La estructura fonológica de la lengua china: introducción al estudio de los tonos

Abstract

This article deals with the importance of the tones in Chinese language. The tone is indeed one of the distinctive elements of the mentioned language. The paper offers a brief history of some classifications, states the development of modifications and changes, and then approaches an analysis of the four main tones. These four tones produce alterations depending on the way they become combined, this operating semantic and syntactic differentiations. An essential matter refering to the Chinese speech, the tone acquires extraordinary importance within the poetical creation. The paper also studies the fith tone, known as neuter tone.