intonation
Meaning
The rise and fall of the voice in speaking, especially as this affects the meaning of what is being said.
The action of intoning or reciting in a singing voice.
Structure
Usage
The rising intonation at the end of the sentence turned it into a question.
She has a very flat intonation, which sometimes makes her sound bored.
The choir master paid close attention to the intonation of the singers to ensure perfect harmony.
Etymology
The word 'intonation' has a clear melodic logic embedded in its history. It originates from the Medieval Latin 'intonare', meaning 'to sing, to intone', which itself is built from the Latin prefix 'in-' (here meaning 'upon') and 'tonus' (a sound, tone, or accent, borrowed from Greek 'tonos' meaning 'a stretching, tightening, pitch'). The Greek 'tonos' derives from the Proto-Indo-European root ten- meaning 'to stretch', conceptually linking the tension of a vocal cord or a string to the production of a specific pitch. Thus, the modern abstract meaning evolved from the literal act of 'stretching the voice upon a pitch' into the systematic pattern of pitch variation used to convey grammatical structure, attitude, and meaning in speech.
Analysis
- in: Latin origin, meaning 'in, into, on'. In this word, it functions as an intensifying prefix. - ton: From Latin 'tonus', meaning 'sound, tone, accent'. It is the core root carrying the meaning related to sound or pitch. - ation: Latin suffix '-atio', forming nouns of action or state. It indicates the process or result of the action.