. Tone in Mandarin Chinese 声调 . Lilly Lee Chen ©

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• Importance of Tone in some languages

In a tone language (as opposed to a non-tone language, such as English or Japanese), a difference in tone results in a difference in meaning, i.e. different words.   The syllable ta in Mandarin uttered in high-level tone means "he/she", in  high-falling tone means "to step on."    The difference is phonemic, as significant as that between p (pin) and b (bin) in English.   All Chinese languages (often referred to as "Chinese dialects") are tone languages.

• What is Tone?

Tone is a matter of pitch height and pitch shape/contour.  Tones are relative.   For example, a teenage girl's low tone may be higher than an old man's high tone.  A person's pitch height maybe lower when he is tired.    It is the relative pitch height among the tones within a person's speech at a given time that is significant for tonal distinction.

In Chinese Pinyin spelling tones are marked by diacritic marks above a vowel, e.g. léi (Tone 2) or sè (Tone 4). That is: tā tá tǎ tà ta, the last (unmarked) being the neutral tone.   They are often represented numerically on the computer screen for the obvious reason that numbers are much easier to produce on the keyboard.   Tone marks have no place in Chinese script.   In any written text (e.g. newspaper, store signs) that Chinese read,  there are no tone marks.  The speaker/child memorizes them as part of the language learning process.
 
 

Different Chinese dialects have different tonal systems

Not all Chinese languages utilize the same range of tonal possibilities.   Some have only three tones, others four or five.  Taiwanese has seven; Cantonese nine.  Mandarin Chinese has four.   In the following [  ] indicates tone value, e.g. [55] meaning the tone value is high-level.

• Variety of Tonal Combination in Mandarin

• Tonal Patterns in Mandarin Words and Phrases