
The Linguistic Mystery of Tonal Languages - sergeant3
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/11/tonal-languages-linguistics-mandarin/415701/?single_page=true
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girzel
I once thought I wanted to be a linguist, precisely to study stuff like this.
Then it turned out that the fundamentals of linguistics are _incredibly_ dull,
so instead I went off and did literature. These "aha" moments are rare and
beautiful promentories in the midst of seas of velar fricatives.

