JPN494: Japanese Language and LinguisticsJPN543: Advanced Japanese Language and Linguistics

Phonology & Phonetics (5)

Accentuation

stress accent vs. pitch accent In English, each content word has a stressed syllable.

– function words: him, the, a, can, etc.– content words: everything else

A stressed syllable is louder (more intense) and longer than an unstressed syllable.

Many scholars believe that English has pitch accents too (see: http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~tobi/ame_tobi/).

English is a stress-timed language, while Japanese is a mora-timed language and Spanish is a syllable-timed language.

Pitch accent in Japanese

A word is called accented if it has a mora after which there is a precipitous pitch fall (otherwise, it is unaccented)

– あ↓め ( 雨 ) A mora followed by a pitch fall is called an accent nu

cleus. The presence and place of an accent nucleus is (larg

ely) lexically determined.

Initial Lowering Rule: The pitch of the first mora of a word is lower than that of the second mora unless the accent is placed on the first mora.

In other words: there is a pitch rise after the first mora unless the first mora is an accent nucleus.

To put it differently: The pitch of the first mora and the pitch of the second mora are always different.

Accent phrase: an accent phrase is formed by: a word and 0, 1, or more particle ( 助詞 )– [{ きょねん } { わたしは } { きょうとにも } { いきましたよ }]– Some particles affect the accent pattern in peculiar ways. (e.g. 妹

が来た vs. 妹の鉛筆 ( えんぴつ ))

1. さかなが ( 魚が ; LHHH) 2. い’のちが ( 命が ; HLLL)3. そば’やが ( そば屋が ; LHLL)4. おとこ’が ( 男が ; LHHL)

Some scholars call the initial rise “phrasal accent” and the pitch fall “lexical accent”

A mora that consists of /R/, /N/, or /Q/ cannot be an accent nucleus

– 電気 ( で’んき ) HLL– 伝記 ( でんき ) LHH– * でん’き LHL

– ト’ーク HLL– 遠く ( とおく ) LHH– * とお’く / とう’く LHL

– キ’ック HLL– 切符 ( きっぷ ) LHH– * きっ’ぷ / キッ’ク LHL

Disambiguation by accent patterns:– はし : 箸 vs. 橋 (HL vs. LH)– でんき : 伝記 vs. 電気 (LHH vs. HLL)– はな : 花が赤い vs. 鼻が赤い (LHL … vs. LHH

…)– うえる : 植える vs. 飢える (LHH vs. LHL)– かえる : 蛙 vs. 帰る (LHH vs. HLL)– cf. SUBject vs. subJECT

Accent weakening (1):– [{ 隣 ( となり ) の } { 奥さん }] vs. [{ 隣の } { 岡さん }]

お’くさん　お’かさん

さっき、隣の奥さんが来たよ。さっき、隣の岡さんが来たよ。

Accent weakening (2):

Q: どこでうなぎを食べたんですか ?A: うなぎは京都で食べました。

Q: あれ、捨 ( す ) てちゃいました ?A: いや、食べました。

Accent patterns of long nominal compounds

ふゆ’ + け’しき = 冬景色– ふゆげ’しき

やま’ + ほとと’ぎす = 山ほととぎす– やまほとと’ぎす

ゆにゅう + くだ’もの = 輸入くだもの– ゆにゅうくだ’もの

さと + ここ’ろ = 里心– さとご’ころ

の’うぎょう + くみあい = 農業組合– のうぎょうく’みあい

で’んき + かみそ’り = 電気かみそり– でんきか’みそり

Accent patterns of long nominal compounds

Tsujimura and Davis (1987): When the second member consists of three or more moras:

1. If the first member is accented, delete the accent.

2. If the accent of the second member is placed on the final or penultimate mora, then shift it to the first mora.

3. If the second member is unaccented, place an accent on the first mora.

げいじゅつ + きょ’うかい = げいじゅつきょ’うかい ( 芸術協会 )

おおぐい + た’いかい = おおぐいた’いかい ( 大食い大会 )

ボ’ストン + マラソン = ボストンマ’ラソン アトラ’ンタ + オリンピ’ック = アトランタ

オリンピ’ック

Accent patterns of short nominal compounds

Cases where the second member consists of one or two mora are more complicated.

