Phonostylistic Characteristics at the Level of Prosodic Features.

· The phonostylistic parameters that summarize prosodic features.

· The phonetic style-forming means of the informational style.

· Phonostylistic properties of the academic style.

Phonostylistic characteristics are summarized in the form of certain parameters based on prosodic features. These parameters represent appropriate prosodic style-forming means (including intonation patterns) common to a particular style. Such parameters are called phonostylistic parameters and they are as follows:

Timbre.

Delimitation.

3. Style-marking prosodic features:loudness, levels and ranges, rate, pauses, rhythm.

4. Accentuation of semantic centres: terminal tones, pre-nuclear patterns, contrast between accented and unaccented segments.

The speech typology characteristic of the informational style includes: informational style registers (reading / speaking as the varieties of the language involved; prepared written speech read aloud and / or spontaneous spoken speech); educational information; press reporting and broadcasting. The forms of communication are represented by a monologue, a dialogue or a polylogue with the number of participants involved (suggestion the spheres of discourse – public and non-public) and the character of their relationship (formal and informal). By way of illustration, here is the invariant of phonostylistic properties of the reading of a new bulletin (press reporting and broadcasting) presented in the form of phonostylistic parameters with their appropriate markers.

1. Timbre: dispassionate, impartial, but resolute and assured.

2. Delimitation: phonopassages – phrases – intonation groups.

3. Style – marking prosodic features:

a) loudness – normal or increased, contrasted at the phonopassages boundaries;

b) levels and ranges – normal, decrease towards the end of the passage, noticeable increase at the start of any new news item;

c) rate – not remarkably varied, slow, rarely allegro, deliberately slow (lento) on communicatively important centres;

d) pauses – rather long, especially at the end of each new item;

e) rhythm – stable, properly organized.

4. Accentuation of semantic centres:

a) terminal tones – frequent use of final, categoric falling tones on the semantic centres and falling –rising or rising ones in the initial intonation groups;

b) pre-nuclear patterns – common use of descending heads (very often broken); alternation of descending and ascending heads;

c) the contrast between the accented and unaccented segments – not great.

The academic style is used in the following spheres of communication that involve the written variety of the language and the spoken variety of the language in the forms of a monologue, a dialogue, a polylogue suggesting public and non-public relationships, reading or speaking in a prepared or spontaneous way. By way of illustration, let us consider the invariant of phonostylistic characteristics of an academic lecture read aloud in public in front of a fairly-sized audience.

1. Timbre: authoritative, imposing, edifying, instructive, self-assured.

2. Delimitation: phonopassages – phrases – intonation groups.

3. Style – marking prosodic features:

a) loudness – increased;

b) levels an ranges – remarkably varied with the passage segments, gradual decrease within the supraphrasal unity;

c) rate – normal, slow on the most important parts of the lecture (rules, conclusions, examples); rate is as flexible as the lecturer wishes it to be;

d) pauses – rather long, especially between the phonopassages; a large proportion of the pauses serving to bring out communicatively important parts of utterances; occasional use of breath-taking pauses;

e) rhythm – properly organized, especially while giving the rules, reading the laws, drawing conclusions, etc.

4. Accentuation of semantic centres:

a) terminal tones – high proportion of compound terminal tones (High Fall + Low Rise, Fall-Rise, Rise-Fall-Rise); a great number of high categoric falls;

b) pre-nuclear patterns – frequent use of stepping and falling heads; alternation of descending and ascending heads, especially in enumeration;

c) the contrast between the accented and unaccented segments – not great.

8. Phonostylistic Characteristics of Conversational Style, Publicistic Style