Prosodic Variation in Academic Public Presentations

Elena Freydina

doi:10.17323/2411-7390-2015-1-2-13-19

Abstract

The article reports on a study of the prosodic characteristics of academic public presentations. Prosodic variation is analysed with regard to the social and cultural context which is significant for the adequate description of discourse prosody. The paper draws on the findings made in the course of the analysis (auditory and acoustic) of presentations delivered by British lecturers. The article contains an overview of contextual factors and discourse strategies used in academic presentations. Special focus is given to prosodic variations in spoken discourse determined by the extralinguistic context. The author argues that that the choice of prosodic means depends on a variety of contextual parameters: speaker-audience relationships (reflected in the tenor of discourse), the speaker’s rhetorical competence, method of delivery, rhetorical tradition and others. The observations made in the paper may be useful to develop expertise in the delivery of academic public presentations which is an important aspect of EFL teachers’ professional training.

Highlights

The search for an adequate description of the prosody of the academic public presentation involves the analysis of the nature of rhetorical discourse and the extralinguistic context including the speech situation and the broader social, cultural and institutional context
The prosodic aspect of academic public presentation is seldom included in the analysis despite the fact that it is an essential component of spoken discourse, rhetorical discourse in particular
The key issue of this research is to describe the prosodic characteristics of the academic presentation with regard to its rhetorical status and sociocultural context and establish the sources of prosodic variation

Summary

Introduction

The search for an adequate description of the prosody of the academic public presentation involves the analysis of the nature of rhetorical discourse and the extralinguistic context including the speech situation and the broader social, cultural and institutional context. This paper is an attempt to combine the study of contextual factors, rhetorical properties and prosodic characteristics of public speeches and to establish correlations between them. This approach is based on the theoretical assumption that language cannot be considered in isolation from meaning and should be considered within sociocultural context in which it occurs (Halliday, 1978; Paltridge, 2012). It is highly relevant in the study of spoken discourse. The key issue of this research is to describe the prosodic characteristics of the academic presentation with regard to its rhetorical status and sociocultural context and establish the sources of prosodic variation

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Conclusion