Editing Tone (linguistics) (section)

==Mechanics==
Most languages use [[Pitch-accent language|pitch]] as [[Intonation (linguistics)|intonation]] to convey [[prosody (linguistics)|prosody]] and [[pragmatics]], but this does not make them tonal languages.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Yuanning |last2=Tang |first2=Claire |last3=Lu |first3=Junfeng |last4=Wu |first4=Jinsong |last5=Chang |first5=Edward F. |date=2021-02-19 |title=Human cortical encoding of pitch in tonal and non-tonal languages |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=1161 |doi=10.1038/s41467-021-21430-x |pmid=33608548 |pmc=7896081 |bibcode=2021NatCo..12.1161L |issn=2041-1723 }}</ref> In tonal languages, each [[syllable]] has an inherent pitch contour, and thus [[minimal pair]]s (or larger minimal sets) exist between syllables with the same segmental features (consonants and vowels) but different tones. [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] and [[Dialects of Chinese|Chinese]] have heavily studied tone systems, as well as amongst their various dialects.

Below is a table of the six Vietnamese tones and their corresponding tone accent or diacritics:
[[File:Vietnamese tone northern.svg|300px|right|thumb|Vietnamese tones ''ngang'' ("flat"), ''huyền'' ("deep" or "falling"), ''sắc'' ("sharp" or "rising"), ''nặng'' ("heavy" or "down"), ''hỏi'' ("asking"), and ''ngã'' ("tumbling")]]
:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! rowspan="2" | [[Tone name]]
! rowspan="2" | Tone ID
! rowspan="2" | Vni/telex/Viqr
! rowspan="2" | Description
! colspan="2" | Chao Tone Contour
! rowspan="2" | Diacritic
! rowspan="2" | Example
|-
! Northern
! Southern
|-
| ''ngang'' "flat"
| A1
| [default]
| mid level
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|˧}} (33) or {{IPA|˦}} (44)
| style="text-align: center;" | ◌
| ma
|-
| ''huyền'' "deep"
| A2
| 2 / f / `
| low falling (breathy)
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|˧˩}} (31) or {{IPA|˨˩}} (21)
| style="text-align: center;" | ◌̀
| mà
|-
| ''sắc'' "sharp"
| B1
| 1 / s / '
| mid rising, tense
| colspan="2" | {{IPA|˧˥}} (35) or {{IPA|˦˥}} (45)
| style="text-align: center;" | ◌́
| má
|-
| ''nặng'' "heavy"
| B2
| 5 / j / .
| mid falling, glottalized, heavy
| {{IPA|˧ˀ˨ʔ}} (3ˀ2ʔ)<small> or </small>{{IPA|˧ˀ˩ʔ}} (3ˀ1ʔ)
| {{IPA|˩˨}} (12) or {{IPA|˨˩˨}} (212)
| style="text-align: center;" |़ 
| mạ
|-
| ''hỏi'' "asking"
| C1
| 3 / r / ?
| mid falling(-rising), emphasis
| {{IPA|˧˩˧}} (313) or {{IPA|˧˨˧}} (323) or {{IPA|˧˩}} (31)
| rowspan="2" | {{IPA|˧˨˦}} (324) or {{IPA|˨˩˦}} (214)
| style="text-align: center;" | ◌̉
| mả
|-
| ''ngã'' "tumbling"
| C2
| 4 / x / ~
| mid rising, glottalized
| {{IPA|˧ˀ˥}} (3ˀ5) or {{IPA|˦ˀ˥}} (4ˀ5)
| style="text-align: center;" | [[̃|◌̃]]
| mã
|}

[[Mandarin Chinese]], which has [[Standard Chinese phonology#Tones|five tones]], transcribed by letters with diacritics over vowels:
[[File:Pinyin Tone Chart.svg|right|thumb|150px|The tone contours of Standard Chinese. In the convention for Chinese, 1 is low and 5 is high. The corresponding [[tone letter]]s are {{IPA|˥ ˧˥ ˨˩˦ ˥˩}}.]]
# A high level tone: /á/ ([[pinyin]] {{angbr|ā}})
# A tone starting with mid pitch and rising to a high pitch: /ǎ/ (pinyin {{angbr|á}})
# A low tone with a slight fall (if there is no following syllable, it may start with a dip then rise to a high pitch): /à/ (pinyin {{angbr|ǎ}})
# A short, sharply falling tone, starting high and falling to the bottom of the speaker's vocal range: /â/ (pinyin {{angbr|à}})
# A [[Standard Chinese phonology#Neutral tone|neutral tone]], with no specific contour, used on weak syllables; its pitch depends chiefly on the tone of the preceding syllable.

