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Tones:
Yoruba is a tonal language and
so it is important to acquire the tones in the language. Tones occur on the
syllable in Yoruba but in the orthography, tones are marked on vowels and syllabic
nasals. There are three basic tones of different pitch levels in Yoruba:
High, Mid and Low. In the writing system, the High and Low are marked with
(´) and (`) respectively, over the vowel. The mid tone is generally
unmarked except where there might be ambiguity or confusion. In this case,
it is marked with an over-bar.
The High tone
(H) ´
as in wá ; rí ; dé
wárídé
The Mid tone
(M) unmarked as in wa ; ri ; de
waride
The Low tone
(L) `
as in wà ; rì ; dè wàrìdè
A way to consider the three level Yoruba tones is to
think of the music note to which they correlate:
Tone Musical note correlation
´ H
mi
as in ró ‘tie around
(waist)’ bá ‘to
meet up’
M
re
as in ro ‘to
hoe/farm’ ba ‘to hide’
` L
do
as in rò
‘to think
(about)’ bà ‘to strike/hit
Other examples (listen to the
sequences): Musical note correlation
H: wálé
kóró dúró
k<k<
mimi
lágbájá
k<k<r< sáwálé b<lájí mimimi
M:
ore
ogun epo
rcja rere
ariwo
aago pclcbc
agolo rerere
L:
xàkì
kòtò bàbà
ìrìn dodo tàm|dò xòkòtò
àjòjì ògùxz dododo
A
consequence of the three basic tones in Yoruba is that in bi-syllabic words
(words with two vowels) there are nine possible combinations of
tones: <Listen
to the sequences>
L H
as in àgbá àná |gb<n
L M as in àgba
àna zgv
L
L as in àgbà
ànà dòdò
M
H as in ogún
irú adé
M
M as in ogun
iru rere
M
L as in ogùn
irù padà
H
H as in
kókó mímú mímí
H M
as in
kóko mímu dákun
H L as in
kókò mímù r<bà
More examples (listen to the sequences): TONES
A. k< kv kz H M L
B. gbà gbá gba L H M
D. ro rò ró M L H
E. x} xe x| H M L
C.
ajz
‘sieve’
igbà ‘climbing rope’
:ML
iké
‘hunchback’
igbá
‘calabash’
:MH
ike ‘plastic’
igba ‘200’
:MM
F.
àpzn
‘type
of soup’ ìgbà ‘period’
:LL
àp<n
‘bachelor’
ìgbá ‘garden egg’
:LH
àgbvn ‘coconut’
|gbc
‘nonsense’
:LM
G. kókò ‘wateryam’
méjì ‘two’
:HL
kóko ‘grass’
m}ta ‘three’
:HM
kókó ‘knot’ papa
‘field’ :HH
GB. MH vs. LH
orí
‘head’ òrí
‘balm’
ix}
‘work’ ìx}
‘poverty’
cgb}
‘group’ |gb} ‘side’
H. MH
vs.
LL
owó ‘money’ òwò
‘trade’
apó ‘sheath’ àpò ‘bag’
I.
MH vs. LM
vlá
‘wealth’ zla
‘tomorrow’
vp}
‘thanks/gratitude’ zpc ‘palm
tree’
J. MH vs. ML
vgb<n ‘wisdom’ vgbzn
‘thirty’
agb<n ‘wasp’ agbzn ‘basket’
K. LL vs. LM vs. MM ztà ‘Nigerian town’ ztá ‘enemy’ vta
‘bullet’
zr| ‘Nigerian
town’ zr} ‘friend’ vrc
‘gift’
L.
LLL: xòkòtò ‘pants/trousers’ kòkòrò ‘insect’
HHH: xókótó
‘Nigerian City’ b<lájí ‘female
name’
MMM: garawa
‘pail/bucket’ kokoro ‘corn snack’
M.
LML àlapà ‘pudding’
LLL àlàpà ‘broken/broken and abandoned wall’
MHH alápá ‘owner
of arm’
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