The functional load of tones (that is, the importance of a pronunciation difference for distinguishing words) in Chinese is comparable to that of vowels[1] "De

The functional load of tones (that is, the importance of a pronunciation difference for distinguishing words) in Chinese is comparable to that of vowels[1] "Depending on how you view tones" dismisses the important phonemic value of tones. Writing Chinese completely phonetically includes writing the tones. [1]https://faculty.washington.edu/levow/papers/fltonemandarin.pdf https://faculty.washington.edu/levow/papers/fltonemandarin.p...