MELODY FACTOR TO INDICATE EMOTIONALLY CHARGED PHRASES IN TYPOLOGICALLY UNRELATED LANGUAGES

Interest in the implementation of linguistic units of a certain social and situational context of human communication arises due to the conditions of the modern scientific research. Researchers are showing great interest in emotionally charged speech, which a person can use to influence others. Emotionally charged phrases are considered to be those that carry a certain nuance of emotion. Pronunciation norms, like other linguistic norms, are subject to changes infrequently and correspond to the orthoepic standard of the language spoken by the most representative members of society. Along with this, pronunciation norms are dynamic and change under the influence of social factors and internal trends of the language system.

French emotionally charged speech has certain features of melodic and rhythmic design. First, the descending tone is the dominant terminal tone. Secondly, along with the descending tones, even tones of various registers are also used. Moreover, in emotionally charged statements there are complex terminal tones (ascending-descending and descending-ascending), the main task of which is to give a particular word of a phrase a higher degree of expressiveness, importance or novelty. However, their frequency is low: they are characteristic of the final part of the phrase or are an indicator of emphatic stress. The melodic design of emotionally charged phrases of the Mari language, in general, corresponds to the orthoepic norms of the standard. In the Mari models, there is a slight rhythmic concentration at the beginning of emotionally charged phrases, along with a low tempo and rhythm with a narrow frequency range. The final part of the phrase of the Mari emotional phrase is characterized by a certain slowing down of the tempo, regardless of its melodic design. The intensity of the dynamic organization of phrases increases in proportion to the increase in overall emotional stress.

The study of a bilingual foreign language speech requires the use of complementary methods and techniques, as well as a versatile analysis of extensive theoretical and experimental material, which provides an integrated approach to the question posed and the reliability of the data obtained.

Experimental phonetic methods include various techniques and methodologies. They have been widely developed thanks to modern computer technology. Acoustic research methods (from spectrography to speech modeling) represent sound phenomena in the form of a curve or spectrum. The material for the research was the sound recordings of the speech of native speakers of the French and Mari languages. In the course of the comparative analysis, acoustic experimental-phonetic methods were used: oscillographic, histographic, and intonographic. The methods of instrumental analysis were supplemented by auditory, statistical and theoretical-linguistic methods, which made it possible to identify intonational similarities and differences between Mari and French speech. In particular, the authors used the intonographic method to compare the melody of various communicative types of phrases. 30 phrases, 15 constructions of various communicative types in each of the languages ​​were subjected to instrumental analysis.

Rhythmic and intonational characteristics of speech, the foundations of the study of which were laid by such domestic linguists as V. A. Bogoroditsky

Linguists engaged in fundamental research with the aim of linguistic description of prosodic phenomena (ND Arutyunova

V. I. Shakhovsky introduced the term "emotiveness" as a linguistic category, opposing its emotionality – the category of non-linguistic, extralinguistic, psychological, related to the phenomena of the inner world of a person

The study of the role of intonation in the formation of phono-stylistic variants occupies a significant place in the research of French phoneticists. P. Leon's works are focused on the following topics: phono-stylistic models, sound reproduction of written text, sound semiotics, verbalization of emotions, communicative situationality, social and regional variability

G. Ferret, studying the intonation of French political discourse, pays special attention to the role of demarcation pauses and considers this phenomenon as one of the important structuring categories at the intonation level

Prosodic phenomena in the Mari language have not been studied deeply enough. The existing monographs and textbooks on Mari phonetics lack their systematic description. Within the scope of this issue, individual experimental works and scientific articles have been published. Thus, Z.G. Zorina examines the peculiarities of the intonation of the Mari language, presenting a description of the acoustic parameters of its suprasegmental sound means

