inflection

Noun

• a manner of speaking in which the loudness or pitch or tone of the voice is modified

• deviation from a straight or normal course

• the patterns of stress and intonation in a language

• a change in the form of a word (usually by adding a suffix) to indicate a change in its grammatical function

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  modulation , flection , flexion , prosody , inflexion