This study examines the regional differences between voice intonations in German in particular the difference between the urban regional languages of Hamburg Berlin Cologne Duisburg Mannheim and Freiburg The study develops a fundamental methodology for analytically capturing the phenomenon of intonational variance and is based on a large empirically derived set of data The study creates a solid foundation for the continuing research and description of intonational systems in German drawing upon the most modern tools of phonological research The work includes an audio CD with a large corpus of speech recordings which imparts a better understanding of all the hypotheses of this pioneering work