conditions necessary for this in prose. Against the background of this leveled intonation, which enhances the rhythmic movement of the verse, the possibility of varying different degrees of intonation is created (depending on the final verse and strophic pauses, clauses, etc.). This is for example the intonation is monotonous, ending with an abrupt stop in Mandelstam:

“I will not see the famous Phaedra In the ancient multi-tiered theater From the smoky high gallery In the light of melting candles,” etc.

A violation of the usual intonation monotony in verse is enjambement, possible only against the background of regulated intonation. So intonation is 549 one of the essential expressive means of verse and is used depending on the given literary style, which determines the nature of its verse system and its intonation structure. Thus, the melodious intonation of the Symbolists differs sharply from the oratorical intonation of Mayakovsky, the spoken intonation of Selvinsky, etc.

In a broader sense, the term intonation is used to generally refer to melodic-rhythmic-strength means of speech expression.

Thus, the complexity and multidimensionality of such a phenomenon as intonation becomes obvious, which must be considered in the totality of its inherent properties and in the dialectical unity of possible approaches.

2 Stress as a component of intonation

Among the components of intonation, stress occupies a special place. It, like intonation itself, belongs to the supersegmental elements of language. When they talk about stress, they usually mean verbal stress (i.e., highlighting one of the syllables or words using phonetic means). However, verbal stress is not the only type of stress in the Russian language. There is also syntagmatic stress, or the stress of syntagma - the smallest intonation-semantic segment of speech (for example: today ve black / I won't exist before ma). Syntagmatic stress is also called bar stress, which usually means highlighting in the pronunciation of a word that is more important in meaning within speech and kta (synth hmm ). For example: Mind Russiadon't understand , General Arshindon't measure : She hasspecial become - You can only go to Russiabelieve . Along with syntagmatic stress, logical stress is also highlighted, with the help of which the most semantically important word in a given phrase is highlighted (for example: give me villageice tion journal numbers). Another type of stress is also common - emphatic stress. This emphasis emphasizes the emotionally expressive and affective elements of the utterance. These types of stress, as opposed to verbal stress, can be called non-word stress types. It is non-word stress that acts as one of the components of intonation.

2.1 Logical stress

Logical stress is the selection of the most significant word from the point of view of a given situation using intonation means. Logical stress can be used to highlight any word in a phrase.

Phrase The student reads this book carefully can be pronounced with logical emphasis on each word, and each utterance will convey a certain shade of meaning:

1) Student reads this book carefully (it is the student, not someone else);

2) Student attentively reads this book (carefully, not fitfully);

3) Student carefully is reading this book (reads, not leafs through);

4) The student reads carefully this a book (this one, not any other);

5) The student reads this carefully book (a book, not a newspaper).

Functional words can also be emphasized with logical emphasis: The book lies under the table (and not on the table).

It is quite natural that the most new, significant, and important for a given speech situation should receive a particularly vivid external expression. Logical stress, or, as it is also called, the stress of the new, precisely performs this excretory function. It appears in certain cases - during opposition and in the presence of special emphatic words. Logical stress can be contained in the question and in the answer to it.

When contrasting, either both opposed phenomena can be called (We will go there manager tra, / and not today), or only one. In the latter case, the opposition is, as it were, hidden, since the unnamed is only implied: We will go there tomorrow (implied: precisely tomorrow, and not on some other day).

The appearance of logical stress can be caused by words of special semantics - emphases. They are presented in two groups.

The emphatic words of the first group themselves carry logical stress. That's the pronoun myself. The phrase “He will come himself” allows for the placement of logical stress only on this word. The adverbs absolutely, absolutely, also, yet have the same properties. For example:

He's an owl seven (sovereign shen but) knows nothing;

He That took part in the play;

Give me e more .

The emphatic words of the second group do not themselves carry logical stress. However, those words with which they are related in meaning receive logical stress. The emphatic words of the second group include intensifying particles (even, and, already, after all, neither), restrictive particles (precisely, only, only), some combinations with particles (and yes, not yet, just). For example

Exactly e th I wanted to see;

Even other gu you can’t say that;

And not that one to their he defeated his opponents;

Only those be can I tell you everything;

Not yet va sha turn;

You and uh you don’t know that;

We're back home already But whose.

Logical stress is typical for interrogative sentences that do not contain a question word, for example:

You are coming di to me? or did you come to to me ?

The word to which the question is posed is highlighted with logical stress. The answer to the first question would be

Yes, he came or No, he didn’t;

the answer to the second question

Yes, to you or No, not to you.

Logical stress can be used to highlight a word in the answer to a question, for example: Who did it? - I did it I .

