A study investigated the intonational patterns used by women and men at the ends of utterances for the purpose of managing discourse. The research sought to describe how intonation helps to signal that a speaker is through speaking and desires a response or reaction from the listener, or that the speaker is not through with a turn and wishes to keep the floor. The model incorporates the concepts of both discourse intonation and turn-taking. Data were drawn from the relatively formal natural speech in panel discussions taped from German television. Analysis does not substantiate the claim that women use more rising intonation than men, and suggests that the discourse context of utterances is of utmost importance in analyzing intonational features, regardless of the speaker's gender. No instances of inappropriate rising question intonation were found, but the use of less low-falling terminal intonation by women than men supports the theory of gender-different strategies for speech action. Further cross-cultural research on intonation patterns, especially from the perceptual perspective, and on pitch range and dynamism are recommended. (MSE)