Tone
Vietnamese vowels are all pronounced with an inherent tone. Tones differ in
- pitch
- length
- contour melody
- intensity
- phonation (with or without accompanying constricted vocal cords)
Unlike many Native American, African, and Chinese languages, Vietnamese tones do not rely solely on pitch contour. Vietnamese often uses instead a register complex (which is a combination of phonation type, pitch, length, vowel quality, etc.). So perhaps a better description would be that Vietnamese is a register language and not a "pure" tonal language.
In Vietnamese orthography, tone is indicated by diacritics written above or below the vowel.
Read more about this topic: Vietnamese Phonology
Famous quotes containing the word tone:
“Genius resembles a bell; in order to ring it must be suspended into pure air, and when a foreign body touches it, its joyful tone is silenced.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“We often contradict an opinion when it is actually only the tone with which it was put forward that is uncongenial to us.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“When you listen to gongs and drums, listen to the music; when you listen to someone talk, listen to his tone of voice.”
—Chinese proverb.