Rate is the cadence of delivery, short rapid bursts, a machine gun style of delivery. Brain systems are crashing into each other from the limbic system to the dump of of cortisol, they're both obscuring the frontal lobes' ability to create sense in a linear flow of disclosure.
Speed. Increased speed in delivery can indicate an altered state and escalation. A sudden decrease in speed can indicate that a psychological threshold has been reached.
Tone is the volume and bi- or tri-tones reached. Men can reach a secondary tonality, a growl under normal tone that can indicate threshold. Women can reach two additional tones in escalation.
Pitch is different from tone in that the frequency of the voice rises or falls, both of which can be indicative of escalation.
Semantic Aphasia is a trailing-off of what might be cogent thought indicative of the brain engaging in evasive or offensive action. Stammers that infiltrate their disclosure start to overcome any content, single words might still poke through but eventually the subject drifts down in tone and speed. Time to engage and assess, step back and allow room, preparing for an attack.
