Intonation (linguistics)

Intonation is how we use our voice to make our words sound different. It's like if you were playing with a toy and you made it go high or low by moving your hand up or down. When we talk, we also use our voice to go high or low, and that is called intonation.

Sometimes we use intonation to make our words sound like we are asking a question, or to show excitement or surprise. Other times we use intonation to show that we are serious or angry. It's like a secret code that we use with our voice to show how we feel.

When we speak using intonation, we change the pitch of our voice. Pitch is how high or low a sound is. So, when we use high pitch, our voice goes up and when we use a low pitch, our voice goes down. Think of it like a musical instrument. Just like how you change the pitch of a guitar by putting your fingers on different strings, we change the pitch of our voice when we speak.

Intonation is important in language because it can help us convey our emotions, indicate whether something is a question or a statement, and give important context and meaning to what we are saying.