He ˌsaid | that there was ˌevidence | that ↘many of the 'basic 'disciplines of ˎmotorway use | had yet to be vlearned | by British ˎdrivers.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 439.

Before going into the detailed description of phonostylistic characteristics of the text we would like to say here that it is de­limited in the same way as any monological oral text: phonopassages — phrases — intonation groups. Delimitation is different only in the dichotomy monologue — dialogue. It is also true for the role of contrast between accented and unaccented segments in the accentuation of semantic centres. Timbre may be characterized as unemotional, dispassionate, reserved, but very resolute and assured, a typical case of a news­reader's "neutral position", deliberately underlying the effect of objectiveness on the part of the newsreader. Loudness ranges from normal to forte; it is especially varied at passage boundaries. As this bulletin is split into two major items, the transfer from one to the other is very important and is strongly identified by the splash of loudness: 1. ...The conference is continuing, (piano) 2. (forte) Now to Common Market negotiations. Levels and ranges are usually normal, but contrasted when each news item is introduced and also at the semantic emphatic centres. Pauses tend to be rather long, especially when they occur be­tween passages, longer still between the bulletin items. The loca­tion of pauses is commonly predictable, syntactically or semantically determined. Rate is not remarkably varied. It is normally slow, rarely alle­gro; deliberately slow (lento) on communicatively important centres, e.g. A number of lorry drivers and motorists were unable to pull up in time and ran into the overturned vehicle causing a majo-pile up. (lento) The conference is continuing, (very slow - lentis-simo) Rhythm exhibits a stable pattern. Types of heads vary, the most common being descending (falling and stepping), very often broken by accidental rises, e.g. → Thirty-five vvehicles ⌇ were in↘volved in a ↑ multiple collision ⌇ on the ↘M '1 ˋmotorway this omorning. || Another very common for the reading of news coverage phe­nomenon is the variation of descending and ascending heads of different levels to convey the information in a really interesting way, especially in the enumeration of the events, e.g. → Lane ˌdiscipline | was → much worse in this ˎcountry | than in Aˋmerica || and the ↘habits of 'drivers when ˎover-taking | were par`ticularly bad. || ˌOne 'saw ↑ far too much 'dangerous ʌpulling out | without an → adequate >signal ⌇ having been ˎgiven. || Also the semantic centre of the preceding intonation group may be repeated at the beginning of the next utterance. Lexical­ly it may be the same word or word combination or a related one. This is done to chain the phrases tightly into a phonetic whole (phonopassage). On the prosodic level this close connec­tion is expressed by the use of the Low Rising Tone in the initial intonation group: At the ↘opening 'meeting in ˎLondon olast ˌnight | Sir →John vStone... И `criticized | the ↘standard of 'motorway 'driving in this ˎcountry.

Now to Common ˎMarket negotiations...

Lane ˌdiscipline | was → much worse in this ˎcountry | than in Aˋmerica || and the ↘habits of 'drivers when ˎovertakinq | were par`ticularly bad. || ↗One 'saw ↑far too much 'dangerous ʌpulling cut | without an → adequate >siqnal ⌇ having been ˎgiven... || ... The ↘conference 'is conˎtinuinq.

He ˌsaid | that there was ˌevidence | that ↘many of the 'basic 'disciplines of ˎmotorway use | had yet to be vlearned | by British ˎdrivers.

At the ↘ opening 'meeting in ˎLondon olast ˌnight | Sir → John vStone | ... ˋcriticised | the ↘standard of 'motorway 'driving in this ˎcountry.

Breakdown 'vehicles and vambulances | had con→siderable >diffıculty ⌇ in ↘ reaching the 'scene of the ˌaccident | because of ˋfog. || This was ˎdense in ˎplaces, | and the ˋflashing 'amber ˎlight signals | had been → switched ˎon ⌇ for → most of the ˎniqht. || So ˌfar | there are → no re>ports | of ↘anyone 'seriously ˎinjured ⌇ in the ˎaccident...

With ↘both 'carriageways vblocked | police ˋclosed the motorway for a ˌtime | and diversion signs were 'posted at the 'nearest ˎslip roads.

Some of the 'steel bars from the >load | were → flung by the ˎimpact | across the ˋcentral re'serve into the 'southbound vcarriageway | which was re→ stricted to 'single-lane 'working be­cause of re'pairs and revsurfacing | >causing ⌇ ↘several ˋminor ˎaccidents.