Linguistics
In much of the world, pitch alone can completely change a word's meaning
In tone languages such as Mandarin, the same syllable 'ma' can mean mother, hemp, horse or a scolding, depending only on the pitch contour used to say it. Large-scale linguistic surveys count tone languages among the most common type worldwide, making pitch-as-meaning one of the most widespread — if to English speakers least familiar — ways languages are built.