View source for Inflection (vocal)

In the study of language one use of the [[noun]] '''inflection''' and related words is to refer to changes in the way a word or sentence is spoken. (For another use see [[Inflect (Disambiguation)]] and [[Inflection]].)

'''Inflection''' (in this use) refers to a change in pitch (i.e., a  rise or fall) in the speaker’s voice, such as the rise in pitch at the end of a sentence which turns what would otherwise have been a statement into a question, e.g., turns ’He’s going to be late’ into ‘He’s going to be late?’

The [[verb]]al phrases ‘to '''inflect''' '''up'''’ and ‘to '''inflect''' '''down'''’ mean, respectively, ‘to raise the pitch of one’s voice’ and ‘to lower the pitch of one’s voice’.
 
'''Inflection''' has other functions besides its use to indicate that the speaker is asking a question. Different forms of '''inflection''' may serve to express the speaker’s emotions: thus disappointment or sorrow may be expressed by lowering the pitch of the voice, especially at the end of a sentence (as in ‘We’ve lost’), expressions of fear characteristically involve a rise in vocal pitch, while expressions of anger involve a lowered vocal pitch.
 
'''Inflection''' should be distinguished from other features of speech which admit of variation, such as tempo (i.e., how quickly or slowly the words are spoken) and volume (how loudly or quietly the words are spoken). Tempo and volume are not forms of '''inflection''', but distinct from it.

In some languages, e.g., Chinese, the particular '''inflection''' with which a word is spoken is integral to its identity, so that the same syllable or syllables spoken with different '''inflections''' have different meanings, i.e., are different words. For example, in Chinese the syllable ''da'' spoken with a rising '''inflection''' means ‘to answer’ or ‘to reply’, but spoken with a falling '''inflection''' means ‘large’ or ‘big’. When '''inflections''' serve in this way not to express the emotions or attitudes of a speaker but to determine the meaning of words, they are by convention referred to as '''tones'''. Thus Chinese has four '''tones''': the first ‘high and level’, the second ‘rising moderately’, the third ‘falling, then rising’, and the fourth ‘beginning high and falling steeply’.

[[Etymology|'''Etymological note''']]: '''Inflect''' comes from the [[Latin]] [[verb]] ''inflectere'', ‘to bend round’, ‘to alter’, a compound from ''flectere'', ‘to bend’.

[[Category:Technical terms]][[Category:Etymology]][[Category:Pronunciation]]