Lecture 1 Phonetics as a Linguistic Science Plan

Lecture 13

Stylistic Use of Intonation.

Plan

1. 
   Informational style.
   
2. 
   Informational dialogues.
   
3. 
   Academic style.
   
4. 
   Publicistic style.
   
5. 
   Declamatory style.
   
6. 
   Conversational style.
   

1. Informational Style

"An intonational style can be defined as a system of interrelated intonational means which is used in a social sphere and serves a definite aim of communication" [Соколова и др.: 216].

The choice of an intonational style is determined primarily by the purpose of com­munication and then by a number of other extralinguistic and social factors. The following intonational styles are singled out:

1. 
   Informational.
   
2. 
   Academic (Scientific).
   
3. 
   Publicistic (Oratorial).
   
4. 
   Declamatory (Artistic).
   
5. 
   Conversational (Familiar).
   

Intonational style markers are restricted to .certain kinds of situational contexts and above all to the speakers' aim in communication. Thus an intonational style is seen as some kind of additive by which a basic content of thought may be modified.

The purpose of communication determines the types of information conveyed in oral texts. They may be intellectual, attitudinal (emotional, modal) and volitional (desider- ative). Each of these types is realised by means of specific prosodic parameters.

These stylistically marked modifications of all the prosodic features represent the invariants of the style forming intonation patterns common to all the registers of the particular style.

The invariant of the intonation patterns circulating in certain fields of communica­tion at a given period of time may be treated as the norm or the ideal of speech behaviour for these particular spheres of communication.

Informational style is sometimes qualified as "formal", "neutral", since in an ideal setting, in its pure manifestation it is least of all influenced or correlated by extralinguistic factors. It is manifested in the written variety of an informational narrative read aloud. The majority of these texts are of a purely descriptive character and are simply called de­scriptive narratives. The written speech, the reading, should not be subjected to the con­textual variables and the commonest and "ideal" situation for this register is the reading of such texts in class. They may be labelled as educational informational descriptive narratives.

As is widely known, spoken speech is less imperial, the spoken variety of such texts expresses more personal concern and involvement. They may be presented in different forms: monologues, dialogues, polylogues.

Press reporting and broadcasting, especially the reading of the news coverage over the radio is very close in its manner to this type of the style as the reader tends to

sound impartial when reporting routine news or weather forecasts, for example.

Informational style includes other spheres of communication: business and legal intercourse, the reading of administrative documents and so on.

Types of style, i.e. certain spheres of discourse are called registers, the term being widely used abroad in a broader sense, often meant as style in general (see table 22).

Speech Typology

By comparing the invariant characteristics of the two varieties of the language (writ­ten and spoken) in this register by the systematic phonological opposition we can make the following conclusion:

1. 
   Written (read aloud) and spoken texts belonging to the same intonational style have different prosodic realization.
   
2. 
   In oral speech the means of the prosodic realization are more vivid, expressive and' varied, especially in voice timbre, loudness, tempo, length of pauses and rhythm.
   
3. 
   The speaker often uses some hesitation phenomena (hesitation pauses and temporizers) intentionally, which enables him to obtain the balance between formality and informality and establish contacts with the public.
   
4. 
   The speaker uses various hesitation phenomena unintentionally which enables him to gain the time in search for suitable expression or idea and thus not interrupt the flow of speech.
   
5. 
   The speech is characterized by a greater number of intonation groups, supraphrasal units and phonopassages. In spontaneous speech an intonation group doesn't always coincide with a syntagm. Pauses at the end of the phrase are optional.
   
6. 
   The reading is characterized by a decentralized stress distribution whereas speaking - by a centralized one.
   
7. 
   Spontaneous speech is more contrastive, communicative centers are more vividly underlined; the emphasis is achieved by a wider range of terminal tones, greater degree of loudness and prominence of accented segments.
   
8. 
   The reading is rhythmical, oral speech rhythm is non-systematic, unpredictable, variable.
   

2. Informational Dialogues

Our next step in the analytic style description will be a dialogue. The following factors seem to be basical for the description in the dialogue - mono­logue dichotomy:

1. 
   the subject matter of a talk, its randomness,
   
2. 
   the inexplicitness of the speech,
   
3. 
   the incompleteness of utterances,
   
4. 
   the redundance of vocal expression.
   

