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Japanese Phonetics Episode 69โ€”now with native recordings!

Bibliography 
Japanese Phonetics Index Page 

Good afternoon Patrons! The sixty-ninth episode of Japanese Phonetics has been updated with high quality, native recordings! In this lesson we look at the single major exception to the Western counter rule, as well as two regular counter groups.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns with regards to this lesson, please don't hesitate to leave a comment below. Thank you very much for your continued support, and good luck with your Japanese studies!

Best from Beppu,

Dลgen

Japanese Phonetics Episode 69โ€”now with native recordings!

Comments

Hi, Trainfan. Can you clarify with some examples?

Dogen

When looking up heiban counters that are atamadaka when they're by themselves, the dictionaries seem to list them as atamadaka. How will I know if a new atamadaka counter I look up is heiban when used with a number.

Trainfan1055

Hi, Yana! Unfortunately I have not studied this before, and it's difficult to answer this in a comment thread; the best thing to do is reference the NHK accent dictionary.

Dogen

Hello Dogen! Thank you for this amazing series! I never had a course in Japanese phonetics and your course helps me to understand the principles and improve my prononciation. Iโ€™ve got a question about the ็›ฎ suffix as is 1็•ช็›ฎใฏ. How does it affect the pitch? Kind regards,

Yana Sakovskaya

Hi Alex! Thank you for your comment! (^^) As for the numbers that end with ใ†: For example, when ๅ(ใ˜ใ‚…ใ† / JUu), ไบŒๅ(ใซใ˜ใ‚…ใ† / niJUu), ไธ‰ๅ(ใ•ใ‚“ใ˜ใ‚…ใ† / SAnjuu), etc. are followed by ๅ€‹, they become ๅๅ€‹๏ผˆใ˜ใ‚…ใฃใ“/ JUkko) , ไบŒๅๅ€‹๏ผˆใซใ˜ใ‚…ใฃใ“ / niJUkko), ไธ‰ๅๅ€‹๏ผˆใ•ใ‚“ใ˜ใ‚…ใฃใ“ / saNJUkko), etc. As you see, โ€œใ†โ€ becomes โ€œใฃโ€, and the downstep shifts to โ€œใ˜ใ‚…โ€ which is the second-to-last mora of the number. Incidentally, people in older generation were taught to pronounce 10ๅ€‹, 20ๅ€‹, 30ๅ€‹ as ใ˜ใฃใ“, ใซใ˜ใฃใ“, ใ•ใ‚“ใ˜ใฃใ“, but not anymore. Nowadays, most people pronounce them ใ˜ใ‚…ใฃใ“, ใซใ˜ใ‚…ใฃใ“, ใ•ใ‚“ใ˜ใ‚…ใฃใ“, and the new pronunciation is listed on the dictionaries. But please bear in mind that even to this day, many news anchors pronounce them in the old way (ใ˜ใฃใ“ใ€ใซใ˜ใฃใ“ใ€ใ•ใ‚“ใ˜ใฃใ“๏ผ‰, so you might encounter the old pronunciation when youโ€™re watching Japanese news on TV. I hope this helps! -Kimi

Dogen

Hello! Thank you for making this lesson! I just need a quick confirmation for the pitch of numbers that end with VV: You mentioned that numbers that end with ใ‚“ or VV before a western counter or ๅ€‹ etc would move the downstep back by 1, but I noticed that there weren't any examples that ended with VV such as ๅ. So just for confirmation, if there was ไธ‰ๅ attaching to ๅ€‹, for example, would the pitch become ใ•ใ‚“ใ˜ใ‚…ใ†ๅ€‹ with the downstep on the ใ‚“ใ˜ใ‚…? Thanks!

Alex Lee

Hi Dan, according to NHK (2016) ๅฐ is ๅฐพ้ซ˜ (accent on last mora of number section of the compound, or second to last when the last mora of the number section is a special sound). It appears that ไบ” is an exception to thisโ€”NHK lists 5ๅฐ as ๅนณๆฟ, but I imagine many people probably pronounce it as GOdai, as speaker variation is so prevalent with numbers and counters. The NHK Accent 2016 Dictionary 2016 Edition or later is by far the best resource for pitch-accent in counters. Cheers!

Dogen

Thanks for this video, insanely useful. I'm wondering about the counter ๅฐ, as this wasn't mentioned nor was it in the resource Peter Scott linked above, which group is it? Also what is the best resource for finding what group less common counters are in, as suzuki-kun seems to be kind of inaccurate on this? Cheers

Dan Turner

It's my pleasure Nicolas! I've never studied pitch accent in the context of math, but my gut instinct tells me that each number retains it's normal pitch accent pattern while also obeying standard terracing rules. That said, a simple search on forvo seems to indicate that fractions combine into longer ๅนณๆฟ compounds. Hope this helps! Cheers!

Dogen

Thank you for this video! I recently decided to support you on Patreon, and definitely do not regret it. All this work is awesome and made me discover a fascinating field to explore. Now I'm dreaming of having, one day, a native pronunciation! For now, I only have the pronunciation (and the structures) of a half asleep baby... Question, as regards numbers : How do the pitch accent occures when it comes to mathematics? For example ไบŒ่ถณใ™ไบŒใฏๅ››,ไบŒใ‹ใ‘ใ‚‹ไบŒใฏๅ››, etc. Do all numbers keep their pattern? Same question for fraction, as ไธ‰ๅˆ†ใฎไธ€. Thanks !

Lex Tutor

Hi Peter! I think that this is in general a great resource. The author does a very good job of pointing out the various exceptions, such as those related to ๅฑค, which I chose to classify as ๅนณๆฟ based on the academic literature I have on hand (NHK, ๆ–ฐๆ˜Ž่งฃ, Tashiro, etc.). That said, some of the explanations are somewhat short, which may cause things to be a bit confusing for beginner and intermediate learnersโ€”obviously not a problem for everyone. I'll also add that the counter section doesn't seem to cover number-counter combinations when the number is greater than ten, and there are a few exceptions here, such as with the number 15, but I'll cover these in the very near future, so probably a null point. Overall a great resource!

Dogen

Hey Dogen, thanks for the very helpful lesson. I've been looking for resources for the pitch accent effects of counters and found this website: https://gist.github.com/k3zi/3f38070efffa38db83cd5745d83b1235 , I was wondering if you would be able to give me your opinion on how reliable it seems? Thanks a lot for the help!

Peter Scott

Fixed! Thanks for pointing that out!

Dogen

Episode 69, nice! ;) Also, I dunno if you can edit it, but the post itself says "sixty-fourth episode" instead of "sixty-ninth episode".

Stephen Tigner


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