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1. Законспектировать в рабочих тетрадях Лекцию 6.

Lecture 6
THE PROSODIC SYSTEM OF ENGLISH
OUTLINE:
1. A general notion and functions of prosody (intonation).
2. The pitch component of intonation.
3. Utterance stress.
4. Rhythm: the structure of a rhythmic group.
5. Temporal characteristics of intonation.

1) A general notion and functions of prosody (intonation).

Intonation is defined as a complex unity of speech melody, sentence stress, tempo,
rhythm and voice timbre, which enables the speaker to express his thoughts, emotions and
attitudes towards the content of the utterance and the hearer. Speech melody, sentence stress, tempo,
rhythm and timbre are all components of intonation. Phoneticians abroad define intonation as the
variation of the pitch of the voice, thus reducing it to one component – speech melody. This is a
narrow approach to the definition of intonation.The notion of prosody is broader than the notion of
intonation as it can be applied to the utterance, the word, the syllable.
The syllable is widely recognized to be the smallest prosodic unit. A rhythmic, or
accentual, unit (group) is either one stressed syllable or a stressed syllable with a number of
unstressed ones grouped around it. The intonation group is hierarchically higher than the rhythmic
unit. Structurally the intonation group has some obligatory formal characteristics. These are the
nuclear stress on the semantically most important word and the terminal tone. The boundaries
between intonation groups are marked by tonal junctures and pauses. The structure of the intonation
group varies depending on the number of syllables and rhythmic units in it.
A higher unit in which prosodic features are actualized is the utterance. The utterance is the
main communicative unit. It is characterized by semantic entity which is expressed by all the
language means. The prosodic structure of an utterance is a meaningful unit that contributes to the
total meaning of this utterance.
Pitch, one of the prosodic subsystems, or speech melody is the variations in the pitch of the
voice which take place with voiced sounds. To describe the melody of an utterance it is necessary to
determine the relevant pitch levels, pitch ranges, directions and rate of pitch movement in the
terminal zone and pre-terminal part of each of its intonation groups.
Words grouped into an utterance are not all equally important. Depending on the context or
the communication situation some words appear to contribute more information than others. Those
that are semantically more important are made prominent. The special prominence given to one or
more words in an utterance is called utterance stress. The means, with the help of which the
special prominence is achieved and the effect of stress is produced, are variations of pitch,
loudness, length and quality.
English is considered to be mostly a language with stress-timed rhythm. Stress-timed rhythm
presupposes that utterance stress serves as a basis for the rhythmic organization of speech and that
stresses segment the speech continuum into units of more or less equal length.
In the use of language speakers express themselves mainly in sentences which can be
organized into texts. Sentences consist of phrases, and phrases consist of words. When describing
speech the term discourse is more appropriate than the term text. Discourse is understood as an act
of speech which occurs in a given place and during a given period of time. A discourse consists of
at least one utterance and an utterance consists of at least one intonation group/tone unit. The
minimal independent unit of communication in oral speech is an utterance. It can be pronounced as
one intonation group, in this case it has a simple tune, or as a sequence of intonation groups having
a combined tune. An intonation group containing more than one kinetic tone is said to have a
compound tune.
Intonation groups/tone units are broken into rhythmic groups (phonetic words). So, there are
different terms describing the units of speech and the units of language.
The main units of language are: text, sentence, phrase / sense-group / syntagm, word,
phoneme.
The main units of speech are: discourse, utterance, intonation group/tone-unit, rhythmic
group / phonetic word, syllable, segment / allophone.
In the process of communication variations in the pitch, loudness, rate and timbre of the
voice play a very important role in defining communicative types of utterances, expressing new and
old information and showing the speaker’s attitude to the situation of communication. Such features
are generally referred to as prosodic, or supra-segmental. The term supra-segmental is applied to
the levels of the pronunciation system except the segmental (phonemic) level.
While listening we notice that the speakers raise or lower their voice, speak louder or
quieter, faster or slower. We can also define the boundaries between utterances because the speaker
makes pauses. These features are perceived as variations in the pitch, loudness and rate. From the
linguistic point of view they are known as intonation. Thus, intonation is made up of the pitch
component, the force component and the temporal component.
The pitch component, also known as speech melody, is described as the changes or
variations in the pitch of the voice in connected speech. It is the most important component of
intonation. Some linguists use it as a synonym of intonation.
Utterance stress makes the force component of intonation perceived as the greater
prominence of one or more words in an utterance.
The temporal component manifests itself in rate (tempo, duration, pauses) and rhythm.
Besides the above-mentioned components there is another characteristic feature of the voice – its
quality, the timbre of a sound or tone that distinguishes it from another tone having the same pitch,
duration and loudness.
 In the broadest sense of the word intonation is defined as a complex unity of speech melody,
utterance stress, rhythm, tempo and timbre.
The communicative function of intonation is realized in many ways and different authors
while describing the functions of intonation use different terminology but there is no agreement
among phoneticians about the exact functions of intonation. It is obvious that intonation is
connected with grammar, attitude and discourse, so the functions of intonation can be viewed under
the following headings: grammatical, accentual, attitudinal, discourse.
1) Grammatical:
 pauses delimit utterances and parts of utterances in the speech flow;
 pauses and tones reflect semantic and syntactic relations between the words
composing utterances;
 tones indicate the communicative type of an utterance.
2) Accentual function: utterance stress singles out the communicative centre of an intonation
group.
3) Attitudinal or modal function: intonation helps in expressing the speaker’s emotions and
attitudes.
4) Discourse function: intonation differentiates between new and given information in
utterances and discourse.

