Pitch Accent
Standard Seoul Korean uses pitch for only intonational purposes. However, several dialects outside Seoul retain the Middle Korean pitch accent system. In the dialect of Northern Gyeongsang, in southeastern South Korea, any syllable may have pitch accent in the form of a high tone, as may the two initial syllables. For example, in trisyllabic words, there are four possible tone patterns:
- 메누리 ('daughter-in-law')
- 어무이 ('mother')
- 원어민 ('native speaker')
- 오래비 ('elder brother')
For standard Korean, Kim and Duanmu have proposed an analysis of "tensed" vs. "laxed" consonants which associates word-initial laxed consonants with a low-to-high pitch contour, as opposed to a default high pitch after tensed or aspirated consonants.
Read more about this topic: Korean Phonology
Famous quotes containing the words pitch and/or accent:
“I can’t earn my own living. I could never make anything turn into money. It’s like making fires. A careful assortment of paper, shavings, faggots and kindling nicely tipped with pitch will never light for me. I have never been present when a cigarette butt, extinct, thrown into a damp and isolated spot, started a conflagration in the California woods.”
—Margaret Anderson (1886–1973)
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)