Marking Tone

Abstract

This paper was originally intended to explain why pitch contours, which are used in linguistic analysis and documentation of tone languages, have been encoded in the SIL Corporate PUA and in our SIL Unicode Roman fonts. Section 1 covers the existing tone marking systems in Unicode. Section 2 provides the rationale for adding Pitch Contour characters to the PUA, and a detailed discussion of how such characters have been encoded and implemented (they have subsequently been removed).

Existing Systems in Unicode

Unicode already supports many different systems for marking tone. These are discussed in the following subsections.

Superscript/Subscript numbers

Superscript numbers indicate a numbered toneme (e.g. 1 = first tone). In Chinese linguistics ¹ represents low tone and ⁵ represents high tone and Americanists represent ¹ as high tone and ⁵ as low tone. In African linguistics both orders are found. Appended numbers give tonal contours directly (e.g. 35 = high rising)

U+00B9 ¹ SUPERSCRIPT ONE
U+00B2 ² SUPERSCRIPT TWO
U+00B3 ³ SUPERSCRIPT THREE
U+2074 ⁴ SUPERSCRIPT FOUR
U+2075 ⁵ SUPERSCRIPT FIVE
U+2081 ₁ SUBSCRIPT ONE
U+2082 ₂ SUBSCRIPT TWO
U+2083 ₃ SUBSCRIPT THREE
U+2084 ₄ SUBSCRIPT FOUR
U+2085 ₅ SUBSCRIPT FIVE

Sample usage: ²ah³ há²ah³ chia̱á̱h¹ah³ jnia²,

Sample usage: a₁jaun₂ ca₂rë₃chán₃ guein₂ ne₅₄

Issue: cannot be used in identifiers

Tone Diacritics and Contour tone marks

Diacritics often mark tone in orthographies as well as in linguistic writings. However, this method does not permit one to represent tone phonetically until after one has done phonological analysis.

U+0300 ◌̀ COMBINING GRAVE ACCENT (low)
U+0301 ◌́ COMBINING ACUTE ACCENT (high)
U+0302 ◌̂ COMBINING CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT (falling)
U+030C ◌̌ COMBINING CARON (rising)
U+0304 ◌̄ COMBINING MACRON (mid)
U+030D ◌̍ COMBINING VERTICAL LINE ABOVE (vert. mid)
U+1DC7 ◌᷇ COMBINING ACUTE-MACRON (high-mid)
U+1DC5 ◌᷅ COMBINING GRAVE-MACRON (low-mid)
U+1DC4 ◌᷄ COMBINING MACRON-ACUTE (mid-high)
U+1DC6 ◌᷆ COMBINING MACRON-GRAVE (mid-low)
U+1DC8 ◌᷈ COMBINING GRAVE-ACUTE-GRAVE (low-high-low)
U+1DC9 ◌᷉ COMBINING ACUTE-GRAVE-ACUTE (high-low-high)

Sample usage: ba᷄t, na᷇pfo tu᷅na, na᷅ mi᷆, bàlónga᷉káé, bɔ̌mɔ᷈támbá

Compound tone diacritics

1ACF COMBINING DOUBLE CARON
1AD0 COMBINING VERTICAL-LINE-ACUTE
1AD1 COMBINING GRAVE-VERTICAL-LINE
1AD2 COMBINING VERTICAL-LINE-GRAVE
1AD3 COMBINING ACUTE-VERTICAL-LINE
1AD4 COMBINING VERTICAL-LINE-MACRON
1AD5 COMBINING MACRON-VERTICAL-LINE
1AD6 COMBINING VERTICAL-LINE-ACUTE-GRAVE
1AD7 COMBINING VERTICAL-LINE-GRAVE-ACUTE
1AD8 COMBINING MACRON-ACUTE-GRAVE
1AEC COMBINING CARON-ACUTE
1AED COMBINING VERTICAL-LINE-DOUBLE-ACUTE
1AEE COMBINING DOUBLE GRAVE ACCENT BELOW
1AEF COMBINING DOUBLE ACUTE ACCENT BELOW
1AF0 COMBINING DOUBLE COMMA ABOVE

Intermediate tone diacritics

1ADE COMBINING GRAVE-DOT
1ADF COMBINING DOT-ACUTE

Modifier letters

Modifier letters are sometimes used to mark tone in orthographies. These are too numerous to discuss all the possibilities. However, a few examples are shown.

IPA Downstep/Upstep

IPA includes two symbols to indicate tonal downstep and tonal upstep. The IPA symbols for downstep and upstep are raised, half-height arrows. (IPA also has full-height arrows as distinct symbols, used to represent ingressive versus egressive airflow in disordered speech.)

