Genes linked to evolution of tone languages
If you say “ma” in Mandarin, you could be saying mother, hemp, horse or scold, depending purely on your pitch.
This so-called lexical tone is used in around half the world’s languages, including Thai and Cantonese, yet tones are meaningless in other languages such as English.
A new study, published in the journal Science Advances, suggests that subtle genetic differences play a role in how these language differences evolve.
Published by Cosmos.