Logical stress is created through the interaction of intonation means. The main role here is played by increased verbal stress and specific melody. Strengthening verbal stress occurs due to a more dynamic and intense pronunciation of the stressed syllable of the highlighted word; it also stands out for its considerable duration. As for the melody, it can be quite varied, but basically logical stress is characterized by a lowering of tone.

2.2 Emphatic stress

To characterize the emotional expressiveness of a word, Shcherba introduced the term “emphatic stress.” This stress “pushes forward” and enhances the emotional side of the word or expresses the speaker’s affective state in connection with a particular word. Briefly, the difference between logical and emphatic stress can be formulated as follows: logical stress draws attention to a given word, and emphatic stress makes it emotionally rich. In the first case, the speaker's intention is manifested, and in the second, a direct feeling is expressed.

In Russian, emphatic stress consists of a greater or lesser lengthening of the stressed vowel: a most beautiful worker, a wonderful work of art."

M.I. Matusevich, in the notes to “Phonetics of the French Language,” complements Shcherbov’s characterization of Russian emphatic stress: Phonetic means of emphasis do not always consist in lengthening the stressed vowel, which apparently depends on the nature of the emotion.

So, for example, delight, pleasure, tenderness, etc. are indeed expressed phonetically by lengthening the stressed vowel... However, indignation, irritation, etc. often receive phonetic expression in Russian by lengthening the first consonant in a word, for example: h -damn it! m-bastard! and so on.

L. R. Zinder, characterizing emphatic stress, writes: “As a means of emphatic stress, in addition to changing the pitch, the time factor is widely used. In the Russian language, for example, emphatic stress is carried out mainly by lengthening or, conversely, shortening the entire highlighted word of a particularly stressed syllable. So, in Yes! or He will come when emphasizing confidence and certainty, a and e are lengthened, and in the case of a categorical statement, a short pronunciation is observed, but as energetic as possible.”

L.V. Zlatoustova subjected emphatic stress to experimental research. It generally confirmed the above phonetic characteristics of emphasis. It is advisable to distinguish between “positive” emotions (delight, admiration, tenderness, tenderness, etc.), characterized by lengthening of the stressed vowel in an emphatically emphasized word, and “negative” emotions (threat, anger, etc.), characterized mainly by lengthening of the consonant at the beginning of the stressed syllable.

Emphatic stress, which serves to highlight a word, together with other types of non-verbal stress - syntagmatic, phrasal, logical, is one of the components of intonation. In speech, all intonation means are used to express emotions. The expressive possibilities of melody are very great in mandatory combination with other elements of intonation.

3 Melodics as a component of intonation

Speech melody is the movement of the voice (up and down) through sounds of different pitches. In speech practice, the melody of many syntactic sentence structures has become established as normative. This applies to the norms of pronouncing interrogative, exclamatory, narrative sentences, as well as to the melody of enumeration, reason, purpose, opposition, division, warning, wateriness and others.

The term "melody" is used in different sciences and has shades in its meaning.

1. Melodica -- llinguistic term, denoting the system of raising and lowering the voice tone in speech, as well as the department of phonetics that studies this system. The melody of any utterance is thus composed of a) from intonations, i.e., rising and falling of tones associated with the meaning of the utterance and being melodic means of speech expressiveness, and b) from rising and falling of tones associated with the phonemic side of the language and being melodic means of differentiating words. Examples of melodic means of this type are: 1) the so-called “musical stress” of those languages ​​that, with the help of raising and lowering the tone, highlight the main syllable of a word (for example, Lithuanian, Serbian, Croatian) or differentiate lexemes (for example, Chinese); 2) an increase or decrease in tone that accompanies changes in the force of expiration in languages ​​with the so-called “expiration stress” (for example, in Russian), etc. The totality of all these changes 111 tones forms in each language a completely specific system of melodic systems, sometimes sharply different from the melodic systems of other languages.

2. Melodica - poetic a term that has not yet been fully defined in its content. Leaving aside the sound organization of the verse (in the sense of the organization of the sounds included in it - sound repetitions, etc. phenomena), its phonics and its rhythmic organization - rhythm, - in melodics we consider the intonation system of a verse, i.e., first of all, the system of raising and lowering the voice in a syllable, word, complete phrase and, finally, in the whole poetic work, which has one or another expressive meaning in a given stylistic system. Thus, in Mayakovsky’s “March” (“Beat the stampeding riots in the square!”) we are dealing with a pronounced exclamatory intonation (characterized, in comparison with narrative intonation, by a raised voice). This intonation naturally organizes the entire intonational movement of individual lines and the entire poem as a whole, and creates a certain melodic system. It is clear that the entire character of the regulated intonation movement of a verse is determined by the semantic richness that it carries within itself, and is in inextricable unity with its rhythm and sound (without which there can be no intonation in the verse). From here it is obvious that we can understand the nature of the melody of a verse only by considering it as one of the moments of the style of a certain class. Melody is integral to the verbal system, and the verbal system is integral to the system of images. Each literary style and even each stage in the movement of a style has its own melodic system, which is what historical and literary analysis convinces us of. It is easy to compare, for example, the intonation of the Symbolists' verse, which has a clearly melodic character and is based primarily on repeated narrative or interrogative intonation, with the example given from Mayakovsky.

