Prosodic subsystems. Tempo.

The tempo of speech is the rate at which utterances and their smaller units are pronounced. On the acoustic level tempo is generally measured by the number of syllables per second.

Tempo of speech may be determined by different factors. It may vary depending on the size of audience, the acoustic qualities of the room, the individuality of the speaker and other extra linguistic factors. But most significant for the linguistic study is how variations in tempo correlate with changes in meaning.

Tempo can also be used to express the speaker's attitude or emotion. For example, fast tempo may express excitement, joy, anger, etc. as in "There are your slippers, and there. And may you never have a day's luck with them" as pronounced with anger by Eliza in B.Shaw's "Pygmalion". Slow tempo shows relaxation or calmness, reserved and phlegmatic attitude on the part of the speaker, as for instance in "Well, we can both breathe a sigh of relief" when pronounced after having done something hard or unpleasant.

Everybody's speech has some norm of tempo, deviations from which affect meaning. Phoneticians generally distinguish normal tempo and two departures from the norm: fast and slow.

D.Crystal gives a more detailed classification of variations of tempo.He distinguishes between simple and complex tempo systems. The simple tempo system is manifested both in monosyllables and polysyllabic stretches of utterance. The complex tempo system is realized in polysyllabic stretches.

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