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Pitch-Accent Analysis

Pitch-Accent Analysis. Comparing the Tokyo dialect to the Ensyuu dialect. Research Question. Do words in the Ensyuu dialect and the Tokyo dialect have the same pitch accent?. Linguistic Background: Review of Pitch Accent.

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Pitch-Accent Analysis

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  1. Pitch-Accent Analysis Comparing the Tokyo dialect to the Ensyuu dialect

  2. Research Question Do words in the Ensyuu dialect and the Tokyo dialect have the same pitch accent?

  3. Linguistic Background: Review of Pitch Accent Pitch accent is a restricted tone system, found in Japanese among other languages, which uses changes in pitch to distinguish single morae or syllables within words. These changes in pitch separate homonyms from one another.

  4. Prior Research • Former research posits that the pitch accent of the Ensyuudialect location should be more or less the same as that of the Tokyo dialect. (Ono and Shibata 1977) (Yamaguchi 2003). • However, the only sure information mostly focused on basic tone-melodies as they occur across Japan (Haraguchi 1988), which says nothing for the pitch accent of individual words. • Academic articles on the pitch accent of words in Ensyuu itself, however, are lacking. Why has no one really addressed this? Good question!

  5. Background http://wikitravel.org/upload/en/4/4c/Japan_shizuoka_map_small.png

  6. http://www.shizuoka-cvb.or.jp/tour_guide/share_imgs/wallpaper.jpghttp://www.shizuoka-cvb.or.jp/tour_guide/share_imgs/wallpaper.jpg

  7. Research Methods • List of 25 words • Seperated in groups of five (three two-mora words and two three-mora words each) by their ancient accent class. • The nominative particle –ga was added to each word. • List was randomly shuffled and each word read twice by two native speakers of the Ensyuu dialect (who also speak Tokyo dialect). • These one hundred recordings were the bulk of my data for analysis, which I did within Praat.

  8. Ancient Accent Classes • Five ancient classes for two mora words merged to three in modern Tokyo Dialect (Shibatani1990) 1.HHH/LHH LHH 2.HHL/LHL 3.HMM LHL 4.LLH HLL 5.LLH-L

  9. However… • This does not provide information for three mora words; for that I consulted Hirayama’s ZenkokuAkusentoZiten (1966), which provides a comprehensive list of the pitch accent of words in Tokyo dialect.

  10. My Process Create word list, based on five ancient act classes Analyze data in Praat as it relates to Shibatani’s modern class outcomes Consult Hirayama’s dictionary for words that did not fit the expected pattern and three mora words

  11. Initial Findings • Both of my speakers made no distinction in their pitch-accent between the Ensyuu and Tokyo dialects. 100% of their words were identical. • I compared their two recordings to the official pitch accent as listed in Hirayama’s ZenkokuAkusentoZiten (1966) and found numerous discrepancies in their “Tokyo” words. • My speakers were not producing Tokyo accents!

  12. Quantitative Evidence • My speakers only produced Tokyo pitch accents 80% of the time, with 20/25 words matching the expected Tokyo outcomes according to Shibatani and Hirayama. • Only one of the fifteen two mora words had different pitch-accent than what would be expected in Tokyo dialect. • However, four out of ten three mora words were different.

  13. Outcomes By Ancient Accent Class Expected Unexpected • Class three and class five words were 100% identical between Ensyuu and Tokyo • Class four and class one both had only one three mora word that didn’t match Tokyo pitch-accent. (80% shared) • Class two had only two words matching between Ensyuu and Tokyo. • Both three mora words and one two mora word did not match Tokyo pitch-accent.

  14. Interesting Examples Migoro – Body From class two Tokyo accent would be HLL(L) Here we have LHH(H)

  15. Iyoku – Motivation • From class two • Tokyo accent would be HLL(L) Here we have LHL(L) Interesting Examples

  16. Conclusion The pitch-accent of words in Ensyuu dialect are similar, but in no way the same as those in the Tokyo dialect. Even with this small sampling, only 80% of words share similar pitch-accent.

  17. Sources Akamatsu, Tsutomu. (1997). Japanese phonetics: Theory and practice. München: LINCOM EUROPA. Haraguchi, Shosuke. Pitch Accent and Intonation in Japanese. Foris Publications, 1988. Ono Susumu, and Shibata Takeshi eds. Iwanami KōzaNihongo 11 Hōgen (Iwanami Course in Japanese Linguistics. Vol. 11. Dialects), Tokyo: Iwanami Publishers, 1977 (Consulted 2nd reprtint, 1992). Shibatani, Masayoshi. The Languages Of Japan. Cambridge Univ Pr, 1990. Hirayama, Teruo. ZenkokuAkusentoZiten. Tokyo: Meiji shoin, 1966.

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