U+A71C ꜜ MODIFIER LETTER RAISED DOWN ARROW (downstep)
U+A71B ꜛ MODIFIER LETTER RAISED UP ARROW (upstep)

Sample usage: yáꜛká, áꜜŋwú̙

Africanist Downstep/Upstep

Africanist linguists have traditionally had their own preferred conventions for indicating downstep and upstep, which are different from the IPA-recommended symbols. Tonal downstep was indicated by using a superscript exclamation mark. For upstep, an inverted exclamation mark was used; in some publications this is superscripted, while in others it was subscripted.

Functionally, the down and up-arrows of the IPA are equivalent to the exclamation and inverted exclamation marks, respectively.

U+A71D ꜝ MODIFIER LETTER RAISED EXCLAMATION MARK (downstep)
U+A71E ꜞ MODIFIER LETTER RAISED INVERTED EXCLAMATION MARK (upstep)
U+A71F ꜟ MODIFIER LETTER LOW INVERTED EXCLAMATION MARK (subscripted upstep)

Sample usage: HꜝH, LꜞH, LꜟH, éꜝbéy ꜝméꜝmwét, baatí̧ꜞlyá ꜞkí̧ꜞndyé

Grammatical tone

U+A789 ꞉ MODIFIER LETTER COLON
U+A78A ꞊ MODIFIER LETTER SHORT EQUALS SIGN

Sample usage: ge꞉zømas / a꞊heiso-ɔɔ / punctuation : =

Spacing clones of diacritics

These are often used as orthographic characters.

U+02C7 ˇ CARON
U+02C9 ˉ MODIFIER LETTER MACRON
U+02CA ˊ MODIFIER LETTER ACUTE ACCENT
U+02CB ˋ MODIFIER LETTER GRAVE ACCENT
U+02CD ˍ MODIFIER LETTER LOW MACRON
U+02CE ˎ MODIFIER LETTER LOW GRAVE ACCENT
U+02CF ˏ MODIFIER LETTER LOW ACUTE ACCENT
U+02D9 ˙ DOT ABOVE

Lahu and Akha

These are spacing orthographic characters which are used for the Lahu and Akha languages of Southeast Asia.

U+02C9 ˉ MODIFIER LETTER MACRON (high rising)
U+02C7 ˇ CARON (high falling)
U+02EC ˬ MODIFIER LETTER VOICING (low falling)
U+02CD ˍ MODIFIER LETTER LOW MACRON (very low)
U+02C6 ˆ MODIFIER LETTER CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT (high checked)
U+A788 ꞈ MODIFIER LETTER LOW CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT (low checked)

Sample usage: Ngaˬ -ahˇ hawˬ maˬ mehꞈ nya si…

Marking tone in Chinantec

These are spacing orthographic characters which are used for the Ozumacín Chinantec language of Mexico.

U+02C9 ˉ MODIFIER LETTER MACRON
U+02CB ˋ MODIFIER LETTER GRAVE ACCENT
U+02C8 ˈ MODIFIER LETTER VERTICAL LINE
U+02CA ˊ MODIFIER LETTER ACUTE ACCENT
U+A717 ꜗ MODIFIER LETTER DOT VERTICAL BAR
U+A718 ꜘ MODIFIER LETTER DOT SLASH
U+A719 ꜙ MODIFIER LETTER DOT HORIZONTAL BAR
U+A71A ꜚ MODIFIER LETTER LOWER RIGHT CORNER ANGLE

Sample usage: Jnäꜘ Paaˊ naˉhña̱a̱nˊ la̱a̱nˈ apóstol kya̱a̱ꜗ Jesucristo läꜙ hyohˉ dsëꜗ Dio. Ko̱ˉjø̱hꜘ kya̱a̱hˊ Sóstene ø̱ø̱hꜗ jneˊ,

Chao tone letters

Right-stem Tone Letters

Each tone letter refers to one of five distinguishable tone levels. To represent contour tones, the tone letters are used in combinations (see Tone Letters). This method does not have enough levels to mark the number of levels many African systems need.