The concept of melodicism should not be confused with the concept of melody or melody of verse; the intonation system of a verse may have, for example, a very pronounced conversational character; the melody of a verse is only one of the special cases of melodic organization in general (as, for example, among the Symbolists).

It is with work on the melody of reading (together with grooves) that the formation of expressive speech in the primary grades begins. Already from the period of learning to read and write, children learn to use intonations of narrative, interrogative, enumerative, explanatory, address... in the future there is a need to work on warning intonation, intonation of incompleteness, etc.

Research into melodics has acquired particular significance in recent years, and this is no coincidence. Due to the dramatic change in speech culture in society, the idea of ​​the communication process is also being transformed. It is very important for a modern person to be able to melodically structure his oral utterance, understand and adequately respond to someone else’s speech, convincingly defend his own position, observing speech and ethical-psychological rules of behavior.

A modern person spends 65% of his working time in oral communication. According to American scientists, the average person on Earth spends 2.5 years on the communication process. This means that each of us manages to “talk” about 400 volumes of 1000 pages throughout our lives. So, we really talk a lot, but most often we do it ineptly, poorly. Approximately 50% of information is lost during transmission.

The melody of the voice is the main, most important means of communication that affects the professional success of an individual. The essence of communication is the process of interaction between subjects of sociocultural activity for the purpose of transmitting or exchanging information through sign systems, techniques and means of their use accepted in a given culture [Culturology, 1997: 185].

The core, the root cause of communication is information in various manifestations: as an information layer of an external semantic message, information about the internal subtext characterized by the melody of the voice, and information content about the speaker. Psychologists believe that in the process of communication, words directly carry 10% of the information. According to François Suget, 38% of information comes through the melody of a person’s voice. The information content of voice melody can be expressed in the characteristics of four levels of staged perception of information by the communicant. These are informational universality, aesthetic, situational and semantic levels [Romakh, 2005: 356]. All these levels of information content should be considered separately.

First information level - information universality- manifests itself in the natural melody of a person’s voice, through the individual coloring of timbre, a certain pitch, and tonality of the voice. Here it is necessary to raise the question of how to determine the natural pitch of a person’s voice? To do this, you must first say the same phrase as high as possible, without losing your voice, then as low as possible. The tonality that will be exactly in the middle between them will be the pitch that a person uses in the process of speaking. The task of each person is to improve this average pitch of the voice with the help of voice training to a higher range. The improvement of which is an indicator of a person’s internal growth. The natural melody of the voice characterizes personality traits: gender, age, health, emotional state, attitude towards the interlocutor, self-esteem.

Age-related characteristics of the voice go through several stages. Children are characterized by shrillness, a limited range of pitch of the voice, and the overall melody of speech is either loud or quiet. The voice of an adult represents the highest stage of development. As we age, the melody of the voice undergoes some changes: the range narrows, the strength decreases, and the timbre changes.

Second information level - aesthetic characterized by the ability to control one’s voice and speech. Thanks to the properties of the voice, speech acquires ethical and aesthetic characteristics: the speech culture of the speaker conveys a positive impression of the voice or some of its properties - timbre, color, strength, intonation, accentuation. What comes from the common culture of the subjects of communication. Third information level - situational, is seen as the ability to respond to a given specific situation, using all the richness of the voice. The ability to maintain the natural melody of the voice in any disharmonious situation. There are a lot of communicative situations in a person’s life, which are characterized by various combinations of voice melody. Situations associated with solemn, significant events involve praise, a compliment, a table word (toast), expressed with the help of a sensual, emotional, entertaining melody of the voice. Communication situations between mother and child are completely different. Communication between mother and child occurs through an affectionate, calm, gentle, melodic voice, which helps maintain the child’s internal balance.

When a person communicates with animals, for example, training a dog, a completely opposite situation of voice expression is required: firmer, more confident, persistent, and authoritative. Otherwise, the animal will not be subject to training. A similar situation occurs in the communicative situation of military personnel.

1) Professions with trained voices, in which all activities are aimed at the functioning of the voice: actors, singers, readers. The delivered voice is characterized by a number of qualities that are the result of the most rational interaction of organs and systems of the speech apparatus for the purpose of professional use.

