Learn IPA tone notation
Tone notation represents pitch patterns with diacritics or tone letters, interpreted relative to a speaker and language system. Learn the five reference levels, build a simple contour and distinguish IPA pitch notation from language-specific tone numbers.
VIDEO TUTORIAL
Build tone-mark comparisons
Choose IPA tone marks, build a short example, and save it for phonetics study.
English narration Captions: English
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What you’ll learn
- Read the five IPA tone-letter levels from extra-high to extra-low.
- Represent a stipulated level or contour without inventing a word meaning.
- Distinguish relative pitch, lexical tone and phrase-level intonation.
A few symbols, a clearer picture
Five reference levels
In this order: extra-high, high, mid, low and extra-low relative pitch.
Tone diacritics
In IPA tone notation, an acute marks high tone and a grave marks low tone; read these under the stated convention.
A rising contour
A schematic syllable followed by extra-low then extra-high tone letters; no language-specific word meaning is assigned.
Global pitch direction
The official chart uses these for global rise and global fall; they are not vowel letters.
Use a relative pitch scale
A tone label is not an absolute frequency or a universal numbered category.
Read the explanation
Tone letters show pitch height with a short horizontal stroke on a vertical stem. The five reference levels run from ˥ at the top through ˦, ˧ and ˨ to ˩ at the bottom. These are relative descriptions. Two speakers can realize the same linguistic tone at quite different fundamental frequencies, so a tone symbol by itself does not specify a value in hertz.
Some teaching materials use digits such as 1 through 5 for pitch levels, while other materials use numbers to name a language's tone categories. Those systems are not automatically equivalent. A label such as tone 1 may identify a lexical category rather than the lowest pitch. Always read the author's key. Do not turn a dictionary tone number directly into a Chao letter without checking what that number means.
Schematic mid-level syllable, with no assigned lexical meaning.
Schematic extra-high versus extra-low reference levels, not fixed frequencies.
Distinguish levels from contours
Read a sequence of tone letters as an ordered pitch movement.
Read the explanation
A level tone is represented without a specified movement between levels. A contour combines successive levels: ma˩˥ gives an extra-low-to-extra-high rise in this schematic example, while ma˥˩ gives the reverse fall. The symbols provide a compact outline rather than a measurement of every fluctuation. In fonts with suitable shaping, adjacent tone letters may join into one visual contour.
The chart also offers combining diacritics for level tones. A high-tone acute follows its vowel in the underlying text sequence and is displayed above it. Tone letters normally follow the syllable they describe. Choose the convention used in your source and explain it to the reader. An acute in ordinary spelling, or a macron in a language's romanization, need not have the same meaning as an IPA tone diacritic.
Schematic rising versus falling contours with reversed endpoint order.
Schematic high versus low using IPA combining tone diacritics.
Keep tone and intonation in context
Pitch can organize words and larger utterances in different ways.
Read the explanation
Lexical tone can distinguish words or grammatical forms. Intonation organizes pitch over larger stretches of speech and contributes to discourse functions. These systems may interact, so a recording's high point is not automatically a lexical high tone. State which unit a mark applies to and which aspects of pitch are being represented.
The i2Speak palette includes five combining level marks, five Chao level letters and five arrows. It is not the full set of all contour diacritics or every tone convention. In particular, the ordinary arrows ↑, → and ↓ in this palette should not be treated as substitutes for the official upstep and downstep symbols. The official chart identifies ↗ and ↘ as global rise and fall. Define any additional arrow shorthand explicitly.
Official global-rise/global-fall symbols; interpretation needs an utterance-level context.
Type two levels and one rising contour
Prepare the tone chart
Open Tones and begin an empty practice line. Turn off Smart IPA suggestions so ma can be typed literally before adding the chosen tone letters.
Insert the top reference level
Type ma and select ˥ from the Chao-letter group. Confirm the tone letter follows the syllable.
Insert the bottom reference level
Type a space, type ma again and select ˩. The two examples should now differ only in the tone letter.
Build the rise and save
Type a space and ma, then select ˩ followed by ˥. Compare with the sample and use Copy text or Download text to keep the editor contents.
Check your understanding
Try each question, then compare your reasoning with the explanation. These exercises stay on this page and do not change your editor text.
State the pitch transcription system
Include a tone key and distinguish citation forms, contextual realizations and simplified contours. Record the language and context.
Keep pitch measurements separate from IPA notation. This keyboard inserts symbols; it does not identify tones or score pronunciation.
Listen to the IPA’s recorded chartListening opens the International Phonetic Association website. Exercises here practice notation and interpretation; they do not assess pronunciation.