The ministry of higher and secondary special education of the republic of uzbekistan

Unit 16. Intonational Peculiarities of Reading Tales 
Tales occupy a somewhat intermediate position between the so-called oral and written 
types. Tales all round the world have certain similarities in their structure. They usually 
begin and end with a specific embellishment, the beginning of each presents series of 
typical formulas. For instance, many English tales begin with the words: “Once upon a 
time there…”. The so-called “
binary
oppositions
” are typical of all tales. Good is 
opposed to Bad, Genuine to False etc. Alongside this binary principal, the principle of 
thrice-repeated actions or phenomena exists in the structure of the plot of the tale. The 
classical example of this is the trebling of characters and actions: three brothers, three 
helpers, etc. 
Compositionally this trebling serves the aim of breaking the development of the plot. 
Originally tales existed in oral forms. Nowadays when many tales are published the 
forms of realization are various. 
Tales can be read, told and even dramatized. The variety of realizations and the variety 
of plot determine the variety of intonational characteristics. 
I.
The division into sense-groups depends on the type of the text. The narrative part 
reveals features common with the descriptive prose. The number of stressed words in most 
cases varies from two to four. In the dialogue parts the sense-groups are shorter (from one 
of three stressed words). 

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II.
In the narrative part the tonetic contour of a sense-group often consists of a Falling 
Tone and a Gradually Descending Scale. In Non-final sense-groups the Rising Tone is 
more frequent than in the descriptive prose. 
In the dialogue parts complex tones are often used. The tonetic contour is characterized 
by more pitch fluctuations. 
III.
The Decentralized Stress is prevailing in the narrative part. The Centralized Stress is 
more frequent in the dialogue parts. 
IV.
The rhythmic organization of tales depends greatly on their syntactical and 
compositional structure. 
In the narrative part simple rhythm based on the isochronism of rhythmic groups is 
more common. Sense-groups characterized by a similar tonetic structure constitute a 
periodicity which contributes to the rhythmic organization. 
Repetitions (lexical and syntactical) which are frequent in tales, play an important role 
in rhythmization. In some tales a regular alternation of descriptive and dialogue parts 
produces a peculiar rhythm of units higher than a sentence. 
Some tales are built on similar repetitions (syntactical, lexical and intonational). 
V. The tempo in the narrative part is rather slow and often constant. The tempo of the 
dialogue is quicker and often changeable.
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