Hmong’s Tonal Writing System
Discover the Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA), the ingenious writing system for the Hmong language. In this linguistic deep-dive, you'll learn how the final consonant of a word isn't pronounced, but…
Tag: tone sandhi
Tone vs. Intonation Explained
Ever wondered why saying 'mΔ' in Mandarin can mean 'mother' while 'mΗ' means 'horse'? Or how the exact same words, "You're leaving", can be a statement or a question in…
The Chameleon Tone: Unlocking the Musical Logic of Mandarin’s Tone Sandhi
Mandarin is famously a tonal language, but what many learners quickly discover is that the tones they memorize often change in mysterious ways during conversation. This isn't a mistakeβit's a…