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Glite Dictionary
tonal system

tonal system

7.9
The pattern of high and low voice sounds in a language that change the meaning of words
  • noun
  • /ˈtoʊnəl ˈsɪstəm/
  • Specialized
translation icon : sistema tonal
  • Mandarin Chinese uses a complex tonal system where the pitch of a word can change its meaning.

Examples

  • In many African languages, the tonal system plays a crucial role in differentiating between words that appear similar.

  • Understanding the tonal system of a language can help learners improve their pronunciation and comprehension.

  • The differences between attempting to recall a musical sequence in a familiar tonal system as compared with a set of notes chosen at random are equivalent to the difference between trying to recall a sentence and a set of nonsense syllables.

    Academic text (2015)

  • Germane to this article is how Dalcroze solfège sensitizes the ear to the tonal system, and that is a matter of content and methodology more than language.

    Academic text (2011)

Synonyms

tone system
vstonal system
  • Specialized
7.0

A way a language uses high or low voice to change word meaning

is the same concept but expressed using an adjective form

How Tonal

tonal system
  • Specialized
7.9
pitch accent
  • Specialized
8.8

Surface Forms

tonal system singular
tonal systems plural

Morphology

tonal + system

The phrase is directly compositional: 'tonal' relates to tone or pitch and 'system' denotes a structured set, so together they mean a set of pitch patterns or rules. This adjective+noun pattern is standard and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the meaning.

Etymology

Tonal system comes from thinking of speech like music: tone is the high or low sound, like a 'music note', and system is a set of patterns. So a tonal system is the set of pitch patterns a language uses, which is why changing the pitch can change a word's 'meaning' in languages like Mandarin.