2) Professional voice is a type of voice formed in the process of a person fulfilling his professional duties in those areas of activity that are characterized by increased speech responsibility (such as pedagogy, medicine, jurisprudence, legal, social and political activities, journalism and others). Improving voice qualities and developing voice skills occur directly in the course of verbal communication. The qualities of this type of voice are professionally determined.

3) Voices of ordinary native speakers who have nothing to do with the professions listed above. But this does not mean that the voices of this professional distinction have unpleasant overtones such as hoarseness, nasality, etc. On the contrary, sometimes the voice is naturally endowed with great modulation capabilities, is harmonious, and pleasant to the ear.

National voice differences also have a specific expression: Americans speak loudly, which characterizes their vocal melody aggressively; in turn, the English regulate the sound of their voices to speak as quietly as possible, but at the same time involuntarily demonstrate a heightened sense of pride. The melody of the voices of Spaniards and Italians is faster than other Europeans. The melody of Russian speech unjustifiably tends to increase the length of vowel sounds, borrowed from the English.

And the fourth information level - semantic, which directly reveals the content of speech. Voice characteristics influence the recipient’s perception of the received semantic information and the qualifications of the transmitted message, giving the message a certain expressive and stylistic coloring. During dialogue, the voice serves as an extremely powerful tool of influence, persuasion, and suppression.

The meaning of a person’s utterance is the meaning of the melody of the voice, passed through the living human “I” and thoroughly imbued with it. Unlike meaning, which is predetermined, meaning cannot be known in advance. It must be guessed as information about unnamed things through named things. For the meaning is inherent only in this statement, and in no other. For example, the meaning of the sentence " Tomorrow there will be heavy rain“All native speakers of the Russian language know and for all of them it is the same. The meaning a person brings to a given phrase will be different each time in different communicative situations. In one case, it is intense joy that the long-awaited event will finally happen tomorrow. In another - slight disappointment due to the fact that the trip out of town planned for tomorrow may not take place. Thirdly, peace of mind that tomorrow does not foretell any drastic changes in life plans. In the fourth, there is outright panic because the date scheduled for tomorrow is being cancelled; in the fifth - a delicate refusal of an invitation to an unwanted event under the plausible pretext of bad weather; in the sixth - flaunting the fact that he does not care about any “intrigues of heaven,” etc. and so on. The melody of the voice always expresses immeasurably more than what it means.

The power of the psychological impact of the melody is so great that it can “cross out” the entire verbal text, expressing a meaning that is diametrically opposed to its meaning. The most laudatory words can sound like an insulting curse, which makes a person feel uneasy, and the most abusive words can sound like the highest praise, which makes a person feel in seventh heaven with happiness.

For successful communication, that is, for the ability to present oneself to any situation, a set of certain properties of the voice is necessary: ​​adaptability, euphony, endurance, flexibility, flight, suggestiveness and stability of the voice [Effective Communication, 2005: 430]. Let's consider each of these properties separately.

Adaptability voice lies in the ability to adapt to specific acoustic conditions. For example, the size and shape of the room in which a person speaks, to the number and spatial arrangement of listeners - with the help of appropriate variations in voice timbre. This will ensure good audibility, intelligibility and comfortable speech perception. For good voice adaptability, it is necessary to develop the skills of varying the volume and timbre of the voice, using the high range, and the ability to purposefully control what is being said.

Euphony Voices can be achieved due to the purity of sound and the absence of unpleasant overtones. For example, hoarseness, hissing, nasality. The ability to give one’s voice euphony is perceived by listeners as a sign of aesthetics, good manners, intelligence, and self-demandingness, which is associated with good diction, with the pronunciation of all speech sounds, with pronouncing endings.

Endurance voice is characterized by high performance of the vocal apparatus and allows it to withstand long-term speech load while maintaining all the properties of the voice. This voice quality is determined by a number of factors, such as congenital characteristics of the body, age, acoustic conditions, and the need for properly organized voice production.

Flightability voices - the ability to be heard over a long distance with minimal effort from the speaker. With this quality, there is a feeling of facilitated sound production - the voice seems to “fly”. Regardless of the type of voice or volume of sound in flight, there is always a certain metallic quality, a kind of “bell” is heard. High-frequency overtones in this area, called high formant, are most easily perceived by the human ear, so a voice whose timbre contains such overtones is distinguished by good audibility. Flight is one of the most important characteristics of voice timbre. If there is no flight in the voice, then this not only impoverishes the expressive capabilities of the speaker’s speech, but also indicates insufficient command of the voice.

Sustainability is expressed in the constant stability of the pitch, volume and timbre of the voice, regardless of the duration of the pronounced speech sounds. To the ear, voice stability is perceived as confidence, decisiveness, and calm insistence of the speaker; this quality is a consequence of the general balance of tension and relaxation in the muscles of the vocal apparatus and their correct coordination.

