Reading aloud scientific prose

In the case of reading aloud scientific prose the most widely used pre-nuclear pattern is also (Low Pre-Head + ) Stepping Head. Sometimes the broken Stepping Head is found, if an acci­dental rise occurs on some item of importance. The Stepping Head may be replaced by the so-called heterogeneous head, i. e. a combination of two or several heads. The most frequently used types of the Heterogeneous Head here are as follows: (a) the Stepping Head combined with the Falling Head; (b) the bro­ken Stepping Head combined with the Falling Head; (c) the Stepping Head combined with the Sliding Head; (d) the broken Stepping Head combined with the Sliding Head.

Occasionally the Scandent Head is employed which is an efficient means of making a sentence or an intonation group more emphatic. In this connection it is important to note the use of a succession of falls (both low and high) within any kind of head described above.

Final intonation groups are pronounced predominantly with the low or the high falling tone. Non-final intonation groups ex­hibit more possibilities of variations. In addition to the simple tunes found in final intonation groups the following compound tunes are used: the Fall-Rise and the Rise-Fall. But the falling nuclear tone ranks first, the Low Rise or the Mid-Level being much less common. It should be borne in mind that the falling nuclear tone in non-final groups in most cases does not reach the lowest possible pitch level.

Compound tunes make the oral representation of a written scientific text more expressive by bringing out the most impor­tant items in an utterance. Moreover, they secure greater intonational cohesion between different parts of a text.

Thus the following intonation patterns may be added to the ones listed above:

(Low Pre-Head +) (Stepping Head) + Rise-Fall (+ Tail)

(Low Pre-Head + ) (Heterogeneous Head) + Low Fall (+ Tail)

(Low Pre-Head +) (Heterogeneous Head +) High Fall (+ Tail)

(Low Pre-Head +) (Heterogeneous Head +) Fall-Rise ( + Tail)

(Low Pre-Head +) (Sliding Head or High Falls +) High Fall (+ Tail)

(Low Pre-Head +) (Sliding Head or High Falls +) High Fall + Rise (+ Tail)

(Low Pre-Head +) (Scandent Head +) Low Fall (+ Tail)

(Low Pre-Head +) (Scandent Head +) High Fall (+ Tail)

The temporal component of intonation displays the following regularities. The speed of utterance fluctuates from normal to accelerated, but it is never too fast. The accelerated speed of utterance is accounted for by the greater length of words and the greater number of stressed syllables within an intonation group. It can be also explicable in terms of the number of communica­tive centres (the principal points of information in a sentence). The matter is that a communicative centre is brought out by slowing down the speed of utterance. Since communicative cen­tres are fewer in number as compared with other less important words, which are pronounced at greater speed than usual, the general speed of utterance is perceived as accelerated.

Reading scientific prose is characterised by contrastive rhythmic patterns (arhythmic utterance). This is predetermined by the correlation of rhythm and speed of utterance. It is gener­ally assumed that slow speed entails regular rhythm while in ac­celerated speech rhythm is less regular.

Pauses are predominantly short, their placement and the en­suing internal boundaries are always semantically or syntactical­ly predictable. Hesitation pauses are to be avoided.

Task 5. Analyse and read a piece from the following lecture. Mark the tunes according to the rules stated above. Listen to your group-mates and say whether you agree with the intonation used.

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 1317