Class 1: み’そ ( 味噌 ), そ’ら ( 空 ), etc.– If the first member has more than three moras, th

e accent of the first member is deleted and that of the second member survives. ( いなか + み’そ , し’んしゅう + み’そ , むら’さき + み’そ )

– If the first member has one or two mora, the compound is unaccented. ( し’ろ + み’そ , ごま + み’そ )

Class 2: ふろ’ ( 風呂 ), き’ ( 木 ), す’ ( 酢 ), etc.– The whole compound becomes unaccented, whether

the first member is accented or not. ( あ’さ + ふろ’ , にわ + き’ , く’ろ + す’ )

– バルサミコ酢 ? Class 3: かぜ ( 風 ), い’ち ( 市 ), etc.

– The last mora of the first member becomes an accent nucleus. ( せともの + いち , 　みなみ + かぜ )

– 北風 ?

とり ( 鳥 ) しま ( 島 ) ぬま ( 沼 ) ペ’ン かま ( 鎌 )

Intonation

Intonations are pitch movements that characterize phonological units larger than accent phrases (AP’s): i.e., intonational phrases (IP’s).

An IP consists of one or more AP. An IP typically corresponds to one utterance, but

sometimes a single utterance consists of more than one IP.

Pitch movements within accent phrases are largely lexically determined; intonations are not.

The standard Japanese has four types intonations:– ↗ (LH%): rise (question rise)– ↑ (H%): emphatic rise– ↑↓ (HL%): rise-fall– φ: plain

{…} = AP, […] = IP [{ ローマに }{ 行ったの }] [{ ローマに }{ 行ったの }] ↗ [{ ローマに }{ 行ったの }]↑ [{ ローマに }] ↑↓[{ 行ったの }] [{ ローマに }] ↑[{ 行ったの }]

The “meaning” of an intonation is hard to pin down. 今から学校行く vs. 今から学校行く ↗ もう昼ごはん食べた vs. もう昼ごはん食べた↗

三年生だ vs. ?? 三年生だ↗– 三年生↗, 三年生か↗, 三年生なの↗ 　

三年生です vs. ?? 三年生です↗– 三年生ですか↗ 　

A “question rise” does not always mean a question.

あ、切符 ( きっぷ ) 落としました↗- question

あ、切符 ( きっぷ ) 落としましたよ↗– attracting attention (?)

暑い (“It’s hot.”) 暑い↗ (“Is it hot?”) 暑いね (“It’s hot, isn’t it.”) 暑いね↗ (“It’s hot, isn’t it?”, “Are you sure it’s hot?”) 暑いよ (“It’s hot (and you have to do something abo

ut it)”) 暑いよ↗ (“It’s hot. (Are you okay with that?)”, 　“ Yo

u may want to know that it’s hot.”)

[{ ローマに }] ↑↓[{ 行ったの }] (“explanatory”) ５時くらいに山田さんが来て↑↓そんで、

しばらくしたら鈴木さんも来て↑↓そんでしばらくみんなでビールとか飲んでたら山田さんが急におなかが痛いって言い出したの。

indicates that the speaker is “still talking” used in colloquial speech

[{ ローマに }{ 行ったの }]↑ [{ チョコレート }]↑ “insisting”; colloquial, children speech

[ { ローマに }]↑[{ 行きました }] indicates the “focus” of the utterance; can be

used in formal/polite speech too

Natural declination: F0 declines throughout the IP, except where it is “pushed up” by a phrasal rise or a rising intonation.

The overall pitch movement within an IP is determined by the combination of:– accent falls / phrasal rises (and weakening thereo

f)– intonations– natural declination

On the phonological side:– IP > AP (> word) > syllable > mora > phone

On the syntactic side:– (discourse >) sentence > phrase (noun phrases, e

tc.) > word > morpheme (affixes, etc.)

Appendix 1: Alternative symbols

white: “official” symbols; yellow: Tsujimura’s book ウ : [ɯ] = [u] ヤ : [ja] = [ya] キャ : [kja] = [kya] シ : [ʃi] = [ši] ザ : [ʣa] = [dza] (~ [za]) ジ : [ʤi] = [ǰi] (~ [ʒi] = [ži]) チ : [ʧi] = [či] ツ : [ʦɯ] = [tsu]

ウ : /ɯ/ = /u/ ヤ : /ja/ = /ya/ キャ : /kja/ or /kja/ = /kya/ or /kya/ フォ : /ɸo/ or /hwo/ = /ɸo/ or /hwo/ シ : /si/ = /si/ ザ : /za/ = /za/ ジ : /zi/ = /zi/ チ : /ti/ = /ti/ ツ : /tɯ/ = /tu/

切手 ( きって ):– /kiQte/ [kitte] ([kit:e] )⇒– /kitte/ [kit:e]⇒

三 ( さん ):– /saN/ [saɴ] ⇒– /san/ [saɴ]⇒– cf. なま /nama/

コーヒー :– /koRhiR/ [ko:çi:] ⇒– /koohii/ [ko:çi:]⇒

Appendix 2: Summary of phones/phonemes

Notes:– [x] = phone (phonetic representation), /x/ = phone

me (phonological representation)– “Option 2” for the treatment of 拗音’ s is adopted.– “[x] ~ [y]” indicates that [x] may alternate with [y] fr

eely or under certain conditions.

