Tone number
Encyclopedia
A tone number is a numeral used in a notational system for marking the tones
of a language. The number is usually placed after the romanized
syllable. Notice that a number may have very different meanings in different contexts since the systems may have developed independently.
Other means of indicating tone in romanizations include tone diacritics
or spelling changes. For instance, in Mandarin, the syllable (which has a falling-rising tone) is represented in Wade-Giles
romanization as ma3, Hanyu Pinyin as mǎ, and Gwoyeu Romatzyh
as maa. The Wade-Giles romanization is an example of the use of tone numbers.
has five tones and the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are assigned to them. Although those tones have names
, which are more meaningful in the comparative study among geographical
and chronological
language varieties, most people refer to tones by number: "the first tone", "the second tone", and so on.
Tone numbers are also assigned for other spoken Chinese varieties according to various traditions, which may be unrelated to each other. The numbers are also unrelated to the relative pitch or the tones. That can be illustrated by comparing the tone charts of Standard Chinese (Mandarin), Cantonese
, and Taiwanese Hokkien.
Note: Tone sandhi
rules and the unstressed syllable of Mandarin are not listed here for simplicity.
To enhance recognition and learning, color has also been associated with the tones. Although there are no formal standards, the de facto standard
has been to use red (tone 1), orange (tone 2), green (tone 3),blue (tone 4) and black (tone 5). This color palette has been implemented in translation tools and online dictionaries
Although tone numbers are quite useless in comparative studies, they are useful within the context of a specified dialect, since they are easy references. For example, we may see these descriptions:
Some romanization
schemes, like Jyutping
, use tone numbers. Even for Pinyin
, tone numbers are used instead when diacritic
s are not available, as in basic ASCII
text.
Tone (linguistics)
Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information, and to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features in what is called...
of a language. The number is usually placed after the romanized
Romanization
In linguistics, romanization or latinization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman script, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system . Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written...
syllable. Notice that a number may have very different meanings in different contexts since the systems may have developed independently.
Other means of indicating tone in romanizations include tone diacritics
Diacritics
diacritics is a quarterly academic journal established in 1971 at Cornell University and published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. Articles serve to review recent literature in the field of literary criticism, and have covered topics in gender studies, political theory, psychoanalysis, queer...
or spelling changes. For instance, in Mandarin, the syllable (which has a falling-rising tone) is represented in Wade-Giles
Wade-Giles
Wade–Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century , and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.Wade–Giles was the most...
romanization as ma3, Hanyu Pinyin as mǎ, and Gwoyeu Romatzyh
Gwoyeu Romatzyh
Gwoyeu Romatzyh , abbreviated GR, is a system for writing Mandarin Chinese in the Latin alphabet. The system was conceived by Y.R. Chao and developed by a group of linguists including Chao and Lin Yutang from 1925 to 1926. Chao himself later published influential works in linguistics using GR...
as maa. The Wade-Giles romanization is an example of the use of tone numbers.
Chinese language study
In the Chinese tradition, numbers are assigned to various tones. For example, Standard ChineseStandard Chinese
Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
has five tones and the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are assigned to them. Although those tones have names
Tone name
In the Chinese and Vietnamese languages, tone names are the names given to the tones these languages use.*In Chinese, tone names are given in terms of the four tones, namely level , rising , departing , and entering , as well as dark and light , and high and low .* Standard Vietnamese has six...
, which are more meaningful in the comparative study among geographical
Spoken Chinese
Chinese comprises many regional language varieties sometimes grouped together as the Chinese dialects, the primary ones being Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, and Min. These are not mutually intelligible, and even many of the regional varieties are themselves composed of a number of...
and chronological
Historical Chinese phonology
Historical Chinese phonology deals with reconstructing the sounds of Chinese from the past. As Chinese is written with logographic characters, not alphabetic or syllabary, the methods employed in Historical Chinese phonology differ considerably from those employed in, for example, Indo-European...
language varieties, most people refer to tones by number: "the first tone", "the second tone", and so on.
Tone numbers are also assigned for other spoken Chinese varieties according to various traditions, which may be unrelated to each other. The numbers are also unrelated to the relative pitch or the tones. That can be illustrated by comparing the tone charts of Standard Chinese (Mandarin), Cantonese
Standard Cantonese
Cantonese, or Standard Cantonese, is a language that originated in the vicinity of Canton in southern China, and is often regarded as the prestige dialect of Yue Chinese....
