Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

tone terracing

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.08 in modern English

Syllables
tone ter-rac-ing
IPA
16
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A form of downdrift in which the high or mid tones, but not the low tone, shift downward in pitch after certain other tones. The result is that a tone may be realized at a certain pitch over a short stretch of speech, shifts downward and then continues at its new level, then shifts downward again, until the end of the prosodic contour is reached, at which point the pitch resets.

Uncountable

Etymology

A graph of the change in pitch over time of a particular tone resembles a terrace.

Usage

Questions

What does tone terracing mean?
A form of downdrift in which the high or mid tones, but not the low tone, shift downward in pitch after certain other tones. The result is that a tone may be realized at a certain pitch over a short stretch of speech, shifts downward and then continues at its new level, then shifts downward again, until the end of the prosodic contour is reached, at which point the pitch resets.
Where does tone terracing come from?
A graph of the change in pitch over time of a particular tone resembles a terrace.

How to pronounce tone terracing

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  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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