A spoken language is more than just words and sounds. Speakers use changes in pitch and rhythm, known as prosody, to provide emphasis, show emotion, and otherwise add meaning to what they say. In a ...

Intonation is an integral part of communication for all speakers. But can sign languages have intonation? A new study shows that signers use their faces to create intonational ‘melodies’ just as ...

This paper summarizes two studies of the intonation patterns of English yes-no questions. These studies were based on the analysis of informal, spontaneous speech occurring on radio and/or television ...

Raúl Sánchez and Dan Bullock are linguistics and communications specialists and NYU professors. They say improving vocalics, aka nonverbal aspects of speech, is key for effective communication. Vocal ...

All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. It’s not hard to ...

This paper identifies modern Yiddish intonation patterns for three different semantic structures and contends that they derive from modern (Ashkenazic) talmudic chant. An examination of the ...

The distinctive sounds of a newborn's first cries may be influenced by the mother tongue of its parents. A new study of over a thousand recorded cries from 30 French newborns and 30 German newborns ...

When we read, it’s very easy for us to tell individual words apart: In written language, spaces are used to separate words from one another. But this is not the case with spoken language – speech is a ...

We’re taught almost as soon as we speak our first words to end our sentences with a firm and clear “period” or downward intonation. When we want information, though, we lift our pitch in a definitive ...

Catherine E. Laing receives funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). When we read, it’s very easy for us to tell individual words apart: In written language, spaces are used to separate ...