In recent years, there has been a marked increase in interest in sociolinguistic issues related to the functional layering of language and the use of linguistic means in various contexts and situations. Studies by Russian and foreign scientists confirm that the use of a language is determined not only directly by language norms and components (phonetics, vocabulary, grammar), but also by the conditions in which the language is realized, the goals of the utterance, the type of situation, the topic of the message, the social and psychological relations of the interlocutors, etc. The search for dependencies between language and society is the subject of research in social linguistics, whereas sociophonetics, acts as a part of sociolinguistics. In France and Russia, sociophonetics emerged and is developing as an area of scientific research, mainly of an applied nature. The first empirical studies in the field of synchronous sociophonetics were carried out by L. Ghosh and devoted to the study of differences in the pronunciation of vowels and consonants by five different generations of residents of a small town in French Switzerland

Means of communicative division of a phrase can be prosodic, syntactic and lexical. This work examines the prosodic means inherent in the main communicative models of the Mari and French languages, namely, declarative, interrogative and exclamatory sentences with an emotional connotation.

4.1. Declarative Statements with Emotional Connotations

French declarative phrases have a descending tone. If the sentence is complex, words that represent on or more logical centers of the syntagm are intonationally marked. As electroacoustic studies show, the declarative utterances in the Mari language also have a descending tone. Let us analyze the prosodic characteristics of emotionally charged declarative phrases using the example of the statement J'aimerais te parler sérieusement (French) (Fig. 1), Мый тый денет серьезнын мутланынем (Mar.) “I would like to have a serious talk with you” (Fig. 2) .

A distinctive feature of the French declarative phrase is a slight melodic rise in its last syllable, which is demonstrated by the given example. In the Mari equivalent, this phenomenon is not observed. Electroacoustic analysis shows that the rhythm and tempo of the Mari phrase are slower in comparison with the analogous French phrase.

Figure 1 - Spectrogram and oscillogram of a declarative French phrase

"J’aimerais te parler serieusement"

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Figure 2 - Spectrogram and oscillogram of the Mari phrase

"Мый тый денет серьезнын мутланынем"

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4.2. Exclamatory Statements with Emotional Connotations

Emotional-coloring is most typical for exclamation statements. It is customary to consider as exclamation statements in which the semantic content appears in conjunction with the expression of the speaker's feelings associated with the meaning of the statements. Exclamatory phrases are characterized by increased emotionality and expressiveness. As an exclamation, sentences of different communicative types, pronounced with the appropriate intonation, can be used. Depending on the prosodic means used, exclamatory statements can convey various emotions from admiration to sarcasm.

In French, exclamatory structures are constructed using both phonetic and grammatical, as well as lexical means, such as melody, stress, vowel and consonant length; inversion, imperative (impératif) and subjunctive (subjonctif) verbs.

Let’s consider the above using the exclamatory statement Quel cauchemar! (fr.), Пеш шучко! (Mar.) "What a nightmare!" In both languages, this phrase is monoremous. In the French version (Fig. 3), the maximum pitch is 3,256 Hz and coincides with the word cauchemar "nightmare", which carries the main emotional load. The tone of the statement is ascending-descending. The maximum peak of the Mari variant is 2,844 Hz (Fig. 4). Emphatic stress concentrates on the adverb пеш "very", which is the semantic core of the phrase. The range of the French example is much wider compared to the range of the Mari equivalent, its rhythm and tempo are noticeably higher. The Mari phrase is pronounced in a slower tempo and with a smaller frequency range.

Figure 3 - Spectrogram and oscillogram of a French phrase "Quel cauchemar!"

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Figure 4 - Spectrogram and oscillogram of the Mari phrase "Пеш шучко!"

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As stated by the spectrogram and oscillogram, the tempo and rhythm of the French utterance are higher in comparison with the corresponding Mari equivalent. In the French example, the greatest rhythmic concentration occurs in the first part of the phrase; this phenomenon was not found in the Mari utterance.

4.3. Interrogative Statement with Emotional Connotations

The intonation of a question phrase depends on the way the question is expressed. In French phrases with direct word order, the ascending intonation performs a grammatical function, that is, it gives the statement an interrogative character: Tu vas au cinéma? "You going to the cinema?" The inversion also corresponds to an ascending tone: Vas-tu au cinéma? "Are you going to the cinema?" If a phrase is widespread enough, its melody can be ascending-descending due to pronouncing the semantic core located in the middle of the phrase with a raised tone: Vas-tu au cinéma cet après-midi? "Are you going to the cinema this afternoon?"

