Nonverbal and paraverbal expression of emotions in the course of learning Russian as a foreign language

Abstract

The article investigates nonverbal and paraverbal expression of emotions in the course of learning Russian as a foreign language. Emotiveness has a categorical status at various levels of language system and speech phonological, morphological, and syntactical and etc. At each level emotiveness is conveyed by specific means and methods and their description and classification is a specific and a rather complex task. Phonetic means of expression of emotions include phonological change of sounds, accentual and intonational means. Teaching phonetics, particularly pronunciation of sounds and intonation to foreign learners will certainly bring good results in the country of the object language. But it is intonation which the foreigners learning Russian in their home country find most difficult to acquire. People with a flawless pronunciation of separate words of a foreign language often make mistakes in intonation particularly when they deal with larger pieces of speech. For instance, it is difficult to catch a joke or irony or express various shades of surprise, irritation, disgust, trust, distrust and etc which are often conveyed only by intonation reflecting emotional state of the speaker.