Intonative

Intonative is an adjective meaning relating to intonation—the variation of pitch in speech or song. It can describe utterances, phrases, or expressions whose meaning or force is shaped by prosody rather than by lexical content alone.

In linguistics, intonative features include pitch movement, sentence modality (such as statements, questions, or exclamations), focus, and attitude. Analysts may discuss intonative patterns to explain how voice rises or falls to convey doubt, irony, certainty, or emphasis. Intonative analysis often investigates how speakers use prosody to structure discourse, signal boundaries between units, or mark emphasis.

Historically, the term appears in older linguistic and rhetorical writings to denote aspects of spoken language tied to tone, as distinct from lexical or grammatical structure. In addition, intonative can describe aspects of singing or recitation where pitch is consciously controlled to emit musical or emotive effect; in this sense it overlaps with intonation and intoning in chant or vocal performance.

Etymology traces intonative to the broader concept of intonation, from Latin intonare, meaning to intone or chant a tone, with the English suffix -ive forming an adjective. While relatively uncommon in modern usage, intonative remains a precise descriptor in discussions of prosody and vocal expression.

See also: intonation, prosody, utterance, pitch, tone.