Pitch Accent Checksheet for Beginners

[masaegu]

How have you been pronouncing these short, basic words? For each word, highlight in red the kana (the syllable) that receives the highest pitch accent in Standard Japanese.

Example in English: dictionary

I would sound pretty strange if I pronounced it like dictionary or dictionary, would I not? Well, that is exactly how your Japanese would sound if you placed the accent on the wrong syllables.


１．空（そら）、　２．海（うみ）、　３．川（かわ）

４．町（まち）、　５．家（いえ）、　６．花（はな）

７．行く（いく）、　８．来る（くる）、　９．住む（ すむ）

１０．歩く（あるく）、　１１．走る（はしる）、　１ ２．食べる（たべる）

１３．ある、　１４．いる

１５．ボク、　１６．オレ

１７．若い（わかい）、　１８．すごい、　１９．楽し い（たのしい）

２０．スミス、　２１．ジョンソン、　２２．ラジオ

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by masaegu

How have you been pronouncing these short, basic words? For each word, highlight in red the kana (the syllable) that receives the highest pitch accent in Standard Japanese.

Example in English: dictionary

I would sound pretty strange if I pronounced it like dictionary or dictionary, would I not? Well, that is exactly how your Japanese would sound if you placed the accent on the wrong syllables.

難しいそう！ では、やってみます。。。

１．空（そら）、　２．海（うみ）、　３．川（かわ）

４．町（まち）、　５．家（いえ）、　６．花（はな）

７．行く（いく）、　８．来る（くる）、　９．住む（すむ）

１０．歩く（あるく）、　１１．走る（はしる）、　１２．食べる（たべる）

１３．ある、　１４．いる

１５．ボク、　１６．オレ

１７．若い（わかい）、　１８．すごい、　１９．楽しい（たのしい）

２０．スミス、　２１．ジョンソン、　２２．ラジオ

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by Columbine

難しいそう！ では、やってみます。。。

Thanks Columbine! I love an active learner!

SVP, alllow me to make corrections unrelated to the thread.

難しいそう(です or だ) = "I have heard it is difficult.", "They say it is difficult.", etc.
難しそう = "It looks difficult."

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by masaegu

Thanks Columbine! I love an active learner!

SVP, alllow me to make corrections unrelated to the thread.

難しいそう(です or だ) = "I have heard it is difficult.", "They say it is difficult.", etc.
難しそう = "It looks difficult."

あっ〜間違いました。＾＾ありがとう、まさえぐさん。

[masaegu]

ANSWERS!

A single response was not what I had expected but so be it. I frankly do not know what to do to be of help on JF anymore. Maybe this one was too easy with such short words. Raise your hand if you want an intermediate or advanced version of this. I will do it if more than a few people want it AND promise to do it.

１．空（そら）、　２．海（うみ）、　３．川（かわ）

４．町（まち）、　５．家（いえ）、　６．花（はな）

７．行く（いく）、　８．来る（くる）、　９．住む（すむ）

１０．歩く（あるく）、　１１．走る（はしる）、　１２．食べる（たべる）

１３．ある、　１４．いる

１５．ボク、　１６．オレ

１７．若い（わかい）、　１８．すごい、　１９．楽しい（たのしい）

２０．スミス、　２１．ジョンソン、　２２．ラジオ

NOTE: 「ボク」 is the correct way to pronounce the word originally but its pitch accent has been shifting in the last few decades. Currently, 「ボク」 is VERY often heard around Kanto, so I am going to call both correct.

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by masaegu

ANSWERS!

失敗しました　（w）actually, I did the task wrong! I put word stress, not pitch stress >.< しかし、日本語を話すと、日本人がよく「きれいな発音 」と言っています。嘘かな〜

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by masaegu

ANSWERS!

A single response was not what I had expected but so be it. I frankly do not know what to do to be of help on JF anymore. Maybe this one was too easy with such short words. Raise your hand if you want an intermediate or advanced version of this. I will do it if more than a few people want it AND promise to do it.

１．空（そら）、　２．海（うみ）、　３．川（かわ）

４．町（まち）、　５．家（いえ）、　６．花（はな）

７．行く（いく）、　８．来る（くる）、　９．住む（すむ）

１０．歩く（あるく）、　１１．走る（はしる）、　１２．食べる（たべる）

１３．ある、　１４．いる

１５．ボク、　１６．オレ

１７．若い（わかい）、　１８．すごい、　１９．楽しい（たのしい）

２０．スミス、　２１．ジョンソン、　２２．ラジオ

NOTE: 「ボク」 is the correct way to pronounce the word originally but its pitch accent has been shifting in the last few decades. Currently, 「ボク」 is VERY often heard around Kanto, so I am going to call both correct.

I appreciated this, but I didn't have time to answer. I'm sorry. This was going to honestly require some thought on my part; time that I didn't have. I came here today, in fact, just to say I appreciate this but don't have time to answer, and I saw you'd already posted the answers. Doh!

I started a new job last Monday and I've been flying across the country for the past two weeks. I'm also in a musical and am rehearsing a lot.

I'm sorry!

Looking at this, the only one I would have definitely gotten right was はな because I remember basically that 花は上に伸びる。鼻は下に。 (flower = LH/HH, nose = HL)

Similarly, 雨は下に落ちる。This is how I remember whether rain or coughdrops gets the め to be a higher pitch (HL = rain, HH/LH = coughdrop/hard candy)

Also I memorized 橋／箸 using a similar mnemonic. But most words I absolutely don't know the pitches for. I just stay as flat as possible to minimize my Americanality.

There aren't really any rules, right? I mean in the "I before E, except after C and when sounding like A as in neighbor and weigh" sense of rules. It's completely random for each word? So I can't memorize some simple rules, right? I'd have to basically learn all over again for every new word?

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

Similarly, 雨は下に落ちる。This is how I remember whether rain or coughdrops gets the め to be a higher pitch (HL = rain, HH/LH = coughdrop/hard candy)

Apparently　雨 is the one thing I say that gives away that I learnt in Osaka, because it's often said LH there. 雨や！

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

　There aren't really any rules, right? I mean in the "I before E, except after C and when sounding like A as in neighbor and weigh" sense of rules. It's completely random for each word? So I can't memorize some simple rules, right? I'd have to basically learn all over again for every new word?

There are no rules, period. Words are pronounced differently in each dialect to start with, which is why I said "Standard Japanese" in my opening post. In each dialect, the pitch accent on each word has been determined arbitrarily in its early developement just as words themselves (their sound combinations) were arbitrary.

The reason that I created this thread is that I have been watching many Youtube videos in which Japanese-learners speak Japanese and I have become so certain that many of these people are simply unaware of the existence of pitch accent and therefore are placing random accents or speaking just flatly. These habbits can make it very difficult for us native speakers to understand what they are saying.

[Nyororin]

I didn't even try answering as I simply cannot do these.
Even if I can *say* the words correctly, I am just guessing when it comes to answering on paper. I can't even do it for English.

I suck so incredibly at these that I am sure I would get half of them wrong, English or Japanese. When pointed out to me, I can agree that yes, I say something in one way or another... But if asked how do I say it out of context, I am seriously at a loss.

I think I am probably the only native English speaking student who failed a Japanese high school English test on pitch and accent. orz