Intonation let’s consider the following example first

Suprasegmental phonology

• Stress : applied to units larger than phonemes (-> segmental phonology), i.e. syllables
• Intonation : pitch of voice plays an important part; it is constantly changing during speech; analysing intonation refers to listening to the speaker´s pitch and recognising what it is doing

Pitch

• Defined in terms of high and low (arbitrary choices for end-points of the pitch scale)
• Auditory sensation experienced by the hearer
• We are not interested in all aspects of a speaker´s pitch, but in those that carry some linguistic information
• Speakers have control over their own pitch of voice, and the possibility of choice (this may have linguistic significance)

Necessary conditions for pitch differences to be linguistically relevant

• Being under speaker´s control
• Pitch differences must be perceptible (great enough to be heard by a listener as differences in pitch)
• Significance in linguistics lies in contrasts (a set of items a unit contrasts with)

Form and function of intonation

• In the shortest piece of speech – single syllable
• A continuous piece of speech beginning and ending with a pause – utterance
• One syllable utterances like “yes” and “no”
• Even in one syllable words we can either remain at a constant pitch level or change it

Important definitions (Crombie, 1987)

• Intonation: variation in pitch
• Tonality: "dividing the flow of speech into tone groups or tone units"
• Tonicity:"locating the syllables on which major movements of pitch occur "
• Tone: "identifying the direction of pitch movements "

Tone

• It is the term used for the overall behaviour of the pitch
• It can be level or moving
• The latter is more common
• Level tone does not sound natural
• When saying yes or no in a final manner, falling tone is usually used
• Whereas for questioning rising tone is used (compare yes/no and yes/no?)