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「accent」「combination」「change」
Japanese pitch accent change in combination 結合によるアクセントの変化 ～ 日本語
/ rise, go up
\ fall, go down, lower (fall of accent)
Change caused by combination
毎日新聞を読む mainichi shinbun o yomu
毎日、新聞を読む mainichi, shinbun o yomu.
Everyday, I read a newspaper.
「毎日 ま\いにち ma\inichi」is head-high.
「新聞 し/んぶん shi/nbun」is flat.
We Japanese feel「毎日 mainichi」and「新聞 shinbun」are different words by accent characteristics.
We Japanese actually pronounce “n” as “m” before “b, m, p” like “shimbun”.
But we use “ん (n)” in writing.
毎日新聞を読む mainichishinbun o yomu.
I read Mainichishinbun.
Mainichishinbun is one of the major newspaper in Japan like Asahi-shinbun or Yomiuri-shinbun.
「毎日」and「新聞」combine together to become one word
「毎日新聞 ま/いにちし\んぶん ma/inichishi\nbun」, then the part of combination will rise and the accent change to 「中高型 middle-high」.
As a result, we Japanese feel「毎日新聞」as one word.
Fall [core] of accent
“Fall [core] of accent” is a point where a tone goes down.
“Fall” means “waterfall” or “cascade”.
It is very important in Japanese.
Only one “Fall of accent” per one chunk
There is only one “Fall of accent” per one chunk, usually almost one word.
See below about fall of accent.↓
Japanese accent pattern アクセントの型 ～ English
Examples of change by combination
高校 こ/うこう ko/ukou
野球 や/きゅう ya/kyuu
大会 た/いかい ta/ikai
会場 か/いじょう ka/ijou
Every word is “flat”, but after combined they will become “middle-high” and word ending go down.
高校+野球 こ/うこうや\きゅう
ko/ukouya\kyuu
高校野球+大会 こ/うこうやきゅうた\いかい
ko/ukouyakyuuta\ikai
高校野球大会+会場 こ/うこうやきゅうたいかいか\いじょう
ko/ukouyakyuutaikaika\ijou
同時多発テロ事件 douji tahatsu tero jiken
This is the terrorist attacks in 2001.
同時 simultaneous
多発 multiple
テロ terrorism
事件 incident
I felt discomfort in accents of announcers when this incident occurred.
Everyone pronounced like below.
ど\うじ た/はつ (\) て/ろじ\けん
do\uji ta/hatsu (\) te/ro ji\ken
「たはつ」and「てろ」are different words.
「て」starts from low tone, so you think a tone goes down before「て」.
You will feel like that rather than think.
So you will hear three words or chunks apart from each other.
I felt discomfort, unpleasant, odd unconsciously even though I didn’t know the word “fall of accent” nor the theory in those days.
Especially, the first word「ど\うじ」sounded odd.
They had become to pronounce like below after few days.
ど/うじたはつてろじ\けん
do/ujitahatsuteroji\ken
Then the word had become one chunk like「同時多発テロ事件」.
Speaking fast makes combined, slow makes apart
学校に行きます gakko ni ikimasu
Speaking fast :
「が/っこうにいきま\す ga/kkouniikima\su」
Speaking slow :
「が/っこうに (\) い/きま\す ga/kkouni (\) i/kima\su」
Accent changes like above.
Especially, we will tend to make each word apart, when we read picture book or like that to children slowly.
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Toshi in italki.
https://www.italki.com/teacher/8455009/japanese
