Intonational Settings as Markers of Discourse Units in Telephone Conversations

A study of business telephone calls provides quantitative evidence suggesting “intonational settings”: Certain attributes of intonation are sustained throughout discourse units in the calls (openings, business transactions, preclosures, and final closures), and differentiate one unit from another, as if phonologically significant aspects of intonation are realized within a space controlled by discourse-related parameters. Two types of parameter emerge, one controlling the midpoint of the F0 contour in frequency space, the other controlling the way it fluctuates.