Editing Syllable (section)

===Tone===
{{Main|Tone (linguistics)}}
In most languages, the [[Pitch (music)|pitch]] or [[pitch contour]] in which a syllable is pronounced conveys shades of meaning such as emphasis or surprise, or distinguishes a statement from a question. In tonal languages, however, the pitch affects the basic lexical meaning (e.g. "cat" vs. "dog") or grammatical meaning (e.g. past vs. present). In some languages, only the pitch itself (e.g. high vs. low) has this effect, while in others, especially East Asian languages such as [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Thai language|Thai]] or [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], the shape or contour (e.g. level vs. rising vs. falling) also needs to be distinguished.