Page 62 - Basic Japanese

question (?), statement (.), suspension (…), continuation (,),

and so forth. This use of pitch is called INTONATION.
Japanese has intonation, too, but it is usually restricted to
the last voiced syllable of a phrase. Note that in English the

intonation contour extends over much more of the phrase,
but the Japanese intonation occurs only with the last

syllable or two. In addition to intonation, Japanese uses
pitch to differentiate words and phrases from each other,

like we use stress in English. It is this use of pitch that we
call accent.

In different parts of Japan there are different accent
patterns. More than a half of the Japanese population

speaks with accent patterns rather like those of Standard
Japanese—that is, the speech of Tokyo. The principal

exception is Western Japan (Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe; also parts
of Shikoku and southern Kyushu). There, the accent often
seems just the opposite from that of Standard Japanese.

Where the Tokyo speaker goes up in pitch, the Kyoto
speaker often goes down. In some parts of Japan (places in

northern Kyushu and in northeastern Honshu), the accent is
not distinctive at all; all words have the same pattern. If you
are planning to talk Japanese in Western Japan, you can

completely ignore the accent marks in this section. And
even if you are going to talk Japanese in Tokyo, you will be

fairly well understood, even without the accent distinctions.
The Japanese of today are used to hearing their language

spoken with a variety of accent patterns. The important
thing is that you should always imitate the persons you hear

speaking Japanese and mimic their accents, wherever you
may be. However, if you wish to put the final polish on your
knowledge of Standard Japanese, you may want to devote

some attention to the accent.