The role of sentence structure in creating rhythm in prose

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The role of sentence structure in creating rhythm in prose

Sotib olish

THE MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION SCIENCE AND
INNOVATIONS OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
SAMARKAND STATE INSTITUTE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
COURSE PAPER
THEME: THE ROLE OF SENTENCE STRUCTURE IN CREATING
RHYTHM IN PROSE
SAMARKAND-2023

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 3
CHAPTER I. THE PROSODIC AND RHYTHMIC MEANS OF ENGLISH
LANGUAGE SPEECH ............................................................................................... 6
1.1 Speech Rhythm, Intonation and Melody ............................................................... 6
1.2 Create rhythm in prose ........................................................................................ 14
Conclusion on chapter I ............................................................................................ 18
CHAPTER II. SENTENCE STRUCTURE'S FUNCTION IN ESTABLISHING
PROSE RHYTHM .................................................................................................... 19
2.1 Rhythm as a metaphor for presence in prose fiction ........................................... 19
2.2 Methods and Means of Forming Rhythmic and Intonational Skills of Pupils .... 24
Conclusion on chapter II. .......................................................................................... 30
CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 31
REFERENCE ............................................................................................................ 32

INTRODUCTION
The president’s decree dated 13 September 2017 “On establishing a
commission for the popularization of reading and the raising of book-reading culture
and for the development of the system of the publication and distribution of books” is
a program document for working in these spheres. This information-library centre
will provide population with more than 223 thousand books in the same time. The
building of special rooms and halls for reading is on process. It is believed that this
will satisfy the requirements of youth with supporting them any data about science,
history, modern life, literature, education and business [1].
During last years linguistics has been interested in the study of human speech
so much. The study of prosody seems to be an area of knowledge, which has
undergone the most noticeable changes during the last ten or fifteen years. Such
attention to prosodic research is probably explained by the fact that contemporary
achievements in sphere of speech development technology have given an opportunity
to conduct investigations of acoustic parameters associated with prosodic phenomena,
in particular frequency of fundamental tone and duration. This also can be explained
by the fact that last time in linguistics and in particular, phonetics significant
theoretical advances that have allowed a better understanding of the functioning of
prosodic parameters while expressing different types of values in world languages
have been achieved.
Today the term “prosody” is widespread and it has simultaneous interpretation.
According to A. Antipova, there are two distinct and diametrically opposite points of
view to this matter. The first one sees difference between the concept of prosody and
intonation. The second perspective is largely connected with the understanding of
intonation as a multidimensional unity. In other words, the components of intonation
are treated as “a complex set of prosodic features”, and, in fact, identified with
prosody which is seen as a system of pronunciation of stressed and unstressed, long
and short syllables in speech. The second view is in the basis of this research work.
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This aims of the course work is the research is to study specific features and
methods of teaching rhythm and intonation of English. To achieve the aim the
following tasks were put forward:
1) to bring to light the concept of “rhythm” and “tone”;
2) to analyze and study the characteristics of rhythmic and intonational system
of English speech;
3) to consider the instructional techniques of teaching rhythm and intonation of
English speech;
4) to view the exercises and assignments for the formation of rhythmic and
intonation skills of pupils.
The subject and object of the course work. The object of the course work is
that, in practical part I observed the information that was given in theoretical part and
showed their usage in tables and slides. The subject of the work is the conditions and
factors of success teacher’s activity to establish rhythm and intonation skills in
English.
The practical and theoretical value of the course work:
Practical value is that having observed all the information, I showed the usage
of adjectives in tables and slides.
The scientific novelty of the work is scientific analysis of the information
sources and references, description, comparative analysis and interpretation of
sources, conceptual analysis of the literature, synthesis, study, content-analysis.
The following research methods were used while working on the problem:
- bibliographical;
- descriptive;
- analytical;
- comparative.
The structure of the course work. The research consists of an introduction,
2 chapters, a conclusion and a list of references and consists of 37 pages.
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CHAPTER I. THE PROSODIC AND RHYTHMIC MEANS OF
ENGLISH LANGUAGE SPEECH
1.1 Speech Rhythm, Intonation and Melody
Prosody is a set of phonetic supersegment means realized in speech at all levels
of speech segments (a syllable, a word, a word-combination, a syntagm, a phrase, a
superphrase, an utterance, a text) and performing the function of organization and
segmentation of the flow of speech [27; 31].
Often they distinguish the following elements of prosody: speech melody,
stress, time and timbral characteristics, rhythm and tone. In this sense, the term
“prosody” is often synonymous with the concept of intonation. Both terms are used to
describe the functional system of suprasegmental means of language, though there
were attempts to establish a distinction between prosody and intonation, linking
intonation with a phrase, and prosody with all segments of speech beginning with a
word and up to a text [27; 33].
The terms “prosody” and “rhythm” are also interrelated as rhythm is often
considered as one of the elements of prosody, in one row with speech intonation,
volume, tempo, melody, interregna in speech [19; 17]. Let’s bring to light each of this
prosodic means having analyzed some linguists’ works we have today.
Under the rhythm of speech we mean ordering of its sound, verbal and syntactic
structure defined by some meaning tension. In wider sense, rhythm is a regular
repetition of similar and comparable units of speech that perform structuring, text-
building and emotional functions. Rhythm is the least expressed in spontaneous
everyday speech, and the most in poetic texts [19;. 41].
In the formation of rhythm all possible means of language are involved: sound,
intonational, syntactic, as well as various intonational structures. Phonetics considers
rhythm of speech as a uniform alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables.
English-language speech is characterized by uniform go of stressed syllables.
Therefore, the speed of pronouncing unstressed syllables between two stressed ones
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depends on the number of unstressed syllables: the more unstressed syllables, the
faster they should be pronounced [19; 46].
Meaningful groups in writing comply with rhythmic groups in the spoken
language, which are separated from each other by pauses. Under rhythmic group we
mean a set of stressed and unstressed syllables or rhythmic units between two pauses.
After a rhythmic group spoken with a rising tone there should be longer pause than
after a rhythmic group uttered with a falling tone [19; 64].
As in spoken English many function words are unstressed, time of their
pronouncing between two stressed syllables can be sufficiently small (it is dictated by
the rhythm of speech). Therefore, there is a certain phonetic method, which helps to
maintain such a pure English speech rhythm. This method is called conjoint reading.
The sense of this technique is in continuous (with no pauses) pronouncing unstressed
syllables, usually followed by a stressed syllable within the same rhythmic (meaning)
group. Thus, a pause (and breath) in spoken English is done only between rhythmic
groups, and within them all the syllables are pronounced “in one breath” [12; 24].
The following combinations of words that are included to the general meaning
groups should be spoken conjoint:
1) an article (possessive or a demonstrative pronoun) + a noun: a book, the
book, my book;
2) an article (or pronoun) + a noun with the definition: this pink dress;
3) a particle to along with infinitive: to go;
4) conjunctions and prepositions with surrounding them parts of speech: you
and I, black and white;
5) auxiliary and modal verbs;
6) a pronoun (a noun) + a verb: Nick would have written;
7) a predicate + an adverbial modifier or a complement: go to school;
8) introducing there + a form of the verb to be: there is, there are;
9) complex adverbs: so much;
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10) an ultimate “dumb” r (or a combination re) is spoken together with a vowel,
if the next word is started with it [19; 71].
In English not only these groups of words are spoken together but also whole
sentences making up one meaning group and therefore containing no pauses.
However, the implementation of the rules of conjoint readings should not lead to
distortion of the meaning of the phrase uttered. Sometimes while careless conjoint
reading a transition of consonants from the preceding to the following syllable may
occur, and this can lead to ambiguous interpretation [12; 19].
In order to maintain the rhythmic structure of speech very often a
strengthening or weakening of verbal or phrasal stress takes place. This occurs in the
following cases:
1) if two or more unstressed words are uttered, some of them can be
pronounced with stress: As you say. But: As Bob say;
2) if there are two or more stressed words side by side, some of them may lose
its stress: Send him away! But: Send Bob away!
3) in sentences with numerals having two stresses;
4) in words having two principal stresses, one of them can be mitigated
partially or completely, if you want to oppose one word to the other (an emphatic
sentence): Is he upstairs or downstairs?
5) complete reduction of one of a few stresses also occurs when it is required
by rhyme in a poetic work .
Rhyme is a harmony of all lines of a verse, which is a rhythmic repetition based
on sound similarity of stressed syllables in the rhyming words. Let’s set an example.
“O friend unseen, unborn, unknown,
Student of our sweet English tongue,
Read out my words as night alone:
I was a poet; I was young” [25; 59].
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So in the poem “To a Poet a Thousand Years Hence” by American poet James
Elroy Flecker there is a verse. The adjective unknown has two main stresses – on the
prefix and the root vowel. However, in the poetic work this word’s principal stress is
completely reduced, as the word unknown rhymes with alone.
Speech Intonation. Intonation is a phonetic language tool that turns a sentence
to sounding statement. It is a variation of the unity of melody, tempo, phrasal stress,
tone and tempo of speech, which is used to transmit different meanings in the act of
communication. In a narrower sense, intonation is rhythmic-melodic system of an
utterance, presented by raising and lowering tone taking place in the stressed and
unstressed syllables [3; 5].
In a spoken statement intonation can perform the following functions:
1) make differences between types of communication statements (motivation,
question, exclamation, order, ask etc);
2) make differences between statements according to their meaning importance;
3) turn a statement into a coherent whole, at the same time breaking it to
rhythmic groups;
4) express specific certain emotions;
5) reveal the implication of a spoken statement;
6) characterize the speaker and the situation of communication [17; 48].
The first two functions bring intonation to the pattern of the language; the
others belong to the speech area. Intonation also plays a special role within a whole
text: it colors in different ways texts of different genres, divides a text into meaning
segments, at the same time holding the inter-phrase relation; it is an active factor of
emotional and aesthetic impact on the listener. The most important function of
intonation is associated with expression the aim of a statement: it characterizes it as a
message, a question, an objection etc. This function is implemented mainly by tonal
stresses of different configurations. To this function adjoins another one – expression
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of evaluation, including expressive. It is expressed by differences in the level of tone
and by means [17; 54].
The sentence always deals with a lot of intonation expressed by semantic
features. Variety of semantic combinations corresponds to a large number of different
intonation patterns.
Falling intonation. It is the most common type of standard unemphatic
intonation in English. It is used on the last stressed syllable of the utterance in the
following cases:
1) at the end of exclamatory sentences;
2) at the end of short declarative sentences;
3) at the end of imperative sentences expressing an order, a command or a
prohibition;
4) at the end of special questions, beginning with interrogative pronouns:
What? When? Where? Who? Why? How?
5) at the end of the second part of an alternative question, involving a choice of
two options: Were you at the cinema or at the theatre last week?
6) at the end of the first part of the tag question, which is a declarative sentence:
You know him, don't you?
7) at the end of the second part of the tag question, when the questioner is sure
about the first part of the statement, he does not expect to get any additional
information, but only wishes to confirm that the statement is true: It's warm today,
isn't it?
8) in a reciting greeting at the meeting;
9) in the highlighting the addressing at the beginning of a sentence at the end:
Pete, where is your pen?
10) in the highlighting the application at the end of the sentence: This is my
friend, an artist.
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11) at the end of the subordinate clause, standing before the main, if the last
sentence is pronounced with a rising tone: When you come home, will you call me?
[13; 77].
Falling intonation is used for asking or giving information in a normal, quiet,
unemphatic sense. At the same time, falling intonation holds certain emotions, such as
completeness, finality, certainty. Falling intonation sounds more emphatically,
confidently and persuasively than rising intonation.
High fall is a version of standard falling intonation. It is used for additional
accenting in informal situations to show live interest and friendliness in declarative
and exclamatory sentences, such as greetings. High fall starts higher than a standard
fall, the stress of it is stronger and the stressed syllable is louder. Although this type of
tone is wide-spread in colloquial speech, those who learn English should use it
carefully and not too often, because it is very emphatic and expressive [3; 39].
Sometimes standard intonation models can be changed. It is important to
understand what such a change may tell about. A declarative sentence spoken with
falling intonation gives information, while a declarative one spoken with rising
intonation becomes a matter of surprise or implies a request to repeat. A special
question with falling intonation asks information, while special one spoken with
rising intonation tells of high interest and astonishment on the part of the speaker or
implies a request to repeat. A general question asked with rising intonation asks some
information and requires an answer “yes” or “no”, while a general one spoken with
falling intonation shows a speaker’s confidence to get an affirmative answer. Asking
by the means of a general question with rising intonation is normal and polite, while
asking with falling intonation sounds like an order or command and can be rude.
Those who learning English should understand what changes of the standard
intonational models may tell about, but in their own speech it is much more better to
use the standard models of intonation.
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Speech melody is the change of speech pitch. In speech melody the following
items can be distinguished: range, register, terminal tone, melodic scale and pre-tact
[24; 84].
Range and register can be viewed at two levels: at the level of individual
expression and the level of general characteristics of speaker’s voice. Tonal range is
the interval between the highest and lowest tonal points. Range of speaker’s voice, or
total range, can be defined as the interval between the highest and lowest points of
speaker’s voice. There exist several registers. Most of all they are divided into three
groups, sometimes into four (by American linguistics) [24; 96].
The division of speech melody to registers is relative, since the dimensions of
human range of various language speakers are different. It seems reasonable to adopt
a three-level division of total range, as such division is the most convenient and
