Editing Tswana language (section)

=== Tone ===
Tswana has two [[tone (linguistics)|tones]], high and low, but the latter has a much wider distribution in words than the former. Tones are not marked [[orthography|orthographically]], which may lead to ambiguity.<ref>{{Harvnb|University of Botswana|2001|pp=31–32}}</ref>

: '''go bua''' {{IPA|/χʊ búa/}} ''"to speak"''
: '''go bua''' {{IPA|/χʊ bua/}} ''"to skin an animal"''

: '''o bua Setswana''' {{IPA|/ʊ́búa setswána/}} ''"He speaks Setswana"''
: '''o bua Setswana''' {{IPA|/ʊbúa setswána/}} ''"You speak Setswana"''

An important feature of the tones is the so-called spreading of the high tone. If a [[syllable]] bears a high tone, the following two syllables will have high tones unless they are at the end of the word.<ref>{{Harvnb|University of Botswana|2001|p=34}}</ref>

: '''simolola''' {{IPA|/símʊlʊla/}} > {{IPA|/símʊ́lʊ́la/}} ''"to begin"''
: '''simologêla''' {{IPA|/símʊlʊχɛla/}} > {{IPA|/símʊ́lʊ́χɛla/}} ''"to begin for/at"''