SPEAKERS' OBJECTIVE / SUBJECTIVE STANCE AS A SOURCE OF INTONATION VARIATION IN ENGLISH SPONTANEOUS MONOLOGUES

Abstract

The study reveals one of the factors determining intonation variation in English spontaneous monologues – a speaker's objective or subjective stance on a theme. In a listening analysis, it has been observed that taking an objective stance a speaker generates an intonation pattern close to that of prepared speaking and reading, while a subjective approach to an issue and self-concentration leads to a number of deviations. The purpose of this study is to describe the intonation of the most deviating variety of spontaneous speaking and to identify one of the causes of its peculiarities. The intonation patterns of the two varieties of spontaneous speech were found to be different in the leading function of intonation, the sharpness of pitch contrasts and the most frequent types of nuclear tones. The findings suggest that the intonation of spontaneous speaking is not homogeneous. The research results can be beneficial to teaching English as a foreign language, particularly listening and speaking skills, as well as to improving the procedures of automatic spontaneous speech recognition and generation.

Keywords

• интонация
• спонтанная речь
• объективная / субъективная установка
• intonation
• spontaneous speech
• objective / subjective stance