Tone
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Werner, E. T. C. (Edward Theodore Chalmers)
The correct pronunciation of the sound (yin) is not sufficient to make a Chinese spoken word intelligible. Unless the tone (shêng), or musical note, is simultaneously correctly given, either the wrong meaning or no meaning at all will be conveyed. The tone is the key in which the voice is pitched. Accent is a ‘song added to,’ and tone is emphasized accent. The number of these tones differs in the different dialects. In Pekingese there are now four. They are best indicated in transliteration by numbers added to the sound, thus:
pa (1) pa (2) pa (3) pa (4)
To say, for example, pa (3) instead of pa (1) would be as great a mistake as to say ‘grasp’ instead of ‘trumpet.’ Correctness of tone cannot be learnt except by oral instruction.