Tonal and Intonational Languages

In your sentences, I would say them as a hearing person the same way you would in asl if you switched it a bit into more of a question. I don't know if that makes sense. For instance:

"I didn't say YOU stole it" is sort of a 'who' statement and I would drop/purse my eyebrows when saying YOU just like if I asked 'Who stole it' in ASL.

"I DIDN'T say you stole it" is more a yes/no statement (Did I say you stole it?) and I would raise my eyebrows when saying Didn't.

That's just how I would naturally say them though, and don't know if those rules always apply or anything, just trying to help out.
 
Deanne said:
In your sentences, I would say them as a hearing person the same way you would in asl if you switched it a bit into more of a question. I don't know if that makes sense. For instance:

"I didn't say YOU stole it" is sort of a 'who' statement and I would drop/purse my eyebrows when saying YOU just like if I asked 'Who stole it' in ASL.

"I DIDN'T say you stole it" is more a yes/no statement (Did I say you stole it?) and I would raise my eyebrows when saying Didn't.

That's just how I would naturally say them though, and don't know if those rules always apply or anything, just trying to help out.
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Whether it is spoken or signed, you have to understand how tone is applied so it is helpful.
 
Do you mean like Chinese? I think it would be impossible for even a HOH person to understand spoken Chinese (ie Mandarian, etc since those languages are purely tonal.
Like it can be hard to detect "tone of voice" from speech, even in English for HOH folks
 
deafdyke said:
Do you mean like Chinese? I think it would be impossible for even a HOH person to understand spoken Chinese (ie Mandarian, etc since those languages are purely tonal.
Like it can be hard to detect "tone of voice" from speech, even in English for HOH folks
Click to expand...

my deaf friend speaks Chinese...
 
Man... voice tone has gotten me in trouble lots of times. It's been the cause of much misunderstanding.

Sometimes I can sort of pick it up if people put enough emphasis on it, but I pick it up more as a volume change. Like they are saying a word louder or quieter. But I have a feeling that voice tone is more "finer" than this. In which case, I really don't pick up on it.

Other than that, I have to go by body language and facial expression, like others have said.

I'm not even sure if I use tone very well myself.
 
deafdyke said:
Do you mean like Chinese? I think it would be impossible for even a HOH person to understand spoken Chinese (ie Mandarian, etc since those languages are purely tonal.
Like it can be hard to detect "tone of voice" from speech, even in English for HOH folks
Click to expand...

Lau, know Madarin and she explained to me that it only has a few tones.

However, speaking it and hearing it are two different things. If you know the tones, you can speak it.
 
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