2) Speech melody (the pitch component)

The pitch component, or speech melody, can be defined as variations in the height/pitch of
the voice during speech. Speakers can lower or raise the voice, say something in a high or low
voice, speak monotonously or lively. These variations are described in terms of the direction of the
pitch, the pitch level and the pitch range. Together with variations in loudness and duration they
create the effect of accentuation.
The minimal unit of intonation description is an intonation group/tone-unit. Intonation
groups have peculiar stress- and pitch- patterns known as intonation contours/tunes.
Intonation groups are made up of syllables and the syllable where the main pitch movement
occurs is called a nuclear tone/tonic syllable. It makes the nucleus, or the semantic centre, of the
tune – the only obligatory element of an intonation group.
e.g. Dad... ║ Yes? ║
In the above-mentioned examples each intonation group has only the nucleus. The nucleus,
however, may be followed by unstressed or partially stressed syllables called the tail.
e.g. Thanks,  Dad.
Nucleus Tail
The pre-nuclear part may contain the head and the pre-head. The head starts with the
onset/first fully stressed syllable and stretches up to the nucleus, including stressed and unstressed
syllables.
e.g.  I  want to  marry  Frank,  Dad.
Head Nucleus Tail
Unstressed or partially stressed syllables preceding the onset make the pre-head.
e.g. I'm  going to  marry Frank.
Pre-head Head Nucleus
The main movements of pitch, within an intonation group, are called tones. Tones can be
produced without the variation in the pitch (static /level tones) and with changing the pitch of the
voice (kinetic/dynamic tones). Static tones mostly occur in the head; they can be high, mid and
low. Kinetic tones usually make the nucleus of a sense group.
Kinetic tones are distinguished according to the direction of the pitch change (falling,
rising, falling-rising, rising-falling) , width/interval of the pitch change (full, wide, narrow),
starting point of the pitch change ( high, mid, low).
The direction of the pitch change plays an important role in defining the communicative
type of an utterance, for example, falling tones are used in statements and rising tones are normally
used in questions: e.g. Yes. (statement) Yes? (question)
Imperatives pronounced with a falling tone are perceived as commands; Fall-Rise (divided)
turns an imperative into a request.e.g.  Wipe your shoes.(command) Wipe your shoes.
(request)
Direction of the pitch change also indicates how intonation groups are related to each other
in utterances and how utterances are related in a discourse (discourse function).
1) Utterances with several intonation groups (a combined tune) have a rising or a falling-
rising tone in initial intonation groups to express non-finality, a falling tone in the final intonation
group expresses finality.e.g . One Diet  Pepsi | and  two glasses of milk.
2) In a dialogical discourse the speaker may give the same or a new answer to a special/Wh
question depending on the tone with which the question is asked. Compare the two conversations:
1. 2.
A: – When did you arrive? A: – When did you arrive?
B: – Last week. B: – Last week.
A:When? A: When?
B: – Last week. B: – Last Monday.
In the first conversation Speaker A fails to hear when Speaker B arrived, and (s)he asks for
repetition pronouncing  When? with the rising tone. In this case Speaker B gives the same
information (Last week.) in the reply. In the second conversation Speaker A wants to know when
exactly Speaker B arrived last week. The falling tone in the second special question requires new
information, so a different answer is given (Last Monday.)
3) Fall and Fall-Rise have different discourse functions. Falling tones introduce new
information. Fall-Rise may be called a referring tone, as it refers to the information either already
mentioned by or known to the speaker. If we mention some facts for the first time the voice
normally falls on the last notional/content word:
e.g. My mother  came from Luhansk. (a statement of the fact)
However, the same sentence can be a reaction to the previous remark in a conversation:
e.g. – I’ m going to Luhansk tomorrow.
– Really? My mother  came from Lu hansk.
Fall and Fall-Rise have different meaning in utterances that begin with I told you…, He
said…, They promised…, I thought…etc. Fall-Rise in such sentences means “I was right”, while Fall
means” I was wrong”.
e.g. I  hoped you’d recog4 nize me. (=you didn’t recognize)
I 4 hoped you’d recognize me. (=you recognized)
To understand better the speaker’s attitude one should pay attention to the pitch levels and
ranges. For example, if somebody yells, screams or shouts they speak very loudly at the top of their
voice because they are so angry, afraid or excited that they cannot control their voice. When people
cheer they show happiness, approval, or support of something or somebody. Yelling, screaming,
shouting and cheering are the ways of showing strong emotions. Such feelings are associated with
great loudness and high pitch levels. A medium pitch level is characteristic of neutral speech
lacking strong emotions. A low pitch level may indicate the speaker’s bad mood resulting in
grumbling, whining, muttering, grunting.
The pitch levels, like direction of the pitch change can also perform a discourse function. A
high pitch indicates new important information, a low pitch is associated with additional or less
important information. The interval between the highest and the lowest pitch syllable is called the
range of the intonation group. Prepared speech is characterized by a wider range than unprepared
casual speech. The range is widened if speakers use emphatic intonation.