justifiable, as high and low one opposed to each other should have some middle point.
Therefore, in total range three registers can be distinguished: high, medium and low.
Each of these registers (let’s call them total registers) can be divided into other three
parts (high, medium and low). Let’s reserve a term “register” for them. Forth we’re
going to speak of middle total register. Graphically, ranges and registers can be
imagined as horizontal lines [24; 101].
Middle total register is typical for normal conversational speech, which is often
called neutral, unemotional. This name hardly complies with reality, since speech is
always emotional. We can only talk about varying degrees of emotional intensity.
Emotional speech can be considered a Speech in which some easily recognizable
emotions and attitudes of a speaker are expressed, but without much emphasis, can be
considered as emotional.
If we try to measure a range of musical tones, then so-called middle range is
within one and a half octaves. Total (wide) range is measured by 2,5-3 octaves. Range
less than an octave can be considered narrow. Since these data are confirmed by
numerous studies conducted in different languages, it is reasonable to assume that the
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dimensions of human voice ranges are determined by structural features of the vocal
apparatus and are universal [20; 84].
It is believed that registers themselves do not carry any meaning. However,
register differences play a big role in the transmission of common emotional and
modal meanings. Thus, low register often reflects negative or limited emotional and
modal meanings (grief, sadness, frustration). High register is often typical for
statements that carry positive emotions (excitement, joy, etc.) or strong unrestrained
emotions (resentment, anger, etc.).
The transferring of questioning is largely connected with register parameters.
Interrogative utterances associated with middle and high registers. If the lexical and
grammatical structure does not transmit the meaning of questioning, then register of
the statement increases. The experiments in this field have shown that questioning is
mainly transmitted by register increase in any terminal tone.
Having considered the rising and falling tone, we’ve seen that the first tone is
the tone of uncertainty, incompleteness, and doubt. Therefore, rising intonation is
mainly used in interrogative sentences, report a great interest or surprise, it’s a polite
tone. The falling tone is the tone of straight assertion, completeness, and certainty. So
falling intonation is used in declarative sentences, special questions, exclamatory
sentences, etc.
Having examined the different types of intonation framing of utterances, we
can make a conclusion that mastering the skills of rhythmic and tonal framing of
different types of sentences plays very important role in learning English. Intonation
expresses emotions: surprise, anger, joy, frustration, etc. Since, in order to arrange the
speech correctly one need to know what intonational tone is typical for this or that
kind of utterances.
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1.2 Create rhythm in prose
Rhythm in writing is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that create
the beat of a sentence. When we speak, we naturally stress some syllables and others
are unstressed.
Every word has stressed and unstressed syllables like this, and so in any
sentence, this creates a pattern which acts like a beat. In poetry, this is called metre –
but it can also be used to great effect in prose. Rhythm can be created by using a
mixture of long and short words in a sentence. You can also make it by using a blend
of long and short sentences on the page.
But punctuation plays its role in creating rhythm too. You can use punctuation
to create stops and starts in writing. A sentence that uses lots of commas creates a
different feel than one which utilises full stops.
Essentially, rhythm in writing is all about how a writer uses sentence length and
sentence structure to pace their writing, and how they place the words and sentences
on a page to help their writing flow.
It’s not necessarily something we think about as readers, but the rhythm of a
piece of writing can really elevate it. When sentences are all the same length, it
becomes quite boring for the reader. Think about if someone is speaking to you in a
monotone voice – everything they say sounds the same and it’s easier for you to lose
interest. It’s the same for writing. We need to create rhythm in our writing, whether
prose or poetry, to keep the reader’s attention and ensure they turn the page.
You can also use rhythm in your writing to build excitement or slow the pace.
Short sentences, one after the other, give a clear sense that something big is about to
happen – they mimic the quickening of a heartbeat. Long sentences, on the other
hand, slow the pace right down. It’s good to have a mixture of both in your writing as
you take your reader on a journey through your fictional world.
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Rhythm in dialogue is a great way to convey the sense of different characters
too. Some people might speak in short, sharp, one-word answers, which helps to build
the idea of them as a brusque character – as someone who’s busy, or even plain rude.
Alternatively, someone who always speaks in long, drawn-out sentences or uses florid
descriptions for everything could be seen as a dreamer or a bit pompous.
In general, writers should read widely. Not only will that help to spark your
imagination, but it’ll also develop your sense of rhythm, and give you a feel for what
will work in the type of writing you want to do.
You should also take time to learn about different literary techniques and
understand what their effect can be on readers. As Alan Moore explains in his BBC
Maestro course on Storytelling, “there is a multiplicity of rhythmic devices that you
can employ in your prose. Know what you’re using and know its effect, and your
writing will be immeasurably enriched.”
But there are other ways that you can learn how to use rhythm, and you should
look to sources outside of literature for inspiration. Alan Moore is a fan of studying
comedians to get a sense of timing. After all, comic timing is the key factor in
whether a joke lands or falls flat. So, by watching comedy shows and stand-up
routines, you’ll start to build a sense of what good rhythm, timing and pacing means –
and that’s something you can use in your own writing. He says, "eventually, you will
start to get a sense of how you can bring this element of timing to your stories and
make them a beautiful ride for the reader, or an excursion at breakneck pace if you
feel like it.” You may also want to employ different techniques to create rhythm,
depending on what type of writing you’re doing. Let’s look at some different methods
you can use, broken down by genre.
Poetry is, of course, the literary form that’s most closely associated with
rhythm. That’s because lots of poems make use of metre to create a beat. The metre
also helps to build a specific mood or tone to the poem.
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Rhyme schemes in poetry can also help to create a rhythm, helping to make a
poem more musical. As Carol Ann Duffy explains in her BBC Maestro course,
Writing Poetry:
“From a very early age, we are used to hearing nursery rhymes and playground
rhymes, the things our mothers chant to us. We still remember those little poems by
heart because they often have rhyme or rhythm or metre. In a sense, the best poetry is
always memorable and closely related to song. We learn the words of hymns, chants
and Christmas carols because they are easily remembered and often repeated.”
She explains that much poetry has rhythm because metre tends to mimic natural
speech. Iambic pentameter is one of the most common types of metre and is most
famous for being used in Shakespeare’s sonnets.
An iamb is a metrical foot that’s made up of one unstressed syllable followed
by a stressed one. It read as ‘da-DUM’. ‘Penta’ means five, so an iambic pentameter
is made up of five ‘da-DUMs’. As Carol Ann Duffy says:
“We also speak in that kind of rhythm, ‘I think it’s time we had a cup of tea’
has the same metre as ‘shall I compare thee to a summer’s day’. There is a music built
into the ordinary language that we speak and the natural language of English tends
towards the iambic pentameter.”
However, not all poems use metre and rhyme – and you can write a memorable
poem without using a rhyme scheme. Free verse is a type of poetry that doesn’t use
metre or rhyme but there are still ways that you can create rhythm within a free verse
poem.
One way you can do so is by using literary techniques like alliteration and
assonance, which will help to create a musical feel in a less overt way. Carol Ann
Duffy explains:
“Assonance is important in poetry. This is the half-rhyme, where you change
the vowel sound in a word, as in weed/wood, or the consonants, as in weed
/scream/receive. Assonance gives the words a musical chime.”
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Techniques like this can be used to great effect, helping to create not only
rhythm but a mood and atmosphere, whether you’re writing love poetry, nature
poems, or something completely different.
Children’s books are written to be read aloud, and they naturally need to
capture the attention and imagination of young readers. As Julia Donaldson explains
in her BBC Maestro course, Writing Children’s Picture Books:
“Relish the sound of every word. Your picture book is going to be read aloud,
so sound is really important. And because it’s so short, every word has to count.”
Julia Donaldson writes in rhyme, which automatically creates a pleasing, sing-
song rhythm to her books. But this isn’t the only approach to writing children’s books
– and in fact, it’s not one that she necessarily recommends. She says: “Sometimes the
rhymes don’t trip off the tongue – and that’s vital for a rhyming book. In my opinion,
and that of my editor, it’s vastly preferable for a story to be in patterned prose than in
rambling rhyme.”
You can, of course, play around with rhyme but there are plenty of other ways
to create rhythm when you’re writing children’s picture books. As in poetry, you can
experiment with different literary techniques that will have an impact on the pace of
your book and how it sounds when it’s read aloud.
Alliteration and assonance and other forms of wordplay are the perfect places to
start. As Julia says: “Picture books are often the first time a child will have come
across alliteration and assonance, or examples of metaphor, simile, personification
and figurative language. Then there’s onomatopoeia, where the words sound like the
sounds that they’re describing. POP!”
These techniques build rhythm into your writing, creating a piece of work that
feels animated and exciting to read.
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Conclusion on chapter I
In the process of the research a set of tasks has been done, some of which were
to bring to light the concept of every prosodic means (rhythm, intonation, volume,
tempo, pauses and melody), consider rhythmic and intonational framing of English
speech. As a result, it’s got clear that prosody plays important role in teaching a
language because in the study of English the particularly relevant tasks are the tasks
forming a regular speech. Intonation is important as it is important for the meaning of
an utterance. Intonation gives some sense to words and grammatical constructions.
The same remark, uttered by different tones can be perceived as an order, a request, a
statement or a question, spoken with various modal and emotional meanings. Proper
use of voice tone is a sign of a speaker’s phonetic literacy.
Having considered the rising and falling tone, we’ve seen that the first tone is
the tone of uncertainty, incompleteness, and doubt. Therefore, rising intonation is
mainly used in interrogative sentences, report a great interest or surprise, it’s a polite
tone. The falling tone is the tone of straight assertion, completeness, and certainty. So
falling intonation is used in declarative sentences, special questions, exclamatory
sentences, etc. In English speech intonation plays an important role both for framing
speech and perception a text: it is a means of expressing meaning and emotional
contents of an expression.
We have also considered ways and means of formation of rhythmic and
intonational skills of pupils. When learning rhythm and intonation of English speech,
to be successful, we can use a variety of games, tongue-twisters, proverbs, sayings,
rhyming, exercises for reception and reproduction. Working on intonation, we should
remember that we have to follow a certain order, that’s, to start with the simplest
level, gradually complicating it.
Thus, training of rhythm and intonation is very important in the process of
mastering a foreign language speech, because rhythm and intonation are systemic
phenomena spearing through the whole language.
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CHAPTER II. SENTENCE STRUCTURE'S FUNCTION IN
ESTABLISHING PROSE RHYTHM
2.1 Rhythm as a metaphor for presence in prose fiction
In Metaphors We Live By, Lakoff and Johnson explore how people understand
whole systems of concepts through other, more familiar ideas. Metaphors make one
domain of experience comprehensible by describing it in terms of another. According
to their theory, our basic domain of experience is human nature: our interactions with
other people, the physical environment and our own bodies. Some concepts like love,
time and happiness, are not clear enough in their own terms to describe our day-to-
day experiences, so we ground them in our interaction with physical and cultural
environments. They compare two types of metaphor: conventional like “love is a
journey” and “love is war” or imaginative and creative, which challenges cliché and
offers new insight. Their example of an imaginative metaphor is “love is a
collaborative work of art” . Like any analogy, this comparison hides and highlights
certain properties (of love) to provide a coherent structure of meaning. They suggest
that the qualities we choose to emphasize or omit in a metaphor provide feedback that
guides our future actions. If we live by the understanding that love is a collaborative
work of art, we minimize the passive dimensions of love (ex. “love is madness and I
am not accountable”) and maximize love as a special activity, or “collaboration.”
Love gains new meaning and presents an alternative way to be in the world. The
metaphor does not passively reflect reality, but can change or construct it.
Like love, the components of literary fiction are not clear in their own terms.
We rely on metaphors like “voice,” as well as “style,” “structure,” tone,” “mood,”
“plot,” “story arc,” “setting,” and “point of view.” In the spirit of Lakoff and Johnson,
I suggest that rhythm is a creative, rather than reflective, metaphor for “presence” (or
“presenting”) and resonance in literary fiction. Like the love metaphor, the concept
that resonant writing is rhythm highlights key features: resonant writing, or presence,
is vital, linked to pulse and breath; it is sounding and not sounding (resounding);
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resonant writing involves words, but not always; resonant writing is music; it is
dance, and muscular; resonant writing identifies us like a gait (but we may try out
other gaits); resonant writing is hypnotic; it is involuntary (and voluntary). Unlike the
resonance / presence is voice metaphor, the concept that resonant writing is rhythm
downplays the notion of literature as monotonous, phonocentric, or the signature of its
author, and highlights its power as vital, muscular and musical.
Certain lines of literature burrow into our minds. We all have them sentences
we have pocketed, a line we could not get out of our head, or simply chains of words
that sparked a frisson when we first read them. For me it’s the first paragraph of
Lolita, or the following line in Alistair MacLeod’s No Great Mischief: “All of us are
better when we’re loved.” When I talk about rhythm, I do not mean simply metre, or
rhetoric, or structure, but the resonance that emerges from these parts. To draw a
comparison, if I may, to rap music: Birgitte Stougaard Pedersen speaks of a “feeling”
that rises from the performed hip hop groove and flow. She applies Wittgenstein’s
concept of “gesture” to rap: the linguistic gesture, which creates meaning through
tone and rhythm in language, and musical gesture, which uses accentuation, intensity
and timbre (2009). In a similar vein, Robert Walser asserts that “the rhythmic
placement of the phrases creates polyrhythmic tension…The music is not an
accompaniment to textual delivery; rather voice and instrumental tracks are placed in
a more dynamic relationship in hip hop, as the rapper interacts with the rest of the
music” (1995: 204). That is musical notation cannot represent the nuances of sound
and timbre. Nor can notation represent the “micro-rhythms” in rap music, which
inspire that “certain feeling” music invokes. Likewise, no scansion could translate the
resonance echoing from a rhythmic line, whether the line is delivered in a sonnet or
eight-hundred page novel. Rhythm is more than counting syllables. Or, as Pedersen
writes, rhythm “reveals itself in between the metrical aspect on the one hand and the
sounding and experienced aspect on the other” (2009: 6). More so than prose fiction,
the rhythm in rap music and metered poetry possesses a pattern of variation and
20

