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What is the difference in the pronunciation between下 and 舌 ? I have tried to do a research and found this website with the native speakers pronouncing these words: https://forvo.com/word/%E4%B8%8B/#ja vs https://forvo.com/word/%E8%88%8C/#ja

However, when I looked at the accent dictionary (https://accent.u-biq.org/si.html) I found that the accent signs are different for these words: 下 and 舌

So my question is this: what is the difference between enter image description here

Ilham
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下 and 上 are not distinguished by their pitch accent; they are just pronounced differently. した and うえ respectively.

Are you perhaps thinking of 下 verses 舌 which do differ as you mentioned?.

The difference is apparent when a particle follows:

  • for 下は the accent is as [したは]{LHH}
  • for 舌は is it [したは]{LHL}

Per the comment made by @DariusJahandarie, the pitch accent for 下 is a bit more nuanced than the above. According to @DariusJahandarie, when modified, the accent pattern becomes odaka.

[きのしたに]{HLLHL}

A.Ellett
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  • Thank you for the clarification! If I may ask, how did you make such a beautiful pitch accent mark? – Ilham Sep 01 '21 at 14:43
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    @Ilham first just write out したは; then put brackets around it [したは] followed immediately by curly brackets {}. Inside the curly bracket write `H` for *high* and `L` for *low*: `[したは] {LHL}` renders [したは]{LHL} – A.Ellett Sep 01 '21 at 14:46
  • Awesome! Thanks a lot :) – Ilham Sep 01 '21 at 14:48
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    Unfortunately it’s more complicated than you laid out. 下 becomes odaka when it’s modified by something (木のした＼に etc) at which point it’s indistinguishable from 舌. – Darius Jahandarie Sep 01 '21 at 14:51
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    @DariusJahandarie Thank you for pointing that out. How annoying though; I feel my dictionary is misleading me. My 角川国語辞典 only indicates the pitch accent for the bare word. Where do you get the rest of the information about how the pitch changes when modified or other outside effects? – A.Ellett Sep 01 '21 at 14:54
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    Dictionaries are notoriously bad at listing pitch accent. NHK, 新明解, and 大辞泉 happen to mention this change though. – Darius Jahandarie Sep 01 '21 at 14:57
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    While the pitch accent for 下 becomes ...[したは]{LHL} when modified, the compound terms in which this happens are (usually? always?) sufficient additional context to tell. For instance, in きのした, we know that trees generally don't have tongues. – Eiríkr Útlendi Sep 01 '21 at 17:45
  • @Eiríkr Not at all. Often when talking about pronunciation and mouth movements I often use both 下 and 舌 in the same sentence and it’s quite confusing if you’re not careful about it (both listening and production) – Darius Jahandarie Sep 01 '21 at 18:03
  • @DariusJahandarie, perhaps I misunderstood your earlier post -- by "modified", do you mean more than just compounds? Does the downstep shift when modified by adjectives or verbs? – Eiríkr Útlendi Sep 01 '21 at 18:05
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    Yes, any 連体修飾 causes it – Darius Jahandarie Sep 01 '21 at 18:07
  • @DariusJahandarie, ah, that's a different kettle of fish. Thanks for the clarification! – Eiríkr Útlendi Sep 02 '21 at 21:27