Japanese pitch accent

[polentamaze_508147]

Based on trying to understand the 2 pitch level model (High or Low) of Japanese pitch accent from Japanesepod101.com website and other sites, and trying to understand how it is applied to words, I have come to deduce the following. Could anyone of you (or even better a Japanesepod101 sensei) let me know if the following is the right way of looking at this model? Also, if there is anything I missed out, please feel free to correct me!

1.Every mora has either a high (H) or low (L) pitch.
2.An effective way to tell a H or L mora is by looking at the mora(s) that has the highest pitch. The highest pitch mora(s) (i.e., 1 or more moras that have the same highest pitch) will have a H while the the rest of the mora pitches will be a L. There is only one high pitch across the word that can be noted down as H.
3.This means that so long as the rest of the pitches in the word is not H, it will be L.
4.All moras noted as L in a word may have the same pitch or differing pitches in which all are lower than H mora(s). To put this in a longer way, once the pitch in a mora falls, it cannot climb back up to the same high pitch. It can climb up to any pitch that is lower than the high pitch which will still be written as L.
5.The first and second mora have different pitches. E.g. HL or LH

Really need some help here! Thank you!

[polentamaze_508147]

Actually, referring to my previous post, I guess my main question is, how do I note the mora(s) in a word as high or low? If I double the LL or HH up in word, e.g. LHLL, LHH, does it mean the LL are the same low pitches and the HH are the same high pitches or...? How exactly do you define a high or low pitch when you note it on words that have different pitch patterns (LH, HL, LHL, HLL, LHLL, HLLL, LLLH, LLHL, etc.,)? I am aware the high or low pitches are relative (LH - first mora is low because second mora is high and vice versa). However, if it is 3 moras and above what do the H and L mean in relation to each other? E.g. for LHL, is first mora low because of adjacent mora and is third mora low because of adjacent mora?

Is Japanese pitch accent = a way of talking due to high and low pitches? or a high pitch? or the last high pitch (before a drop occurs)? How exactly do you define it?

A high pitch mora does not mean that is accented / or bears the accent location right? Instead, an accent location is the last high pitch, right?

Sigh, I'm struggling with what exactly is Japanese pitch accent & all the new linguistic terms associated with understanding it....I'm getting very confused..........

Just need some help and reassurance for what I'm learning! Sorry for the raging.

[community.japanese]

san,
konnichiwa.
You are really keen about learning Japanese.
If you want to know pitches of each word, you have to look up them in a Japanese accent dictionary.
Those websites could be helpful for you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_pitch_accent
http://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/pitch-accent.html
http://www.gavo.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ojad/
http://genki.japantimes.co.jp/resources/onchou

Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com

[polentamaze_508147]

Konnichiwa Yuki-san,

Yes, I am very keen haha. Thank you will look them up!

Liz

[community.japanese]

Liz san,
Konnichiwa.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us again.
Yuki由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com