An important branch of phonetics is that which deals with intonation or the rise and fall in the musical pitch of the voice. In the languages called "tone languages" (e.g., Chinese and most Sudanic and Bantu languages) intonation is used to distinguish one word from another. Thus in Can tonese the syllable fan said with a high falling tone means "divide"; said with five other tones it means "powder," "sleep," "burn," "courageous" and "duty" respectively. In the Sechuana language of South Africa metse said with a mid level tone on each syllable means "villages," but with a mid-level tone on the first syllable and a high level tone on the second it means "water." Such tones are best indicated in phonetic transcription by ac cent marks which by their shapes and positions give a certain graphic representation of the musical values of the tones, thus : high level tone a, low level tone a high falling tone a, low falling tone a, high rising tone a, low rising tone 4, fall-rise a, rise-fall a, etc. It is sometimes convenient to place the tone-marks before the syllable.
In languages which are not "tone languages" intonation affects the meaning of whole sentences, but it is not an integral part of any word. Intonation then gives "expression" to sentences;
it conveys shades of meaning which cannot conveniently be ex pressed by other means. Thus in English the two meanings of I beg your pardon ("I am sorry" and "What did you say?") are distinguished by intonation. It is not practicable to mark this kind of intonation in orthography, though slight indications of it may be given by punctuation marks, the use of italics, etc.
H. Sweet, Primer of Phonetics (1906) ; G. N. Armfield, General Phonetics (1924) ; 0. Jespersen, Fonetik (1899), Lehrbuch der Phonetik (1913) ; P. Passy, Petite Phonetique Comparee (1906) ; 0. Bremer, Phonetik (1893) ; W. Vietor, Elemente der Phonetik (1914) ; W. Ripman, Elements of Phonetics (1903) ; Sievers, Grundzuge der Phonetik (19w) ; The Principles of Inter national Phonetic Association (1912) ; Das System der Association Phonetique Internationale (1928) ; Jdurnal: Le Maitre Phonetique (188Q, etc.).