Pitch Accent
A few words are pronounced different pitch accent between Yamanote and Shitamachi. The following words are typical examples.
- Bandō (another name of Kantō region): Accent on ba in Yamanote, Accentless in Shitamachi.
- saka ("slope"): Accent on ka in Yamanote, Accent on sa in Shitamachi.
- tsugi ("next"): Accent on gi in Yamanote, Accent on tsu in Shitamachi.
- sushi: Accent on shi in Yamanote, Accent on su in Shitamachi.
- suna ("sand"): Accentless in Yamanote, Accent on na in Shitamachi.
- asahi ("morning sun"): Accent on a in Yamanote, Accent on sa in Shitamachi.
- aniki ("big brother"): Accent on a in Yamanote, Accent on ni in Shitamachi.
- itsumo ("always"): Accent on i in Yamanote, Accent on tsu in Shitamachi.
- hanashi ("talk"): Accentless in Yamanote, Accent on na mora in Shitamachi.
- tamago ("egg"): Accent on ma in Yamanote, Accentless in Shitamachi.
- accentless word -sama (a honorific): Accent on sa in Yamanote, Accentless in Shitamachi.
Read more about this topic: Tokyo Dialect
Famous quotes containing the words pitch and/or accent:
“I dream that I have brought
To such a pitch my thought
That coming time can say,
“He shadowed in a glass
What thing her body was.””
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“The accent of a man’s native country remains in his mind and his heart, as it does in his speech.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)