Tonal Language

A language in which pitch variations at the word or syllable level distinguish meaning, so that the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have entirely different meanings depending on the tone used. Languages like Mandarin Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese are fully tonal, while Korean is considered to have emerging tonal contrasts. For accessibility, tonal language speakers may have different needs for pitch representation in captions and assistive technologies, as pitch carries semantic rather than merely emotional information in their linguistic experience.