The rise and fall of pitch in spoken sentences, which may change the meaning, is called what?

• A. Stress
• B. Juncture
• C. Tempo
• D. Intonation

Answer: (D)

The rise and fall of pitch across an utterance is called intonation. Intonation is the melody of speech—the pattern of rising and falling pitch throughout a sentence that helps signal whether we’re asking a question, making a statement, issuing a command, or showing attitude or emotion. This pitch movement can even change the intended meaning, such as a rising ending turning a statement into a yes/no question or a falling ending signaling certainty. Stress is about emphasizing particular syllables within words, which is different from the overall pitch pattern of the sentence. Juncture concerns how sounds connect and where there are pauses or boundary cues, while tempo is about how fast we speak. So the best term for the pitch pattern that can change meaning is intonation.