tonal language

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a language in which the pitch at which a syllable is pronounced distinguishes word meaning or grammatical function, meaning that the same sequence of consonants and vowels spoken at different pitches constitutes entirely different words; the majority of the world's languages are tonal, including most languages of sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Mesoamerica; in African linguistics, tonal distinctions are particularly complex: Yoruba has three level tones (high, mid, low), while languages like Nupe and Baule use tones grammatically to mark tense, aspect, and noun class; the failure of non-tonal language speakers to acquire tonal distinctions is one of the primary challenges in African language learning and literacy pedagogy