Definition of Japanese pitch accent
Japanese pitch accent is an important part of the prosody of Japanese, which involves making a certain melody with a series of "high" and "low" pitches, or tones, on a given utterance. Pitch accent is contrastive and can help distinguish words in Japanese, similarly to stress accent in English and contour tones in Chinese. The most studied accent system is of the Tokyo dialect, which differs from other systems such as Kansai or Kyushu.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Japanese pitch accent?
Japanese pitch accent is an important part of the prosody of Japanese, which involves making a certain melody with a series of "high" and "low" pitches, or tones, on a given utterance.
Sources & credits
- Wikipedia: Japanese pitch accent – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by Kwamikagami at English Wikipedia , revised by 荒巻モロゾフ at Japanese Wikipedia – CC BY-SA 3.0