These tones combine with a syllable such as ''ma'' to produce different words. A minimal set based on ''ma'' are, in [[pinyin]] transcription:
# ''mā'' ({{wikt-lang|zh|媽}}/{{wikt-lang|zh|妈}}) 'mother'
# ''má'' ({{wikt-lang|zh|麻}}/{{wikt-lang|zh|麻}}) 'hemp'
# ''mǎ'' ({{wikt-lang|zh|馬}}/{{wikt-lang|zh|马}}) 'horse'
# ''mà'' ({{wikt-lang|zh|罵}}/{{wikt-lang|zh|骂}}) 'scold'
# ''ma'' ({{wikt-lang|zh|嗎}}/{{wikt-lang|zh|吗}}) (an [[interrogative word|interrogative particle]])

These may be combined into a [[tongue-twister]]:

:[[Simplified Chinese characters|Simplified]]: {{lang|zh-Hans|妈妈骂马的麻吗?}}
:[[Traditional Chinese characters|Traditional]]: {{lang|zh-Hant|媽媽罵馬的麻嗎?}}
:Pinyin: ''Māma mà mǎde má ma?''
:IPA {{IPA|/máma mâ màtə mǎ ma/}}
:Translation: 'Is mom scolding the horse's hemp?'

See also [[one-syllable article]].

A well-known tongue-twister in Standard Thai is:

:{{lang|th|ไหมใหม่ไหม้มั้ย}}
:IPA: {{IPA|/mǎi̯ mài̯ mâi̯ mái̯/}}
:Translation: 'Does new silk burn?'{{efn|Tones change over time, but may retain their original spelling. The Thai spelling of the final word in the tongue-twister, {{angbr|{{lang|th|ไหม}}}}, indicates a rising tone, but the word is now commonly pronounced with a high tone. Therefore a new spelling, {{lang|th|มั้ย}}, is occasionally seen in informal writing.}}
A Vietnamese tongue twister:
:{{lang|vi|Bấy nay bây bầy bảy bẫy bậy.}}
:IPA: {{IPA|[ɓʌ̌i̯ nai̯ ɓʌi̯ ɓʌ̂i̯ ɓa᷉i̯ ɓʌ̌ˀi̯ ɓʌ̂ˀi̯]}}
:Translation: 'Recently, you've been setting up the seven traps incorrectly.'
A Cantonese tongue twister:
:{{lang|yue|一人因一日引一刃一印而忍}}
:[[Jyutping]]: ''jat<sup>1</sup> jan<sup>4</sup> jan<sup>1</sup> jat<sup>1</sup> jat<sup>6</sup> jan<sup>5</sup> jat<sup>1</sup> jan<sup>6</sup> jat<sup>1</sup> jan<sup>3</sup> ji<sup>4</sup> jan<sup>2</sup>''
:IPA: {{IPA|[jɐ́t̚ jɐ̏n jɐ́n jɐ́t̚ jɐ̀t̚ jɐ᷅n jɐ́t̚ jɐ̀n jɐ́t̚ jɐn jȉː jɐ᷄n]}}
:Translation: 'One person endures a day with one knife and one print.'

Tone is most frequently manifested on vowels, but in most tonal languages where [[voiced]] [[syllabic consonant]]s occur they will bear tone as well. This is especially common with syllabic nasals, for example in many [[Bantu languages|Bantu]] and [[Kru languages]], but also occurs in [[Serbo-Croatian language|Serbo-Croatian]]. It is also possible for lexically contrastive pitch (or tone) to span entire words or morphemes instead of manifesting on the syllable nucleus (vowels), which is the case in [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Singh|first1=Chander Shekhar|title=Punjabi Prosody: The Old Tradition and The New Paradigm|date=2004|publisher=Sikuru Prakasakayo|location=Polgasowita, Sri Lanka|pages=70–82}}</ref>

Tones can interact in complex ways through a process known as [[tone sandhi]].

===Phonation===
In a number of East Asian languages, tonal differences are closely intertwined with [[phonation]] differences. In [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], for example, the {{lang|vi|ngã}} and {{lang|vi|sắc}} tones are both high-rising but the former is distinguished by having [[glottalization]] in the middle. Similarly, the {{lang|vi|nặng}} and {{lang|vi|huyền}} tones are both low-falling, but the {{lang|vi|nặng}} tone is shorter and pronounced with [[creaky voice]] at the end, while the {{lang|vi|huyền}} tone is longer and often has [[breathy voice]]. In some languages, such as [[Burmese language|Burmese]], pitch and phonation are so closely intertwined that the two are combined in a single phonological system, where neither can be considered without the other. The distinctions of such systems are termed ''[[register (phonology)|registers]]''. The ''tone register'' here should not be confused with ''register tone'' described in the next section.

