A Phonological Assessment of the Features and Roles of Pitch in Spoken Discourse

Abstract

This review paper is an assessment of the features of voice pitch and its roles in spoken discourse. Pitch refers to the highness and lowness of the voice as humans produce verbal utterances. Speakers pronounce sounds at different pitch levels for grammatical, semantic, physiological and psychological reasons. However, the concept appears not to have been given much attention by scholars and phonologists, particularly as it relates to the influence of hormonal alterations on its usage. This paper therefore examines the meaning of pitch and the differences between pitch and fundamental frequency. It equally looked at its levels, range, heights and its roles in speech production. The review employed the descriptive research design and secondary sources of data / information gathering as it relied mainly on textbooks, journals and other online materials. Its findings revealed that pitch is an auditory property of speech which is determined by speakers’ fundamental frequencies, the thickness of their vocal chords, their emotional state and hormonal changes in the human body. It also showed that while pitch modulation changes the dictionary meanings of words in tonal languages, in intonation languages, it only alters their semantic and pragmatic meanings. The paper recommends that teachers and lecturers of second language learners (L2) of Oral English and General English in secondary and tertiary institutions across the nation and beyond, should teach pitch more consciously, using relevant instructional materials like voice recorders, CD players, headsets, television sets, projectors, and speech analyzing instruments.