repetition “but it is also something performed and perceived.” Prose rhythms are also
performed and perceived, albeit on the page. If we understand the perception of
rhythm as integral to the word’s definition, the process of listening, in the case of
music, or reading in the case of prose, adds new meaning. “In this way,” Pedersen
continues, “rhythm seems to be created between an object and the act of sensing” (6).
Whether in music or literature, rhythm is greater than sheet music or scansions, in the
same way that a wall calendar cannot communicate anything meaningful about the
years of our lives. Any definition of rhythm in literature must consider its expression
(by the writer) and perception (by the reader) in a body of work. In Meter as Rhythm,
Christopher Hasty alludes to this tension between definition and experience:
Among the attributes of rhythm we might include continuity of flow,
articulation, regularity, proportion, repetition, pattern, alluring form or shape,
expressive gesture, animation and motion… Indeed, so intimate is the connection of
the rhythmical and the musical, we could perhaps most concisely define music as the
rhythmization of sound (thus the “musicality” of speech or verse.)… Music theory
presents us with a reasonably clear understanding of rhythm. Thus restricted, rhythm
is identified with metre, durational pattern, or durational proportion… But music as
experienced is never an expression of numerical quantity.
Though he speaks here about rhythm and music, the same tensions arise in
literature. Rhythm in prose inhabits pattern and repetition. Like free verse and prose
poetry, our sound units are syllables, words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs. In
free verse, poets sustain a beat through image patterns and speech cadence. So too for
prose; the words are simply arranged without line breaks. On a structural level, the
pulse of punctuation and whitespace animates a story like it animates verse. Simple
sentences move faster. Our eyes skip from full stop to full stop. The pace may feel
hurried. Choppy. Conversely, a long sentence, with modifying phrases added by
commas, the predicate hovering near the full stop so we’re not sure of the point until
we reach the end of the line, may build anticipation by suspending the reader’s
21