3) Utterance stress
Stress is the degree of prominence of a syllable within a word or a word within an
intonation group or utterance. Utterance -stress can be defined as relative degree of prominence
given to various words in an utterance. The distribution of stress in an utterance is determined by
the interaction of syntactic, semantic, and rhythmic factors.
From the syntactic point of view, notional/ content words provide most of the information
and are normally stressed, while functional/ form words do not carry so much information, as a
result they are unstressed. In the table below find the list of notional and functional parts of speech.
Within an intonation group, there may be several words that receive prominence, but only
one expressing the main idea. This word receives nuclear stress, ordinary or emphatic. Words in
the head are said to have pre-nuclear stress which can be full (ordinary or emphatic) and partial.
Post-nuclear stress can only be partial.
e. g. I’m  booking a very  special  holiday.
(full stress in the head, emphatic nuclear stress, partial stress in the tail);
A sur prise party! (emphatic stress in the head);
They are  coming down by train. (full and partial stress in the head).
The main function of utterance stress is to single out the focus/communicative centre of the
utterance. At the beginning of a conversation, the last notional word is usually the focus of
meaning/the communicative centre of an intonation group because it introduces new information.
After a conversation begins the focus changes as each person speaks, so any word can be the focus.
e.g.. – I’ve bought a DOG. (DOG is new information).
– What SORT of dog? (SORT is new information, dog is old/given information).
– Oh, just an ORDINARY dog.
– What’s it CALLED?
–It’s got just an ordinary NAME.
Nucleus can be shifted to an earlier part of the sentence to make the contrastive focus, or
logical stress.
e.g. –Is she thin, grey-haired and in her forties? –No, she’s FAT, grey-haired and
in her forties.
Functional words can also become prominent through logical stress:
e.g. My sister used to go out with Elvis. - Not THE Elvis!

4) Rhythm: the structure of a rhythmic group.

The speech rhythm is the recurrence of stressed syllables at certain intervals of time. There
are languages with syllable-timed rhythm and stress-timed rhythm. In syllable-timed languages all
syllables are of equal value, they follow each other with fairly equal length and force without a
strong contrast of stress. English and Russian are stress-timed languages, it means that rhythm in
them is based on the alteration of strongly and weekly stressed syllables.
A stressed syllable pronounced together with the unstressed syllables forms a rhythmic
group. There are two types of unstressed syllables: proclitics and enclitics. Proclitics precede the
stressed syllable and are pronounced faster. Enclitics follow the stressed syllable and are
characterized by the lower speed of speaking.
The stressed syllables have a strong tendency to follow each other at approximately equal
intervals of time. When the number of syllables in adjacent stress-groups is not equal, the tempo
will be highest in the group having the greatest number of syllables.
Rhythm influences utterance (sentence) stress. Under the influence of rhythm words that are
normally pronounced with two equally strong stresses may lose one of them, or their word stress
may be realized differently. Notional words may be unstressed under the influence of rhythm,
which is typical of rapid colloquial style.
In connected speech the stressed syllables are pronounced together with the unstressed or
partially stressed syllables forming peaks of prominence, or rhythmic groups. Because rhythmic
groups (peaks of prominence) occur at approximately the same period of time and listeners percept
(hear) them as regular beats, the beginning of a rhythmic group is associated with a stressed
syllable:
Yoga, | yoga. ||  I can do yoga.|| Can  you do yoga  too?

