PERCEPTION AND INTERPRETATION OF INTONATION AS A MEANS OF NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION (IN THE LITHUANIAN AND ENGLISH LANGUAGES)

Intonation is considered to be one of the elements of the so called non-verbal communica- tion system. Together with kinesics it is attributed to the main means of paralinguistics. In both languages intonation is often equaled to voice and tone characteristics, although they represent different notions. Intonation in both Russian and English is a universal means of expression of different meanings and especially of numerous emotional and stylistic shades. The expressive possibilities of intonation evidently diminish in written text as far as graphics does not insure rendering of international variety in spoken text. In both languages the lack of the latter in written texts is rendered in special ways and with a help of various means (usually graphical ones or verbal comments), determining spoken intonation perception in written language.