attention, or indeed lose the reader’s attention altogether and appear longwinded.
When I tell colleagues I research rhythm in prose, they pause. I doubt they would
hesitate if I said I studied rhythm in free verse. Neither form is organized by metre,
yet rhythm in poetry is taken for granted like rhythm in music or dance. For writers of
prose fiction, rhythm feels like a term we have borrowed from other disciplines, one
we must ask permission to use. Unlike poets or tap dancers, we presume ourselves
unauthorized to spend time there. We are more comfortable with the word voice.
Henri Meschonnic rejects the distinction between prose and verse altogether a
position informed by his translations of the Old Testament from Hebrew. He found
that the ancients wrote these texts in neither prose nor verse yet everything was
rhythm. Throughout his body of work, Meschonnic discredits the impulse to
compartmentalize rhythm along formal lines:
And if the poem-rhythm is a subject-form(er), rhythm is no longer a formal
notion form itself is no longer a formal notion, a notion of the sign but a form of
historicization, a form of individuation. Down with the old couple of form and
meaning. Poem is all that, in language, realizes this refrain that is a maximal
subjectivization of discourse. Prose, verse, or line”.
Rhythm is language in motion, the subject-form(er), the continual movement of
subject-forming. As a prose writer, this understanding of rhythm feels true to me: why
consider fiction a literary genre opposed to poetry, or indeed common language. Such
formal distinctions miss the point. Meschonnic’s manifesto continues:
What the poem must demonstrate is the refusal of the separation between
language and life. To recognize this as an opposition not between language and life,
but between a representation of language and a representation of life…This refusal,
all these refusals, are indispensable so that a poem should come to be written, to be
read. So that living should transform itself into a poem. So that a poem should
transform living.
22

