tone language
Meaning through melody
A tone language is one in which pitch distinguishes word meaning—the same syllables spoken at different pitches become different words.
Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken example, with four tones that can make a single syllable mean "mother," "hemp," "horse," or "scold." Many African and East Asian languages are tonal; most European languages are not.
- VietnameseOf Southeast Asian nation
- YorubaNigerian people and language
- CantoneseSouthern Chinese dialect
- ThaiOf Bangkok's nation
- PunjabiIndo-Aryan language, Pakistan's majority
sing-song · native speaker · Mandarin Chinese · speech recognition · spoken word · distinguish · meaning · falling · inflection · accent · phoneme · high · pitch · register · rising · syllable · low · melody
- tonesdowndrift, lower register, creaky voice, pitch range, acute accent
- languagesEnglish, Arabic, Chinese, German, French
- pitchfastball, curveball, slider, changeup, sinker