Аннотация:The article gives an account of the Russian intonation units and the ways of their alignment with texts. The meanings and their compositions expressed by intonation are discussed. The approaches to the Russian intonation description proposed in the literature are briefly sketched. The Russian intonation is a semiotic system where communicative meanings and their compositions are systematically designated by accents (i.e. human voice frequency movements), strings of accents, accent placement, and lengthening in articulation. The discussion of the Russian intonation is illustrated throughout by examples and their frequency tracings obtained with the help of the software program Praat.