U+02E5 ˥ MODIFIER LETTER EXTRA-HIGH TONE BAR
U+02E6 ˦ MODIFIER LETTER HIGH TONE BAR
U+02E7 ˧ MODIFIER LETTER MID TONE BAR
U+02E8 ˨ MODIFIER LETTER LOW TONE BAR
U+02E9 ˩ MODIFIER LETTER EXTRA-LOW TONE BAR

Font Features: with and without staves, tone numbers, ligated and not-ligated

Sample usage: ˥ + ˩ = ˥˩

Left-stem Tone Letters (tone sandhi)

In Chinese linguistics, utterances in which tone sandhi occurs are sometimes transcribed using paired tone letters: one right-stemmed tone letter on the left, indicating the underlying tone, and a left-stemmed tone letter on the right, indicating the surface “sandhi” tone (see Comments on N2626, Proposal on IPA Extensions & Combining Diacritic Marks for ISO/IEC 10646 in BMP, p. 9).

U+A712 ꜒ MODIFIER LETTER EXTRA-HIGH LEFT-STEM TONE BAR
U+A713 ꜓ MODIFIER LETTER HIGH LEFT-STEM TONE BAR
U+A714 ꜔ MODIFIER LETTER MID LEFT-STEM TONE BAR
U+A715 ꜕ MODIFIER LETTER LOW LEFT-STEM TONE BAR
U+A716 ꜖ MODIFIER LETTER EXTRA-LOW LEFT-STEM TONE BAR

Font Features: with and without staves, tone numbers, ligated and not-ligated

Sample usage: ˦ + ꜔ + ꜓ = ˦꜔꜓ (Some fonts do not render these properly, see example below.)

Dotted tone letters

Dot tone letters are used in Chinese linguistics to indicate tones in certain weakly-stressed syllables having a less-distinct quality—there is little or no pitch variation, and the duration is short. These are often referred to in Chinese linguistics as “neutral tones” (see Comments on N2626, Proposal on IPA Extensions & Combining Diacritic Marks for ISO/IEC 10646 in BMP, p. 12). Left-stemmed and dotted tone letters are used contrastively.

U+A708 ꜈ MODIFIER LETTER EXTRA-HIGH DOTTED TONE BAR
U+A709 ꜉ MODIFIER LETTER HIGH DOTTED TONE BAR
U+A70A ꜊ MODIFIER LETTER MID DOTTED TONE BAR
U+A70B ꜋ MODIFIER LETTER LOW DOTTED TONE BAR
U+A70C ꜌ MODIFIER LETTER EXTRA-LOW DOTTED TONE BAR
U+A70D ꜍ MODIFIER LETTER EXTRA-HIGH DOTTED LEFT-STEM TONE BAR
U+A70E ꜎ MODIFIER LETTER HIGH DOTTED LEFT-STEM TONE BAR
U+A70F ꜏ MODIFIER LETTER MID DOTTED LEFT-STEM TONE BAR
U+A710 ꜐ MODIFIER LETTER LOW DOTTED LEFT-STEM TONE BAR
U+A711 ꜑ MODIFIER LETTER EXTRA-LOW DOTTED LEFT-STEM TONE BAR

Font Features: with and without stems

Corner tone marks

These tone symbols are used by Chinese linguists. Corner tone marks are a distinct transcription tradition from stemmed tone letters.

U+A700 ꜀ MODIFIER LETTER CHINESE TONE YIN PING
U+A701 ꜁ MODIFIER LETTER CHINESE TONE YANG PING
U+A702 ꜂ MODIFIER LETTER CHINESE TONE YIN SHANG
U+A703 ꜃ MODIFIER LETTER CHINESE TONE YANG SHANG
U+A704 ꜄ MODIFIER LETTER CHINESE TONE YIN QU
U+A705 ꜅ MODIFIER LETTER CHINESE TONE YANG QU
U+A706 ꜆ MODIFIER LETTER CHINESE TONE YIN RU
U+A707 ꜇ MODIFIER LETTER CHINESE TONE YANG RU

Pinyin

U+0300 ◌̀ COMBINING GRAVE ACCENT (fourth tone)
U+0301 ◌́ COMBINING ACUTE ACCENT (second tone)
U+0304 ◌̄ COMBINING MACRON (first tone)
U+030C ◌̌ COMBINING CARON (third tone)
U+01CE ǎ LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH CARON (third tone)
U+01D0 ǐ LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH CARON (third tone)
U+01D2 ǒ LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH CARON (third tone)
U+01D4 ǔ LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH CARON (third tone)
U+01D6 ǖ LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS AND MACRON (first tone)
U+01D8 ǘ LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS AND ACUTE (second tone)
U+01DA ǚ LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS AND CARON (third tone)
U+01DC ǜ LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH DIAERESIS AND GRAVE (fourth tone)