Suggestivity(from Latin suggestio - suggestion) - the ability of the voice to influence the emotions and behavior of listeners, regardless of the meaning of the words spoken. Suggestiveness as a quality of voice lies in the fact that the speaker, with the help of timbre, influences listeners, captures their attention, evokes empathy and stimulates the desired behavioral reactions.

4 Thosemp of speech as a componentintonation

Pace speech (from Italian tempo, which comes from Latin tempus time) - the speed of pronunciation of speech units of different sizes (most often syllables, sometimes sounds or words). The rate of speech can be calculated in two ways: the number of syllables, or sounds, or words pronounced per unit of time (for example, 1 second), or the average duration (longitude) of the sound of a speech unit (over a certain segment of speech sound). The duration of sounds is generally measured in thousandths of a second - milliseconds (ms). The rate of speech of each individual can vary widely - from 60-70 ms with fluent speech to 150-200 ms with slow speech. There is also a dependence of tempo on the individual characteristics of the speaker.

4.1 The communicative significance of speech rate

The normal speech rate of Russians is about 120 words per minute. One page of typewritten text, typed at one and a half intervals, should be read in two or two and a half minutes.

The pace of speech may vary. It depends on the content of the statement, the emotional mood of the speaker, and the life situation.

It is not difficult, for example, to determine what determines the rate of pronunciation of sentences:

-- Let's quickly run to the forest!

--He walks slowly, legs tangled together.

--Crawling like a turtle.

--What a long and cloudy day today!

The rate of speech in this case is determined by the content of the sentences. The first calls for a quick reaction, for quick action, so the pronunciation speeds up. The second and third sentences characterize slow action. To emphasize this, the speaker draws out the pronunciation of sounds, the rate of speech slows down. In the last sentence the emphasis falls on the words long And cloudy. Slowing down speech when pronouncing allows you to depict an object, as it were, to emphasize its length intonationally.

The pace of speech will be different if the phrase “Buying a motorcycle made us happy, but buying a car delighted us” is pronounced as a statement of fact and with deep feeling. When stating a fact, the sentence is pronounced in an even voice. If the speaker seeks to convey his emotional attitude, then he will pronounce the second part in a higher tone and at a slower pace.

In general, feelings of delight, joy, and anger speed up the pace of speech, while depression, inertia, and meditation slow it down.

A very slow pace is also characteristic of difficult speech, the speech of a seriously ill, very old person. The court verdict is read in slow motion, an oath is pronounced, a solemn promise is pronounced.

The pace of speech is of great importance for the success of the speech.

There are people who speak very quickly under all circumstances. It is about them that the proverbs are written: “You can’t keep up with your tongue barefoot,” “Scribes like a machine gun,” “A thousand words per minute,” “It’s gone wild: neither the horse nor the winged can catch up.”

Rapid speech, especially if it is a lecture, requires increased attention, which causes fatigue and a desire to take a break, that is, stop listening to the speaker.

Rapid speech is not always understandable. The reasons for this may be different:

1. The speaker, due to inexperience, outlines many questions and considers it necessary to have time to present everything in the time allotted to him.

2. The lecturer or speaker is dismissive of the audience and strives to finish his speech as quickly as possible.

3. Sometimes fast speech is due to the speaker’s timidity or fear of the audience.

Slow speech is also undesirable. People say about her: “His word is a crutch,” “He crawls word after word on cockroach legs,” “He speaks like he sifts water.”

Slow speech discourages listeners, weakens attention and also tires the audience.

It is important for a lecturer to be able to change the pace of speech. If you need to emphasize or highlight something (definition, conclusions), then the pace must be slowed down. When the speech is pronounced with enthusiasm, internal pathos, the tempo accelerates. Let us pay attention to one more phenomenon.

A student enters the dean's office. Addresses the dean: “Hello, Alexander Alexandrovich!”

A neighbor approached a neighbor in the yard: “Hello, Alsan Alsanych!”

Two friends met: “Hello San Sanych!”

How are greetings different? Pronunciation style.

When we are in an official setting, speaking in front of a large audience, when we want everyone to hear and understand us, then we slow down the pace of speech, try to pronounce every sound, every word. This style of pronunciation is called complete.

In an informal setting, in a family circle, an incomplete, conversational style is most often used. The style of speech, or rather its pace, may indicate a disdainful attitude of the speaker towards the one with whom he is speaking. This is exactly what I.S. shows. Turgenev, drawing the image of Major General Vyacheslav Illarionovich Khvalynsky:

He is a very kind person, but with rather strange concepts and habits. For example: he cannot in any way treat nobles who are not rich or who are not official, as equal people. Talking to them<...>He even pronounces words differently and does not say them, for example: “Thank you, Pavel Vasilyevich,” or “Come here, Mikhailo Ivanovich,” but “Bold, Pall Asilich,” or “Please come here, Mikhail Vanich.”

