<p>I think vowel + shift in tone is key. If you'd just have different tones (as in notes) for vowels, that would conflict with expressions of pain, surprise, etc. In Asian Philology, when we talk about "tones", we actually mean a change in pitch for a vowel. Chinese has 4: Same, Up, Down and Down+Up. Thai for example has more.</p>

<p>Here's a grid of the most used tonal notation systems for Chinese:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/10Gmw.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/10Gmw.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>The most common in use today is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Pinyin</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-11-01T00:25:02.387Z
2018-11-01T00:25:02.387Z
Codosaur
<p>You can use standard musical notation to describe the tones of your conlang. Level tones are just represented by different notes, and tonal glides can be represented by groups of notes joined with a slur. The notes can also hint the duration of a syllable.</p>

<p>An alternative to that are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_letter" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Tone Letters</a> introduced by the Chinese linguist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chao_Yuen_Ren" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Yuen Ren Chao</a> providing a nice visual cue to tone levels and contour tones.</p>

<p>These means are for the explanation of the tones to the aspiring learner of your conlang, their representation in a writing system is another thing worth a separate question.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-13T12:21:24.247Z
And you can of course notate tone in IPA.
curiousdannii
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-22T16:46:35.047Z
Musical notation for languages is problematic, because while you could certainly map e.g. “high tone” (a phonemic concept) to a certain note purely for writing purposes, but this would entirely obfuscate the reality wherein intonation, stress etc change the actual realization of tone.

Similarly, if you were to write out the actual realizations, you’d only get a crude approximation. At that point, it would be better to just write a continuous line over your text indicating the pitch relative to some baseline.
Sascha Baer
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-13T11:41:44.487Z
2018-10-19T14:48:23.963Z
2018-10-19T14:48:23.963Z
Sir Cornflakes
<p>Vietnamese is a tonal language that is written with a Latin character set, using accents and other "punctuation" to indicate the tones.  Take a look at it because at the Wikipedia entry on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_alphabet" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Vietnamese alphabet</a> for some ideas about how it is implemented.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-19T14:20:54.523Z
2018-10-19T14:20:54.523Z
Karlomanio
<p>In my new language, I use tones, such as those in Mandarin and Cantonese, to diversify my words. When I try to make a dictionary, I do not know how to describe these tones. I have tried using parts different English words to describe what a tone sounds like, but that is not very efficient. Is there a simpler way to describe these tones?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-13T11:17:38.470Z
Do you mean in terms of notation? Or describing your conlang's inventory of tones? Or describing what tone is itself?
curiousdannii
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-13T13:42:43.827Z
@curiousdannii I mean the sound of the tones
PotatoLatte
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-13T16:49:35.290Z
How many tones?
Tsundoku
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-13T18:03:47.190Z
@ChristopheStrobbe does it matter?
PotatoLatte
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-14T16:56:17.083Z
I think it is relevant to the representation of tones in writing, i.e. whether you can represent them with existing diacritics or (of you go overboard on tones) you need to use a different mechanism. (And I am no fan of the tone letters used in Gwoyeu Romatzyh.)
Tsundoku
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-14T16:57:15.973Z
Probably around  5 or 6 maybe?
PotatoLatte
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-24T06:11:55.043Z
Does this help? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_(linguistics)#Phonetic_notation
Anton Sherwood
<phonetics>
How would one describe different tones on paper?
# How would one describe different tones on paper?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-10-13)

In my new language, I use tones, such as those in Mandarin and Cantonese, to diversify my words. When I try to make a dictionary, I do not know how to describe these tones. I have tried using parts different English words to describe what a tone sounds like, but that is not very efficient. Is there a simpler way to describe these tones?

**Tags:** phonetics

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Do you mean in terms of notation? Or describing your conlang's inventory of tones? Or describing what tone is itself?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 I mean the sound of the tones  
> **username_2**: How many tones?  
> **username_0**: @ChristopheStrobbe does it matter?  
> **username_2**: I think it is relevant to the representation of tones in writing, i.e. whether you can represent them with existing diacritics or (of you go overboard on tones) you need to use a different mechanism. (And I am no fan of the tone letters used in Gwoyeu Romatzyh.)  
> **username_0**: Probably around  5 or 6 maybe?  
> **username_3**: Does this help? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_(linguistics)#Phonetic_notation  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2018-11-01. Score: 3

I think vowel + shift in tone is key. If you'd just have different tones (as in notes) for vowels, that would conflict with expressions of pain, surprise, etc. In Asian Philology, when we talk about "tones", we actually mean a change in pitch for a vowel. Chinese has 4: Same, Up, Down and Down+Up. Thai for example has more.

Here's a grid of the most used tonal notation systems for Chinese:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/10Gmw.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/10Gmw.png)

The most common in use today is [Pinyin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin)


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2018-10-13. Score: 2

You can use standard musical notation to describe the tones of your conlang. Level tones are just represented by different notes, and tonal glides can be represented by groups of notes joined with a slur. The notes can also hint the duration of a syllable.

An alternative to that are [Tone Letters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_letter) introduced by the Chinese linguist [Yuen Ren Chao](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chao_Yuen_Ren) providing a nice visual cue to tone levels and contour tones.

These means are for the explanation of the tones to the aspiring learner of your conlang, their representation in a writing system is another thing worth a separate question.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: And you can of course notate tone in IPA.  
> **username_6**: Musical notation for languages is problematic, because while you could certainly map e.g. “high tone” (a phonemic concept) to a certain note purely for writing purposes, but this would entirely obfuscate the reality wherein intonation, stress etc change the actual realization of tone.  Similarly, if you were to write out the actual realizations, you’d only get a crude approximation. At that point, it would be better to just write a continuous line over your text indicating the pitch relative to some baseline.  

---

### Answer by username_7 on 2018-10-19. Score: 0

Vietnamese is a tonal language that is written with a Latin character set, using accents and other "punctuation" to indicate the tones. Take a look at it because at the Wikipedia entry on the [Vietnamese alphabet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_alphabet) for some ideas about how it is implemented.


---

