Interaction of Tone and Intonation

Examples from Hausa, based on M. Lindau (1986), "Testing a model of intonation in a tone language", J. Acoustical Society of America 80(3), 757ff.

The two figures (based on Lindau, Figs. 4 and 5) show the pitch contour in sentences with statement intonation (top figure) and question intonation (bottom figure). In each figure the top trace is for a sentence consisting only of High tones, the bottom trace is for a sentence consisting of alternating High and Low tones.

The statement intonation shows a declining intonation grid, so that a High tone at the end of the phrase is considerably lower than a High tone at the beginning.

The question intonation shows a horizontal intonation grid and a raised final High tone.

("Intonation grid" refers here to the straight lines connecting the turning points in the pitch contour.)