And another example from the novel “Fathers and Sons”. Arkady and Bazarov were introduced to a high-ranking official:

The gentleness in Matvey Ilyich's manner could only be equaled by his majesty.<..>He patted Arkady on the back and loudly called him “nephew”, honored Bazarov, dressed in an old tailcoat, with an absent-minded but condescending glance across his cheek, and a vague but friendly moo, in which only one could make out that “I. ..” yes “ssma”.

When talking about speech rate, we must agree: do we define the way words are spoken as “fast” or “slow” in the sense of an absolute value or relative to some “normal” (on average) speech rate of that particular person?

4.2 "Absolute" speed

In the countries of Indo-European languages, they speak at a speed of 200 to 500 syllables per minute (speeds below or above these values ​​​​are respectively defined as “extremely slow” or “extremely fast”), so it can be defined as follows:

about 200 syllables per minute corresponds to relatively slow speech,

about 350 syllables per minute corresponds to relatively “normal” speech,

About 500 syllables per minute corresponds to relatively fast speech.

Of course, there are national differences, for example, for the French or Italians the “normal speed” is usually higher than for the Germans. This is why it is so difficult to translate Italian and French films into German: synchronization becomes extremely difficult, since a character’s phrase fits more words in a unit of time than can be said in German in the same time. Therefore, translators either speak faster than is “normal” for a German listener, or skip some words, that is, they partially filter out the information. But with simultaneous translation from English, the problem is exactly the opposite.

4.3 Relative speed

But even within the same, say, our native language, we notice that the speed of pronouncing words and phrases can vary greatly not only among different people relative to each other; even the same person, depending on the situation, speaks faster in some cases and slower in others.

As for the differences depending on the individuality of the speaker, here, apparently, there is no need to go into much detail. Many questions do not yet have answers, for example: “Does a person speak faster the more intelligent he is?” or: “Although the ability to speak at one speed or another is an innate quality, is it not reflected in the influence of the child’s environment in the first years of life?” Attempts by psychology or kinesics to find answers to these questions will continue. The situation is different with the relative speed of speech of the speaker, which can be quite different depending on the circumstances.

Lenneberg in his book “Biological Principles of Language” has a highly interesting observation: “What determines the speed of speech? There is, of course, no simple answer to this question.... Higher speed (more than 500 syllables per minute) is achieved primarily when the speaker often uses ready-made phrases or clichés. This appears to be related to the cognitive aspects of language rather than the physical ability to articulate... Additionally, exercise plays a role. Some words need to be repeated many times before they begin to be pronounced effortlessly, and therefore quickly.”

That is, we can say that in a certain situation a person speaks the faster (we are talking about relative speed) the more often he has already made these statements, i.e. The more often someone says the same expressions, the higher their relative speech rate.

When pronouncing words, we usually have to coordinate more than a hundred muscles (muscles of the chest and abdominal wall, back of the head and face, larynx, throat and oral cavity), so it is clear that exercise is a very important factor. It is necessary to practice pronouncing any specific words or sentences (common phrases), as well as to speak usefully and simply. A person who is used to talking for hours (for example, a lecturer, teacher), naturally, speaks much faster than a person who is used to expressing himself mainly in writing, even if the lecturer does not have the habit of pronouncing some specific words 50 times.

The less the information is familiar to the listener (or seems so), the slower you need to pronounce your material!

Pronouncing your material more slowly does not mean speaking more slowly. The same effect can be achieved by pausing from time to time, asking control questions, and inserting examples into the presentation of “theoretical” information so that it is more intelligible.

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Intonation and its components.

The concept of intonation; intonation and prosody.

Components of intonation.

Functions of intonation.

1. The concept of intonation.

According to the definition of Lev Rafailovich Zinder, intonation is a rhythmic and melodic pattern of speech, a complex unity of 1) speech melody (movement of the fundamental tone), 2) rhythm (the ratio of strong and weak, long and short syllables), 3) tempo (intensity), 4) timbre of speech, 5) phrasal and logical stress, 6) pauses (pauses are required in intonation).

So, we see that most researchers consider the components of intonation to be changes in pitch, phrasal stress, rhythm, tempo and timbre. D. Jones, L.V. Shcherba, R. Lado and C. Friz consider only one or two elements as components of intonation: a change in the pitch of the fundamental tone and phrasal stress or a change in the pitch of the fundamental tone and rhythm. Thus, all researchers consider the change in the pitch of the fundamental tone to be the most important component of intonation, which fully corresponds to the original meaning of the term “intonation” and cannot cause any objections.

Intonation and prosody.

