Practical Phonetics.

E-book
The Anatomy of Intonation Patterns

Voice pitch or melody and sentence stress are the two main components of intonation. Though, they
are very closely connected, variations in voice pitch are still most important in an intonation pattern. Pitch-
and-stress sections of an intonation pattern, containing several stressed syllables, are the pre-head, the head,
the nucleus and the tail.
e.g . I didnt 1know youve 1been to "London.

pre-head head nucleus tail


Each intonation-group has its own pattern. Variations in voice pitch occur within a normal range of
the speaking voice that is within the interval between the lower and upper limits.
There are three pitch levels in English:
high
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medium
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low

Pitch range is the interval between two pitch levels or two differently pitched syllables. The pitch
range of a whole intonation pattern is the interval between the highest-pitched and the lowest-pitched
syllables. Pitch ranges may be normal, wide and narrow.










Normal pitch range
Wide pitch range
Narrow pitch range (in high and low levels)