This gives us the reason to distinguish several types of dialogues:

5. 
   specialized informative talks on serious and intellectual subject matters (such as
   

educational, psychological, political, etc.).

6. 
   discussions on serious and weighty problems,
   
7. 
   debates,
   
8. 
   everyday conversations, telephone talks among them.
   

There are certain things common to all dialogue talks as opposed to monologues. A dialogue is a coordinated simultaneous speech act of two participants or rather a speaker and a listener. Thus the factuous contact is conveyed. It is essential that in any successful conversation "give-and-take" between the sender and receiver should be maintained.

The attention-getting function is established by putting all sorts of questions, agreement, question tags to show the interest and guide the course of the talk towards a given theme and also by using all sorts of response and non-response words and utter­ances both of verbal and non-verbal character. This communion may be so close that the speakers often talk simultaneously. There might be also permanent recapitulations upon the request of the listener. The utterances on the part of both participants tend to be in­complete since the context makes perfectly plain to them what was being intended thus making redundant its vocal expression.

Hesitation phenomena are of primary significance in determining acceptability or otherwise of conveyers. Hesitancy is strongly influenced by periods of creative thinking and word searching. Voiceless hesitation is also very frequent, it tends to occur relatively randomly, not just at places of major grammatical junctions, which is more the pattern of written English read aloud. Voiced hesitation' consists of hesitant drawls, verbal and non-verbal fillers such as er, ehm, mm.

Any kind of dialogue is also joined up by means of non-verbal communication — facial expressions (a raised eyebrow, a glance towards the partner, etc.), gestures, body movements and noises such as whistles, artificial clearing of the throat, snorts, sniffs, laughs and other paralinguistic features of significance.

On the lexical and grammatical level there is a high- proportion of errors which seem not to bother the speakers.

Interpolations are commonly interjectional in character, their function is primarily to indicate that attention is being maintained.

We should also mention here all sorts of introductions, afterthoughts, high propor­tion of parenthetical words which even increases in a more serious type of conversation.

Dialogues are commonly characterized by a large number of loosely coordinated clauses, the coordination being structurally ambiguous, a series of loosely coordinated sentence-like structures.

By opposing informational monologue - dialogue phonostylistic characteristics we will draw the following conclusions:

The Invariant of Pbonostylistic Characteristics of Informational Spontaneous Dialogues

1. The structural hierarchy of a monologue is: phonopassages - phrases - intonation groups; whereas the one of a dialogue is: blocks - dialogical units - phrases - intonation groups.

2. 
   There is some distinction between the opposed varieties on the part of segmental features notably in vowel length, voicing and devoicing of consonants, assimilations and elisions, but the phonological differences lie mainly in the use of non-segmental features of basic prosodic configurations.
   
3. 
   In a dialogue there is a wider range of contrasts in prosodic and paralinguistic effects, thus the danger of misunderstanding is avoided through the introduction of a large number of prosodic contrasts.
   
4. 
   The attitudes of the talkers are more variable in a dialogue, but, since both analysed forms belong to the informational style, impartiality prevails. Changes in the attitude condition changes in prosodic features. They also condition variations in utterance length. In a dialogue there is a strong tendency to keep them short, to break up potentially lengthy intonation groups wherever possible. The average length of units in the majority of cases falls within the range of 1—5 words. Relatively high proportion of incomplete phrasal segments is noticeable. Phrases are commonly short at the beginning, longer as topics are introduced, longer still as argument develops and short again as the end approaches.
   
5. 
   In a dialogue the rhythmicality is even more non-systematic, there is no stable pattern of rhythm.
   
6. 
   The tempo (rate + pauses) in a monologue is normally less varied but in both cases it is conditioned by the importance of information, the fluency of speakers, their familiarity with the topic (theme) and experience in speaking. In general in a mono­logue less fluent speech is being the expected kind.
   