Vietnamese tone marks

U+0303 ◌̃ COMBINING TILDE
U+0309 ◌̉ COMBINING HOOK ABOVE
U+0323 ◌̣ COMBINING DOT BELOW
U+0340 ◌̀ COMBINING GRAVE TONE MARK (discouraged)
U+0341 ◌́ COMBINING ACUTE TONE MARK (discouraged)

UPA tone markers

U+02F9 ˹ MODIFIER LETTER BEGIN HIGH TONE
U+02FA ˺ MODIFIER LETTER END HIGH TONE
U+02FB ˻ MODIFIER LETTER BEGIN LOW TONE
U+02FC ˼ MODIFIER LETTER END LOW TONE
U+A720 ꜠ MODIFIER LETTER STRESS AND HIGH TONE
U+A721 ꜡ MODIFIER LETTER STRESS AND LOW TONE

Lithuanian

U+1DCB ◌᷋ COMBINING BREVE-MACRON (Contour tone)
U+1DCC ◌᷌ COMBINING MACRON-BREVE (Contour tone)
U+2B4E ⭎ SHORT SLANTED NORTH ARROW (slight rise in tone)
U+2B4F ⭏ SHORT BACKSLANTED SOUTH ARROW (slight fall or overall fall in tone when at the end of a word or at the beginning of a phrase, respectively)
U+2B5A ⭚ SLANTED NORTH ARROW WITH HOOKED HEAD (increasing tone with falling trend at the end)
U+2B5B ⭛ BACKSLANTED SOUTH ARROW WITH HOOKED TAIL (sharp rise and fall in tone)
U+2B5C ⭜ SLANTED NORTH ARROW WITH HORIZONTAL TAIL (continued rise in tone)
U+2B5D ⭝ BACKSLANTED SOUTH ARROW WITH HORIZONTAL TAIL (continued fall in tone)
U+2B5E ⭞ BENT ARROW POINTING DOWNWARDS THEN NORTH EAST (sharp fall in tone with rising trend at the end)
U+2B5F ⭟ SHORT BENT ARROW POINTING DOWNWARDS THEN NORTH EAST (slight fall in tone with rising trend at the end)

Zhuang orthographic tones

U+0184 Ƅ LATIN CAPITAL LETTER TONE SIX
U+0185 ƅ LATIN SMALL LETTER TONE SIX
U+01A7 Ƨ LATIN CAPITAL LETTER TONE TWO
U+01A8 ƨ LATIN SMALL LETTER TONE TWO
U+01BC Ƽ LATIN CAPITAL LETTER TONE FIVE
U+01BD ƽ LATIN SMALL LETTER TONE FIVE

Tone in other scripts

Scripts such as Ethiopic, Lao, Thai, Tai Le, New Tai Lue and Nko, all have systems for marking tone. There are a few other characters in the Unicode Standard which have the word tone in their name or their decomposition.

Bodo and Dogri

U+02BC ʼ MODIFIER LETTER APOSTROPHE

Sample usage from Dogri: ति’लकना

Extended Bopomofo tone marks

U+02EA ˪ MODIFIER LETTER YIN DEPARTING TONE MARK
U+02EB ˫ MODIFIER LETTER YANG DEPARTING TONE MARK

Nko

U+07EB ◌߫ NKO COMBINING SHORT HIGH TONE
U+07EC ◌߬ NKO COMBINING SHORT LOW TONE
U+07ED ◌߭ NKO COMBINING SHORT RISING TONE
U+07EE ◌߮ NKO COMBINING LONG DESCENDING TONE
U+07EF ◌߯ NKO COMBINING LONG HIGH TONE
U+07F0 ◌߰ NKO COMBINING LONG LOW TONE
U+07F1 ◌߱ NKO COMBINING LONG RISING TONE
U+07F4 ߴ NKO HIGH TONE APOSTROPHE
U+07F5 ߵ NKO LOW TONE APOSTROPHE

Sample usage: ߡߌ߬ߛߌ

Rohingya (Arabic script)

The rule is: if a letter has a vowel symbol that is positioned above the consonant, then the tone mark goes above the vowel symbol. If the vowel symbol is below the consonant, then the tone mark goes below the vowel symbol (tone marks will never appear if there is no vowel symbol).