The term “prosody” is used as a general name for the suprasegmental properties of speech: pitch, duration, loudness.

Prosody has acoustic, perceptual and linguistic (functional) aspects.

All aspects interact and can be considered as different aspects of one phenomenon. There is a special terminology to designate the prosodic units of each aspect. When considering the acoustic aspect, frequency, intensity, and time are highlighted. To designate prosodic units of the perceptual aspect, the terms pitch, volume, and duration are used. The functional aspect has the concept of multi-component intonation.

2. Consider the components of intonation.

Phrase stress– highlighting a word against the background of other words. This is achieved by pronouncing stressed words with a greater expiratory impulse and muscular tension than unstressed ones, as well as by changing the tone and increasing the duration of stressed syllables in the word of a sentence. It exists in a phrase in several forms: syntactic– the core of the phrase is the syllable where the voice moves up or down, it shows the communicative type of utterance (command, question, statement, request) gravitates towards the end of the phrase;

logical– appears in a phrase due to the prevailing role of meaning;

emphatic– connected with the emotional side of speech (we invest not reason, but emotions). Achieved through the power of volume.

Pace(duration) - the speed of pronunciation of certain segments of speech, which depends on the individual characteristics of the speaker and pronunciation style. Tempo, like other components of intonation, plays an important role in conveying information:

Plays a structural role in the formation of speech units (syntagmas, phrases, superphrasal units, lines, stanzas). The beginning and end of speech units are usually characterized by slowing of speech.

Using tempo (usually slow), the most important parts of the utterance are highlighted.

Conveys emotional and modal information. Emotional speech is characterized by a deviation in tempo towards speeding up or slowing down. For example, the expression of grief, fear, and indifference is characterized by greater speed than the expression of sadness and contempt. Statements expressing restrained emotions tend to slow down, while unrestrained ones tend to speed up.

Rhythm(closely related to tempo) - repetition of stressed syllables at more or less equal intervals of time. Tempo and rhythm are temporal components of intonation. Rhythm is achieved by the fact that the accented syllables of words highlighted by meaning appear in speech at relatively equal time intervals, isolating rhythmic groups, performing, i.e. the function of organizing rhythm in a speech context. The organizing function of rhythm is manifested not only in its ability to split the time continuum into relatively equal time periods, but also in the fact that it is able to combine smaller units of rhythm (rhythmic groups) into larger ones → into syntagms, syntagms → into phrases, phrases into superphrasal unities, superphrasal unities in → the whole speech context.

Timbre– special coloring of the voice, emotional and expressive attitude of the speaker. From a physical point of view, timbre is vibrations of different frequencies that form a set of overtones. In speech, timbre performs two functions: it makes it possible to distinguish speakers by their voices and acts as an indicator of the emotional state of the speaker, thanks to which the statement acquires the necessary emotional coloring.

Pause– acoustic zero, cessation of articulation, can be a sharp change in melody. Our speech is a coherent sound stream, divided by pauses into larger or smaller segments. A pause can be made only after a group of words or one word has been pronounced, representing a semantic unity, and at the same time syntactic unity, that is, united by a common meaning and syntactic connection.

The components of intonation manifest themselves in two aspects:

Communicative– intonation tells whether the statement is complete or unfinished, whether it contains a question or an answer, a request or a command; represents communicative types of statements: narrative, exclamatory, interrogative, incentive. Characteristic of the Russian intonation system.

Emotional- any intonation necessarily contains a certain emotion, speaker's attitude towards the utterance is a modality. Intonation is always modal. Characteristic of the English intonation system.

3. Functions of intonation.

1) The main function of intonation is function organization and division of speech flow.

Let's imagine a sequence of words devoid of intonation indicators (pauses, melody, and other indicators). Peter said brother is ill today we must send for the doctor. (the absence of punctuation marks emphasizes the absence of intonation as a supersegmental means).

This sequence sounds unnatural and is of little use for understanding, since it contains a number of interpretations associated with different understandings.

Let's improve this sequence by using pauses. So that one segment includes words that are most closely related in meaning. By grouping words using pauses in different ways, we will get a different understanding of the example.

′Peter said ׀ Brother is ill today. ׀׀ We must send for the doctor.

′Peter said ׀Brother is ill.׀׀ Today we must send for the doctor

Peter, said brother, is ill today. We must send for the doctor.

2) In natural speech, the connection between adjacent segments may be less or more close. The simplest way to reflect this is to use pauses of different lengths: unit pause, double pause, treble pause) for example: Brother is ill today. // We must send for the doctor.

In the first option, we are dealing with a sequence of two relatively independent sentences. (││) such a pause is dividing. A short pause (│) reflects the close connection between the parts of a complex utterance - connecting.

