Marking the climax of over fourty years of investigation and reflection by Professor Bolinger, this major study looks at how intonation varies among speakers and societies in terms of age, sex, and region; how it interacts with grammar; and how it has been invoked to explain certain questionsof logic. The discussion of variation shows the degree to which intonation can be conventionalised yet embody a universal core of feelings and attitudes, renewed with each generation.