U+08EA ◌࣪ ARABIC TONE ONE DOT ABOVE
U+08EB ◌࣫ ARABIC TONE TWO DOTS ABOVE
U+08EC ◌࣬ ARABIC TONE LOOP ABOVE
U+08ED ◌࣭ ARABIC TONE ONE DOT BELOW
U+08EE ◌࣮ ARABIC TONE TWO DOTS BELOW
U+08EF ◌࣯ ARABIC TONE LOOP BELOW

Sample usage: حࣤ࣬وُ

Vedic tone marks

U+0951 ◌॑ DEVANAGARI STRESS SIGN UDATTA
U+0952 ◌॒ DEVANAGARI STRESS SIGN ANUDATTA
U+1CF4 ◌᳴ VEDIC TONE CANDRA ABOVE
U+1CF8 ◌᳸ VEDIC TONE RING ABOVE
U+1CF9 ◌᳹ VEDIC TONE DOUBLE RING ABOVE
U+1CD0 ◌᳐ VEDIC TONE KARSHANA
U+1CD1 ◌᳑ VEDIC TONE SHARA
U+1CD2 ◌᳒ VEDIC TONE PRENKHA
U+1CD5 ◌᳕ VEDIC TONE YAJURVEDIC AGGRAVATED INDEPENDENT SVARITA
U+1CD6 ◌᳖ VEDIC TONE YAJURVEDIC INDEPENDENT SVARITA
U+1CD7 ◌᳗ VEDIC TONE YAJURVEDIC KATHAKA INDEPENDENT SVARITA
U+1CD8 ◌᳘ VEDIC TONE CANDRA BELOW
U+1CD9 ◌᳙ VEDIC TONE YAJURVEDIC KATHAKA INDEPENDENT SVARITA SCHROEDER
U+1CDA ◌᳚ VEDIC TONE DOUBLE SVARITA
U+1CDB ◌᳛ VEDIC TONE TRIPLE SVARITA
U+1CDC ◌᳜ VEDIC TONE KATHAKA ANUDATTA
U+1CDD ◌᳝ VEDIC TONE DOT BELOW
U+1CDE ◌᳞ VEDIC TONE TWO DOTS BELOW
U+1CDF ◌᳟ VEDIC TONE THREE DOTS BELOW
U+1CE0 ◌᳠ VEDIC TONE RIGVEDIC KASHMIRI INDEPENDENT SVARITA
U+1CE1 ◌᳡ VEDIC TONE ATHARVAVEDIC INDEPENDENT SVARITA
113E1 TULU-TIGALARI VEDIC TONE SVARITA
113E2 TULU-TIGALARI VEDIC TONE ANUDATTA

Thai

U+0E48 ◌่ THAI CHARACTER MAI EK
U+0E49 ◌้ THAI CHARACTER MAI THO
U+0E4A ◌๊ THAI CHARACTER MAI TRI
U+0E4B ◌๋ THAI CHARACTER MAI CHATTAWA

Lao

U+0EC8 ◌່ LAO TONE MAI EK
U+0EC9 ◌້ LAO TONE MAI THO
U+0ECA ◌໊ LAO TONE MAI TI
U+0ECB ◌໋ LAO TONE MAI CATAWA

Myanmar

U+1037 ◌့ MYANMAR SIGN DOT BELOW
U+1087 ◌ႇ MYANMAR SIGN SHAN TONE-2
U+1063 ◌ၣ MYANMAR TONE MARK SGAW KAREN HATHI
U+1064 ◌ၤ MYANMAR TONE MARK SGAW KAREN KE PHO
U+1069 ◌ၩ MYANMAR SIGN WESTERN PWO KAREN TONE-1
U+106A ◌ၪ MYANMAR SIGN WESTERN PWO KAREN TONE-2
U+106B ◌ၫ MYANMAR SIGN WESTERN PWO KAREN TONE-3
U+106C ◌ၬ MYANMAR SIGN WESTERN PWO KAREN TONE-4
U+106D ◌ၭ MYANMAR SIGN WESTERN PWO KAREN TONE-5
U+1088 ◌ႈ MYANMAR SIGN SHAN TONE-3
U+1089 ◌ႉ MYANMAR SIGN SHAN TONE-5
U+108A ◌ႊ MYANMAR SIGN SHAN TONE-6
U+108B ◌ႋ MYANMAR SIGN SHAN COUNCIL TONE-2
U+108C ◌ႌ MYANMAR SIGN SHAN COUNCIL TONE-3
U+108D ◌ႍ MYANMAR SIGN SHAN COUNCIL EMPHATIC TONE
U+108F ◌ႏ MYANMAR SIGN RUMAI PALAUNG TONE-5
U+109A ◌ႚ MYANMAR SIGN KHAMTI TONE-1
U+109B ◌ႛ MYANMAR SIGN KHAMTI TONE-3
U+AA7B ◌ꩻ MYANMAR SIGN PAO KAREN TONE
U+AA7C ◌ꩼ MYANMAR SIGN TAI LAING TONE-2
U+AA7D ◌ꩽ MYANMAR SIGN TAI LAING TONE-5

