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Toaq is a tonal language. It has '''tones'''! That is: saying a word with a rising or falling vocal intonation, for example, makes for a difference in meaning.

== Function of tones ==
Toaq has '''grammatical tone''': when you change the tone of a word, its grammatical function changes (for example {{t|dẻ}} “is beautiful” → {{t|dẽ}} “beautifully”).

(This is in contrast to '''lexical tone''', like in Chinese: there, when you change the tone of a syllable, it becomes a different word (lexeme) entirely. For example 西 xı̄ “west” → 媳 xí “daughter-in-law”.)

== Verb tones ==
Every verb can be "conjugated" into one of six tones, each of which expresses some grammatical function:

# (see [[#History|History section]] for why there is no tone #1)
# The '''rising tone''' {{tone|2}} marks a noun or [[bound variable]]. ({{t|súq}} “you”, {{t|sa pỏq… póq}} “some person… that person”)
# The '''rising-creaky tone''' {{tone|3}} marks the start of a [[relative clause]]. ({{t|gï}} “which is good”)
# The '''falling tone''' {{tone|4}} marks a verb phrase, or the tail of a [[serial]]. ({{t|fả}} “goes”, {{t|bũ dẻ}} “not-beautifully”)
# The '''rising-falling tone''' {{tone|5}} marks the start of a [[content clause]]. ({{t|gî}} “that it's good”)
# The '''mid-falling tone''' {{tone|6}} marks a [[preposition]]. ({{t|bìe ní}} “after that”)
# The '''falling creaky tone''' {{tone|7}} marks an [[adverb]]. ({{t|dẽ}} “beautifully”)

Sometimes people will say “the fifth tone” or “t5” instead of “the rising-falling tone”.

=== Possible new tone scheme ===
''Main Article: [[Main verb tone]]''

On 21 August 2022, Hoemaı mentioned trying to settle on a new tone scheme.

# {{tone|1}} — adjunct (adverbs and prepositions)
# {{tone|2}} — nouns or bound variable
# {{tone|3}} — allotone of {{tone|7}}; alternatively if adverbs and prepositions stay separate, it would take one of those functions
# {{tone|4}} — tail of a serial
# {{tone|5}} — relative clauses
# {{tone|6}} — main verb
# {{tone|7}} — content clauses
# {{tone|8}} — particles
# {{tone|3old}} — allotone of {{tone|6}}

== Neutral tone ==
Particles, on the other hand, are in the '''neutral tone''' {{tone|8}} (aka the 8th tone), which is not really a tone. The only rule is that you don't continue the contour of the previous tone. So, when saying a particle after the falling tone {{tone|4}}, you should go up in pitch to break the falling contour. This way, the listener can tell the difference between {{t|lẻ moq}} and {{t|lẻmoq}}.

== Lexical tone ==
Toaq actually does have a little bit of lexical tone. For example, {{t|moq}} (question marker) and {{t|môq}} (rhetorical question marker) are different lexemes.

More subtly, {{t|lâ}} is not {{Tone|5}} + {{t|lả}}. Rather, each of {{Tone|5}} and {{t|lả}} is a complementizer in its own right. So really {{t|lâ}} is also its own complementizer, of which {{Tone|5}} is an allomorph.

== History ==
There used to be a '''flat tone''' {{tone|1}}, which marked the continuation of a multisyllable word. But now, the tone contour is spread out over the whole word. This was tone #1, but now it is gone. So we start counting from #2, because it would be more confusing to re-number them.

The rising-creaky tone {{tone|3}} used to be dipping {{tone|3old}}, and {{tone|7}} was just “creaky”.

== External links ==
* [https://toaq.net/refgram/02/ Refgram: symbols and sounds]
* [https://toaq.net/refgram/03/ Refgram: phonology]

Archive:Tone - Revision history

Uakci: Uakci moved page Gamma:Tone to Archive:Tone without leaving a redirect

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