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Japanese Language Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [intonation]

イントネーション. Questions concerning the rising and falling pitch in spoken Japanese, not including pitch accent.

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How important is one's pitch when speaking Japanese?

I'm aware of some words in Japanese that have the same reading but different meaning depending on the pitch of each syllable. The canonical example is はし (hashi), which can mean either chopsticks (HAshi) or bridge (hashi or haSHI). However, most…
MatthewD
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Does Japanese mark restrictive and non-restrictive relatives differently?

I was wondering whether Japanese distinguishes restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses in some way, either structurally or prosodically. English, for example, marks the distinction prosodically by inserting pauses for non-restrictive…
schoekling
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Ending Questions with だ

Is it ever proper to end questions with だ? For instance: 誰だ？ どんな食べ物は好きだ？ I have been told it was correct and incorrect by many parties, but I've always learned to just raise the ending intonation to denote an inquiry.
user18349
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How does the intonation of ありがとう vary between dialects?

I recall in my speaking/listening class last semester in Japan, when we were discussing proper intonation in the standard dialect, that the intonation of ありがとう varied rather widely between dialects (i.e. on which mora the intonation rises and…
rintaun
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What is the origin of the theatrical intonation used by Tokyo Disneyland's cast members?

When I had the chance to go on a Jungle Cruise at Tokyo Disneyland, I noticed the skipper talked with sprinkles of prolonged vowels and uncommon rising and falling intonation patterns. Is this "dialect" original, or was it borrowed from existing…
ento
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Do the various verbs pronounced つく differ in intonation?

Related: Dissecting つく verbs There are many verbs which are pronounced つく, and I was simply wondering: Do their intonation patterns differ? If so, what are the intonation patterns of the most common forms of つく in Tokyo dialect? Common:…
rintaun
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いいじゃない。vs いいのがない。

I was watching this video about conversations in Japanese. There's a couple discussing about what apartment they should buy... Wife: そうねえ、じゃ、これはどうかしら？ Husband: なかなかいいんじゃない。これ見に行ってみるか。 W: あ、ちょっと待って。でも、これ、クローゼットがちょっと狭いわね。 H:…
Felipe Chaves de Oliveira
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Rise in pitch right before quotative って?

On the last mora of reported speech, right before って, I sometimes hear a high pitch (or maybe stress) where I would normally not expect one. If there is a ない in front of the って, for example, I often perceive the い to be really high in tone and…
Kaskade
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Can ま be used as an interjection to connote an indignant tone?

On occasion, I will hear ま being used in a way that seems to suggest the speaker is responding to something indignantly. Something like, "Well! If that's how you're going to act..." Are there any good examples of how intonation can change the…
user1316
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Use of も with counter

The writer is complaining that men are useless at cooking. They burn pans, they make more mess than is necessary and: ...、何枚も皿をつかう、... I can't fully understand this construction. I know the essence is that men use too many plates but that's all I…
user3856370
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Can もう一つ Be Used As a Question?

Hirigana: もう一{ひと}つ Translation: Another; One More Scenario: I'm drinking with a close friend and we've both finished our beers. I get up to go to the fridge, point to his empty bottle and say "もう一{ひと}つ" with a rising inflection to denote a question…
Levi Hackwith
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Downward tone within a mora due to intonation in casual speech

I feel like this intonation pattern is common, so I figured I better get it figured out. I believe this is related Pitch accent in combination with the を particle, which is about when accents get blurred, like this I believe…
firuvi
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What is the intonation variation for 居る vs 要る?

I hear some people pronounce both 居る and 要る low-HIGH, and others I have heard pronouncing 居る as HIGH-low. Can you clarify whether these are correct, if the variations are regional or not, or if there is some other explanation for variation? お願いします！
Avi Drucker
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ありがとう pitch and intonation

NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 seems to only list ありがとう{LHLLL}. And I think the polite form is most commonly ありがとうございます{LHLLLLHHHL}? But I think I also hear what sounds to me like ありがとう{LHHHH} or ありがとう{LHLHH}. Is it an intonation issue? Some examples: Am I…
Eddie Kal
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Usage of intonation with sentence ending particles e.g. ね

Negotiation of Contingent Talk: The Japanese Interactional Particles Ne and Sa, page 44 For example the above link says that there are various different intonations e.g. rising, rise-fall,fall-rise etc that all correspond to different functions, but…
bobbinonzeocean
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