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Pitch subsystem, units of its analysis (see #20)
The basic unit used to describe the pitch component is the tone. Depending on whether the pitch of the voice varies or remains unvaried tones are subdivided into kinetic and static. Static tones may have different pitch level of the voice — the high static tone, the mid static tone, the low static tone. The differentiation of kinetic tones as high falling and low falling, high rising and low rising, etc. is also based on the differentiation of the pitch level of their initial and final points.
A tone contour is a tone which shifts from one pitch to another over the course of the syllable or word. When the pitch descends, the contour is called a falling tone; when it ascends, a rising tone; when it descends and then returns, a dipping or falling-rising tone; and when it ascends and then returns, it is called a peaking or rising-falling tone. A tone which remains at approximately an even pitch is called a level tone.