Ethiopic tonal marks

U+1390 ᎐ ETHIOPIC TONAL MARK YIZET
U+1391 ᎑ ETHIOPIC TONAL MARK DERET
U+1392 ᎒ ETHIOPIC TONAL MARK RIKRIK
U+1393 ᎓ ETHIOPIC TONAL MARK SHORT RIKRIK
U+1394 ᎔ ETHIOPIC TONAL MARK DIFAT
U+1395 ᎕ ETHIOPIC TONAL MARK KENAT
U+1396 ᎖ ETHIOPIC TONAL MARK CHIRET
U+1397 ᎗ ETHIOPIC TONAL MARK HIDET
U+1398 ᎘ ETHIOPIC TONAL MARK DERET-HIDET
U+1399 ᎙ ETHIOPIC TONAL MARK KURT

Tai Le

U+1970 ᥰ TAI LE LETTER TONE-2
U+1971 ᥱ TAI LE LETTER TONE-3
U+1972 ᥲ TAI LE LETTER TONE-4
U+1973 ᥳ TAI LE LETTER TONE-5
U+1974 ᥴ TAI LE LETTER TONE-6

New Tai Lue

U+19C8 ᧈ NEW TAI LUE TONE MARK-1
U+19C9 ᧉ NEW TAI LUE TONE MARK-2

Tai Tham

U+1A75 ◌᩵ TAI THAM SIGN TONE-1
U+1A76 ◌᩶ TAI THAM SIGN TONE-2
U+1A77 ◌᩷ TAI THAM SIGN KHUEN TONE-3
U+1A78 ◌᩸ TAI THAM SIGN KHUEN TONE-4
U+1A79 ◌᩹ TAI THAM SIGN KHUEN TONE-5

Ideographic combining tone marks

U+302A ◌〪 IDEOGRAPHIC LEVEL TONE MARK
U+302B ◌〫 IDEOGRAPHIC RISING TONE MARK
U+302C ◌〬 IDEOGRAPHIC DEPARTING TONE MARK
U+302D ◌〭 IDEOGRAPHIC ENTERING TONE MARK
U+302E ◌〮 HANGUL SINGLE DOT TONE MARK
U+302F ◌〯 HANGUL DOUBLE DOT TONE MARK

Lisu

U+A4F8 ꓸ LISU LETTER TONE MYA TI
U+A4F9 ꓹ LISU LETTER TONE NA PO
U+A4FA ꓺ LISU LETTER TONE MYA CYA
U+A4FB ꓻ LISU LETTER TONE MYA BO
U+A4FC ꓼ LISU LETTER TONE MYA NA
U+A4FD ꓽ LISU LETTER TONE MYA JEU

Kayah Li

U+A92B ◌꤫ KAYAH LI TONE PLOPHU
U+A92C ◌꤬ KAYAH LI TONE CALYA
U+A92D ◌꤭ KAYAH LI TONE CALYA PLOPHU

Tai Viet

U+AABF ◌꪿ TAI VIET TONE MAI EK
U+AAC0 ꫀ TAI VIET TONE MAI NUENG
U+AAC1 ◌꫁ TAI VIET TONE MAI THO
U+AAC2 ꫂ TAI VIET TONE MAI SONG

Meetei Mayek

U+ABEC ◌꯬ MEETEI MAYEK LUM IYEK

Hanifi Rohingya

U+10D24 ◌𐴤 HANIFI ROHINGYA SIGN HARBAHAY
U+10D25 ◌𐴥 HANIFI ROHINGYA SIGN TAHALA
U+10D26 ◌𐴦 HANIFI ROHINGYA SIGN TANA

Pau Cin Hau

U+11AE5 𑫥 PAU CIN HAU RISING TONE LONG
U+11AE6 𑫦 PAU CIN HAU RISING TONE
U+11AE7 𑫧 PAU CIN HAU SANDHI GLOTTAL STOP

Bassa Vah

U+16AF0 ◌𖫰 BASSA VAH COMBINING HIGH TONE
U+16AF1 ◌𖫱 BASSA VAH COMBINING LOW TONE
U+16AF2 ◌𖫲 BASSA VAH COMBINING MID TONE
U+16AF3 ◌𖫳 BASSA VAH COMBINING LOW-MID TONE
U+16AF4 ◌𖫴 BASSA VAH COMBINING HIGH-LOW TONE

