Learn how pronunciation changes depending on the pitch accent
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Intro |
|---|
| Michael: Does Japanese have tones? |
| Risa: And does it have any words that differ only in pitch? |
| Michael: At JapanesePod101.com, we hear these questions often. |
| Four-year-old Nana Nakamura is spending time at home with her father, Yoshi Nakamura. While talking about their likes and dislikes, Nana says, |
| "I like rain." |
| Nana Nakamura: 雨が好きです。 (Ame ga suki desu.) |
| Dialogue |
| Nana Nakamura: 雨が好きです。 (Ame ga suki desu.) |
| Yoshi Nakamura: 雨？それとも、飴？ (Ame? Soretomo, ame?) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Nana Nakamura: 雨が好きです。 |
| Michael: "I like rain." |
| Yoshi Nakamura: 雨？それとも、飴？ |
| Michael: "Rain or candy?" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Did you notice how the meaning of the word changed when Yoshi pronounced it as |
| Risa: 飴 [àméꜜ] |
| Michael: instead of |
| Risa: 雨 [áꜜmè] |
| Michael: The difference here is the pitch accent. "Pitch accent" refers to a characteristic of languages where every syllable can be pronounced with a high or low pitch, to distinguish the meaning of words. Note that pitch accent is considered different from the concepts of stress and tone that appear in English and Chinese, respectively. So although Japanese doesn't have tones, each word has a pitch accent, so it's important to use the correct pitches, or people may think you're saying one word when you mean to say another. In Japanese, there are only two levels of pitch — high and low. |
| Michael: Let's take a closer look at the conversation between Nana and Yoshi. |
| Do you remember how Yoshi said "rain?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Risa: 雨 [áꜜmè] |
| Michael: Here, the pitch starts high and then becomes low. As a result, what he said means "rain." |
| Michael: Now, do you remember how Yoshi said "candy?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Risa: 飴 [àméꜜ] |
| Michael: Here, the pitch starts low and then becomes high. When said in this manner, the word means "candy." |
| Michael: To differentiate between words with the same sounds, we need to know their pitch accent. This is a key characteristic of Japanese. |
| Michael: To recap, we've covered two types of pitch accent in Japanese — one which starts with a high pitch and drops to a low pitch, and another which starts with a low pitch and rises to a high pitch. |
| Michael: Let's look at one more example. Note that, in terms of pronunciation, the following words only differ in terms of their pitch accent. |
| Risa: 箸 [háꜜshì] and 橋 [hàshíꜜ] (SLOW) |
| 箸 [háꜜshì] and 橋 [hàshíꜜ] |
| Michael: The first one, |
| Risa: 箸 [háꜜshì] |
| Michael: means "chopsticks," since the pitch goes from high to low. And the second one, |
| Risa: 橋 [hàshíꜜ] |
| Michael: means "bridge," since the pitch goes from low to high. |
| Michael: So far, we have learned about the function and importance of pitch accent in the Japanese language. Using the wrong pitch accent usually results in producing a completely different word. On the other hand, you should also keep in mind that even if you don't master pitch accent right away, most of the time, native speakers will still be able to understand what you mean from the context. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: Let's review the conversation at the beginning of this lesson. I will say the sentences in English; try to reply with their Japanese translation. Then listen carefully as the native speaker models the answer, and repeat after her. |
| Do you remember how to say "I like rain"? |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa: 雨が好きです。 |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Risa: 雨が好きです。 |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa: 雨が好きです。 |
| Michael: Let's move on. Do you remember how to say, "Rain or candy?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa: 雨？それとも、飴？ |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Risa: 雨？それとも、飴？ |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa: 雨？それとも、飴？ |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Pitch accent varies widely from region to region in Japan. As Japan started to have contact with other countries in the Meiji period, they decided that a "standard language" needed to be established. The Japanese spoken in Tokyo is now known as "standard Japanese," or |
| Risa: 標準語 (hyōjun-go) |
| Michael: The examples of pitch accent provided in this lesson are based on "standard Japanese." |
Outro |
| Michael: Now you know how pitch accent is used when communicating in Japanese. That's all there is to it! |
| Be sure to download the lesson notes for this lesson at JapanesePod101.com — and move on to the next lesson! |
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