Again, when Meschonnic speaks of “the poem” he does not refer to a genre
distinct from prose such categories are only useful for “users” of language. For
Meschonnic, we do not use language, and nor does language use us. He posits a more
interesting idea: we become language. Whether we write prose, verse, or an email to a
friend.
Pedersen writes that micro-rhythmic gestures relate a feeling of the music,
which shifts by the “accentuation of the beat or a certain colour of a vowel”. So too
with prose. Though short stories and novels are not typically performed aloud, the
placement of participial phrases and punctuation, the framing of sentences into
different patterns like anaphora or parallelism or anadiplosis, or simply ending a
sentence on a hard syllable, tunes the sensation we experience when we read. Our
understanding of the word “gesture” is also enhanced by the junction between
musicology and literary studies. Robert S. Hatten defines gesture in music as an
“energetic shaping through time”, which echoes my experience of rhythm as the
animating force that begins and emerges from my writing process. Wittgenstein
writes that “verbal language contains a strong musical element. (A sigh, the
modulation of tone or a question, for an announcement, for longing; all the countless
gestures in the vocal cadences)”. When we speak with one another, these gestures
may be physical: where we place our hand, or how we shift the weight on our feet.
But gestures may be implied even without a body: through language, as discussed
above, or the strategic absence of language, by way of whitespace and punctuation.
Reading is a kinaesthetic experience: “words, and grammar, and syntax, and
typographic phenomena such as typeface, margin, punctuation, activate cross-sensory,
psycho-physiological responses prior to concept and interpretation”.
23

