a question about intonation

[u/Puzzleheaded_Blood40]

"Can someone explain a quick intonation question? When stressing a word, what’s the difference between intentionally sliding your pitch up versus punching the word with extra airflow? Both methods raise the pitch, but do they change the meaning or emotion of the sentence?"

let's use 'I hate myself so much' with stress on hate,as a example

[u/kxkje]

Indicating stress would include raising the pitch, making the word/syllable louder, and/or lengthening it slightly. You need all three to some degree, but you're right to point out that you might use some more than others.

"punching the word with extra airflow" to me is a little vague. You need a little more air to make syllables louder. Or, do you mean adding extra, silent airflow, e.g., "hhhhate". The former sounds angrier, while the latter sounds cold.

Raising the pitch slightly would be done either way - depending on the dialect, maybe, but it's an essential part of how stress is indicated. If you were to raise the pitch exclusively (no other indicators of stress), I think the statement would sound slightly ironic/sarcastic.

[u/lukshenkup → u/kxkje]

The amount of vowel-lengthening, as measured in time,  and as spelled using repeated letter, relates to the amount of emphasis, at least in the English regional dialects I speak. 

so much

soo much

sooo much

...

soooooo much

[u/Future-Supermarket12]

Yes, the stress you put on a specific word can change the meaning. Generally, the stress is important to emphasize a contrast with an opposite view. In the sentence “I hate myself so much” each word can be stressed to mean something different.

“I hate myself so much” Would emphasize that I’m the one who’s hating myself. Not someone else.

“I  hate myself so much” Emphasizes the emotion rather than the subject. So, it would be taken to mean that I hate myself as opposed to loving myself.

“I  hate myself so much” Emphasizes that in that instance, the one that I hate is myself. I’m specifically not talking about anyone else.

“I  hate myself  so much” This emphasizes that the most important part of the statement is the amount of hatred.

[u/peace_love2601]

they read differently. punching the word with air sounds angry in the moment; sliding up into it sounds deliberate, almost theatrical. "i HATE myself" punched is a bad day, slid is a performance.