tonal language

基本解释

And they also outdid other musicians of Asian ancestry who did not speak a tonal language.
使用声调语言的亚洲学生显示出完美的乐感，比使用诸如英语这种非声调语言的印欧语系学生具有更高的识别力，而且他们也比那些同样来自亚洲却不使用声调语言的学生做的更好。
Mandarin is a tonal language, where changes in pitch can deliver radically different meanings: “English can be sung fast and understood, but Chinese cannot,” says Zhang.
“英语可以快唱，并且被人理解，但是汉语不行。” 张说道。
But there’s a much better chance you could successfully name the notes if you’re a fluent speaker of an East Asian tonal language, such as Vietnamese, Mandarin or Cantonese.
但如果你是汉藏语系中诸如越南语、汉语或粤语【粤语剪辑】这些声调语言的熟练使用者，你也许有更多的可能成功识别出那些音符。