Pitch Accent and Verb/Adjective Conjugation

[unnaturaluser7004]

During my study of Japanese, I've become aware of a feature of the language called pitch accent. I have a dictionary that indicates pitch accent in headwords. However, the conjugated forms of verbs and adjectives often do not appear in dictionaries. Therefore, my question is:

Can the pitch accent of a conjugated verb or adjective be determined by its form and/or unconjugated pitch accent?

[Alexandre]

>Can the pitch accent of a conjugated verb or adjective be determined by its form and/or unconjugated pitch accent?

Yes, it can.

Most -- if not all -- verb and adjective endings carry their own pitch patterns. Typically, such morphemes have 2 patterns: one for words marked for pitch, and one for words without. It doesn't matter where the pitch is, only whether there is pitch or not.

For instance, the -te ending is a 0/-3 ending, meaning that on a word that has no pitch, the word will be assigned 0 pitch, in which case the pitch will rise on the 2nd syllable [mora is the right term in the case of Japanese] and stay high until the end. This is the default pattern for words without pitch. The -3 refers to the fact that pitch will be on the 3rd syllable from the end if the verb has pitch. For instance, taBEru becomes TAbete.

Here is another interesting example: MIru. It becomes miSEru because -SE- carries the pitch in a verb marked for pitch. However, add the -te ending and it becomes MIsete (remember, -te is -3).

Some dictionaries indicate a word's pitch by adding a number at the end, such as taberu2. This means that pitch is on the second mora from the start. However, endings operate from the end of the word, which is why a minus system is used instead.

It's an intricate system, and it takes a while to remember how each ending behaves. I've realized that in the case of verbs, simply rembering whether the word has pitch or not is more important then knowing exactly which mora it falls on (if you can't remember this too.

Feel free to ask more questions.

[unnaturaluser7004]

Arigatou gozaimasu, Alexandre. Your post was informative and helpful.

I have a few additional questions:

Can it be assumed that all verbs/adjectives that have a high pitch on the final mora are accentless, or are there verbs/adjectives with an accent on the final mora?

You mentioned that the -te ending is a 0/-3 ending. If an accented verb's -te form has only two mora (e.g. mi'ru/mite), would the accent fall on the first mora?

Is there a good reference where I can learn more about this topic?

Thank you.

[Alexandre]

Arigatou gozaimasu, Alexandre. Your post was informative and helpful.

Can it be assumed that all verbs/adjectives that have a high pitch on the final mora are accentless, or are there verbs/adjectives with an accent on the final mora?

You mentioned that the -te ending is a 0/-3 ending. If an accented verb's -te form has only two mora (e.g. mi'ru/mite), would the accent fall on the first mora?

Is there a good reference where I can learn more about this topic?

I can't guarantee this, but I don't think that verbs can have pitch on the final mora, simply because the final mora is always the accentless infinitive morpheme (-ru, -u) and isn't part of the root. Same goes for -ii adjectives. Of course, -na adj. CAN have pitch on the last mora. In that case, hearing a high pitch on the last mora doesn't tell you whether you have a 1 or 0 pitch word (downfall on the last mora, or no downfall at all).

In a 2-mora word, pitch will go as far up as it can and stay on the first mora if it can't go elsewhere. MIru becomes MIte. Remember that n and double consonants are also morae.

[unnaturaluser7004]

Thank you for your explanation, Alexandre. I still have a few questions, though.

Of course, -na adj. CAN have pitch on the last mora.

Do you mean that the mora before -na can be accented, or that the -na itself can be accented?

Remember that n and double consonants are also morae.

So for example, "ka'eru" would become "kae'tte", right?

Thank you for all your help. By the way, is there a good reference work, such as an internet article or book, that I can read to learn more about this subject?

[Alexandre]

-na does not carry pitch, however, the word it's attached to can.

Yes, KAeru becomes kaEtte.

The only reference I know of is the NHK Accent dictionary, but it's all in Japanese and very technical. I've yet to find a good site in English that deals with this issue. A lot of what I know was discovered after doing a lot of testing and experimenting myself.

[unnaturaluser7004]

Unfortunately, the NHK Accent Dictionary is not easily available where I live.

Well, I listened to the verb conjugation chart with audio in the reference materials section of this site, and I think I can figure out a few pitch accent patterns. Can you confirm or deny any of these?

The "-masu" form and its conjugations does not depend on the unconjugated form. Some of its accent patterns are "-MASU", "-MASEn", "-MAshita", "-MASEndeshita", "-MASHOu".
The "-nai" form is 0/-3. The "-nakatta" form is -4/-5.
The "-te" and "-ta" forms are 0/-3.
The "-tai" form is -2/-2.
The "-ou/-you" form is -2/-2.

Are these right?

[Alexandre]

The "-masu" form and its conjugations does not depend on the unconjugated form. Some of its accent patterns are "-MASU", "-MASEn", "-MAshita", "-MASEndeshita", "-MASHOu".
The "-nai" form is 0/-3. The "-nakatta" form is -4/-5.
The "-te" and "-ta" forms are 0/-3.
The "-tai" form is -2/-2.
The "-ou/-you" form is -2/-2.

Are these right?

MAsu, MAshita and MASEn have a fixed pitch, regardless of the verb.

-te and -ta work the same, you are right. -nai is indeed 0/-3, but -tai is 0/-2.

However, I'm not sure about -ou and -(na)katta.

[unnaturaluser7004]

Do you know the pitch accent patterns for the "-ba", "-e/-ro", "-eru/-rareru", "-reru/-rareru", "-seru/-saseru", and "-serareru/-saserareru" forms?

What about adjectives?

[Alexandre]

I believe all the "-eru/-rareru", "-reru/-rareru", "-seru/-saseru", and "-serareru/-saserareru" forms have pitch on the -E of the last -Eru or are flat. I don't know the other ones by heart.

[unnaturaluser7004]

I see. Thank you for all your help!

By the way, I have another question about pitch accent. How does pitch accent interact with devoiced vowels? For example, the verb "tasukeru" is accented (on 'ke'). Therefore, its -te form, "tasukete", would be accented on 'su'. But that vowel is normally devoiced. What happens?

[Alexandre]

I've read papers showing that native speakers perceive voiceless syllables as either high or low, accordingly, even though an actual analysis shows that the frequency is exactly the same. In other words, if you ask a native speaker, they'd probably say SU is high because it should be in that context, but whether it actually is is another story. In principle, if you devoice the syllable the right way, it doesn't matter whether you think it's high or low because it will likely sound the same.

High and low is a relative concept and flat phrases are never really flat. Here, I'd venture that ta is low, but that it's actually higher than ke-te. Since it's not as high as a high syllable should be, it's infered that SU is the high mora even though you can't hear it.

[unnaturaluser7004]

Naruhodo. Thank you for explaining.

[nihongojackie]

The best way to study the pitches is to watch many many movies and listen to the language. You WILL instinctively just know after a while. Give yourself time.

[Alexandre]

Yes, or you could try to understand the system and learn it faster.

Many Japanese learners do just that, listen and listen for years, and many still have no idea that pitch even exists.