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I have heard this claim stated with confidence, but it's difficult to see how it could be deduced from traditional reconstruction. Same question for ancient Greek.

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    Along the lines, PIE was not a unite language. It well may be that some territories spoke tonal or tone-aspected "accent" of what we call "PIE".
    – Be Brave Be Like Ukraine
    Jan 11, 2014 at 14:27
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    Ancient Greek wasn't a tone language, but a pitch accent language; likewise Vedic Sanskrit. On the basis of these languages, plus additional evidence from other branches (e.g. Balto-Slavic), PIE is reconstructed as a pitch-accent language.
    – TKR
    Jan 11, 2014 at 23:49
  • I approve of TKR's comment, but I do not approve of the linked wikipedia article. By including Korean and Shanghaiese the article has blurred the distinction between pitch accent and tone.
    – fdb
    Jan 13, 2014 at 17:08
  • @TKR true but can we treat pitch-accent as a weaker form of tonal? I mean there are still tones.
    – shabunc
    May 27, 2017 at 12:41

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