Rhythm structure in news reading

Abstract

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.