4. Academic Style

Academic style is often described by phonostylists as both intellectual and vo­litional. It is determined by the purpose of the communication as the speaker's aim is to attract the listener's attention, to establish close contacts with the audience and to direct the public attention to the message carried in the contents of the text. It is frequently manifested in academic and educational lectures, scientific discussions, at the conferences, seminars and in classes. As the users of the style are interested in the involvement of the audience into the talk, this intonational style tends to be concerned and rather emotional.

The "ideal model" of the scientific style talk would be an academic informational lecture read aloud or relied heavily upon the set of notes with the attempts on the part of lecturers to get their meaning across clearly. The balance between formality is obtained in favour of the former (see table 29).

Specific characteristics of the academic style which display features not shared by others include:

1. 
   A scientific (academic) text read aloud in public in front of a fairly-sized audience conveys both intellectual and volitional information, so the attitudinal and emphatic functions of intonation are of primary importance here.
   
2. 
   A lecturer always sounds self-assured, authoritative, instructive and edifying, because any scientific style talk should be well prepared and is often even rehearsed by a trained lecturer.
   
3. 
   A scientific style talk presenter sounds much louder than an informational style reader as any public oration is produced face to face with a fairly-sized audience. Instances of diminished loudness are observed only in bringing out phrases expressing forgetfulness, uncertainty, word-searching.
   
4. 
   The prosodic features of the academic style reading are rather varied as intonation correlates the lecturer's attempts to get his meaning across clearly and to obtain the balance between formality and informality. This variety is created by:
   
   1. 
      The alternation of pauses, types of heads, pitch levels and terminal tones.
      
   2. 
      The ample use of variations and contrasts of the tempo to help the listener to differentiate between the more and less important parts of the overall flow of speech. The speaker normally slows down when he introduces rules, terms, scientific laws, etc. This makes them stand out.
      
5. 
   The rhythmical organization of a scientific text is properly balanced by the alternation of all prosodic features which gives the acoustic impression of "rhythmicality".
   
6. 
   High falling and falling-rising p tones are widely used as a means of both logical and contrastive emphasis (see table 30).
   

5. Publicistic Style

The term "publicistic" serves for many kinds of oratorial activities, that is why this intonational style is often called "oratorial. There is a great deal of overlap between aca­demic, publicistic and declamatory style when the basic aim of the speaker is to extend persuasive and emotional influence on the listeners and, of course, volitional and de-sid- erative information is predominant in the texts. But in publicistic speeches it is achieved not only through argumentation as in the academic style or imagery as in the declamatory style, but through all sorts of direct oratorial performances. These performances are de­signed to entertain the public thus accomplishing the purpose of imposing the speaker's ideas on listeners.

So publicistic style is commonly called by phonostylists oratorial, volitional and desiderative. Its manifestation can be heard in political, judicial, oratorial speeches, in sermons, parliamentary debates, at congresses, meetings, press conferences and so on.

The invariant of phonostylistic characteristics of Publicistic oratorial speeches is given in table 31.

Public oratorial speeches are so removed from everyday informational narratives and so vividly marked on the grammatical, lexical and prosodic levels that are immedi­ately recognized by listeners and labelled as oratorial skills and exercises.

As there is a very strong concern on the part of the speaker about the effects achieved by his speech on the listener, the former uses all kinds of oratorial performances which on the prosodic level are characterized by the incomparable variations and con­trasts within the systems of pitch loudness, tempo and timbre accompanied by kinesic components.

These prosodic contrasts, very expressive facial mimics and gestures identify cer­tain oral texts as belonging to publicistic in-tonational style.

It is undoubtedly clear that volitional .and emotional function of intonation is pre­dominant in this register against the background of other functions.

As any publicistic speech is fully prepared and even rehearsed, it usually goes smoothly and with ease, without hesitation devices. It is marked by its dignified slowness, careful articulation and impressive resonance on the most important communicative cen­tres and properly rhythmically organized. A certain amount of style variations is a must when we perform within publicistic discourse.

Publicistic speakers are usually very enthusiastic about what they say and how they say, so they may go to extremes by enormously increasing the loudness and alternate it with whisper or by pronouncing very long breath groups and suddenly interrupt the phonation by using the rhetorical silence. These and other prosodic contrasts produce great effects and captivate the attention and interest of the listener.

