Functions of prosody

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 486.

Problems of intonation and prosody

We adhere to the point of view that prosodic features pertain not only to syllables, words & rhythmic groups, but to the intonation group & the utterance as well, since the latter are constituted by these units.

The notion of prosody, consequently, is broader than the notion of intonation, as it can be applied to the utterance, the word, the syllable, whereas prosody of the utterance and intonation are equivalent notions.

Whatever the views of the linguistic nature of prosodic phenomena, the phonic substance of prosody is regarded by all phoneticians as the modifications of fundamental frequency, intensity, and duration. The most complicated and unsolved problems of prosody are the interaction between its acoustic properties, their functioning in speech and their systematization. R. Jakobson says that prosody is one the most difficult and controversial problems of modern linguistic studies.

The prosody of the utterance performs 3 basic functions: constitutive, distinctive & identificatory.

1. The constitutive function of prosody is to form utterances as communicative units. Prosody unifies words into utterances. A succession of words arranged syntactically is not a communicative unit until a certain prosodic pattern is attached to it. It forms all communicative types of utterances (statements, questions, imperatives, exclamations and modal types) e.g. categoric statements, non categoric, perfunctory statements, quizzical statements, certainty & uncertainty questions, insistent questions, etc.

2. The distinctive function of prosody manifests itself in several particular functions, depending on the meanings which are differentiated. These are communicative -distinctive, modal –distinctive, culminative (“theme -rheme”) distinctive, syntactical –distinctive & stylistic –distinctive function.

The communicative –distinctive function is to differentiate the communicative types of utterances, i.e. statements, questions, etc. and communicative subtypes: e.g. within statements, statements proper (It was a 'very hot •after`noon, answers (It was a very hot •after`noon), informing statements, announcements, etc. within questions – first instance questions ('where did he `find it?)

.3. The identificatory function of prosody is to provide a basis for the hearer's identification of the communicative & modal type of an utterance, its semantic & syntactical structure in accordance with the situation of the discourse.