Choose between the variants: A or B

1. The correlation of degrees of prominence of the syllables in a word forms:

A.the stress pattern of words

B.utterance stress

2. A constituent feature of the phonetic structure of a word taken in isolation:

A.utterance stress

B.word stress

3. A constituent feature of the phonetic structure of a spoken sentence:

A.utterance stress

B.word stress

4. Factors that condition the position of word stress are:

A.objective

B.subjective

5. The placement of utterance stress is conditioned by:

A.the orthoepic norm

B.the situational and linguistic context

6. The effect of prominence is achieved by changes in pitch level in … languages.

A.dynamic

B.tonic

7. English word stress is:

A.fixed

B.free

8. English word stress is of … nature.

A.complex

B.dynamic

9. The accentuation tendency to stress he third syllable from the end is …

A.rhythmic

B.recessive

10. What degree of word stress is not linguistically relevant and is not included into the British classification?

A.secondary

B.tertiary

Fill in the gaps in the table: types of word-stress

The criterion	Type of word-stress	Basic characteristics
According to the nature of word-stress	dynamic (force)	The effect of prominence is achieved by ……
……………	The effect of prominence is achieved by uttering a stressed syllable on a different pitch level or with a different pitch direc­tion than the other syllable or syllables of the word, e.g. Oriental languages(Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese), African languages
qualitative	The effect of prominence is achieved by ………….
quantitative	The effect of prominence is achieved by ……………….
According to the stability of position	Free: (1) ………accent is one which remains on the same morpheme in different grammatical forms of a word or in different derivatives from one and the same root,e.g. wonder, wonderful, wonderfully(2) …..accent is one which falls on different morphemes in different grammatical forms of a word or in different derivatives from one and the same root, e. g. active – activity; сад – садовод –садовый.	……………………….
……………….	the main accent in­variably falls on a syllable which occupies in all the words of the language one and the same position in relation to the beginning or end of a word, e.g. French, Check.

Fill in the gaps in the table: accentuation tendencies in English

Accentuation tendency	The essence of the tendency
………………tendency	stress falls on the first syllable which is generally the root syllable (mother, ready) or on the second syllable if a word has a prefix of no special meaning (become, indeed, forgive, behind)
the rhythmic tendency	…………………………………..
………………….tendency	The stress of the parent word is often preserved in derivatives (`personal – `perso`nality)
There is a tendency to stress the most important elements in words such as …………………………………………………………………………………..

Seminar 6 Utterance Prosody. Prosodic units. Prosodic Subsystems. Functional Aspect of Prosody.

Topics for discussion

1. What is your idea of intonation? Do you see any difference between the terms

“intonation” & “prosody”? Speak about the meanings & functions of prosody.

1. Give account of the prosodic units of a language.
2. Describe the prosodic subsystems: pitch & utterance stress.
3. Speak about the prosodic subsystems: rhythm, tempo & pauses.
4. What is bilingualism? Discuss the problem of phonetic interference, mention the features of Russian – English phonemic and prosodic interference.

Literature

1. Боисова, Л.В., Метлюк, А.А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: учеб.пособие для ин-тов и фак. иностр.яз./ Л.В. Борисова, А.А. Метлюк. – Минск: «Вышэйшая школа», 1980. – С.69 - 109
2. Васильев, В.А. Фонетика английского языка. Нормативный курс: учебник для ин-тов и фак. иностр.яз./ В. А. Васильев [и др.] – 2-е изд.перераб. - М.: Высшая школа, 1980. - С. 286 -322
3. Соколова, М.А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка. Практикум: учеб.пособие / М.А. Соколова, И.А.Афонская, Л.Б.Ковалева [и др.] – М.: «Профобразование»,2001. – С.98 - 142

Key terms: intonation, prosody, a rhythmic group, an intonation group, an utterance, a supraphrasal unit, pith level, pitch range, rhythm, tempo, bilingualism, phonetic interference.

Tasks and exercises