intonatif

Intonatif is an adjective used in linguistics to describe phenomena related to intonation, the systematic variation of pitch in spoken language. It denotes the set of suprasegmental features by which speakers convey information beyond the literal content of the words, including sentence modality, focus, attitude, and discourse structure. The term is commonly applied to languages in which pitch contours play a central role in signaling pragmatic or grammatical meaning, as distinct from languages that use lexical tone to distinguish lexical items.

In prosodic theory, intonatif patterns are analyzed with units such as the intonation phrase, the nucleus or tonic syllable, and boundary tones that mark sentence ends or clause boundaries. Common functions include signaling questions, confirming or maintaining discourse continuity, highlighting new or contrastive information, and indicating illocutionary force. While intonatif systems vary across languages, they interact with syntax and semantics and are studied with annotation schemes such as ToBI that encode pitch targets and tones.

Because intonation operates over segments rather than at the level of individual phonemes, intonatif is often described as non-lexical or suprasegmental. Documentation relies on careful acoustic transcription of pitch height, contour shape, and timing.

See also: intonation, prosody, ToBI.