A BREAK AS A HESITATION PHENOMENON IN RUSSIAN SPEECH OF THE CHINESE

Abstract

The article describes a break as a type of hesitation in Russian oral speech of Chinese native speakers. The attention is focused on a hesitation break, being an integral part of any spontaneous monologue. Data under study include 70 texts recorded from 10 Chinese native speakers (5 male and 5 female students with different psychological types (extra- and introverts) and levels of proficiency): reading (narrative and non-narrative), retelling (narrative and non-narrative), describing a picture (narrative and non-narrative) and free speaking on the topic “How do you spend your recess?” – totally 7 texts on each subject. Cases of break have been classified by the type of the break occurring – zero, partial or full. The way of reacting to a break (on-line correction – right after the break, or off-line – distantly), along with the quality of correction (successful or not) have also been considered. The research has shown the predominance of a zero breakage (without correction) and an instant (on-line) correction, which evidences foreigners’ attentiveness to their Russian speech and readiness to correct mistakes right away. Several breakage triggers have also been identified, some of them being universal and typical of spontaneous speech in any language, while others being peculiar to speaking a non-native language (as a process interfered to a greater or lesser extent).

Keywords

• русская спонтанная речь
• звуковой корпус
• сбалансированная аннотированная текстотека
• хезитационное явление
• обрыв
• русский язык как иностранный.