|
R.Kingdon uses the term “head” to mean only the first stressed syllable, which he considers to be an independent functional element. The stressed & unstressed syllables following the head form another functional element – the body.
The “pre-head”, “head” & “tail” is non-obligatory elements of an intonation group, whereas the nucleus is an obligatory & the most important functional element.
A higher prosodic unit is the utterance. The utterance is the main communicative unit. It is characterized by semantic entity which is expressed by all the language means: lexical, grammatical and prosodic. The prosodic structure of an utterance is a meaningful unit that contributes to the total meaning of the utterance. Each utterance has a definite prosodic structure.
The utterance may contain one intonation group, two or more. E.g. 'Listening is an im'portant 'process in 'learning a language. Be'sides the auditory ·process | there are speaking | reading | and `writing of the language. Irrespective of its structural complexity, the prosodic structure of the utterance is viewed as a single semantic entity.
The utterance is not the ultimate unit of prosodic analysis. In speech single utterances are not very frequent. On the contrary, they are connected and grouped into still larger units – hyper utterances, phonetic paragraphs and texts. The prosodic features of these higher units indicate the relations between their constituents, the degree of their connectedness and interdependence, thus forming the prosodic structures of the hyperutterances, the phonetic paragraphs and texts. The study of these units in modern linguistics is in the forefront of scholars’ interest.
To summarize, it is necessary to note, that the syllable, the rhythmical unit, the intonation group, the utterance and the hyperutterance are taxonomical prosodic units. Whereas the elements of the intonation group, considered above, i.e. prehead, head, nucleus and tail, are autonomous units, they are not related taxonomically.
The prosody of the utterance performs 3 basic functions: constitutive, distinctive & identificatory.
1. The constitutive function of prosody is to form utterances as communicative units. Prosody unifies words into utterances. A succession of words arranged syntactically is not a communicative unit until a certain prosodic pattern is attached to it. It forms all communicative types of utterances (statements, questions, imperatives, exclamations and modal types) e.g. categoric statements, non categoric, perfunctory statements, quizzical statements, certainty & uncertainty questions, insistent questions, etc. Prosody at the same time performs the segmentative & delimitative function. It segments connected discourse into utterances and intonation groups and simultaneously delimits them one from another, showing relations between them: Cf. “We can if we want to and “we can if we want to”. It also signals the semantic nucleus and other semantically important words of an utterance (or an intonation group). Prosody also constitutes phonetic styles of speech.
2. The distinctive function of prosody manifests itself in several particular functions, depending on the meanings which are differentiated. These are communicative -distinctive, modal –distinctive, culminative (“theme -rheme”) distinctive, syntactical –distinctive & stylistic –distinctive function.
The communicative –distinctive function is to differentiate the communicative types of utterances, i.e. statements, questions, etc. and communicative subtypes: e.g. within statements, statements proper (It was a 'very hot •after`noon, answers (It was a very hot •after`noon), informing statements, announcements, etc. within questions – first instance questions ('where did he `find it?), repeated questions (''where did he ``find it?), echo questions (•where did he find it?); within imperatives – commands ('Don’t be late), requests ('Don’t be late) an so on.
The modal –distinctive function of prosody manifests itself in differentiating modal meanings of utterances, i.e. the speaker’s attitudes & emotions, e.g. antagonistic versus friendly attitude and so on.
This function is often defined as expressive or emotional, attitudinal.
Various modal meanings can also be expressed and differentiated by lexical and grammatical means, e.g. such modal words as “sure”, “undoubtful”, “definitely”, “perhaps”, “may be”, “probably” and modal verbs “may”, “might” and so on. Usually, the speaker’s attitude corresponds to the contents of the words he chooses. But utterance prosody may disagree with word content and is, then, the crucial factor in determining the modal meaning of the utterance. Cf. “He definitely promised” and “He definitely promised”. In the first case the melodic contour agrees with the word content and the grammatical structure, whereas in the second case it does not. So the first utterance sounds definite and categoric. The second utterance sounds indefinite and non-categoric. In “`Thank you” the high falling tone is in harmony with the word content and expresses genuine gratitude. In “^Thank you” the rising-falling tone adds an antagonistic note to the utterance. That is why in actual speech the listener is more interested in the speaker’s “tone” than in his words.
The culminative-distinctive function of prosody manifests itself in differentiating the location of the semantic nuclei /nju:kliai/ pl. of utterances & other semantically important words. This function is often called logical (Artymov), predicative (Vinigradov), accentual (Gimson).
Some scholars claim that prosody indicates the “theme – rheme” organization of an utterance, i.e. it shows the thing already known & the new thing said about it e.g.
Theme – rheme
The' teacher has` come.
Rheme – Theme
The` teacher has come.
The syntactical - distinctive function of prosody is to differentiate syntactical types of sentences & syntactical relations in sentences.
E.g. Her, sister, said •Mary, | was a ' well –known` actress ( a compound sentence.)
Her' sister, said |' Mary was a 'well – known `actress (a complex sentence with an object subordinate clause)
'Smiling, Tom | 'entered the` hall.(“smiling” is an attribute)
, Smiling |'Tom 'entered the` hall. (“Smiling” is an adverbial modifier)
Stylistic – distinctive function of prosody manifests itself in that prosody differentiates pronunciation (phonetic) styles, determined by extra linguistic factors.
3. The identificatory function of prosody is to provide a basis for the hearer’s identification of the communicative & modal type of an utterance, its semantic & syntactical structure in accordance with the situation of the discourse.
All the functions of prosody are fulfilled simultaneously & cannot be separated one from another. They show that utterance prosody is linguistically significant & meaningful.
Each language has a certain limited number of such meaningful units, capable of distinguishing utterances. They are defined as intonemes. or utterance prosodemes.
The prosodic system is characteristic of each language. The prosodic systems of one language are not the same in form as those of other languages. Nor do they necessarily express the same meanings, though there may be resemblances here & there.
Emphasizing the role of intonation in speech, R.Kingdon says: “Intonation is the soul of a language while the pronunciation of its sounds is its body…
Thus, the linguistic character of prosody can be summarized in the following way:
Prosody of speech is significant & meaningful.
Prosody is systematic. It is not invented in speaking but produced according to the system of prosodic structures of a given language.
Prosody is a characteristic feature of each concrete language & cannot be used in speaking another language.
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