Miao

U+16F8F ◌𖾏 MIAO TONE RIGHT
U+16F90 ◌𖾐 MIAO TONE TOP RIGHT
U+16F91 ◌𖾑 MIAO TONE ABOVE
U+16F92 ◌𖾒 MIAO TONE BELOW
U+16F93 𖾓 MIAO LETTER TONE-2
U+16F94 𖾔 MIAO LETTER TONE-3
U+16F95 𖾕 MIAO LETTER TONE-4
U+16F96 𖾖 MIAO LETTER TONE-5
U+16F97 𖾗 MIAO LETTER TONE-6
U+16F98 𖾘 MIAO LETTER TONE-7
U+16F99 𖾙 MIAO LETTER TONE-8
U+16F9A 𖾚 MIAO LETTER REFORMED TONE-1
U+16F9B 𖾛 MIAO LETTER REFORMED TONE-2
U+16F9C 𖾜 MIAO LETTER REFORMED TONE-4
U+16F9D 𖾝 MIAO LETTER REFORMED TONE-5
U+16F9E 𖾞 MIAO LETTER REFORMED TONE-6
U+16F9F 𖾟 MIAO LETTER REFORMED TONE-8

Kana

U+1AFF0 𚿰 KATAKANA LETTER MINNAN TONE-2
U+1AFF1 𚿱 KATAKANA LETTER MINNAN TONE-3
U+1AFF2 𚿲 KATAKANA LETTER MINNAN TONE-4
U+1AFF3 𚿳 KATAKANA LETTER MINNAN TONE-5
1AFF5 KATAKANA LETTER MINNAN TONE-7
1AFF6 KATAKANA LETTER MINNAN TONE-8
1AFF7 KATAKANA LETTER MINNAN NASALIZED TONE-1
1AFF8 KATAKANA LETTER MINNAN NASALIZED TONE-2
1AFF9 KATAKANA LETTER MINNAN NASALIZED TONE-3
1AFFA KATAKANA LETTER MINNAN NASALIZED TONE-4
1AFFB KATAKANA LETTER MINNAN NASALIZED TONE-5
1AFFD KATAKANA LETTER MINNAN NASALIZED TONE-7
1AFFE KATAKANA LETTER MINNAN NASALIZED TONE-8

Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong

U+1E130 ◌𞄰 NYIAKENG PUACHUE HMONG TONE-B
U+1E131 ◌𞄱 NYIAKENG PUACHUE HMONG TONE-M
U+1E132 ◌𞄲 NYIAKENG PUACHUE HMONG TONE-J
U+1E133 ◌𞄳 NYIAKENG PUACHUE HMONG TONE-V
U+1E134 ◌𞄴 NYIAKENG PUACHUE HMONG TONE-S
U+1E135 ◌𞄵 NYIAKENG PUACHUE HMONG TONE-G
U+1E136 ◌𞄶 NYIAKENG PUACHUE HMONG TONE-D

Toto

U+1E2AE ◌𞊮 TOTO SIGN RISING TONE

Wancho

U+1E2EC ◌𞋬 WANCHO TONE TUP
U+1E2ED ◌𞋭 WANCHO TONE TUPNI
U+1E2EE ◌𞋮 WANCHO TONE KOI
U+1E2EF ◌𞋯 WANCHO TONE KOINI

Sample usage: 𞋅𞋜 𞋅𞋜𞋮 𞋅𞋜𞋯 𞋅𞋜𞋯

9-level pitch contours

Existing tone systems in Unicode distinguish up to 5 levels of tone. However, there is a 9-level system, used mainly by Africanists. The nine level system includes contour pitch marks and is used for phonetic transcriptions of tone languages. For this reason these characters are referred to as pitch rather than tone contours. This system is widely used by Africanists, not only for transcribing raw phonetic data prior to tone analysis, but for archiving and producing linguistic documents. Smart-font tables within a Graphite or OpenType font would substitute glyphs for angled bars indicating pitch contours based on what sequence of pitch-level characters occur together. Initially, we encoded the nine pitches in our Private Use Area (PUA). The pitch contours had to have a high line height in order to distinguish between the levels of pitch. The square brackets had to be large enough to encompass all 9 pitches. It was difficult to design the line spacing, and the square brackets, to fit with the pitches, but also be suitable for normal font usage. Our solution was not well accepted. Thus, we removed these characters from SIL’s Latin fonts, and users continue to use the legacy font solution.

