- intonation
-
—intonational, adj./in'toh nay"sheuhn, -teuh-/, n.1. the pattern or melody of pitch changes in connected speech, esp. the pitch pattern of a sentence, which distinguishes kinds of sentences or speakers of different language cultures.2. the act or manner of intonating.3. the manner of producing musical tones, specifically the relation in pitch of tones to their key or harmony.4. something that is intoned or chanted.5. the opening phrase in a Gregorian chant, usually sung by one or two voices.[1610-20; < ML intonation- (s. of intonatio). See INTONATE, -ION]
* * *
In phonetics, the melodic pattern of an utterance.Intonation is primarily a matter of variation in the pitch level of the voice (see tone), but in languages such as English, stress and rhythm are also involved. Intonation conveys differences of expressive meaning (e.g., surprise, doubtfulness). In many languages, including English, intonation serves a grammatical function, distinguishing one type of phrase or sentence from another. Thus, "it's gone" is an assertion when spoken with a drop in pitch at the end, but a question when spoken with a rise in pitch at the end.* * *
▪ speechin phonetics, the melodic pattern of an utterance. Intonation is primarily a matter of variation in the pitch level of the voice (see also tone), but in such languages as English, stress and rhythm are also involved. Intonation conveys differences of expressive meaning (e.g., surprise, anger, wariness).In many languages, including English, intonation serves a grammatical function, distinguishing one type of phrase or sentence from another. Thus, “Your name is John,” beginning with a medium pitch and ending with a lower one (falling intonation), is a simple assertion; “Your name is John?”, with a rising intonation (high final pitch), indicates a question.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