The greatest single stylistic characteristic of publicistic speeches is the large amount of parallelisms on any level, prosodic features including.

All the above-mentioned general characteristics serve to produce a complex vo­cal effect called "oration", designed to make the listeners respond to the publicistic speech-maker.

6. Declamatory Style

This intonational style is also called by some as "artistic, acquired or stage". At- titudinal, volitional and intellectual functions of intonation are of primary importance here and serve to appeal to the mind, will and feelings of the listener. Most commonly it is performed through all sorts of image-bearing devices which require rehearsing and professional skills. This intonational style can be heard on the stage, on the screen, in a TV studio or in a classroom during verse speaking and prose readings and recitations. It is always a written form of the language read aloud or recited.

Acting is a two-way conversation, players respond very directly and promptly to the "feedback" they get from the audience; the "feedback" in their case being almost certainly communal, collective, non-verbal language. Methods of achieving, stimulating and main­taining this "conversation" with their audience must inevitably be the mainspring of the actors' "training".

To feel, to know, even to express the contents of their drama is a wasted and futile activity if it is not conveyed to other participants — the audience. Distancing, posture, gesture, facial expression and timing - all these facets of actor's art are as important as the delivery of words themselves.

It is common knowledge that prose, which describes an action or a series of actions to tell a story, is called narrative.

The prose is descriptive when scenes, objects, people, or even a person's feelings are described in such a way that we can imagine them vividly. In good descriptive writ­ing an author builds up a picture in words in much the same way as an artist paints a landscape or a portrait.

The prosodic organization of the declamatory reading depends on the type of the literary text - descriptive, narrative, dialogue; on the character of the described events, schemes and objects (humorous, tragic, romantic, dreamy, imaginative and so on) and of course on the skills of the reader. But it is always clearly marked and distinguished by its expressiveness, personal involvement on the part of the author, by the emphasis, by the entire range of prosodic and paralinguistic effects and it is all felt through the skilful reading (see table 32).

The phonological opposition of the informational and declamatory reading shows that both readings differ totally in any aspect, but primarily in the voice timbre - in the declamatory reading the emotional colouring of the voice is very rich, varied according to the degree of emphasis.

On the prosodic level the markers of the declamatory style reading are: 1. Slow tempo, caused by the lento rate of utterances and prolonged pauses, especially

at the passage boundaries.

2. 
   Stable rhythmicality.
   
3. 
   The use of the falling terminal tones in initial intonation groups, the increase of their range with the emphasis.
   

7. Conversational Style

Conversational style is also called familiar. This kind of English is also a means for everyday communication, heard in natural conversational interaction between speakers. So phonetic stylists call it conversational. Some scholars also call it informal, because this style occurs mainly in informal external and internal relationships in the speech of rela­tives, friends, well-acquainted people and so on

In informal situations, where speakers are more relaxed, less attention is given by them to the effect they produce on the listeners, because in everyday life a more natural and spontaneous style will be used. It is the style at the extreme informal end of the sty­listic linear continuum that is known as "vernacular" [Brown 1977]. Thus all speakers have a vernacular style but its variations in the use of non-standard norms depend on the social background. In this style variation will be at its most consistent level. It is the most situationally influenced kind of English.

In conversational style the emotional reaction to the stimulating speech signals is very important so the attitudinal function of intonation here comes to the fore. Therefore one is liable to find here a wider range of contrasts at any level than could be expected elsewhere.

In a conversation we do not just listen to words, we derive the meaning con­sciously or unconsciously from a number of other communicative systems and it could be that a lift of an eyebrow, a twitch at the side of the mouth, or a silence tell us more than a dozen sentences.

But undoubtedly the verbal part of the communication plays a very important role and has its own systems too but only linked with other effective ways contributed by the speakers. The full effect is achieved and meanings are exchanged even with strangers and about unfamiliar topics.

Spontaneous, colloquial, informal conversations display certain common linguistic characteristics.

1. 
   Firstly, talks of this kind are characterized by the inexplicitness of the language as the speakers rely very much upon the extralinguistic factors — context, kinesics, etc. This manifests itself in "incompleteness" of many utterances as the context makes it clear what was meant by the speaker, thus making redundant its vocal expression (see example 1):