Tone marks
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Tone marks
A tone mark shows how you feel, or what you stress, while you say something. It changes your voice only. It never changes the speech act (that is the act word's job), and a sentence still ends in a period.
| Mark | Feeling | Voice | Cue |
|---|---|---|---|
! | Strong feeling (excited, upset: the words say which) | Louder, stressed | English ! |
? | Unsure about it | Raised, tentative | English …, I think after the doubtful part |
% | Joking, teasing (not meant literally) | Light, smiling | A wink |
& | Contrast: this one, not another | Stressed and slowed | and not the other |
; | Warm, affectionate | Soft, gentle | A soft pause |
? is the only mark that uses pitch: it raises the whole word it colors, and the word's vowel pitches keep their order inside it. ! and ; are loudness, & is loudness and length, and % is the quality of your voice.
Doubling a mark makes it stronger: !! is louder again, ?? is very unsure, ;; is very tender, %% is broad teasing, && is a firm contrast. Combining marks mixes tones: ?! is surprised and doubtful (Wait, what?!), %; is teasing but fond, &! is this one, and I feel strongly about it. A stack has no spaces and its order does not matter (?! and !? sound the same). Each mark may appear at most twice, so !!! is not a mark.
Write the mark before what it colors, so you see the tone before you say the words:
| Written | Colors |
|---|---|
Attached to a word: !zazozon | that word |
Attached to a span: !d[ … ] | the span |
Standing alone, then a space: ! zazozon … | the rest of the sentence, up to the period |
zazozon vayebel ?dodozel.z-Azozon | v-see | ?d-dog
"Azozon saw a dog, I think." (unsure about just the dog)
! zazozon vowurol.! | z-Azozon | v-walk
"Azozon walks!"
zazozon vayebel &dodozel.z-Azozon | v-see | &d-dog
"Azozon saw a dog." (a dog, not something else)
The other marks work the same way:
zazozon !!vowurol.z-Azozon | !!v-walk
"Azozon walks!!"
?! zalazun vayebel dodozel.?! | z-Alazun | v-see | d-dog
"Alazun saw a dog?!"
%;zalazun vowurol.%;z-Alazun | v-walk
"Good old Alazun walks." (teasing, but fond)
zazozon vayebel ??dodozel.z-Azozon | v-see | ??d-dog
"Azozon saw a dog, I think, but I'm really not sure." (unsure about just the dog)
%% zazozon vowurol.%% | z-Azozon | v-walk
"Azozon walks." (broad teasing)
zazozon vayebel &&dodozel.z-Azozon | v-see | &&d-dog
"Azozon saw a dog." (a dog, and definitely not something else)
;;zalazun vayebel dodozel.;;z-Alazun | v-see | d-dog
"Dearest Alazun saw a dog."
% zazozon vowurol.% | z-Azozon | v-walk
"Azozon walks." (joking)
;zalazun vayebel dodozel.;z-Alazun | v-see | d-dog
"Dear Alazun saw a dog."
A mark on a span colors all of it:
zazozon ?d[azozon] vezuyol.z-Azozon | ?d-CITE[Azozon] | v-tell
"Azozon said “Azozon,” I think." (unsure about just the quoted word)
Compare with: yel asks a question; ? only sounds unsure. A tone mark shows the feeling.
- A mark may go on any word, including act words.
- A mark is a stack of
!,?,%,&,;, each at most twice, in any order. A third copy (!!!) is not a mark, and neither are marks in a row with a space between (! !). &is the only way to single out one word: moving a word adds no stress.- A mark on a word inside a colored span or sentence overrides it for that word. To mix tones on one word, stack them there.
- Before a span fence, the mark is your tone about the quote. Inside the fence, it is part of what is quoted (the original speaker's tone).
- Speech adds no syllables: you voice the mark over its words.
Practice
Short drills for Intermediate. Try each item before opening Show answer.
Setting: a poetry slam
Review:
| English | Ageben |
|---|---|
| Azozon | azozon |
| Alazun | alazun |
| trumpet | adorol |
| see | vayebel |
| find | vumewel |
English → Ageben
1. Azozon sees a trumpet! (strong feeling about the whole sentence)
Show answer
! zazozon dadorol vayebel.
! | z-Azozon | d-trumpet | v-see
2. Alazun sees a trumpet, not something else.
Show answer
zalazun vayebel &dadorol.
z-Alazun | v-see | &d-trumpet
3. Alazun finds the trumpet, I think. (unsure about the trumpet)
Show answer
zalazun vumewel ?dadorol.
z-Alazun | v-find | ?d-trumpet
Ageben → English
1. ! zalazun dadorol vumewel.
Show answer
! | z-Alazun | d-trumpet | v-find
Alazun finds a trumpet!
2. zazozon vayebel ;dadorol.
Show answer
z-Azozon | v-see | ;d-trumpet
Azozon sees a trumpet. (fondly, about the trumpet)
3. ?! zalazun vumewel dadorol.
Show answer
?! | z-Alazun | v-find | d-trumpet
Alazun finds a trumpet? (surprised and doubtful about the whole claim)
Pick one
1. Azozon sees the trumpet, I think. (unsure about the trumpet) zazozon vayebel ?dadorol. or yem zazozon dadorol vayebel.
Show answer
zazozon vayebel ?dadorol.
z-Azozon | v-see | ?d-trumpet
? only sounds unsure; yem makes the whole turn a soft question.
Fix it
1. Azozon finds a trumpet! (strong feeling about the whole sentence) zazozon dadorol vumewel !.
Show answer
! zazozon dadorol vumewel.
! | z-Azozon | d-trumpet | v-find
The tone mark goes before what it colors, not after the period.