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Glite Dictionary
tone language

tone language

8.1
A language where changes in voice pitch make words mean different things
  • noun
  • /toʊn ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : lengua tonal
  • Mandarin Chinese is a tone language, so a word's meaning can change based on its pitch pattern.

Examples

  • Many African languages, such as Yoruba, are classified as tone languages.

  • Mandarin is a well-known tone language.

  • It's often challenging for English speakers to master pronunciation in a tone language.

  • Many African languages are classified as tone languages.

  • Mandarin Chinese is classified as a tone language because the pitch used can alter a word's meaning.

  • It's difficult for speakers of non-tone languages to grasp the nuances of a tone language like Vietnamese.

  • In a tone language, like Yoruba, changing the tone of a word can completely change its meaning.

Synonyms

tonal language
vstone language
  • Specialized
8.1

A language where the pitch of a word changes its meaning

has identical meaning but presents pitch differences with a parenthetical note

Surface Forms

tone language singular
tone languages plural

Morphology

tone + language

The meaning is directly inferable from combining 'tone' (pitch or character of sound) with 'language' (a spoken/written system); the compound describes a language defined by its use of tone to distinguish meaning. This noun–noun composition is transparent and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will very likely understand the MWE.

Etymology

Tone language comes from the idea of speech like music: a change in tone (a higher or lower voice) is like a different note that can make a different word. So a tone language is a language where the 'tone' of a word changes its 'meaning'.