ABSTRACT
Like other varieties of Chinese and many south-east Asian languages, Cantonese is a tonal language: the relative pitch at which a syllable is pronounced plays a role in distinguishing one word from another. While tone presents one of the biggest obstacles, both real and psychological, to a working command of Cantonese, it also gives a musical quality to the language: indeed, some learners find musical analogies helpful, and research shows that musical training is helpful in recognising and pronouncing the tones.
