ToBI

Definition
ToBI (short for 'Tone and Break Indices') is a framework for developing community-wide conventions for transcribing the intonation and prosodic structure of spoken utterances in a language variety. A ToBI framework system for a language variety is based on careful research on the intonation system and the relationship between intonation and the prosodic structures of the language (e.g. tonally marked phrases and any smaller prosodic constituents that are distinctively marked by other phonological means). Because intonation and prosodic organisation differ from language to language, or even from dialect to dialect, there are many different ToBI systems.

Links

 * Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics
 * ToBI web page