Pitch and tone

call-centertrainer · Post by **call-centertrainer** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 5:18 pm

Dear All,
While talking about spoken English may I know what is the difference between pitch & tone? If they are different then how do we illustrate this difference with appropriate instances?
Thank You

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 9:39 am

Well, how about you tell us what you think first, and then we see if we agree? It's more fun for all the family like that.

EH · Post by EH » Mon Jun 27, 2005 2:39 pm

Pitch refers to the listener's subjective judgements about a voice/sound that seems high versus low. (The objective term would be "frequency" as measured in Hz). Usually women have higher pitched voices then men, and children have the highest pitched voices of all.

Tone is less clearly defined. People associate it with the vocal/sound quality (smooth versus hoarse, breathy, etc.) and the emotional feeling expressed by the voice/sound. Someone's "tone of voice" tells you whether they are happy, sad, or feel some other emotion altogether.