Japanese
Japanese is often described as having pitch accent; this differs significantly between dialects. In standard (Tokyo-dialect) Japanese, this "accent" may be characterized as a downstep rather than as pitch accent. The pitch of a word rises until it reaches a downstep, then drops abruptly. In a two-syllable word, this results in a contrast between high–low and low–high; accentless words are also low–high, but the pitch of following enclitics differentiates them.
| Accent on first mora | Accent on second mora | Accentless | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 牡蠣を | oyster | 垣を | fence | 柿を | persimmon | |||
| high–low–low | low–high–low | low–mid–high | ||||||
Read more about this topic: Pitch Accent
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