, and Taiwanese Hokkien.
| Mandarin | |||||||||||
| Tone number | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||||||
| Tone name Tone name In the Chinese and Vietnamese languages, tone names are the names given to the tones these languages use.*In Chinese, tone names are given in terms of the four tones, namely level , rising , departing , and entering , as well as dark and light , and high and low .* Standard Vietnamese has six... |
yin ping |
yang ping |
shang | qu | neutral | ||||||
| Tone letter Tone letter Tone letters are letters that represent the tones of a language, most commonly in languages with contour tones.-Chao tone letters :A series of iconic tone letters based on a musical staff was invented by Yuen Ren Chao and adopted into the International Phonetic Alphabet.Combinations of these tone... |
˥ | ˧˥ | ˩, ˨˩˦ | ˥˩ | |||||||
| Cantonese | |||||||||||
| Tone number | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | ||
| Tone name | yin ping |
yin shang |
yin qu |
yang ping |
yang shang |
yang qu |
shang yin ru |
xia yin ru |
yang ru |
||
| Tone contour | ˥, ˥˧ | ˧˥ | ˧ | ˨˩, ˩ | ˩˧ | ˨ | ˥ | ˧ | ˨ | ||
| Taiwanese | |||||||||||
| Tone number | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |||
| Tone name | yin ping |
shang | yin qu |
yin ru |
yang ping |
not used |
yang qu |
yang ru |
|||
| Tone contour | ˦ | ˥˩ | ˧˩ | ˧ | ˨˦ | ˧ | ˥ | ||||
Note: Tone sandhi
Tone sandhi
Tone sandhi is a feature of tonal languages in which the tones assigned to individual words vary based on the pronunciation of the words that surround them in a phrase or sentence. It is a type of sandhi, or fusional change, from the Sanskrit word for "joining".-Languages with tone sandhi:Not all...
rules and the unstressed syllable of Mandarin are not listed here for simplicity.
To enhance recognition and learning, color has also been associated with the tones. Although there are no formal standards, the de facto standard
De facto standard
A de facto standard is a custom, convention, product, or system that has achieved a dominant position by public acceptance or market forces...
has been to use red (tone 1), orange (tone 2), green (tone 3),blue (tone 4) and black (tone 5). This color palette has been implemented in translation tools and online dictionaries
Although tone numbers are quite useless in comparative studies, they are useful within the context of a specified dialect, since they are easy references. For example, we may see these descriptions:
- In Mandarin, the numeral 1, originally in tone 1, is pronounced in tone 4 if followed by a classifierClassifier (linguistics)A classifier, in linguistics, sometimes called a measure word, is a word or morpheme used in some languages to classify the referent of a countable noun according to its meaning. In languages that have classifiers, they are often used when the noun is being counted or specified...
in tone 1, 2, or 3. It is pronounced in tone 2 if the classifier is in tone 4. - The Cantonese tones 7, 8, and 9 have the same tone contour as tones 1, 3, and 6 respectively.
- In Taiwanese tone sandhi, tone 1 is pronounced as tone 7 if followed by other syllables in multisyllabic words.
Some romanization
Romanization
In linguistics, romanization or latinization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman script, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system . Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written...
schemes, like Jyutping
Jyutping
Jyutping is a romanization system for Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong in 1993. Its formal name is The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanization Scheme...
, use tone numbers. Even for Pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
, tone numbers are used instead when diacritic
Diacritic
A diacritic is a glyph added to a letter, or basic glyph. The term derives from the Greek διακριτικός . Diacritic is both an adjective and a noun, whereas diacritical is only an adjective. Some diacritical marks, such as the acute and grave are often called accents...
s are not available, as in basic ASCII
ASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...
text.
Other languages
Tone numbers are also used in the study of other tonal languages. Sometimes, 1 may mean high pitch and 5 may mean low pitch. We have to refer to the individual traditions to get the correct meanings.See also
- Chinese characters
- Chinese languageChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
- BopomofoBopomofoZhuyin fuhao , often abbreviated as zhuyin and colloquially called bopomofo, was introduced in the 1910s as the first official phonetic system for transcribing Chinese, especially Mandarin....
- Tone letterTone letterTone letters are letters that represent the tones of a language, most commonly in languages with contour tones.-Chao tone letters :A series of iconic tone letters based on a musical staff was invented by Yuen Ren Chao and adopted into the International Phonetic Alphabet.Combinations of these tone...
- Tone nameTone nameIn the Chinese and Vietnamese languages, tone names are the names given to the tones these languages use.*In Chinese, tone names are given in terms of the four tones, namely level , rising , departing , and entering , as well as dark and light , and high and low .* Standard Vietnamese has six...