2.2 Methods and Means of Forming Rhythmic and Intonational Skills of
Pupils
Quite naturally, flawless intonation is an ornament of speech sounding in any
language. But we should not dramatize the situation of teaching intonation skills at
today’s secondary school. Therefore, it would be much better to teach pupils basic
model phrases in the approximated performance than a single model of intonation in
perfect.
But we should not believe that the problems of intonation are not worth
attention at all. We just need to limit teaching intonation skills to minimum models.
The following methods of teaching intonational skills are the most effective:
1) use of exercises to develop pupils’ speech tempo. Intonation of an English
phrase is good only at the appropriate tempo while, as usual, pupils’ speech tempo is
very low;
2) use of tongue-twisters, proverbs and sayings. It is important to ensure that
pupils utter them in one breath, without interruption and unnecessary stoppages that
can disrupt a phrase intonation pattern: Money spent on the brain is never spent in
vain. Then we move from phrasal to super-phrasal level when in one breath some
communicative extract of 2-4 sentences is pronounced [27; 96].
Teaching intonation skills not within the language environment is an extremely
difficult challenge. An important reserve for improving skills of intonation is to do
exercises in expressive reading. It is useful to carry out such work on the material of
dialogic nature texts with the following sequence of training activities:
– exemplary reading;
– practicing phonetics;
– practicing intonation;
– frame-up practicing;
– framing-up a dialogue.
24

