In linguistics, upstep is a phonemic or phonetic upward shift of tone between the syllables or words of a tonal language.
The symbol for upstep in the International Phonetic Alphabet is a superscript upward arrow [ꜛ] ([↑]).
However, it is common, especially in the early research, to find a superscript (or sometimes subscript) inverted exclamation mark [ꜞ] ([¡]) or [¡], because of typographical constraints.
The most common prosodic contours occur in chunks with gradually declining pitch (here transcribed as a global fall, [↘]).
Between such chunks, the pitch resets: Upstep occurs in various Sub-Saharan African languages, for example:[are these phonetic or phonemic?]