:Tonality:

Pronunciation GB: təˈnæləti, GA: təˈnælət̬i

An intonational system. A speaker has the choice of dividing an utterance into varying numbers of complete intonation patterns. An example from English: the utterance I don’t remember his name may be produced in at least the following ways:
| I don’t remember his name |
| I don’t | remember his name |
| I | don’t remember his name |
| I | don’t remember | his name |

where the symbol | represents the boundary between intonation patterns. These are tonality choices. That the choice of tonality may signal differences in meaning is illustrated by the pair of utterances
| She washed and fed the baby |
vs
| She washed | and fed the baby |

In the first utterance the implication is that she washed the baby. In the second, it is not made explicit what or who she washed.