Pupils get to know the basic rhythm and intonation patterns in the process of
their mastering speech patterns, which at the same time are structural types of
sentences [27; 101].
The main difficulty is the division of a sentence into rhythm and intonation
groups and their correct sound framing – pronouncing in one breath, without
interruption, with one stress, and a simultaneous increase / decrease of tone and
pronouncing the sentence as a whole. In work on rhythm and intonation patterns is
particularly evident the unity of imitation and explanation as a way of presenting new
material [14; 123].
Explanations of the teacher, which should have practical advice nature, may be
built both deductively and inductively. In the first case, he clearly sets a number of
similar examples, explaining the features of stress, melody, etc., in the second – he
also sets a number of similar examples, but now he makes pupils themselves to come
to the correct conclusion (rule) on their own with a help of his ancillary questions.
The inductive way is believed to be more efficient (although it requires much time),
especially at the beginning of training, since it provides better digesting of heard
patterns and develops ear of students, drawing their attention to the sides of speech,
which might otherwise stay unnoticed, despite advance mentioning them [25; 99].
The next stage of work on rhythm is working on a text, as there is a rhythmic
system in the text. As the material and illustration short texts of children’s poems can
be taken: they are well-digested by people of all ages, represent a significant part of
culture of the country the language of which is studied, easy for working on rhythm.
Let’s begin with analysis of a poem which in many collections is traditionally
included to a compilation of children’s poems.
The sun has set,
And now anew
With fallen dew
The grass is wet.
25

$Each little bird Has sunk to rest, Within its nest No song is heard [27; 107]. A poem is written in disyllabic form and consists of eight lines. The line is clearly framed as a rhythmic unit, first of all with stress and melody prosodic components. Calm, going down melodic contour, ending with a falling tone is repeated from line to line, creating a clear rhythm of the lines. Commensurability of lines enhances their role as rhythmic units. The poem is divided into two quatrains. This division is carried out by a long pause (longer than the line spacing), the fracture of tone (tone level of the fifth line is higher than tone level of the fourth one), reducing volume by the end of the fourth line and increase of volume by the end of the fifth line. Significant role in bringing together four lines is played by circle rhyme. Mentioned features make the quatrains similar and comparable, in other words, help regard them as rhythmic units. The poem also can be divided to two-line fragments. This is done by increasing of isochronisms of two-line fragments in comparison with the line and thanks to stage placing of the lines within the two-line fragment (the first line is on higher tonal level than the second, the third is on higher tonal level than the fourth). Thus, the rhythm of this poem is based on the alternation of rhythmic groups, lines and quatrains. Such detailed analysis of rhythmic organization of the poem has been required to show the systemic nature of rhythm. On the example of this poetic work clear rhythmic structure spearing all phonetic levels can be seen. That is why poetry is a good material for the development of English rhythmic speech skills. It makes learning the frequency of a basic unit (rhythmic group), as well as the frequency of larger units, easier. 26$

Now we turn to the analysis of rhythmic organization of a prose text. It is
advisable to choose descriptive text, wide-spread in practice of foreign languages
teachers. Let’s analyze the text about the country the language of which is studied.
The British Isles consist of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland and many
small islands chiefly to be found in the west. The total area is about 120,000 square
miles, i.e. one thirty of the size of Europe.
The west coast is washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish Sea, the east coast
by the North Sea and the south coast by the English Channel [27; 88].
The text contains two super-phrasal unities which are called, respectively, 9 and
7 syntagmas. Their length varies, but not in a significant range.
If we compare the super-phrasal unities, then we can see that in the first one
syntagmas are more a varying in duration, but more similar in their stress and melodic
organization (descending scale and falling tone dominate here); the second super-
phrasal unity syntagmas are more commensurate but 3 of 7 syntagmas are
pronounced with a rising tone. Hence the second super-phrasal unity syntagmas have
more varying melodic framing. This variability, at the same time, has a peculiar
rhythm, since syntagmas of ascending ending alternate with syntagmas of descending
ending. The analysis of the poem and descriptive text shows that the syntagmas of a
prose text have similar framing and have commensurability (frequency). The more
this commensurability is expressed, the more varying stress and melodic organization
of the text can be.
It’s also important to remember that managing of voice (while maintaining the
correctness of separate sounds) is a very difficult task for many pupils, and quality of
being reproduced patterns largely depends on how they hear these patterns. For this
purpose, it is recommended to use and affordable means of visibility – to point the
direction of tone by the hand, to knock rhythm, etc. The task of maintaining
intonation skills at the appropriate level sets high demands to the teacher’s speech in
27

