Maybe "rising" was not 100% correct. You're right in that you can place emphasis without the pitch of the word actually going up (instead you can make the pitch

Maybe "rising" was not 100% correct. You're right in that you can place emphasis without the pitch of the word actually going up (instead you can make the pitch go down, or flat even, and say it with a bit more force & space afterwards). Playing with pitch is just the most obvious example of intonation I can think of in English. I'll admit I also have musical training, so it makes sense _to me_ to think of pitch in these terms. Maybe it doesn't to most people.