tonal
adj.relating to the quality of a sound or the way a language uses pitch to change word meanings. It can also describe the general mood or style of a piece of writing or art.
adj.relating to the quality, pitch, or strength of a sound. In linguistics, it describes languages that use pitch to distinguish lexical meanings; in a broader aesthetic sense, it refers to the overall mood or color scheme of a work.
“The singer has a beautiful tonal quality to her voice.”
“Mandarin is a tonal language where the same sound can have different meanings depending on the pitch used.”
“The film's tonal shift from lighthearted comedy to psychological thriller in the second act left many audience members feeling deeply unsettled.”
Often used attributively before nouns like 'language', 'quality', or 'shift'.
“The actors hit an impressively breakneck speed, but perform without tonal variation, making it hard to keep up.”
“You're really exposed." Ralph Fulton, the founder of Leamington Spa-based Playground Games, told me the 2027 reboot of the role-playing classic Fable had "two tonal pillars" - "Britishness" and "fairy tales".”
From tone + -al.
From Nahuatl tōnalli (“day, day sign”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.