If Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language, meaning that the inflection of one’s voice changes the meaning of the word, then how is it properly understood when being sung?

Question

I’ve been a fan of the Chinese singer Faye Wong for a couple years now and have always wondered this.

In: Other

Answer 1

Tone can still be maintained because it is *relative* pitch, not absolute pitch.

But yes, this does impose some limitations when writing song melodies.