Learn how to use pitch in American English for stress, intonation, and tone of voice. Explore your pitch and practice pitch exercises.

English speakers mark words with a higher pitch for many reasons, including: to make a simple statement (neutral statement) to contrast or clarify information; to give new information; to show emphasis; to ask questions; For the purpose of learning English, pitch can be …

Pitch is the vocal element that determines the accentuation and prominence of speech. It is similarly significant in the individual word or full sentence level. The normal pitch of any voice depends on the vocal cord at play and in what frequency it vibrates.

We normally speak within four main pitch levels. We use our baseline pitch when saying unstressed words and syllables. This is where our pitch naturally rests when saying less important function words like “of,” “by,” “at,” “to.”

The pitch vial is a special barrel vial with pitch markings instead of two lines indicating "level". There are four markings on the vial from 1/8th to 1/2th, with each marking separated by 1/8. The measurement of 1/8th means inches per foot of pitch for each increment.

In linguistics, intonation is the variation in pitch used to indicate the speaker's attitudes and emotions, to highlight or focus an expression, to signal the illocutionary act performed by a sentence, or to regulate the flow of discourse. For example, the English question "Does Maria speak Spanish or French?"

A key to learning English intonation is to understand the four pitch levels and how they are used. Hand gestures accompany visuals and voice to describe thes...