Differences in the nature of pauses are used by intonation in functions of expressing the degree of connection between units of division.

3) The function of design and contrast of types of utterance. Melodics are used as the main means of arranging sections of speech separated by pauses. It becomes possible to transmit fundamentally different information, in particular information about the type of statement (question, message, motivation, whether the message is completed, etc.).

Brother is leaving. For Moscow.

Brother is leaving. – For Moscow?

With the help of melody, the main communicative types of utterance are expressed.

4) Distinctive function is realized in contrasting identical sequences of words with different intonation patterns. At the level of intonation group, phrase and text. For example: If Mary comes │ let me → know at once.

Several people are expected to come, but the speaker is interested in Mary.

If Mary comes │ let me → know at once. (They are waiting only for Mary and no one else).

So, there are 4 functions of intonation. All of them are related to the semantic structure of a sentence and belong to the field of linguistics.

5) Undoubtedly, intonation is associated with the expression of human emotions, so another function of intonation can be called the function of expressing emotional meanings and shades (modality). The tone “fall + rise” expresses contrast, understatement. Each melodic pattern adds its own shades of meaning.

For example: When did you come? – Now (calmly, impartially)

Now (interested)

Now (conversation)

You are to do it right now. - Now? (very surprised)

Intonation(lat. intonō “pronounce loudly”) - a set of prosodic characteristics of a sentence: tone (melody of speech), volume, tempo of speech and its individual segments, rhythm, phonation features. Together with stress, it forms the prosodic system of the language.

Unlike segmental phonetic units (phonemes) and differential features that do not have their own content plan, all intonation units are bilateral, in other words, they are signs that express one or another meaning.

There are two types of intonation means (intoneme) :

1 phrasal accents - placed mainly on stressed syllables of words; their main symptom is a change in tone. They perform the most important functions of intonation: the direction of tone movement indicates the purpose of the utterance, or illocution (for example, in Russian, an ascending movement of tone serves as an indicator of a general question), the place of phrasal emphasis indicates the “focus” of the utterance (the element of the sentence that most interests the speaker: cf. Vanya arrived in Tuesday? and Vanya I arrived on Tuesday?);

2 integral (non-accentual) characteristics - cover groups of words or entire sentences.

Elements of intonation:

Intonation in the broad sense of the word consists of the following elements:

1 speech melody, that is, the movement of musical tone, raising and lowering the voice;

2 rhythm, that is, the ratio of strong and weak, long and short syllables;

3 pace, that is, the speed of speech in time, acceleration and deceleration;

4 speech intensity, that is, the strength or weakness of utterance, intensification and weakening of exhalation;

5 presence-absence intraphrase pauses, which divide a phrase into speech beats;

6 timbre– the color of the sound, which depends on which overtones accompany the main tone, i.e. from complex oscillatory movements producing a sound wave; in the Russian language, timbre distinguishes from each other the diverse shades of stressed and unstressed vowels, as well as the different colors of consonants; timbre is an individual feature of sound (for men, women, and children, the timbre of speech is different; it is different for those who speak, say, bass or tenor), but there are also constant components of the color of sound, as a result of which [e] will always differ from [ a] or [p] from [m].

Definition of the word. The word as a linguistic sign. Ways to expand your language vocabulary

Word– this is a significant independent unit of language, the main function of which is nomination (naming); unlike morphemes, the minimal significant units of a language, a word itself (although it may consist of one morpheme: suddenly, kangaroo), is grammatically formed according to the laws of a given language, and it has not only a material, but also a lexical meaning; Unlike a sentence, which has the property of complete communication, the word, as such, is not communicative (although it can act as a sentence (Dawn. No.), but it is from words that sentences for communication are built; in this case, the word is always associated with the material nature of the sign , whereby words are distinguished, forming separate unities of meaning and sound (or graphic) expression.

Charles Ogden, Richards Ivory - “The Meaning of Meaning”.

concept

sign(word) meaning referent(item)

1. A concept is a mental unit, which is a set of characteristics of a given object (belonging to thinking).
2. A sign is only the carrier of meaning itself, a certain material shell (sound or graphic form).
3. The referent is the subject of reality.

Signs are substitutes for objects. In the process of using signs, a so-called “sign situation” arises.

Character properties:

1. Availability of material form;

2. Availability of meaning or content;

3. Existence only within the system and opposition to other signs only within the system. (Semiotics is the science of sign systems);

4. Conditionality;

5. Mandatory communication for everyone who uses this system.

WAYS TO ENRICH THE VOCABULARY OF THE LANGUAGE:

1. Borrowing (external resource).

2. Word formation (transition from one part to another, abbreviation of stems, affixation, addition of stems). This is an internal resource.

3. Changes in word meanings or semantic shifts (internal resource).