Abstract:

When it comes to the methodology of teaching prosodic organisation of business discourse to business people, the issues having to do with the place of prosody in the language system, its relationship with other language means and its role in the process of speech interaction remain a subject of discussion, which is mainly because the efficiency of oral business discourse is very much contingent upon the prosodic means used by communicating parties.

The present study aims to:
(1) investigate prosodic opportunities of business speech within the register of business conversational interaction based on acoustic analysis of spontaneous, monologic and dialogic speech;
(2) conduct empirical evaluation of material retrieved from native speakers and the audio recordings of their speech using Praat, Speech Analyser and Phonology Assistant software;
(3) conduct auditive and acoustic analysis to define the specific aspects of prosodic means used in business meetings;
(4) list methodological recommendations for improving business people’s pronunciation skills.

The key methods of research include auditive, acoustic and instrumental analysis, supplemented with theoretical analysis and the methods of non-registered observation, modelling and quantitative analysis.

Investigating audible speech along with the entire set of its typical parameters provides an opportunity to obtain comprehensive information shedding light on the communicative setting and speakers’ intentions and, consequently, nourish the skills of competent speech behaviour required to ensure business people’s meaningful participation in the process of communicative interaction.

The role of prosodic organisation of business conversational practices in the process of communicative interaction translates into a topical issue in the framework of business speech research. For the purposes of broader analysis of prosodic means used by business people, the authors conducted acoustic analysis using Speech Analyzer 3.0.1 computer software that allowed to visualise speech fragments and accurately define the parameters of the key prosodic components.

The need to teach adequate perception and production of speech at the level of prosody is inextricably connected with the need to identify adequate means designed to ensure successful international business interaction.

In conclusion, the authors suggest that competent use of prosodic means in the course of business interaction builds the foundation for efficient business activity, which fact determined the focus of the present study aimed at listing recommendations for improving business people’s pronunciation skills. Teaching pronunciation relies on two main principles, namely communicative and stylistic. The first principle is about complying with the communicative requirements of interaction by utilising semantically distinguishing sounds and intonemes. The second principle, in turn, has to do with the development of exemplary literary pronunciation skills.

Keywords:

Prosodic means, business conversation, communicative competence, prosodic phonetics.