Open Access
Rhythm structure in news reading
Author(s) -
Lluís Más Manchón
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
brazilian journalism research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.153
H-Index - 2
eISSN - 1981-9854
pISSN - 1808-4079
DOI - 10.25200/bjr.v8n2.2012.409
Subject(s) - rhythm , melody , reading (process) , computer science , linguistics , communication , psychology , acoustics , art , literature , physics , musical , philosophy
Rhythm is central to news reading in radio and television programs. This paper proposes a three level structure for rhythm in news discourse. It gives a comprehensive definition of rhythm and types of rhythm. Firstly, the Base Rhythm Structure consists of semantic and pragmatic rhythmic accents, coincident with very specific words. Secondly, these accents are grouped together according to type, frequency and order, thereby configuring three types of “rhythmic units” (the Internal Rhythm Structure): starting, main and end units. A last structure level presents four discursive factors that are very important in integrating the overall time structure of news announcing (the Melodic Rhythm Structure). This integral structure for news announcing rhythm should be further tested in acoustic-experimental studies under the criterion of information transmission efficacy.