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This corpus‐based research examines a downstepped boundary tone in Persian spontaneous declaratives and yes/no questions (YNQs), by looking at 318 minutes of spontaneous phone conversations of 21 female and 21 male speakers in three age groups, 20s, 30s, and 40s. The downstepped YNQs lack the final rise typically found in read utterances, which is associated with the non‐genuineness of the interrogative and a lowered degree of the hearer's commitment to provide a reply. The downstep in declaratives, accompanied by a following pause, creates functions such as topicalization and facilitates the cognitive pre‐planning of speech. There is no effect of sex and age on the production of this tone. The specific functions of this tone and its independence of adjacent tones argue for its inclusion in the grammar of Persian intonation. Additionally, this research is in itself a first‐time investigation of the intonation of Persian spontaneous YNQs and shows that the majority of them share the same intonation pattern with lab produced YNQs.
