On some aspects of prosodic interference - intonation of Polish and English exclamation sentences

Dorota Szymaniuk

Uniwersytet w Białymstoku

Abstract

The paper addresses the issue of intonation structure in Polish and English exclamation sentences as well as the problem of prosodic errors performed by Polish speakers of English in exclamation utterances. In our analysis narrow approach to intonation has been implemented, which means that intonation is tantamount to one component of suprasegmental system – speech melody. Discussion on the experimental findings is preceded by classification of head and terminal tone types with corresponding meanings for exclamation sentences in both languages under study. The auditory and acoustic data obtained show differences in Polish and English melodic structures, which can be the source of interference. The most crucial discrepancies refer to: 1. the ratio of initial pitch level of head and terminal tone, 2. types of tones in head, 3. types of terminal tones, 4. the shape of the falling tone.