====Phonation type====
Gordon and Ladefoged established a continuum of phonation, where several types can be identified.<ref name="Gordon Ladefoged 2001 pp. 383–406">{{cite journal | last1=Gordon | first1=Matthew | last2=Ladefoged | first2=Peter | title=Phonation types: a cross-linguistic overview | journal=Journal of Phonetics | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=29 | issue=4 | year=2001 | issn=0095-4470 | doi=10.1006/jpho.2001.0147 | pages=383–406}}</ref>

====Relationship with tone====
Kuang identified two types of phonation: '''pitch-dependent''' and '''pitch-independent'''.<ref name="Kuang2013">Kuang, J.-J. (2013). ''Phonation in Tonal Contrasts (Doctoral dissertation)''. University of California, Los Angeles.</ref> Contrast of tones has long been thought of as differences in pitch height. However, several studies pointed out that tone is actually multidimensional. Contour, duration, and phonation may all contribute to the differentiation of tones. Investigations from the 2010s using perceptual experiments seem to suggest phonation counts as a perceptual cue.<ref name="Kuang2013" /><ref>{{Cite conference| conference = Tonal Aspects of Languages-Third International Symposium| last1 = Xu| first1 = Xiaoying| last2 = Liu| first2 = Xuefei| last3 = Tao| first3 = Jianhua| last4 = Che| first4 = Hao| title = Pitch and Phonation Type Perception in Wenzhou Dialect Tone| date = 2012}}</ref><ref name="Yu Lam 2014 pp. 1320–1333">{{cite journal | last1=Yu | first1=Kristine M. | last2=Lam | first2=Hiu Wai | title=The role of creaky voice in Cantonese tonal perception | journal=The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America | publisher=Acoustical Society of America (ASA) | volume=136 | issue=3 | year=2014 | issn=0001-4966 | doi=10.1121/1.4887462 | pages=1320–1333| pmid=25190405 | bibcode=2014ASAJ..136.1320Y | doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Tone and pitch accent===
Many languages use tone in a more limited way. In [[Japanese pitch accent|Japanese]], fewer than half of the words have a [[downstep|drop in pitch]]; words contrast according to which syllable this drop follows. Such minimal systems are sometimes called [[pitch accent]] since they are reminiscent of [[stress accent]] languages, which typically allow one principal stressed syllable per word. However, there is debate over the definition of pitch accent and whether a coherent definition is even possible.{{sfnp|Hyman|2009}}

===Tone and intonation===
Both lexical or grammatical tone and prosodic [[intonation (linguistics)|intonation]] are cued by changes in pitch, as well as sometimes by changes in phonation. Lexical tone coexists with intonation, with the lexical changes of pitch like waves superimposed on larger swells. For example, Luksaneeyanawin (1993) describes three intonational patterns in Thai: falling (with semantics of "finality, closedness, and definiteness"), rising ("non-finality, openness and non-definiteness") and "convoluted" (contrariness, conflict and emphasis). The phonetic realization of these intonational patterns superimposed on the five lexical tones of Thai (in citation form) are as follows:<ref name="Laver John 1994 pp. 477-478">{{cite book | last1=Laver | first1=John | last2=John | first2=Laver | title=Principles of Phonetics | publisher=Cambridge University Press | date=1994-05-12 | isbn=0-521-45655-X | pages=477–478}}</ref>

{|class="wikitable"
|+Tone plus intonation in Thai
|-
! || Falling <br/>intonation || Rising <br/>intonation || Convoluted <br/>intonation
|-
!High level tone
|{{IPA|˦˥˦}} || {{IPA|˥}} || {{IPA|˦˥˨}}
|-
!Mid level tone
| {{IPA|˧˨}} || {{IPA|˦}} || {{IPA|˧˦˨}}
|-
!Low level tone
| {{IPA|˨˩}} || {{IPA|˧}} || {{IPA|˧˧˦}}
|-
!Falling tone
| {{IPA|˦˧˨, ˦˦˨}} || {{IPA|˦˦˧, ˥˥˦}} || {{IPA|˦˥˨}}
|-
!Rising tone
| {{IPA|˩˩˦}} || {{IPA|˧˧˦}} || {{IPA|˨˩˦}}
|}

With convoluted intonation, it appears that high and falling tone conflate, while the low tone with convoluted intonation has the same contour as rising tone with rising intonation.

===Tonal polarity===
Languages with simple tone systems or [[pitch accent]] may have one or two syllables specified for tone, with the rest of the word taking a default tone. Such languages differ in which tone is marked and which is the default. In [[Navajo language|Navajo]], for example, syllables have a low tone by default, whereas marked syllables have high tone. In the related language [[Sekani language|Sekani]], however, the default is high tone, and marked syllables have low tone.{{sfnp|Kingston|2005}} There are parallels with stress: English stressed syllables have a higher pitch than unstressed syllables.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Chrabaszcz |first1=Anna |last2=Winn |first2=Matthew |last3=Lin |first3=Candise Y. |last4=Idsardi |first4=William J. |date=August 2014 |title=Acoustic Cues to Perception of Word Stress by English, Mandarin, and Russian Speakers |journal=Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research |language=en |volume=57 |issue=4 |pages=1468–1479 |doi=10.1044/2014_JSLHR-L-13-0279 |issn=1092-4388 |pmc=5503100 |pmid=24686836}}</ref>