Tonal System (High, Mid, Low)

Ohùn Yorùbá (Gíga, Àárín, Ìsàlẹ̀)

About this concept

Yoruba has three tones: high (á, marked with acute accent), mid (a, unmarked), and low (à, marked with grave accent). Tone distinguishes meaning: ọkọ (husband) vs. ọ̀kọ̀ (hoe) vs. ọkọ̀ (vehicle).

In Settemila Lingue, this concept generates a practice deck of ~35 cards at level A1.

Examples

owó (money) vs. owò (respect)Tones distinguish different words.

àgbọ̀n (coconut) vs. agbọn (chin)Low vs. mid tone changes meaning.

Ó wá. (He/She came.)High tone on ó marks third person.

igbá (calabash) vs. ìgbà (time/era)Tone pairs on common words.

Concepts that build on this

Grammatical Tone AlternationC1

More A1 concepts

Personal PronounsArọ́pò Orúkọ Greetings and Polite ExpressionsÌkíni àti Àwọn Ọ̀rọ̀ Ọlọ́wọ̀Basic Sentence Structure (SVO)Ìtò Gbólóhùn Ìpìlẹ̀Copula Ni/Jẹ́ (To Be)Ní/Jẹ́ (Ìṣe)Location and Existence (Wà/Sí)Wà/Sí (Ìwà ní Ibìkan)

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