Intonation (linguistics) - Transcription

Transcription

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, global rising and falling intonation are marked with a diagonal arrow rising left-to-right and falling left-to-right, respectively. These may be written as part of a syllable, or separated with a space when they have a broader scope:

He found it on the street?

Here the rising pitch on street indicates that the question hinges on that word, on where he found it, not whether he found it.

Yes, he found it on the street.

How did you ever escape?

Here, as is common with wh- questions, there is a rising intonation on the question word, and a falling intonation at the end of the question.

More detailed transcription systems for intonation have also been developed, such as ToBI (Tones and Break Indices), RaP (Rhythm and Pitch), and INTSINT .