Introduction to Pitch Boundaries The purpose of pitch boundaries
Pitch boundaries use intonation to organize interaction between
speakers of English. Pitch boundaries are best known for
conveying whether a speaker is asking a question or making a
statement by raising or lowering the pitch at the end of a
sentence (the higher pitch signifying a question, the lower, a
statement). This broad view is over-simplified, and often
inaccurate. At a more subtle level, pitch boundaries also signal
a listener to take a turn being a speaker or to wait for the
speaker to give more information. In addition to signaling turn
taking, pitch boundaries also show emotion, such as confidence
and assertiveness. How to create a pitch boundary Pitch
boundaries are found at the end of intonation units (See
Intonation Units lesson), with the more significant pitch
boundaries often occurring at the ends of sentences. Pitch
boundaries are tied to pitch words (See Introduction to Pitch
Words lesson) because they begin at or after the fin