paratonen.
/ˈparətəʊn/, U.S. /ˈpɛrəˌtoʊn/ Linguistics.
A particular sequence of intonation units by which a speaker conveys information concerning sentence-type, sentence-breaks, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > intonation, pitch, or stress > [noun] > accent > stress accent > stress group > unit of tone groups
paratone1973
1973 A. Fox in Archivum Linguisticum 4 21 Parallel to the choice of tone we may have a choice of ‘paratone’, that is, of the specific tone-sequence to be used.
1983 G. Brown & G. Yule Discourse Anal. iii. 101 The ‘speech paragraph’ or paratone, like the orthographic paragraph, is identified by its boundary markers.
1991 Appl. Linguistics 12 121 Paratone end, like turn end in conversations, is marked either by low pitch and volume or by a summary phrase, followed (in both cases) by a long pause.
Derivatives
paratoˈnality n. rare
ΚΠ
1973 A. Fox in Archivum Linguisticum 4 21 By the side of tonality we may have ‘paratonality’.
paratoˈnicity n. rare
ΚΠ
1973 A. Fox in Archivum Linguisticum 4 21 Since the position of the major tone-group within the paratone-group is variable, we must also have a ‘paratonicity’ system to locate it.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1973