Tone
Does a word's meaning change when your voice goes higher or lower?
Betekenis
In some languages, a word's meaning depends on how the voice rises, falls, or stays level on its syllables. These pitch patterns, called tones, can distinguish words or mark a grammatical difference. Languages may have many such patterns, only a few, or no tone system at all. Tone concerns pitch patterns carried by words or syllables; Stress and intonation concerns which parts stand out and the melody of a whole sentence.
Zo herken je het
Listen for words or forms with the same consonants and vowels whose meanings differ because of a regular high, low, rising, or falling pitch pattern.
In de taal die je leert
English does not use tone to distinguish words or grammatical forms. Pitch helps express questions, emphasis, and attitude through intonation, the melody of a sentence. A different melody can turn You're ready into a check, but it does not give ready a new word meaning.
You're ready.
With a usual falling melody, this is a statement; ready has no fixed word tone.
You're ready?
A rising melody can make the same words a question asking for confirmation.
Learners whose language gives words fixed tones may carry those patterns into English. This can make statements sound like questions or change the intended emphasis.