This approach to dividing the speech flow into rhythmic groups is known as “formal”, it
helps to keep regular time intervals, so it is convenient for learning purposes.
However, this formal rhythmic group boundary may be in conflict with the meaning of the
utterance:
Well, Mr Smith retired last  month.

In this case it would be quite reasonable to use the semantic principal of rhythmic division,
so as not to tear apart the word “retired” into different rhythmic groups:
Well, Mr Smith retired last  month.

So, the difference between proclitics and enclitics is based on semantic and grammatical
criteria: functional words are attached to the notional words with which they are connected
semantically and grammatically.
I  love my computer.

I  never have  problems.

5) The temporal component of intonation

The tempo of speech is the rate at which utterances and their smaller units are pronounced.
Phoneticians generally distinguish normal tempo and two departures from the norm: fast and slow.
The speech continuum is divided into units of different length and hierarchy by means of
pauses. It is the main function of a pause to segment connected speech into utterances and
intonation groups to delimit one utterance or intonation group from another.
 Pausation is closely connected with other components of intonation. The number and the
length of pauses affect the general tempo of speech. A slower tempo makes the utterance more
prominent and more important.
Pauses are usually divided into filled/voiced and unfilled/ silent. A silent pause is a stop in
the phonation, a period of silence. The length of a silent pause is relative: it depends on the tempo
and duration of a previous speech unit (an intonation group, an utterance, a dialogical unity in a
dialogue or a phonopassage in a monologue).Pauses between two sentences are obligatory. Known
as double/two-unit pauses, they are longer than pauses between intonation groups and are marked
by two vertical bars / || /. Pauses made between intonation groups are shorter in length, either a unit
pause, marked by a single vertical bar / |/ or a brief pause, marked by a wavy line / ︴/. A treble
pause, marked by three vertical bars/ ||| /, is usually used to separate phonopassages.
Pauses perform not only a delimiting function; they show semantic and syntactic relations
between utterances and intonation groups. Pauses in utterances play the same role as comas in
sentences: they can completely change the meaning of the utterance: e.g. A man without a woman |
is a failure. (a man is a failure; the pause is not obligatory) A man without, | a woman is a failure. (a
woman is a failure; the pause is obligatory).
Unlike silent pauses, voice/filled pauses seldom occur for syntactic purposes, their main
function is to show hesitation, doubt or suspense. Filled pauses are characteristic of unprepared
speaking, when speakers say [q], [E:], [m] gaining time to formulate their ideas.e.g. - Do 0you
<speak 7Greek? ->Erm, ︴a >bit |…
Pauses can be used for emphasis. Such pauses are known as dramatic, or pregnant pauses,
they are usually quite long.A long dramatic pause after an important idea underlines what has just
been said. A long pause before an important idea keeps the listener in suspense. The longer the
pause, the greater the effect of what you have said or are about to say.

2. Выполнить и прислать КТ5.

Credit point 5
Accentual structure of English

1. Mark the following statements as true or false:

1) The phonetic structure of a word comprises the sounds and the syllabic structure.
2) The stress pattern of the word is often called the accentual structure of a word.
3) The perceptual impression of stress is that of prominence.
4) Phonetician A.C. Gimson states that a more prominent syllable is accompanied by
an increase of energy.
5) Dynamic word stress is achieved by variations in the pith level.
6) The musical stress is mostly observed in European languages.
7) English word-stress is of a complex nature.
8) British phoneticians distinguish three degrees of word-stress in English: primary,
secondary and tertiary.
9) The main functions of the word-stress in English are constitutive, recognitive and
identificatory.
10) The semantic tendency consists in retaining the stress of the parent word in the
derivatives.

2. Choose the right variant to fill in the gaps in the sentences below:
1) The word-stress which is achieved by variations in pitch level is … .
A) dynamic B) musical C) quantitative D) qualitative
2) The word-stress which is achieved by greater loudness on the auditory level and
greater intensity on te acoustic level is … .
A) dynamic B) musical C) quantitative D) qualitative
3) In languages with … stress the effect of stress is achieved by duration (the quantity
of the sound).
A) dynamic B) musical C) quantitative D) qualitative
4) The strongest stress in the word is called … .
A) primary B) secondary C) weak
5) The syllables bearing primary or secondary stress are termed … .
A) stressed B) unstressed
6) The word-stress in English is … .
A) fixed B) free
7) Compound adjectives and phrasal verbs are pronounced with the stress on the ... .
A) first component B) second component C) both components
8) The … tendency results in retaining the stress of the parent word in the derivatives.
A) recessive B) rhythmic C) retentive D) semantic
9) The … tendency results in placing the word-stress on the initial syllable.
A) recessive B) rhythmic C) retentive D) semantic
10) The … tendency results in alternating of stressed and unstressed syllables.
A) recessive B) rhythmic C) retentive D) semantic

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