STUDIES IN THE PHONOLOGY OF ASIAN LANGUAGES. IX. WORD ACCENT IN JAPANESE,
Abstract
The study presents an acoustic-phonetic and phonological analysis of word accent in Japanese. Two experiments are carried out in order to determine the nature and extent of fundamental frequency and intensity as acoustic correlates of accent. Fundamental frequency data on single-word utterances were obtained using a pitch extractor and oscillograph. Measurements of the target value of fundamental frequency in each mora of a word were made, and the relative mora-to-mora changes in fundamental frequency were calculated in semitones. Intensity data were obtained through an intensity-time analysis using a sound spectrograph. Measurements were made of (1) the phonetic speech power in each vowel and (2) the area under the intensity-time curve of each vowel within an utterance. The data reveal that a difference in fundamental frequency is consistently correlated with a difference in accent. Words of n moras have n different accent patterns. No clear and consistent correlation was found between intensity and accent; though the area under the intensity curve yields some correlation with accent. As a result of these findings, a new interpretation is proposed in which each accent pattern is described in terms of contrastive sequences of two phonemes with functional significance at the phonoactic level of analysis. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1970
- Accession Number
- AD0704110
Entities
People
- Raymond S. Weitzman
Organizations
- University of Southern California