I've noticed that many people have difficulties distinguishing between raising a voice and a rising tone.
And the fact that in many languages and dialects intonation in questions, declaratives, exclamations (!), non-finishing (...) can be different, makes it difficult to explain the tones correctly.
My falling tones in Croatian start with a rising voice,
it's because in order to get to H, one has to raise the voice (or at least I have to).
Falling tones in Croatian are: HL, just like exclamations in English (this!), and exactly like the 4th tone in Mandarin, they're not ML as in some other languages (or statesments in English: this.).
(I have rising tones in Croatian only in oxytone words, because there is no following syllable for a voice to fall, so it stays high:
studént,
sapún (soap),
bombón,
leptír (butterfly) and so on).
The Bergen dialect has: MHML for the first tone, and MHHM for the second tone,
the tonal contour is similar, only the timing is different (the second tone in bisyllabic words is
like 2nd Mandarin tone on the 1st syllable, and 4th Mandarin tone on the second sillable, but the voice never goes to low (as in:
this., but is stays mid as in:
this!, or
this, or
this...)
I find the first tone in hightone dialects (western/northern) more difficult to pronounce than the 2nd tone.
Is it okay to pronounce it as a 3rd halftone in Mandarin?
boka...If I start with
bo in the M(edium) range, I can only pronounce
ka by lowering my voice.
but, it's way funny.
I have not enough low pitch left, so I have to lower my voice on ka.
(as in: my voice is deeper on
ka).