What is a tone?
2024-08-31现代语言学(00830)
What is a tone?
【正确答案】：Tones are pitch variations, which are caused by the differing rates of vibration of the vocal cords. Pitch variations can distinguish
meaning just like phonemes; therefore, the tone is a suprasegmental feature. The meaning-disrincrive function of the tone is especially important in what we call tone languages. English is not a tone language. Our mother tongue Chinese is a typical tone language. It has four tones. The first tone is level(阴平），the second rise(阳平），the third fall-rise(上声）, and the fourth fall(去声）.The role of the tone can be well illustrated by pronouncing the same sound combination such as “ma” in the four different tones：ma ( 妈）ma ( 麻）ma ( 马）ma ( 骂）
【正确答案】：Tones are pitch variations, which are caused by the differing rates of vibration of the vocal cords. Pitch variations can distinguish
meaning just like phonemes; therefore, the tone is a suprasegmental feature. The meaning-disrincrive function of the tone is especially important in what we call tone languages. English is not a tone language. Our mother tongue Chinese is a typical tone language. It has four tones. The first tone is level(阴平），the second rise(阳平），the third fall-rise(上声）, and the fourth fall(去声）.The role of the tone can be well illustrated by pronouncing the same sound combination such as “ma” in the four different tones：ma ( 妈）ma ( 麻）ma ( 马）ma ( 骂）
