The definitive fall

Although simple independent statements can take any tone, they most often have a fall. A fall is the default(=neutral, unmarked) tone for a statement. We say statements with a fall unless there is a particular reason to use some other tone.

All the uses of the falling tone have some degree of meaning in common. As with other tone meanings, it is difficult to define this shared meaning precisely in words. But in general we can say that by using a fall we indicate that what we say is potentially complete and that we express it with confidence, definitely and unreservedly. The fall thus also tends to signal finality. We call this tone meaning the definitive fall.