Tone is sometimes an areal rather than a phylogenetic feature . That is to say , a language may acquire tones through bilingualism if influential neighbouring languages are tonal or if speakers of a tonal language shift to the language in question and bring their tones with them . The process is referred to as '' ' contact-induced tonogenesis ' '' by linguists . In other cases , tone may arise spontaneously and surprisingly fast : the dialect of Cherokee in Oklahoma has tone , but the dialect in North Carolina does not although they were separated only in 1838
separated only in 1838
Trail of Tears
Tone (linguistics)