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When people ask questions or are uncertain about something, the intonation (intonatie) will go up at the end of an utterance. Statements or assertions, on the other hand, are accompanied by an intonation which goes down. These patterns are also strongly associated with politeness: a rising intonation is more polite than a falling intonation.
The pitch (toonhoogte) of the voice is also associated with politeness. A higher voice tends to sound more timid and (therefore) more polite. A lower, darker voice has the opposite effect: it comes across as more self-assured. Volume (volume) has a similar effect. A quiet voice is considered to be polite and a loud voice impolite. It is important to note that the characteristics of intonation, pitch and volume have strong gender associations too. Women's voices tend to rise at the end of an utterance. Women also have a higher voice and they tend not to speak as loudly as men. However, when evaluating the politeness of an utterance, people tend to take these gender differences into account automatically.
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