Japanese pitch accent can be tricky, especially when it comes to words that are spelled with the same hiragana but have different pitch accents.<\/p>\n
Rain (\u3042\u3081<\/strong>) (\u96e8<\/strong>) (ame) a[high] me[low]<\/p>\n Sentence : \u96e8\u304c<\/strong>\u964d\u308b\u3068\u601d\u3046 (ame ga furu to omou) I think it\u2019ll rain<\/p>\n Candy (\u3042\u3081<\/strong>) (\u98f4) (ame) a[low] me[high]<\/p>\n Ex: \u98f4<\/strong>\u304c\u307b\u3057\u3044 = (ame ga hoshii) I want candy<\/p>\n The first two words are \u2018rain\u2019 and \u2018candy\u2019. Notice that the hiragana that comes after these two words are the same, but the kanji are different. In written communication these two words can be easily distinguished by their kanji. In verbal communication the way to differentiate the two words is by context and pitch accent. The first part of the word for rain starts off with a high pitch accent with \u2018a\u2019 (\u3042) but falls to a lower pitch accent with \u2018me\u2019 (\u3081). However the word for candy starts off with a low pitch accent and ends with a higher pitch accent.<\/p>\n Here are some other examples:<\/p>\n Bridge (\u306f\u3057) (\u6a4b) (hashi<\/strong>) (accent on second mora)<\/p>\n Ex: \u6a4b<\/strong>\u306f\u4fee\u7406\u4e2d\u3067\u3059 = (hashi ha sh\u016brich\u016b des) The bridge is being repaired<\/p>\n Chopsticks (\u306f\u3057) (\u7bb8) (ha<\/strong>shi) (accent on first mora)<\/p>\n Ex: \u30d1\u30fc\u30ab\u30fc\u3055\u3093\u306f\u7bb8<\/strong>\u3067\u98df\u3079\u3066\u307f\u305f (paakaa san ha hashi de tabetemita) Mr. Parker tried to use chopsticks<\/p>\n Another way to look at pitch accent is by looking at what part of the word is accented. For the word \u2018bridge\u2019, the accent is on the second mora. A mora is something that determines syllable weight. So with the word bridge, \u306f would be the first mora and \u3057 would be the second mora. The word for bridge will have the accent on the second mora, but the word for chopsticks will have the accent on the first mora.<\/p>\n Watch out for this one:<\/p>\n Oyster (\u304b\u304d) (\u7874) (ka<\/strong>ki) accent on first mora<\/p>\n Ex: \u7874<\/strong>\u306f\u305f\u3079\u308c\u307e\u3059\u304b (kaki ha taberemasu ka) Can you eat oysters?<\/p>\n Fence (\u304b\u304d) (\u57a3) (kaki<\/strong>) accent on second mora<\/p>\n Ex: \u7236\u306f\u5ead\u306e\u307e\u308f\u308a\u306b\u57a3<\/strong>\u6839\u3092\u4f5c\u308a\u307e\u3057\u305f (chichi ha niwa no mawari ni kakine wo tsukimashita) My father made a fence around the garden<\/p>\n Persimmon (\u304b\u304d) (\u67ff) (kaki) no accent<\/p>\n Ex: \u4eca\u65e5\u30b9\u30fc\u30d1\u30fc\u3067\u67ff<\/strong>\u3092\u8cb7\u3044\u307e\u3059 (ky\u014d s\u016bp\u0101 de kaki wo kaimasu)<\/p>\n So with the word for persimmon, there is no accent on any mora<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Japanese pitch accent can be tricky, especially when it comes to words that are spelled with the same hiragana but have different pitch accents. Rain (\u3042\u3081) (\u96e8) (ame) a[high] me[low] Sentence : \u96e8\u304c\u964d\u308b\u3068\u601d\u3046 (ame ga furu to omou) I think it\u2019ll rain Candy (\u3042\u3081) (\u98f4) (ame) a[low] me[high] Ex: \u98f4\u304c\u307b\u3057\u3044 = (ame ga hoshii) I…<\/p>\n