Non-tonal simply means the denotation isn’t carried by tone, not that users of the language don’t use tone. It’s an interesting distinction.
John McWhorter has a few courses in The Great Courses catalog about language - its pretty fascinating stuff. He covers things like tonal languages, and how even for a linguist like himself, they’re tough to learn.
Non-tonal simply means the denotation isn’t carried by tone, not that users of the language don’t use tone. It’s an interesting distinction.
John McWhorter has a few courses in The Great Courses catalog about language - its pretty fascinating stuff. He covers things like tonal languages, and how even for a linguist like himself, they’re tough to learn.