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Glite Dictionary
🎼 With a main key 🗣️ Using pitch for meaning
tonal

tonal

1 7.5
A language that uses changes in voice pitch to make different word meanings
  • adjective
  • /ˈtoʊnəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : tonal
  • The school and independent music teachers show significant differences (p < .006) in tonal memory and expressiveness.
  • tonal pattern
  • tonal memory
  • tonal language

Examples

  • In tonal languages like Mandarin, the word for 'mother' is pronounced with a high level tone, while 'horse' has a rising tone.

  • Exploring the voice, developing basic vocal and listening skills, and practicing isolated tonal phrases will help students learn songs.

    Academic text (2002)

  • Listening: The Key to a Healthy Tonal Image

    Academic text (2006)

  • Should the clinic be focused on tonal elements?

    Academic text (2007)

  • I was just testing this specimen for inherent tonal quality.

    What's Up, Doc? (1972)

  • But they're both kind of like in the same tonal range right there.

  • We first learn these rhythmic or tonal words and then learn the appropriate labels for these sounds.

    Academic text (1997)

  • As with rhythmic ability, a student's tonal ability is independent of the cognitive function of understanding notation.

    Academic text (2015)

  • Think of tonal ability as the ability to differentiate pitch in the context of a tonality.

    Academic text (2015)

  • When a student has a well-developed tonal ability, correct notes become the fruit of audiation rather than the fluke of technique.

    Academic text (2015)

Synonyms

tonic
vstonal
  • Specialized
1 9.5

Using pitch to change the meaning of words in a language

focuses specifically on pitch variation rather than tone

Compounds

tonal language
  • Specialized
8.1

A language where the pitch of a word changes its meaning

tonal pattern
6.2

A repeating group of musical notes that sounds pleasant

tonal system
  • Specialized
7.9

The pattern of high and low voice sounds in a language that change the meaning of words

Surface Forms

tonal positive

Morphology

tonal = tone (semi-transparent) = tone + al

The word is built transparently from 'tone', but the linguistic sense is specialized and not fully predictable from the everyday meaning alone.

Etymology

Tonal comes from the root tone, from Latin tonus, meaning 'tone' or 'sound'. So a tonal language uses different 'tones' or pitches of the voice to change the meaning of a word.