Distribution of tonal languages in the world

All the world languages are included into ThoTDB, with indication of their tonal status: tonal, toneless, unknown. The information on the tonal status combines data from the existing cross-linguistic sources and our own research. Tonal status of a language may change after verification. If you detect an error, please contact us.

Tonal:
2276 (29.7%)
Toneless:
2777 (36.2%)
Unknown:
2621 (34.2%)
Total:
7674 (100%)
Our estimate for the total number of tonal languages in the world:
3270 (42.6%)
Browse languages:
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About

ThoT Database is part of the ERC advanced project “Theory of Tone”. This is a work in progress, the data are regularly augmented and corrected.

How to cite
Maslinsky K., Vydrin V., Gerasimov D. ThoT Database. 2025. URL: https://thot.huma-num.fr/db/.
Theory
Toneme criteria
Tonal systems of the sampled languages
See 29 languages
ThoT project sample

Up to 250 tonal languages will be sampled for a detailed description of their tonal system.

General progress on tonal system descriptions