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:
“Though I have locked my gate on them
I pity all the young,
I know what devil’s trade they learn
From those they live among,
Their drink, their pitch and toss by day,
Their robbery by night....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“An accent mark, perhaps, instead of a whole western accent—a point of punctuation rather than a uniform twang. That is how it should be worn: as a quiet point of character reference, an apt phrase of sartorial allusion—macho, sotto voce.”
—Phil Patton (b. 1953)