IX Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2017

Opinion is a thought or belief about something or someone; the attitude that you have towards something, especially your thoughts about how good it is; a judgment [1][4] .

Opinions can be expressed in the following way:

• I think that is the most common phrase to use.

• I thought is often used to express an opinion about something experienced in the past, for example, a film seen, a book read.

• I believe that.

• I feel that is more emotional.

• I consider that is a formal way to express an opinion.

• In my opinion is a slightly formal to express an opinion.

• To my mind.

• If you ask me is a colloquial way to express an opinion.

• Personally I think.

• I’d like to point out.

• To tell you the truth.

• Well.

• Actually.

• From my point of view [2][6].

There are some tunes in English that are used to express an opinion. They are:

• Low Rise

• Fall Rise spread over the whole phrase

• Rise Fall

• Descending Scale plus Rise Fall spread over the whole phrase [6].

The Low Rise begins and ends lower than the ordinary rising tone [5]. The low rise generally signals the speaker's polite interest and his readiness to continue the conversation. The Low Rise is used in ordinary speech [6].

Falling Rising intonation describes how the voice falls and then rises. The main function of fall-rise intonation is to show that the speaker is not certain of the answer they are giving to a question [3]. Rising tones sound non-final and incomplete. The Low Rise and Fall Rise are synonymous, but Fall Rise is more emotional and besides it is used to show contrast, contradiction.

Rise-Fall makes the utterance rather expressive. It can express a wide range of emotions depending on the situation. It exists in a kind of mocking or envious remarks and it can be used in utterances which express admiration on the part of the speaker.

In general, utterances pronounced with the descending scale express interest, they sound friendly. The descending scale is the commonest scale used with all the English tones.

It’s worth to mention that the interval between the highest-pitch syllable and the lowest-pitch syllable of a sentence (i.e., the range) is wider in British English than in American English. For example, sentences pronounced with normal unemphatic American English intonation are usually pronounced in the middle part (on mid pitch level) of the normal speaking range; the falling tone at the end of the sentence goes down from mid to low, and the rising tone goes up from mid to high. Women generally use higher pitch levels and change pitch more often than men.

Mid pitch level of the scale and a relatively narrow pitch range are frequent in Russian speech, and if you speak English with Russian intonation, your emotions and even the meaning of your utterance may be misunderstood [5].

References:

1. Cambridge Dictionary http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/opinion

2. English Conversational Formulas http://english-l.chat.ru/opinion.htm

3. Learn English Today http://www.learn-english-today.com/pronunciation-stress/intonation.html

4. Macmillan Dictionary http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/opinion

5. Useful English http://usefulenglish.ru/phonetics/intonation-and-tones

6. Хорошилова С. П., Фонетика английского языка: продвинутый уровень https://lib.nspu.ru/views/library/62004/read.php

7. Хорошилова, С.П., Фонетика английского языка: введение https://lib.nspu.ru/views/library/7281/web.php

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