• constellation [none/use name]
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Japanese is tonal too. It's just that the textbooks aren't up front about it. It's one of the reasons that Asian speakers are better, because they can speak the tones in Japanese. While the white boys are always going to sound weird and off. Not to mention, a lot of them learn from their girlfriends, so you've got this big hairy man and when he opens his mouth he sounds like a prissy little girl. :hahaha:

    • booty [he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      yeah but tones in japanese only affect dialect like you're talking about, right? so sure the dumb white guy talks like a valley girl but if he tries to speak chinese he accidentally insults your mother. sounds like japanese is still straightforward relatively lmao

      • Nagarjuna [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        There are words that entirely change meaning with tone. Not as many as Chinese, but still a lot

      • constellation [none/use name]
        ·
        1 year ago

        No, they're an integral part of the language. It's just that textbooks don't seem to mention it, and that reflects the poor state of pedagogy in Japanese learning. I'm convinced the people who write textbooks don't want anyone to learn, because more people speaking Japanese would diminish their own accomplishments and make them feel less special.

        • booty [he/him]
          ·
          1 year ago

          I had no idea, that's interesting. Where could I read more about this?

          • constellation [none/use name]
            ·
            1 year ago

            I quit studying Japanese long ago in favor of Chinese. Tones are definitely there, though. Heck English has tones.

            • booty [he/him]
              ·
              1 year ago

              English just has one tone that's grammatically meaningful though, and even then you can do without it through context.

                • booty [he/him]
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  No they don't. There are at most two meanings between these 4 things, and both of those meanings could be extracted from context by a person speaking in a monotone.

                  • constellation [none/use name]
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    All I have to say is that we have very different views of what tones mean in speech. Having studied tonal languages, I'm sticking with my view.

                    • booty [he/him]
                      ·
                      1 year ago

                      What a lame response. Why even comment? "I've decided you're wrong and I know more than you, but of course I can't articulate why." Did I accidentally log into reddit today?