Phoneme quizzes
Review progress (all modules)

The pitch of a language is its melody – the rising and falling of the tones to create additional meanings. Of course, everyone has their own pitch of voice, so we are concerned with relative pitch – the amount that the pitch rises and falls relative to itself. The same sentence used with varying pitch can completely change the implied meaning of that sentence:


In each of these cases, the emphasis of the sentence is changed. There’s also an implied meaning (for example: clarification, “are you deaf?”, “are you stupid?”, showing annoyance, etc) which listeners may interpret in a variety of ways. Spanish uses this as well.

In English, we actually have more levels of pitch than Spanish. Linguists typically divide pitch into levels. English has four levels (from level one being the lowest, to level four, the highest), whereas Spanish has three levels. These are relative pitches, as everybody’s basic pitch level will be different. Level two is known as the “mid” pitch, with level three being slightly higher, and level one slightly lower.

People vary between these levels during a phrase, usually due to a certain accepted convention. We don’t tend to notice these unless someone gets it wrong. One typical intonation pattern in English is with “informational” questions. Usually, when someone asks “where are you going?” in a natural setting, the pitch pattern sounds like this:



where-are-you-going-1However, if someone were to say this phrase with a falling tone, it wouldn’t sound like a question:




If we apply the English intonation to Spanish information questions, it will sound wrong to them. Spanish speakers use a falling intonation, or a rise and then a fall for added emphasis:

¿Dónde está mi dinero?




Here’s how that would sound if we applied our English intonation:


You would probably be understood if you used intonation like this (and of course, we’re exaggerating in the recording), but you would sound a little weird to Spanish ears. Pitch tends to be an extra-linguistic cue that we naturally pick up, but when English and Spanish pitch are markedly different it’s useful to know what to look out for.

In the next chapter, we’re going to look at a few pitch patterns in Spanish.

2 comments. Leave new

amy botticello
22nd March 2019 1:14 pm

I have listened to this post repeatedly, but I admit that I just don’t get it. I thought when Spanish speakers ask a question the last word is emphasized, but if I am understanding the correct example, the last word “going” falls/goes down. I admit that this topic is confusing to me (and difficult to hear the differences in your examples). However, I know pitch is a real problem for me personally. So, tell me again, please: Do I make the final word go down in the rise and fall when I ask a question in Spanish? Thanks!

amy botticello
23rd March 2019 10:37 am

I re-read this and I think I got it now!

You must be logged in to post a comment.