ACTA LINGUISTICA TOM. 3 (A MTA NYELVTUDOMÁNYI KÖZLEMÉNYEI, 1953)

1953 / 1-2. sz. - HEGEDŰS, L.: On the problem of the pauses of speech

ON THE PROBLEM OF THE PAUSES OF SPEECH By LAJOS HEGEDŰS 1) From, the history of the Problem Our speech does not consist of continuous sounding but is occasionally interrupted by pauses of various length. The interruption of the sounding for a few hundredth parts of a second occurs even during the formation of certain sounds. Let us think only of the formation of the voiceless plosives (p, t, k) where sounding ceases during the stop and the flow of the sound is broken. This, however, cannot be regarded as a genuine pause because with the plosives the short stop in sounding is one of the elements securing the unity of the phoneme and is exactly such a particle of sound as implosion or explosion. This is also proved by a certain degree of muscular tension of the organs of articulation during the formation of the stop.1 Real pauses can be called those which are not perceived as elements of sounds. Pauses of this kind do not involve simply the interruption for a fixed duration of the course of speech but, according to the Zwirners,2 their definition also implies the intention of the formation of the pause of speech. The speaker intentionally interpolates pauses into his speech, thus breaking up the train of thoughts into smaller units, whereby the pause becomes an important factor of the process of comprehension. Consequently, the pauses of speech are highly essential peculiarities of the mechanical process •of thinking. Our knowledge of their role is, however, very scanty because linguists have devoted little attention to this problem. All that we can rely on are occasional remarks and observations rather than the results of scientific analysis. The problem has been touched on from the viewpoints of a) declamatory and theatrical arts, b) grammar, c) phonetics. 1 Flodström, I. : Zur Lehre von den Consonanten. Bezzenberger's Beitr. zur Kunde der idg. Sprachen VIII (1884), 1. ff. Siovers, E. : Grundzüge der Phonetik. Leipzig 19015, p. 35. 2 Zwirner, E. —Zwirner, K. : Phonometrischer Beitrag zur Frage der Lesepausen. Archives Néerlandaises de Phonétique Experimentale XIII, p. 114. 1 Acta Linguistica III/l—2

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