Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

floating tone

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.01 in modern English

Syllables
float-ing -tone
IPA
16
Scrabble Score
12
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A morpheme or element of a morpheme that contains no consonants or vowels, but only tone. It cannot be pronounced by itself, but affects the tones of neighbouring morphemes.

noun

A phonemic tone which is not associated to a syllable and is only pronounced in its effect on neighboring tones, such as by causing downstep.

Inflected Forms

floating tones (plural)

Questions

What does floating tone mean?
A morpheme or element of a morpheme that contains no consonants or vowels, but only tone. It cannot be pronounced by itself, but affects the tones of neighbouring morphemes.

How to pronounce floating tone

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “floating tone”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “floating tone”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “floating tone” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.