Yasuko Nagano-Madsen Dept. Of Oriental & African Languages, Göteborg University

1. Phonetic manifestation of word accents in sentence perspetive-a comparison of Tokyo and Kochi Japanese Yasuko Nagano-Madsen Dept. Of Oriental & African Languages, Göteborg University

2. Accent is weakened *in the following cases(for text reading and for learners of Japanese)*appears at the reduced pitch register/downstep, catathesisfrom Kori (1997:189) When a noun is modified by a preceding ajective or with the genitive particle no aoi doresu’a blue dress’ watashi no doresu ’my dress’ When a predicate verb is modified by a preceding adverb(ial) element or with the particle . kinou yonda’I read (it)yesterday’ hitori de yonda’I read (it) alone’

3. 3. The second word in a parellel expression :nihon to amerika’Japan and USA’aka ka shiro ’red or white’4. group of words after a focused word******************************************1-3 are syntactically conditioned 4 is pragmatically conditioned

4. Tokyo vs. Osaka Japanese • Kori (1989:120) • In Osaka Japanese, the magnitude of reduction is not as great as that in Tokyo Japanese • Sugito(2001:204-5) • Tokyo Japanese -> intonation lang. • Osaka Japanese->(word)accent lang.

5. Purpose of the present study • Pilot study to examine dialectal differences regarding accent manifestation in relation to syntax (modifier) • Tokyo vs. Kochi Japanese • Hypotheses • 1. Syntax prosody mapping is manifested less in Kochi dialect (sf. Sugito 2001) • The magnitude of accent reduction for the second accent is less in Kochi dialect • (cf. Kori 1989)

6. Meterial • NP consisting of a noun modified by another noun with the genetive particle no oka’asan no presento ’mother’s present’ oka’asan no huku’’mother’s dress’ ne’ko no prezento ’present from a cat’ ne’o no huku’’a dress for cat’ • When a predicate verb is modified by a preceding adverb(ial) element or with the particle . iso’ide aruita ’I walked fast’ do’ndon aruita’I walked fast’

7. 3. NP(subject) ga V (predicate) Hanako ga aruita ’Hanako walked (it is Hanako who walked, not Taro)’ 1 and 2 appeared in isolation, as subject phrase, part of sentence modifier, and in focal position. 36 sentences.

8. Speakers and recording procedure • Recordings were made in summer 2006 • Speakers were university teachers, administrative staffs, and students • 20 – 65 years • Both male and female speakers • Speakers took a look of wordlist (5 minutes) • Slow and fast speaking rates, sometimes speakers had to re-read the utterance

9. measurements • PRAAT • Accent peaks were measured both in Hz and semitone

10. Pitch range in semitone scale-Chinese (Lin 2004)spontaneous speech-Japanese (Nagano-Madsen & Ayusawa 2005)simulated emotional speech by voice actors

11. Results • Tokyo 4 speakers, • Kochi 5 speakers • NP (N no N) • Ad V • Sentence modifier

12. 1. Syntax prosody mappingN no N (98 vs. 94%)Ad. V (100% vs 90%)

13. Great difference in syntax prosody mapping was found for sentence modifier (relative clause) • Example • Oka’asan no pure’zento ga todo’ita a’sa datta • Mother-Gen present-Nom arrived morning it was • =It was the morning when mother’s present arrived.

14. Tokyo (speaker S.B.) slow fast F0 contours (fast speech) for oka’asan no pure’zento ga todo’ita a’sa datta ’It was the morning when mother’s present arrived’

15. Kochi (speaker Y.K.) slow fast F0 contours (fast speech) for oka’asan no pure’zento ga to’doita asa’ yatta ’It was the morning when mother’s present arrived’

16. Sentence modifier consisting of 3 or 4 accents N no N V N or (N ga) Ad V N1 unit = no F0 reset 2 units=1 F0 reset 3 units=2 F0 resets

17. 2. Magnitude of reduction in semitoneNP (N no N) e.g. oka’asan no pure’zento ’mother’s present’

18. Kochi Japanese

19. Magnitude of accent reduction (in semitone)N no N (5.2 vs. 3.5) Ad V (6.4 vs. 4.2) NP (subject) ga V (predicate)(2.9 vs. 2.5)

20. Conclusion • 1. Syntax prosody mapping was manifested less in the Kochi dialect • 2. The magnitude of accent reduction (downstep) was consistently less for the Kochi dialect.