THEORETICAL BASIS FOR THE COGNITIVE-AND-PHONETIC STUDY OF PROSODIC EXPRESSION OF SYMPATHY IN ENGLISH DIALOG SPEECH

Abstract

The paper advances the substantiation of theoretical and methodological grounds for performing an experimental phonetic study of a cognitive specifi city of prosodic organization of utterances’ of sympathy, actualized in English dialogue speech. The author chooses a model for considering the real interaction of a complex system of factors that infl uence prosodic realization of sympathy in the process of the speaker’s cognitive and communicative activities.Considering the data obtained from the model it is clear that the individual’s speaking-andcognitive activities while uttering sympathy take place within the interaction of his/her micro- and macrocosms. The microcosm comprises the following areas of communicative space with a corresponding complex of factors, infl uencing the utterance prosodic organization: 1) ego-thesaurus, i.e. the individuals’ understanding of themselves and their social role; 2) socio-thesaurus, i.e. the individual’s role and place in social interaction and comparison with others of the same community; 3) universe-thesaurus, i.e. the individual’s view of the society. In the culture of a macrocosm, prosodic organization of sympathy is infl uenced by a different set of factors connected with the speaker’s level of education, the culture of the society to which the person belongs as well as by the speaker’s social status in relation to the interlocutor’s (higher, equal, lower).