ア イ ウ エ オ– [a] [i] [ɯ] [e] [o]– /a/ /i/ /ɯ/ /e/ /o/

カ キ ク ケ コ キャ キュ キョ– [ka] [kji] [kɯ] [ke] [ko] [kja] [kjɯ] [kjo] – /ka/ /ki/ /kɯ/ /ke/ /ko/ /kja/ /kjɯ/ /kjo/

ガ ギ グ ゲ ゴ ギャ ギュ ギョ– [ga] [gji] [gɯ] [ge] [go] [gja] [gjɯ] [gjo]

[g] ~ [ŋ] (word-middle only)

– /ga/ /gi/ /gɯ/ /ge/ /go/ /gja/ /gjɯ/ /gjo/

サ シ ス セ ソ シャ シュ ショ– [sa] [ʃi] [sɯ] [se] [so] [ʃa] [ʃɯ] [ʃo]– /sa/ /si/ /sɯ/ /se/ /so/ /sja/ /sjɯ/ /sjo/

ザ ジ ズ ゼ ゾ ジャ ジュ ジョ– [ʣa] [ʤi] [ʣɯ] [ʣe] [ʣo] [ʤa] [ʤɯ] [ʤo]

[ʣ] ~ [z] [ʤ] ~ [ʒ] (in rapid speech only)

– /za/ /zi/ /zɯ/ /ze/ /zo/ /zja/ /zjɯ/ /zjo/

タ チ ツ テ ト チャ チュ チョ– [ta] [ʧi] [ʦɯ] [te] [to] [ʧa] [ʧɯ] [ʧo]– /ta/ /ti/ /tɯ/ /te/ /to/ /tja/ /tjɯ/ /tjɯ/

ダ デ ド– [da] [de] [do] – /da/ /de/ /do/

ナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ ニャ ニュ ニョ– [na] [nji] [nɯ] [ne] [no] [nja] [njɯ] [njo]– /na/ /ni/ /nɯ/ /ne/ /no/ /nja/ /njɯ/ /njo/

ハ ヒ フ ヘ ホ ヒャ ヒュ ヒョ– [ha] [çi] [ɸɯ] [he] [ho] [ça] [çɯ] [ço]– /ha/ /hi/ /hɯ/ /he/ /ho/ /hja/ /hjɯ/ /hjo/

ファ フィ フェ フォ– [ɸa] [ɸi] [ɸe] [ɸo]– /hwa/ /hwi/ /hwɯ/ /hwe/

パ ピ プ ペ ポ ピャ ピュ ピョ– [pa] [pji] [pɯ] [pe] [po] [pja] [pjɯ] [pjo]– /pa/ /pi/ /pɯ/ /pe/ /po/ /pja/ /pjɯ/ /pjo/

バ ビ ブ ベ ボ ビャ ビュ ビョ– [ba] [bji] [bɯ] [be] [bo] [bja] [bjɯ] [bjo]– /ba/ /bi/ /bɯ/ /be/ /bo/ /bja/ /bjɯ/ /bjo/

マ ミ ム メ モ ミャ ミュ ミョ– [ma] [mji] [mɯ] [me] [mo] [mja] [mjɯ] [mjo]– /ma/ /mi/ /mɯ/ /me/ /mo/ /mja/ /mjɯ/ /mjo/

ヤ ユ ヨ– [ja] [jɯ] [jo]– /ja/ /jɯ/ /jo/

ラ リ ル レ ロ リャ リュ リョ– [ɾa] [ɾji] [ɾɯ] [ɾe] [ɾo] [ɾja] [ɾjɯ] [ɾjo]

[ɾ] ~ [r] ~ [l]

– /ra/ /ri/ /rɯ/ /re/ /ro/ /rja/ /rjɯ/ /rjo/

ワ– [wa]– /wa/

トン– [toɴ] (~ [toŋ])– /toN/

カット– [katto]– /kaQto/

カート– [ka:to]– /kaRto/