Abstract

The impact of 3 personality traits (according to K. Leonhard’s typology, ostentation, hyperactivity and dysthymia) on intonation parameters (mean ∆F0 , tone span, speech rate, duration of speech and mean duration of syllable) was investigated. Intonation is considered by the authors as a formal dynamic aspect of speech that the individual uses in solving diverse communicative tasks. The authors suggested that the intonation as a means of communication will be most in demand in that person, who has a lot of social contacts, which is common for individuals with such personality traits as ostentation and hyperactivity. At the same time, individuals who possess opposite personality traits such as dysthymia will use intonation in a special way, because of inherent shyness, pessimism, and eventually asociality.

The sample records were produced by 30 male and female participants. 60 recordings of natural monologue on proposed topics were obtained in situations of presence and absence of conversation partner. For the manifestation of each feature there should be certain conditions, which speech activity implements. It turned out that ostentation affects speech rate, hyperactivity affects tone span, dysthymia affects speech rate and duration of speech. The joint effects of these personality traits were also ellicited. Most explicitly, these effects appeared to reveal in certain conditions. For ostentation that was the presence of conversation partner, while for dysthymia – its absence. Sufficient condition for hyperactivity is a speech task.