tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-520807396714463309.post1678551566945359064..comments2024-02-12T02:22:30.561-05:00Comments on The Lousy Linguist: Chinese Without Tone?Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09558846279006287148noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-520807396714463309.post-62478517528821292312010-02-03T19:54:21.629-05:002010-02-03T19:54:21.629-05:00enchanting_catalyst, thanks for the comments. And ...enchanting_catalyst, thanks for the comments. And yes, sigh, I know I will have to practice that pesky 4th tone more.<br /><br />FYI, there is also the challenging fact of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downdrift" rel="nofollow">downdrift</a>, where the actual pitch of the tone gets lower because of the context.<br /><br />Then there's the scary phenomenon where a word that is normally, say, 3rd tone, gets changed to say 2nd tone because two 3rd tone words preceded it (we can't have three tone 3s in a row, now can we).<br /><br />Ahhh, the linguistics of tone. A great (and messy) topic.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09558846279006287148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-520807396714463309.post-50665054970774817882010-02-03T14:15:37.880-05:002010-02-03T14:15:37.880-05:00A friend of mine who is a native Mandarin speaker ...A friend of mine who is a native Mandarin speaker says that tone is more important with more highly complex vocabulary. Perhaps the commonness of the usual messages transmitted by braille, like those for the sighted on signs, preclude the need for tone? (Except in a few notable cases, like the one you provided.)<br /><br />As for dispensing with tone... he says foreigners with very small vocabularies are pretty easily understood if they can't produce tone, but it's important for more advanced levels... sorry! ^_^The Enchanting Catalysthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16058082634266433185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-520807396714463309.post-38607354270344729502010-01-31T19:21:06.889-05:002010-01-31T19:21:06.889-05:00Oh, nothing wrong with tone, I just suck at produc...Oh, nothing wrong with tone, I just suck at producing lexical tone on cue. Classic American. I was okay at recognizing them, but horrible at producing them. Inevitably, while trying to produce rising tone, I sounded like a clown, wildly over-articulating.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09558846279006287148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-520807396714463309.post-7518631888583272962010-01-31T16:07:05.498-05:002010-01-31T16:07:05.498-05:00what's wrong with tones? I kinda like em.what's wrong with tones? I kinda like em.uzzahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02494141255401096538noreply@blogger.com