#tonal languages

When we think of tonal languages, we tend to think of examples like Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Vietnamese, or Thai, among many others, where tone completely changes the meaning of a word.

But this got me wondering:

What role does sound really play in languages that aren’t tonal?

In Spanish, for example, if you don’t stress a word correctly or don’t use the right intonation, it sounds strange. Sometimes it’s even hard to understand you, or it seems like you’re saying something else. It doesn’t change the meaning as directly as in a tonal language, but it does greatly affect how what you say is interpreted.

So, what’s the difference?

In tonal languages, tone is part of the word. In Spanish and many other languages, tone doesn’t change the word itself, but it does influence how it sounds, how it’s understood, and even the intention behind it.

Maybe not all languages are tonal in the same sense, but they all depend on more than just written words: they depend on how they sound.

I don't mean to generalise but the songs get grating on the ears after a bit

Thanks for hearing the rant hahah

The singing stuff:

In general there is a reason I have a blanket NO SINGING stance on Thai BL. And I mean everything from actors picking up guitars inside the show to dubbed to sound track. I used to say I had exceptions, well, one = Jeff. (I vastly prefer his English language stuff. And I htink there is a reason he sings a ton in English.)

But I've decided to be a rude generalist at this point: No singing.

I don't know if it's a conflict between tonal and non-tonal languages but the pitch always sounds off to me, not all along just often enough to constantly make me wince. I imagine it's challenging to sing and rhyme in a westernized musical structure when there are 5 tones in play, and those tones are required to have the words make sense - so that's what my ear is picking up on.

I should say I don't have this issue with Thai traditional music or folk music. That always sounds fine to me.

And I have had this issue with Mandarin (4) and Vietnamese (6) and some of the other tonals (when they are doing westernized music structures). I've never heard Cantonese (9!) sung as a western pop piece - I imagine that would sound insane to my brain.

I always assumed it was a me thing. But if you have a certain sense of pitch, and were raised in a non-tonal language structure, that might be what you're wincing about.

Or I could be totally (tonally) wrong, music is not my area of expertise by a long shot.

Now if you mean the generally poor quality of the sound design? That's a money, equipment, and personal issue. Thai BL often skimps on things like sound, wardrobe, makeup in the arenas of budget and talent.

-- include distinctive sound pitches of spoken words      -- essential part of pronunciation      -- key to meaning

-- common in      -- Africa      -- central America      -- east Asia

-- examples      -- tonal = Mandarin Chinese      -- nontonal = English

-- about 70% of languages are tonal

-- 1/3 of people speak tonal languages