Intonation

intonation, in phonetics, the melodic pattern of an utterance. It conveys differences of expressive meaning (e.g., surprise, anger, or delight), and it can also serve a grammatical function.

Intonation is primarily a matter of variation in the pitch of the voice. In such languages as English, it is often accompanied by stress and rhythm to produce meaning. (Tone is also a form of pitch modulation, but the term describes the use of pitch to differentiate words and grammatical categories.)

In many languages, including English, intonation distinguishes one type of phrase or sentence from another. The different intonations a person can use to say, “The cup of water is over there” demonstrate this grammatical function: when a person begins with a medium pitch and ends with a lower one (falling intonation), this sentence is a simple assertion, but when a person uses a rising intonation (high final pitch), it is a question.