The interrogative construction with the particle est-ce que suggests the greatest melodic rise on the last syllable que. The rest of the phrase, as a rule, is pronounced with a decrease in tone with a slight increase in its tone on the final syllable: Est-ce que tu vas au cinéma? "You’re going to the cinema, aren’t you?"

The question word pattern is pronounced with a descending tone. In such cases, an interrogative adverb or pronoun is used at the beginning of a sentence and contains the entire semantic load, being the semantic center: Quand vas-tu au cinéma? "When are you going to the cinema?" In this case, the final syllable is pronounced with a slight increase in tone.

As studies show, in the Mari language, this communicative type can be built using the following means: intonation (Тый кинош кает? "Are you going to the cinema?"), Interrogative words (Кушко тый кает? "Where are you going?"), A non-semantic interrogative word such as мо "what", which reinforces the interrogative meaning of the phrase (Кинош кает мо? "You're going to the cinema, aren't you?"). Depending on the chosen method of posing the question, the melodic pattern of the phrase changes. Instrumental analysis shows that the melody of such phonetic units is most often ascending-descending, while the word containing the question, as in French, is the melodic maximum.

As an example, consider the phrase Comment est-ce possible? (fr.), Кузе тиде лийын кертын (Mar.) "How is this possible?" The oscillogram demonstrates the similarity in the direction of the tone of the statements and the relative similarity in the concentration of the maximum tone frequency. The tone direction of both phrases is downward. The maximum peak of the French and Mari variants is concentrated in the initial segment, that is, on interrogative words. The maximum pitch for the French question word comment “how” is 3,216 Hz (Fig. 5). In the Mari language, the peak of concentration in the adverb кузе “how” is at a maximum of 3,078 Hz (Fig. 6). From the instrumental analysis it follows that the allocation of the communicative core in both phrases is carried out using the phonetic-lexical method. The range of both statements is wide enough. The tempo and rhythm in the French equivalent is higher in comparison with the Mari.

Figure 5 - Spectrogram and oscillogram of a French phrase "Comment est-ce possible?"

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Figure 6 - Spectrogram and oscillogram of the Mari phrase "Кузе тиде лийын кертын?"

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Emotionally charged utterances are an integral part of speech in every language. The expression of emotionality depends on the purpose of the statement, temperament, and the pitch of the speaker's voice. The intonational characteristics of emotionally charged Mari and French utterances have a high level of communicative orientation and convey a variety of emotional states of the communicants. Prosodic means are situationally specific for each speech act. Thus, intonational variability depends on the communicative type of phrases. The intonation patterns of exclamatory constructions are characterized by the maximum variety, while the declarative types have great similarity in the compared languages, showing signs of universality. The peculiarities of the intonational formulation of questions with emotional connotations largely depend on their grammatical structure: word order, presence / absence of an interrogative word, interrogative particle. In this case, an important criterion is the method of actual division of sentences, due to which their semantic center is distinguished. For French emotionally charged phrases, the use of a phonetic-grammatical method of emphasis of the communicative core is typical, while in the Mari language the use of a phonetic way of theme-rhematic expression is more common. The similarity of the intonation design of emotional phrases lies in the ascending melody of their intonation center. The final part of the phrase in both French and Mari is characterized by a slight slowing down of the tempo, regardless of its melodic design. A change in the overall frequency range is also detected. As for the dynamic organization of emotionally charged phrases, their intensity increases in proportion to the increase in the general emotional stress.

The discrepancies include a slower pace and rhythm with a smaller frequency range in the Mari emotional utterances. In French models, the greatest rhythmic concentration is noted at the beginning of a phrase, while this phenomenon is not observed in Mari utterances. The obtained instrumental data allow us to conclude that the emotional coloring of structures in differently structured languages, in the presence of certain discrepancies, is conveyed by similar prosodic means, which proves the universality of the ways of expressing emotions.