WHAT MAKES YORUBA A TONE LANGUAGE
The Vowels Sounds
The Vowels are :
A E Ẹ I O Ọ U
The vowels make Yoruba a tone language, when they are stressed they make different sounds.
:
Vowel A/ah/ tone :
A
Aa
Aaa
Aaaa
Aaaaa
Vowel E/a/ tone :
E
Ee
Eee
Eeee
Eeeee
Vowel Ẹ/hel/ tone
Ẹ
Ẹẹ
Ẹẹẹ
Ẹẹẹẹ
Ẹẹẹẹẹ
Vowel I/ee/ tone :
Here the dropped one of its "e' to sound : e. This transformation makes it become vowel-consonant.
The Yoruba linguistics, make it to rivals consonant H/e/ and took over all its functions.
I
Ii
Iii
Iiii
Iiiii
Vowel O/o/ tone :
O
Oo
Ooo
Oooo
Ooooo
Vowel Ọ/hor/ tone
Ọ
Ọọ
Ọọọ
Ọọọọ
Ọọọọọ
Vowel U/hoo/ tone
U
Uu
Uuu
Uuuu
Uuuuu
What About The Consonants ?
The consonants are tone by vowel : I/ee/ that changed to : I/e/.
In writing, we can see how all consonants are tone with vowel /i/
B /bi/ : as in Bi:g, Bi:ll
D /di/ : as in Di:g, Di:sh
F /fi/ : as in : Fi:gure, Fi:ll
G /gi/ as in : Gi:ve, Gi:ft
GB /gbi/ : as in Gbi:gba
H /hi/ as in Hi:ll
J /ji/ : as in Ji:ngle
K /ki/ as in Ki:ll, Ki:ng
L /li/ as in Li:nk, Li:ving
M /mi/ as in Mi:ddle
N /ni/ : as in Ni:ddle
P /pi/ as in Pi:llow, pi:t
R /ri/ as in Ri:ver
S /si/ : as in Si:ster
Ṣ /ṣi/ as in Ṣhi:llo
T /ti/ as in Ti:ll, Ti:n
W /wi/ as in Wi:dow, Wi:lliems
Y /yi/ as in Yi:eld
Therefore, the consonants are tone in the following way :
Consonant B
Bi
Bii
Biii
Biiii
Biiiii
Consonant Ri
Ri
Rii
Riii
Riiii
Riiiii
They Bear Tone Mark :
These are the tone marks
Do: \ down stroke
Mi: ~ flat symbol
Re: / upper stroke
Tone marks as seen on vowels
À È Ẹ̀ Ì Ò Ọ̀ Ù
à Ē Ẹ̄ Ī Õ Ọ̄ Ū
Á É Ẹ́ Í Ó Ọ́ Ú
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