Encoding and Properties

The pitch contours were implemented as modifier letters, not as combining marks.

Properties:

F1F1;MODIFIER LETTER PITCH ONE;Sk;0;ON;;;;;N;;;;;
F1F2;MODIFIER LETTER PITCH TWO;Sk;0;ON;;;;;N;;;;;
F1F3;MODIFIER LETTER PITCH THREE;Sk;0;ON;;;;;N;;;;;
F1F4;MODIFIER LETTER PITCH FOUR;Sk;0;ON;;;;;N;;;;;
F1F5;MODIFIER LETTER PITCH FIVE;Sk;0;ON;;;;;N;;;;;
F1F6;MODIFIER LETTER PITCH SIX;Sk;0;ON;;;;;N;;;;;
F1F7;MODIFIER LETTER PITCH SEVEN;Sk;0;ON;;;;;N;;;;;
F1F8;MODIFIER LETTER PITCH EIGHT;Sk;0;ON;;;;;N;;;;;
F1F9;MODIFIER LETTER PITCH NINE;Sk;0;ON;;;;;N;;;;;

Position

The lowest pitch is below the baseline; it is at the level of the lowest arm of a square bracket.

The highest pitch is slightly above cap height; it is at the level of the top arm of a square bracket.

Smart fonts

The font should contain Graphite rules for converting a sequence of the nine-pitches to the contours. For example U+F1F1 U+F1F9 U+F1F4 U+F1F7 would be rendered as:

Following Chao notation, two of the same pitch bars, such as <U+F1F5 U+F1F5>, render as a double-length bar.

Preventing ligation of adjacent characters

A space can be used to prevent ligation of adjacent characters. If no space is wanted between characters U+200C ZWNJ could be used. A problem will happen if a program does not properly interprets ZWNJ and users try other ways to get the appearance they want. An opening or closing bracket should never be put on a separate line, for example. If a vertical bar U+0070 or double bar U+2016 are used to separate intonation groups, line breaking should work properly (probably to break after the bar). In this case U+2060 WORD JOINER may be appropriate and necessary before the bar.

Font features

The features we implemented in SIL’s Unicode Roman fonts were

without (default) and with tramlines (if brackets are desired, the user would type them in). A space (U+0020) is the only other character we implemented tramlines for.
ligated (default) and non-ligated

Converting data between tone-bar or pitch-contour notation and superscript-numeral notation should be considered as a change to the underlying text, not a glyph alternate for some “abstract” pitch character. It would be similar to converting between IPA and “Americanist” phonetic notation, or between Latin and Cyrillic orthographies for a Central Asian language, etc. Thus, we believe that TECkit mapping files should be created (these have not yet been created) to convert between the different systems and font features should not be used.

Font issues

In order to allow for the largest size possible for the pitch contours we placed them as far down as is reasonable (at the bottom arm of the square bracket) and as high as possible (at the top arm of the square bracket). We felt this implementation would not interfere with other uses for the font. If larger pitch contours are desired, the point size can be changed in a document.

The tones and pitch contours are all the same width. However, because they are in proportional fonts there will always be the problem of horizontal alignment of the pitch contours with segmental symbols on a line above or below. Software solutions to this alignment issues could include treating them as interlinear text.

In the end, this solution was not found acceptable to users, and they have continued using the legacy fonts.

Publications which use the pitch contour notation

Anderson, Stephen R. 1978. Tone features. In Victoria A. Fromkin (ed.). Tone: A Linguistic Survey. New York: Academic Press, pp. 133-175.
Clark, Mary. 1993. Representation of downstep in Dschang Bamileke. In Harry Van der Hulst and Keith Snider (eds.). The Phonology of Tone: The Representation of Tonal Register. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 31, 39.
Hyman, Larry M. 1979. A reanalysis of tonal downstep. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 1.1:9-29.
Laughren, Mary. 1984. Tone in Zulu nouns. In Autosegmental Studies in Bantu Tone edited by G.N. Clements & John Goldsmith. Dordrecht: Foris Publications, pp. 223-225.
Pulleyblank, Douglas. 1986. Tone in Lexical Phonology. Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Co., pp. 27, 28, 30, 31, to name a few places.
Snider, Keith. 1990. Tonal upstep in Krachi: evidence for a register tier. Language 66.3: 453-474.
Snider, Keith. 1998. Phonetic realisation of downstep in Bimoba. Phonology 15.1: 77-101.
Yip, Moira. 2002. Tone. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Various places throughout when needed, e.g., pp. 149, 150, 266.

This article formerly appeared on scripts.sil.org.