Meaning & use
falling intonation
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Meaning
noununcountabletechnical
a pattern of speech in which the pitch of the voice goes down at the end of a phrase or sentence
Grammar: Used mainly in linguistics and language teaching; you can say 'a falling intonation pattern' when you mean one instance.
Patterns
- use falling intonation
- falling intonation on something
- with falling intonation
In English, statements typically end with falling intonation.
The teacher explained that wh-questions usually take falling intonation.
You can hear falling intonation in the way she says 'Goodbye'.
Common combinations
- falling intonation pattern
- The falling intonation pattern makes the statement sound final.
- use falling intonation
- Speakers often use falling intonation to show that they have finished.
- end with falling intonation
- Most English statements end with falling intonation.
Synonyms and how they differ
- falling tone
- Falling tone is a more general term for a drop in pitch, while 'falling intonation' is the specific linguistic term for the meaningful pitch pattern in speech.
Opposites
Word family
- intonation noun
- The overall rise and fall of the voice in speech.
- falling adjective
- Going downward; used in phonetics to describe pitch.
Commonly confused: falling intonation or rising intonation?
falling intonation vs rising intonation
Rising intonation goes up at the end and often signals a question or uncertainty, while falling intonation goes down and often signals a statement or certainty.
Practice
Which sentence type most typically uses falling intonation in English?
Choose one answer.
Statements usually end with a falling pitch because they express completed information. Yes/no questions typically take rising intonation, and lists with 'or' often have a rise then a fall, but the most typical use of falling intonation is in statements.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “falling intonation”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.