Effect of Persian Prosodic Units and Intonation Patterns on Intonation Pattern No. 7 in Iranian Students of Russian

Abstract

Iranian students of Russian often experience problems with phonetics and pronunciation that hinder their listening comprehension. Pronunciation mistakes and native-language interference are the main problems Iranian students have to face while studying Russian. No textbooks in Iran introduce a comparative analysis of Russian and Persian phonetic systems. This research was an attempt to compare the intonation systems of both languages in order to help Iranian students to master Intonation Pattern No.7 and develop their communication skills in the Russian language. Oral speech of 17 Iranian students was processed phonetically and acoustically using PRAAT 6.2.10. This program used pitch and intensity filters to analyze Russian Intonation Pattern No. 7 and visualize speech sounds as graphs. Intonation is a set of prosodic means that segments and structures speech flow in accordance with the message intended. In both languages, intonation patterns convey meaning and express emotions. In this study, native intonation pool prevented the Iranian students from imitating Russian Intonation Pattern No. 7. This comparative acoustic analysis of Russian and Persian intonation systems will help Iranian students to prevent phonetic, rhythmic, and intonation errors in Russian. The results can be used by students, second-language teachers, speech therapists, and communication specialists.

Keywords

• prosodic units
• suprasegment units
• phonetics
• russian
• persian
• intonation
• stress
• acoustic analysis
• intonation pattern no. 7