2.1 Dynamic approach to rhytmization and intonation phrasing

In accordance with the cognitive aim of modern linguistics the focus of researchers’ at-tention is now gradually displaced from isolated phrase or sentence to systemic analysis of connected text, and from the latter to a man who generates and comprehends such a text. Me-thodological changes are accompanied with the revaluation of the linguistical status and func-tional role of concrete language means, especially those which are directly connected with the communicative intention of a speaker and the process of its realization. Prosodic speech cha-racteristics and their language correspondence give us a bright example of such revaluation: if 10-15 years ago one should prove the necessity of including speech prosody into the field of linguistic analysis, now problems of speech prosodic organization become predominant not only in phonetics but are also involved in such branches of linguistics as syntax and semantics. At the same time many problems of phrase and text prosody remain unsolved, need theoretical comprehension and experimental research in the frame of integral speech generation model which must explain in particular the sound patterns of a speaker activity. The opposite relation is also important: prosodic studies can lead to more thoughtful and concrete conceptions of speech generation and understanding. [16,82]

My report is devoted to the processes of Rhythmization and Intonation Phrasing in con-nected speech transmitting complex information content. Both processes lead to a text divi-sion which I will call further “Rhythmo-Intonational Phrasing” or just prosodic phrasing for shortness. More concretely, this type of prosody phrasing is the division of a text into frag-ments of different size (from a rhythmical period or phonological phrase = syntagma in Rus-sian Phonetics, up to a paragraph or supraphrase unit). This division is performed by a speaker with specific sound means on the base of text semantics and syntax and in accordance with the universal principles of speech rhythmic organization.

As an illustration let us consider an example from Russian. It is taken from the book of R. I. Avanesov “Russian literary pronunciation”, with the author’s tran-scription which reflects the different degree of breakness (discontinuity) of speech at prosodic boundaries. As we see, Avanesov distinguishes 4 degrees of prosodic breakness: |, /, //, /// in accordance with the increasing degree of breakness.

Capital Russian letters in this example designate syntagmas (or rhythmic periods).

This Russian sentence illustrates the hierarchical nature of prosodic phrasing. The idea of the hierarchy is that each unit is made up of some number of units from the next lower level. This example shows also that there can be distinguished at least two basic layers: rhythmic layer with its basic unit = syntagma and proper intonation layer with its basic unit = intonation phrase.

As many phenomena in language and speech, Rhythmo-Intonational Phrasing can be viewed and analyzed statically and dynamically. Under the static approach the researchers’ attention is concentrated on the the task of revealing the inventory of prosodic means which create the division and on the nature of correspondence between prosodic constituents, semantics and syntactic structure of already “made” utterance (sentence). The static approach is preserved even in generative phonology where the above mentioned correspondence is described by a set of special mapping rules which operate within limits of a whole, already made sentence. Assuming that there is a good deal of variability in a speaker’s choice of prosodic phrasing some authors working in generative tradition offer special restructuring rules to derive the variants of phrasing from some initial prosodic structure which is called basic or neutral prosodic form of the sentence. These restructuring rules account of such relevant phrasing factors as the length of prosodic constituents, presence of contrastive prominence, speech style, speaking rate and so on. [17,58]