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Is the difference in pronunciations of Ōsaka in Google Translate different for the same reasons as "Sayaka" ?

I acknowledge this may be a dupe.

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BCLC
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  • As an an experiment I put several times the same word (e.g., 東京, 逢坂 etc,) twice in the box of Google Translate. Then the intonation of the first and that of the second were always different. I guess it is simply the specification of the software. – eltonjohn Jul 06 '15 at 13:10
  • Agree with @eltonjohn, when considering naturally spoken words, apart from accents, there is really only one accepted way to pronounce it. – The Wandering Coder Jul 06 '15 at 14:04
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    「大阪」だけとか「大阪に」「大阪府」だと[おおさか]{LHHH}だけど、「東大阪」「新大阪」とかになると[おおさか]{HLLL}になります。 – Chocolate Jul 06 '15 at 14:51
  • @eltonjohn So it's really due to Japanese vs American pronunciation just like with 'Sayaka'? – BCLC Jul 06 '15 at 14:58
  • 大阪、大阪、あれもこれもあるんでぇ～ – istrasci Jul 06 '15 at 16:27
  • @Choko 僕と聞いた人の中に発音的にすべて同じだった。I have a feeling this question is about phonetics rather than pronunciation in general (hence your answer). For example the difference between 漫画{まんが} and the oft-mispronounced {めんが}。 Back to the question, my Google Translate didn't seem to differentiate the two entries when played. – The Wandering Coder Jul 06 '15 at 18:34
  • On a technical note, this is not a question about pronunciation as such, but more about pitch-accent. – kandyman Mar 18 '19 at 17:30
  • @BCLC Where do you see that the Google page lists more than one pronunciation? When I follow your link, I see two different spellings in the English box, but I see two of the same pronunciations in the pronunciation guide. – sazarando Mar 18 '19 at 23:02
  • @sazarando I suppose it's possible that Google translate from 4 years ago showed something different to what it shows now. – Leebo Mar 18 '19 at 23:24
  • @Leebo lol, totally didn't see the date. Thanks! – sazarando Mar 18 '19 at 23:40

1 Answers1

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For the place name: おおさか【LHHH】

Reference: See under category 「近畿{きんき}」 in http://accent.u-biq.org/nihon.html

For the family name: おおさか【HLLL】

Reference: None found. Just trust me if you could.

Pitch accents often differ between family names and place names (hat are written the same way) though it is something not many Japanese-learners seem to be aware of.

「渋谷{しぶや}」 is pronounced 「しぶや【LHH】」 as a place name and 「しぶや【HLL】」　as a family name.

「上野{うえの}」, as a place name, is 「うえの【LHH】」, but as a family name, it is 「うえの【HLL】」.

The name 「さやか」 is pronounced 「さやか{HLL}」 by us native speakers, but quite a few J-learners would pronounce it 「さやか{LHL}」.

NOTE: Needless to say, all pronunciations above are based on Standard Japanese.

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    I'll assume your answer is 'yes' – BCLC Jul 09 '15 at 19:43
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    I've been searching for a database of pitch-accent for names of people/places for years, but I have not found anything substantive. This is a very elusive area of Japanese. Native speakers have implicit knowledge of this, but for a learner of Japanese it is extremely difficult to know the correct pitch-accent for any given place or name. – kandyman Mar 18 '19 at 17:27