Where does intonation collide?

In speech, intonation is the pattern of rising and falling pitch that runs across a whole utterance and carries meaning beyond the words themselves: it can mark a string as a question rather than a statement, place emphasis on one word, or signal an attitude such as doubt or surprise. Ladd's Intonational Phonology (2008) set out the modern view that these pitch patterns are built from a small inventory of high and low tonal targets, aligned to stressed syllables and phrase edges, and Beckman and Pierrehumbert's earlier study of intonational structure (1986) supplied the framework later used in labelling systems such as ToBI. Here the referent is the melody of ordinary talk, tracked as a fundamental-frequency curve over time, not the accuracy of a played note or the opening formula that launches a chant.[1][2]

Unit

One pitch contour spanning an utterance, described by its tonal targets

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Traced as a fundamental-frequency (F0) curve over time and transcribed with tone labels such as ToBI

In music, intonation is accuracy of pitch: whether a note is played or sung in tune, and, more broadly, the tuning system that decides what counts as in tune. Under just intonation the intervals of a scale use pure whole-number frequency ratios, such as 3:2 for a fifth, which sound smooth but do not close neatly into twelve equal steps, whereas equal temperament divides the octave into twelve identical semitones so that every key is equally playable at the cost of slightly impure intervals. Loosen's study of solo violinists (1993) compared their played scales against just, Pythagorean, and equally tempered tunings to see which best modelled real performance. Here the referent is the placement and ratio of the pitches themselves, not the pitch melody of speech or the sung opening that begins a chant.[3]

Unit

A played or sung pitch judged against a reference tuning, in cents or frequency ratio

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Compared against a chosen tuning by measuring each note's fundamental frequency and its deviation in cents