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INTONATION AS A FACTOR OF PRAGMATICS IN PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION: LINGUISTIC ASPECT OF IDENTITY
Abstract
The article investigates the pragmatic function of intonation in the context of intercultural business communication. The author deploys Speech Analyzer software to consider intonation contours produced by native English speakers (British, American, Canadian) and Russian businesspeople within the lecture register. The lecture register produced in native English speaking public discourse commonly features the following four contours: (1) High + Fall-Rise, (2) Low + Low-Rise, (3) Low + Fall+Rise, (4) Low + Low-Fall. In the Russian language, the basic intonation contours produced in business discourse are defined by pitch trajectory in the central position and its level in the post-central part. The choice of intonation contours produced in public discourse reflects both neutral and subjective attitude of the speaker towards the content of the utterance, as well as his or her various emotions. In the framework of the pragmatic line of research, the study aims to identify the intentions defining the choice of specific intonation structures, which, in turn, helps register the differences between both speaker-specific intonation peculiarities, and those intrinsic to language in general. Intonation is a key language tool used to convey communicative intentions and achieve a planned pragmatic effect. Non-native speakers commonly struggle to choose adequate intonation contours, which is due to lack of experience and skills required to produce correct utterances in terms of linguistic, situational and pragmatic contexts.
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