general and to the level of intonation in particular. In this sense the teacher’s speech
should be exemplary [27; 43].
In result of doing a set of preparatory exercises the development of the
following skills is achieved:
1) to distinguish physical properties and perceive quality of intonation;
2) to correlate intonation with the semantic content of speech;
3) to distinguish the communicative types of sentences;
4) to differentiate intonational features of a foreign language;
5) to correlate intonation with the context and situation;
6) to have intonation ear;
7) to use probabilistic forecasting at the level of phrases and text [8; 199].
During the work on intonation of English speech analytical-synthetic method is
used, the essence of such method is synthesis and use of intonation means based on
the analysis of practical speech experience [20; 24].
To show intonation changes, we can also use a graphical method. The words of
the sentence are indicated by conventional symbols, and the direction and intensity of
tonal variations – by straight or curved arrows. For this purpose phrases not differing
in linguistic means should be used. Most of all, interrogative and affirmative
sentences consisting of two words:
“Mom is at home.”
“Is mom at home?"
The subject of this analysis is the change of voice tone at the end of the
sentence: falling in the first case and rising in the second.
For the assimilation of rising and falling tones we can suggest a game “A
question – An answer”. A child is given a card on which some sentences consisting of
two words are written, and there is no punctuation at the end of them. The child must
identify, if it is a question or an answer. He should pronounce the sentence aloud with
appropriate intonation and a certain (rising tone – moving the hand up, falling tone –
28

moving the hand down). After the type of the sentence is argued and tied with
intonation, missing punctuation can be added [27; 107]. The next game, “Boaster”, is
to involve the emotional component. The name is conventional and it expresses only
one of possible colors. We can use cards from the previous game, after all punctuation
marks were added. The task of a pupil is to pronounce an affirmative sentence with
boastful intonation, analyzing sounding of the phrase. Particular attention is paid to
how the emotional coloring is achieved. In this case the pupil should maintain a
falling tone, expressing relative completeness of the sentence. Then the pupil is asked
to pronounce the interrogative sentence with a tone of annoyance. Here a rising tone
expressing its incompleteness and the lack of flatness should be maintained. The
following emotional coloring is recommended: joy, anger, rage, fear, etc
29

Conclusion on chapter II.
Rhythm, as a metaphor for presence in prose fiction, emphasizes the
importance of the writer's ability to create a flow and cadence in their writing that
captivates the reader's attention and keeps them engaged. Just as a musical rhythm
sets the pace and mood of a song, the rhythm in prose fiction sets the tone and
atmosphere of the narrative.
The presence created by a skilled writer's use of rhythm is evident in the way
the text moves smoothly and effortlessly, guiding the reader through the story. This
rhythmic flow creates a sense of presence, where the reader feels fully immersed in
the narrative, almost as if they are experiencing the events themselves. A writer who
understands the power of rhythm utilizes various literary devices, such as repetition,
parallelism, and carefully crafted sentence structures to establish a consistent and
compelling rhythm. By controlling the pace, the writer can emphasize certain
moments, build tension, or evoke specific emotions. The rhythm becomes a tool for
drawing the reader closer to the characters and their world. Rhythm also adds depth to
the prose by enhancing the overall aesthetic quality of the writing. A well-crafted
rhythm can create a harmonious balance between the language, imagery, and plot,
resulting in a more satisfying reading experience. Just as a resonant melody sticks
with us long after the song ends, an artful use of rhythm in prose fiction lingers in the
reader's mind, leaving a lasting impression.
In conclusion, rhythm, as a metaphor for presence in prose fiction, highlights
the integral role it plays in engaging and captivating the reader. The writer's ability to
create a rhythmic flow not only enhances the narrative but also adds aesthetic value to
the writing. It serves as a reflection of the writer's voice, making their work resonate
with readers long after they have finished the story.
30

CONCLUSION
Sentence structure plays a crucial role in creating rhythm in prose. By
manipulating the length and structure of sentences, writers can vary the pace, flow,
and musicality of their writing.
Short, snappy sentences create a fast-paced rhythm that generates a sense of
urgency or excitement. These sentences often consist of subject-verb-object
construction without elaborate subordination. For example: "She ran. He chased. They
laughed."
On the other hand, long, complex sentences can slow down the rhythm and
create a more lyrical or reflective tone. They often contain multiple clauses, phrases,
and modifiers, incorporating a variety of sentence structures. For example: "With her
heart pounding, she ran as fast as she could, desperately trying to outpace her pursuer,
who seemed to be gaining on her with every stride."
Repetitions and parallel structures also contribute to rhythm in prose. Repeating
words, phrases, or sentence patterns in a deliberate manner can create a pleasing
cadence. For example: "She ran and ran, never looking back. She ran through the
forest, ran over the hills, ran with all her might."
Sentence fragments or incomplete sentences, when used strategically, can add a
touch of abruptness, create pauses, or signal a change in tempo. For example: "She
ran. Faster and faster. Until her legs couldn't carry her anymore."
In addition to the length and structure of sentences, punctuation marks, such as
commas, semicolons, and dashes, also influence the rhythm. They help control the
pace and guide the reader's breathing. For example: "She ran, gasping for breath; her
heart pounding like a drum."
Overall, sentence structure serves as a powerful tool for writers to shape the
rhythm and musicality of their prose, enhancing the reading experience and
conveying the desired emotions and moods..
31

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