<p>This a well-known issue to do with the <em>rendering</em> of contour tones in certain computer fonts. The Wikipedia article for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_letter" rel="nofollow">tone letter</a> states that:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The contour-tone letters are composed as sequences</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In the "Modifier Tone Letters" block in the Unicode standard (<a href="http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/UA700.pdf" rel="nofollow">A700-A71F in Unicode 7.0</a>), only the level tone letters are provided. Hence any non-level tone letter is created by "smart rendering" capabilities within the program and within the font; it is usually classed as a type of <a href="http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&amp;id=CmplxRndExamples#3e655409" rel="nofollow">ligature</a>. However, many (or most?) browsers cannot handle them, or only provide some of the ligatures.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-26T15:49:38.827Z
2014-08-26T15:49:38.827Z
Michaelyus
<p>Below are four tonal markings for 四川话:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/clGbt.png" alt="tonemarks"></p>

<ul>
<li><p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/oqcpR.png" alt="firsttone"> with a tone value of 55 (first tone)</p></li>
<li><p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/wAwfK.png" alt="secondtone"> with a tone value of 21 (second tone)</p></li>
<li><p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/a9XvL.png" alt="thirdtone"> with a tone value of 53 (third tone)</p></li>
<li><p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/PJPjR.png" alt="fourthtone"> with a tone value of 213 (fourth tone)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>I believe these are an older form of the tonal markings that can be found today, i.e:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>first tone: ˥ (55)</p></li>
<li><p>second tone: ˨˩ (21)</p></li>
<li><p>third tone: ˥˧ (53)</p></li>
<li><p>fourth tone: ˨˩˧ (213)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>which have probably been made obsolete. <strong>Is my assumption correct?</strong> </p>

<p><strong>If not what are the differences between these two different tonal markers?</strong></p>

<p><strong>What are these tonal markings called?</strong></p>

<p><strong>Can the first type of tonal markings be typed?</strong> (above are all pngs)</p>

<hr>

<p>edit: the second type seem to be called <em>tone letters</em>: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_letter" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_letter</a></p>

<p>but they are individually built - unlike the first kind which are morphed into one single "letter", if you will.</p>

<hr>

<p><strong>edit 2</strong>: these are definitely tone letters of some sort...</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/xGV70.png" alt="search">
<img src="https://i.sstatic.net/tpK5v.png" alt="search 2"></p>

<p>I searched <code>˨˩</code> in bing and look what get's displayed in the search bar above!</p>

<p>it's exactly the same as the second tone picture from above: <img src="https://i.sstatic.net/wAwfK.png" alt="secondtone"></p>

<p>must be some sort of <em>font</em> thing going on to display this, in this way... </p>

<p>third tone works aswell:
<img src="https://i.sstatic.net/R5Pbu.png" alt="third tone"></p>

<p>and first tone:
<img src="https://i.sstatic.net/Pu4SB.png" alt="first tone"></p>

<p>but fourth tone doesn't really get the same results...
so what's going on here?</p>

<tones>
What are these tonal markings called?
# What are these tonal markings called?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-08-22)

Below are four tonal markings for 四川话:

![tonemarks](https://i.sstatic.net/clGbt.png)

* ![firsttone](https://i.sstatic.net/oqcpR.png) with a tone value of 55 (first tone)
* ![secondtone](https://i.sstatic.net/wAwfK.png) with a tone value of 21 (second tone)
* ![thirdtone](https://i.sstatic.net/a9XvL.png) with a tone value of 53 (third tone)
* ![fourthtone](https://i.sstatic.net/PJPjR.png) with a tone value of 213 (fourth tone)

I believe these are an older form of the tonal markings that can be found today, i.e:

* first tone: ˥ (55)
* second tone: ˨˩ (21)
* third tone: ˥˧ (53)
* fourth tone: ˨˩˧ (213)

which have probably been made obsolete. **Is my assumption correct?**

**If not what are the differences between these two different tonal markers?**

**What are these tonal markings called?**

**Can the first type of tonal markings be typed?** (above are all pngs)

---

edit: the second type seem to be called *tone letters*: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_letter>

but they are individually built - unlike the first kind which are morphed into one single "letter", if you will.

---

**edit 2**: these are definitely tone letters of some sort...

![search](https://i.sstatic.net/xGV70.png)
![search 2](https://i.sstatic.net/tpK5v.png)

I searched `˨˩` in bing and look what get's displayed in the search bar above!

it's exactly the same as the second tone picture from above: ![secondtone](https://i.sstatic.net/wAwfK.png)

must be some sort of *font* thing going on to display this, in this way...

third tone works aswell:
![third tone](https://i.sstatic.net/R5Pbu.png)

and first tone:
![first tone](https://i.sstatic.net/Pu4SB.png)

but fourth tone doesn't really get the same results...
so what's going on here?

**Tags:** tones


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-08-26. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

This a well-known issue to do with the *rendering* of contour tones in certain computer fonts. The Wikipedia article for [tone letter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_letter) states that:

> The contour-tone letters are composed as sequences

In the "Modifier Tone Letters" block in the Unicode standard ([A700-A71F in Unicode 7.0](http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/UA700.pdf)), only the level tone letters are provided. Hence any non-level tone letter is created by "smart rendering" capabilities within the program and within the font; it is usually classed as a type of [ligature](http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=CmplxRndExamples#3e655409). However, many (or most?) browsers cannot handle them, or only provide some of the ligatures.


---

