Yes, the tones are a marvellous thing. You can ask a question with just one word using the tone etc. Children learning to talk often use just one word for a whole sentence. When they say "ball" it can mean "look, a ball", "my ball", "where is the ball", "give me the ball" or "I have lost the ball". It is thought that it is due to the child not being able to master the language and it's words enough to express more words in the same sentence, but I wonder if this is not also due to the absence of tones and learning to use them.

Ritva