Japanese Phonetics Episode 64—now with high quality native recordings!
Added 2019-06-25 05:08:50 +0000 UTCBibliography
Japanese Phonetics Index Page
Good afternoon Patrons! The sixty-fourth episode of Japanese Phonetics has now been updated with high quality native recordings! In this lesson we look at pitch-accent in full names such as Satō Harumi, and see how titles such as san, sama, sensei, etc. affect pitch-accent.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns with regards to this lesson, please don't hesitate to leave a comment below. Thank you very much for your continued support, and good luck with your Japanese studies!
Best from Beppu,
Dōgen
Comments
Hi Dogen, loving the series. Just a slight comment that might make it a little less confusing. You might want to use the terms "surname" and "given name" rather than first and last, since the Japanese order is reversed.
Enoch
2025-07-27 23:17:35 +0000 UTCTo provide an example of what I am asking, you used the example sentence 僕は先生をしています。先生 still exhibits a slight low-high change in pitch before the downstep in 生, although these changes in pitch are less extreme than the downstep in 僕, correct? So in a similar sentence like 僕は銀行に行きました, where the word following 僕は is heiban rather than nakadaka (like sensei), would the low-high pitch change in 銀行 completely disappear as you suggest in 佐藤晴美、or would it just be relatively less than when 銀行 is said as a stand alone word? To summarize, when following a word with a downstep, will the low-high pitch change in heiban words always COMPLETELY disappear (all mora remaining low as in 佐藤晴美), or just get relatively less dramatic as a natural result of prosody/terracing? Or does this COMPLETE disappearance only occur in first name-last name combos? I am aware that pitch changes in heiban words are already less extreme than other pitch accent patterns.
Kylan Voorhees
2021-11-20 21:16:59 +0000 UTCHi Dogen! I have a question similar to Bobby above. You mention that in names/phrases like 佐藤晴美 where a heiban word (or name) comes after a word (or name) with a downstep that the heiban word will exhibit no rise in pitch and stay low. In Lessons 25 and 26, I recall learning that when heiban words come together in a phrase, the low to high change in the latter word disappears (all mora in the latter heiban word will be pronounced high with no change in mora). With terracing, I remember you saying that at the sentence level changes in pitch, both high and low, will be less dramatic after the initial downstep occurs and the sentence goes on. While I do recall learning that changes in pitch will get smaller as the sentence goes on (terracing), I do not remember learning that heiban words will exhibit no low-high change in pitch after a word with a downstep. In other words, I remember that heiban words will exhibit no pitch change and all mora will stay high when occurring after another heiban word, and that changes in pitch after the initial downstep will be relatively less dramatic, but I do not recall learning that the low-high pitch change in heiban words following a downstep will completely disappear as you mention will occur in the pronunciation of 佐藤晴美. Is this true for all sentences? I thought that a slight raise in pitch still occurred in order to 'set the stage' for any downsteps later on?
Kylan Voorhees
2021-11-20 21:03:59 +0000 UTCHi Kelvin, yes that is how I would approach it; I would put the primary downstep on the 恵子. Cheers!
Dogen
2020-07-08 11:26:42 +0000 UTCHow does focus-centric intonation effect a 2 accent name? For example, if one were to clarify that they were talking about Arita Keiko (as opposed to an aforementioned Arita Tomoko), then the primary downstep lands on Keiko, right?
Kelvin T Nguyen
2020-07-07 20:13:49 +0000 UTCYep!
Dogen
2020-02-08 13:51:22 +0000 UTCThanks!
Bobby Foley
2020-02-08 08:02:03 +0000 UTCHi Bobby. The rise in pitch in heiban words is very slight to begin with, so with that in mind it's easy to see why heiban first names such as Harumi sound more or less the same when said within a phrase or after a last name with a downstep—because even if the rise in pitch completely disappears, this rise in pitch was very small to begin with, so there is little difference in the end. That said, it's important to remember that the rules in this lesson are general guidelines, and that there are certainly instances in which speakers say '[Satō] Harumi' for example, with the exact same pitch-accent as if Harumi was said in isolation. Hope that this helps!
Dogen
2020-02-08 04:58:43 +0000 UTCIn constructions like Satou Harumi, it appears to my ear that Harumi is still following a heiban pattern (albeit less strong than normal). Is this so?
Bobby Foley
2020-02-08 01:21:18 +0000 UTC
