Construct · 2 fields · 4 citations

Where does contour collide?

One name. Different field. Different construct. One map.

● jingle · one word, two constructs Nearest construct by meaningintonationcompare the meanings
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Every construct on the map is compared with every other by the meaning of its definitions, and the closest one is surfaced here. The nearest construct to contour is intonation.

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contour2 CONSTRUCTSContour integralCAUCHY · INTEGRATION PATHPitch contourPIKE · PITCH SHAPE

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1825Contour integral1945Pitch contour
2026

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Complex analysis

A path of integration in the complex plane

A directed curve in the complex plane along which a function of a complex variable is integrated, chosen so that the value of the integral can be found from the behaviour of the function on and inside the curve. Augustin-Louis Cauchy's 1825 memoir Mémoire sur les intégrales définies, prises entre des limites imaginaires set out how integrating along such a path relates to the points the path encloses, the basis of what became contour integration. Whittaker and Watson's 1927 A Course of Modern Analysis gave the method its standard textbook form. The referent is an abstract path used to evaluate an integral, not a line of equal height on a map or the shape of pitch in speech.[1][2]

Unit
A directed curve in the complex plane along which a function is integrated
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Evaluated by parametrising the curve, or via Cauchy's theorem and the residues it encloses

Phonetics and phonology

The shape of pitch movement over speech

The pattern of rising and falling pitch across a syllable or a stretch of speech, treated as a meaningful shape rather than a single level. Kenneth Pike's 1945 The Intonation of American English described these pitch patterns and how they carry meaning in an utterance. Pierrehumbert's 1980 dissertation The phonology and phonetics of English intonation recast them as ordered sequences of high and low tonal targets. The referent is the movement of voice pitch over time, not a path of integration in mathematics or a line of equal elevation on a map.[3][4]

Unit
The rise and fall of fundamental frequency across a syllable or utterance
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Traced from the fundamental frequency track of a recording, or transcribed as a string of tonal targets

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Nearby collisions

integral3 fields · 4 citationsjingle · one word, three constructsintonation2 fields · 3 citationsjingle · one word, two constructspitch3 fields · 4 citationsjingle · one word, three constructs

References

  1. Cauchy, A.-L. (1825). Mémoire sur les intégrales définies, prises entre des limites imaginaires. Paris: De Bure frères.
  2. Whittaker, E. T., & Watson, G. N. (1927). A course of modern analysis (4th ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511608759
  3. Pike, K. L. (1945). The intonation of American English. University of Michigan Press.
  4. Pierrehumbert, J. B. (1980). The phonology and phonetics of English intonation (Doctoral dissertation). Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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