tonal
pronunciation
How to pronounce tonal in British English:
UK [ˈtəʊnl]
How to pronounce tonal in American English:
US [ˈtoʊnl]
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- Adjective:
- employing variations in pitch to distinguish meanings of otherwise similar words
- having tonality; i.e. tones and chords organized in relation to one tone such as a keynote or tonic
Word Origin
- tonal (adj.)
- 1776; from tone (n.) in the musical sense + -al (1), or from Medieval Latin tonalis.
Example
- 1. Bit for many just starting to grapple with this tonal language , where " mai " may mean buy or sell depending on how it 's pronounced , life is tough .
- 2. The language is tonal , and fluency requires mastering thousands of characters .
- 3. The analysis on tonal patterns in hong kong cantonese loanwords : an optimality-theoretical approach .
- 4. Tonal center -- its arrivals and departures .
- 5. The official and dominant language is lao , a tonal language of the tai linguistic group .