The Communicative Values of Key and Termination in Slovene

The article examines the agreement of the pre-tonic pitch height (i. e. key) and the pitch height of the tonic syllable (i. e. termination) in the Slovene language. A typical feature of the Slovene pitch movement is its gradual descent. The result is often a difference in pitch betvveen the tone unit initial key and the pitch height of the tonic syllable. The auditory analysis of radio interviews with two senior Slovene politicians proved that three levels of key (high, mid, low) and three levels of termination (high, mid, low) can be distinguished in the Slovene language. The purpose of the analysis was also to establish the communicative functions of keys and termination where the use of a particular combination of a key and termination may imply the intervievvee's attitude to the discussed topic and the interviewer's question. The analysis of the two interviews has shown that the communicative function of the high key in Slovene is to express a contrast or a different opinion. The mid key usually expresses agreement vvith the previous tone unit or simply adds new Information, whereas the low key is used to explain a statement vvith the purpose of reducing the degree of ambiguity.