Japanese Phonetics Episode 63—now with native recordings!
Added 2019-06-06 04:52:09 +0000 UTCBibliography
Japanese Phonetics Index Page
Good afternoon Patrons! The sixty-third episode of Japanese Phonetics is live, now with high quality native recordings! In this lesson we learn several useful guidelines for determining the pitch-accent of common last names, and also outright remember the ten most common last names.
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 Strange! This is a mistake on my end, and I've since updated the lesson with the correct graphic. Thanks for pointing this out! Cheers!
Dogen
2021-03-19 12:15:01 +0000 UTCDogen-san, in your video you marked 秋田 as a heiban word (~0:53). When I listen to Japanese people it sounds more like atamadaka to me, though I mght be wrong, especially considring that き is reduced, and た is often pronounced not clearly (while being not reduced technically). Moreover, I was listening about a region, not a surname, so there's a possibility that they have different pitch pattern (like it happens with the name さくら).
Strange Guy
2021-03-19 06:51:19 +0000 UTCAwesome, thanks for the share Enrico!
Dogen
2020-05-15 11:34:45 +0000 UTCHi everyone! I'd like to share a very useful resource to determine surname pitch accent: the Android application 名字アクセント辞典. It's a free application, so no worries there; I have no idea whether it is also available for iPhone or other platforms, however. It works like any other dictionary, but it only lists surnames along with their various kanji renditions and pitch accent. It probably doesn't have the same authority as the 新明解 dictionary, so I'd recommend giving preference to that in case these two sources disagree, but the 新明解 only lists a handful of surnames, while this app has a huge database. I've been using it for about two years, looking up any surname I came across and didn't know how to pronounce, and my verdict is overwhelmingly positive: I almost never came across a surname that wasn't listed in the app (I think it happened only a couple of times, and that was with pre-modern literary figures with rather weird names), and as far as I could tell the accents listed were always correct (the fact that I tend to use the app as a last resort means I often couldn't reliably check this, but the instances in which I did check it against the 新明解 or, more practically, against native speakers who said those names aloud in front of me, all checked out). So yeah! I love rules, and they're incredibly useful, but this app is a great tool to either verify of disprove them with a higher degree of confidence. For example, I had a professor named Hamada 浜田, and at first I pronounced his name as 平板, in accordance to the rules, but the other students (native speakers) seemed to be pronouncing his name as 頭高, so I decided to check. I couldn't find the name listed anywhere in the 新明解, but when I checked in this app, sure enough, it's listed as 頭高, so I added it to my personal list of exceptions. Unfortunately, I don't know of any corresponding app for first names, but in my experience they are more 'stable' and less prone to exceptions (or maybe it's just that the rules for first names are more comprehensive to begin with), so I haven't had as much trouble with those. Sorry for the long post again, I really need to learn to trim them down. =(
Enrico Paolini
2020-05-15 06:30:29 +0000 UTCThanks for sharing Dan, this is really interesting, especially the bit on ◯わる! New lesson coming tomorrow!
Dogen
2019-06-24 04:46:15 +0000 UTCNot all that relevant to the current episode but I've been having fun looking for pitch accent tendencies and I've found some things that may be interesting to a few of you guys: With the exception of 存じる and 信じる all Sinitic じる verbs seem to be acceptably pronounceable with heiban All three mora ○わる verbs seem to be heiban まわる、すわる 3 mora ○ける ichidan verbs which are not alternate forms of another verb seem to be overwhelmingly nakadaka, the main exceptions being 負ける、欠ける、抜ける、漬ける、続ける All ◯っする verbs are heiban, examples include: 達する、決する、屈する、接する
Dan
2019-06-23 16:58:58 +0000 UTCCorrect, thank you for your patience!
Dogen
2019-06-18 23:06:32 +0000 UTCThis was great Dogen! It only took you 2 episodes to nail the new format as well. I take it it's longer to make since you need to work slower by using your voice more? Looking forward tothe next one =]
Hannah
2019-06-18 22:00:12 +0000 UTCThanks Nathan!
Dogen
2019-06-14 09:20:27 +0000 UTCThank you for keeping up this series despite your injuries, Dogen! Super appreciated. Please take care!
Nathan Vegdahl
2019-06-14 08:45:10 +0000 UTC
