Phonostylistic Features of Discussion as a Type of Informational Style of Intonation in English

Abstract

The article looks into suprasegmental features of discussion as a type of the informational style of intonation in English. Phonostylistic approach on the suprasegmental level presupposes examination of different intonation styles including the informational style. Discussion as one of the variations of informational style can be characterised as a public spoken variety inclusive of three forms of communication (monologue, dialogue, polilogue) with various degrees of preparedness in a relatively formal manner. The research material of the present study, comprising excerpts from a Sky News programme underwent thorough auditive analysis. Among the phonostylistic features singled out for the research (discussion style, speakers – two men and one woman) the following suprasegmental characteristics of speech were chosen: the speakers’ speech tempo, their voice timbre, the division of speech into segments marked by pauses, the choice of nuclear tones in final and non-final tone units, and phonetic means of highlighting particular pieces of information. The results of the analysis confirm that informational discussion type shares the basic style-marking features with news broadcasting as a typical type of the informational intonation style. What is particularly characteristic of discussion type is a relatively high degree of spontaneity, presence of emotional speech features resulting both in overlapping utterances and irregular temporal characteristics of speech.