Unless we're talking about different things - tones carry semantic information, just not the same kind as in Chinese. They indicate things like "I'm asking a qu

Unless we're talking about different things - tones carry semantic information, just not the same kind as in Chinese. They indicate things like "I'm asking a question" and "I'm being sarcastic". This does make it hard for English speakers learning Chinese, but I don't think it's quite the same as L/R in Japanese.