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A Sociolinguistic Study of Pitch Leveling in Japanese: Hokkaido Dialect and Kagoshima Dialect as Analytical Data

Research Project

Project/Area Number 16520284
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)

Allocation TypeSingle-year Grants
Section一般
Research Field Japanese linguistics
Research InstitutionHokusei Gakuen University

Principal Investigator

TAKANO Shoji  Hokusei Gakuen University, English, Associate Prof., 文学部, 助教授 (00285503)

Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) OTA Ichiro  Kagoshima University, Humanities, Professor, 法文学部, 教授 (60203783)
Project Period (FY) 2004 – 2006
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2006)
Budget Amount *help
¥3,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,500,000)
Fiscal Year 2006: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Fiscal Year 2005: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000)
Fiscal Year 2004: ¥2,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000)
Keywordspitch leveling / Japanese / language change / variation theory / sociophonetics / prosody / sociolinguistics / perception / ピッチの平坦化 / 年齢差
Research Abstract

This study sheds light on an ongoing generational change in Japanese prosody. It was first suggested by Sibata (1995) a decade ago that pitch in Japanese was becoming increasingly leveled in the speech of younger generations. This claim, however, was based on his limited informal observations or native intuition, and has not yet been subject to large-scale empirical investigation. This study is the first attempt to verify Sibata's thesis empirically.
The second thrust of this study lies in its research methodology. A great majority of prior studies of prosody are based exclusively on stylistically impoverished data-reading of unrelated words or sentences out of context, which is far from native speakers' everyday linguistic practices. We have tried to resolve this issue by analyzing data from multiple registers, which include short narratives that describe the sequence of events in pictures, reading of a passage as well as reading of sentences in isolation.
The third thrust of this study … More is concerned with native speakers' perception of the variant (i.e., pitch leveling); more specifically, whether native speakers can hear the leveling of pitch and associate it with the speaker's age. We took advantage of sound synthesis technique and the matched-guise experiment.
We conducted our fieldwork in two remote dialect areas of Japan, Hokkaido and Kagoshima, where two age groups (younger and older) comprised the corpus for analysis. Based on the prosody of three registers-the reading of isolated sentences and a television news passage, and short narratives of sequential events in pictures, we were able to verify Sibata's claim that the leveling of pitch has been advanced among younger speakers, and also pointed out the possibility that it is a nationwide phenomenon as part of drastic standardization involving local dialects throughout Japan. As for the issue of perception, we also succeeded in proving that native speakers in both communities associate the leveling of pitch with younger age of the speaker. Less

Report

(4 results)
  • 2006 Annual Research Report   Final Research Report Summary
  • 2005 Annual Research Report
  • 2004 Annual Research Report
  • Research Products

    (15 results)

All 2006 2005 2004

All Journal Article (15 results)

  • [Journal Article] 新しい音声バリエーションの研究 ~日本における社会音声学の確立をめざして2006

    • Author(s)
      二階堂整, 高野照司, 太田一郎, 朝日祥之, 松田謙次郎
    • Journal Title

      社会言語科学会・第18回大会発表論文集

      Pages: 231-239

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] Atarashii onsei barieishon no kenkyuu : Nihon ni okeru shakai onsei-gaku no kakuritsu o mezashite (An innovative study of variation in speech : Toward the establishment of sociophonetics in Japan).2006

    • Author(s)
      Nikaidou, H., Takano, S., Ota I., Asahi, Y., Matsuda, K.
    • Journal Title

      Proceedings of the 18thMeeting of the Japanese Association of Sociolinguistic Sciences

      Pages: 231-239

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] 新しい音声バリエーションの研究 〜日本における社会音声学の確立をめざして〜2006

    • Author(s)
      二階堂整, 高野照司, 太田一郎, 朝日祥之, 松田謙次郎
    • Journal Title

      社会音声科学会 第18回大会 発表論文集

      Pages: 231-239

    • Related Report
      2006 Annual Research Report
  • [Journal Article] 言語変異理論再考2005

    • Author(s)
      高野照司
    • Journal Title

      北星論集 42・2

      Pages: 37-54

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] 地域言語研究の新たな展開~地域特性と言語変異の関連に着目して~2005

    • Author(s)
      朝日祥之, 太田一郎, 二階堂整, 松田謙次郎, 高野照司, 片岡邦好
    • Journal Title

      日本方言研究会 第80回研究発表会 発表原稿集

      Pages: 97-102

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] 日本語音声におけるピッチ平坦化現象の試行的研究~変異理論的観点から~2005

    • Author(s)
      高野照司, 太田一郎
    • Journal Title

      社会言語科学会・第16回大会発表論文集

      Pages: 220-223

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] Gengo Heni Riron Saikou : Soukan-shugi to iu gokai to setsumei nouryoku (Reconsideration of the variation theory : misconception of correlationism and the issue of explanatory power).2005

    • Author(s)
      Takano, Shoji.
    • Journal Title

      Hokusei Review 42(2)

      Pages: 37-54

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] Chiiki gengo kenkyuu no aratana tenkai : chiiki shakai no tokusei to gengo heni no kanren ni chakumoku shite (New perspectives on analyzing speech communities : focusing on linguistic and social typology).2005

    • Author(s)
      Asahi, Y, Ota I., Nikaidou, H., Matsuda, K., Takano.S., Kataoka, K.
    • Journal Title

      Conference Paper of the Dialectological Circle of Japan 8

      Pages: 97-102

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] Nihongo onsei ni oker picchi heitanka genshou no shikouteki kenkyuu : Heni rironteki kanten kara (A preliminary study of Japanese pitch leveling from a perspective of variation theory).2005

    • Author(s)
      Takano.S., Ota I.
    • Journal Title

      Proceedings of the 16thMeeting of the Japanese Association of Sociolinguistic Sciences

      Pages: 220-223

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] 日本語音声におけるピッチ平坦化現象の試行的研究 〜変異理論的観点から〜2005

    • Author(s)
      高野照司, 太田一郎
    • Journal Title

      社会言語科学会・第16回大会発表論文集

      Pages: 220-223

    • Related Report
      2005 Annual Research Report
  • [Journal Article] ことばのバリエーションをつかまえる : 分析ツールとしてのVARBRULプログラムの活用法と隣接分野への応用2004

    • Author(s)
      高野照司, 朝日祥之, 太田一郎
    • Journal Title

      社会言語科学会・第14回大会発表論文集

      Pages: 221-222

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] 第二言語習得研究におけるVARBRUL分析の活用とその意義2004

    • Author(s)
      高野 照司
    • Journal Title

      社会言語科学会・第14回大会発表論文集

      Pages: 225-226

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] Kotoba no barieishon o tsukamaeru : Bunseki tsuuru to shite no VARBRUL puroguramu no katsuyou-hou to rinsetsu bunya e no ouyou (Capturing linguistic variation : How to use VARBRUL as an analytical tool and its applications to other adjacent areas)2004

    • Author(s)
      Takano, S., Asahi, Y., Ota I.
    • Journal Title

      Proceedings of the 14thMeeting of the Japanese Association of Sociolinguistic Sciences

      Pages: 221-222

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] Gengo heni riron saikou : Soukan shugi to iu gokai to setsumei nouryoku (Reconsideration of the variation theory : misconception of correlationism and the issue of explanatory power).2004

    • Author(s)
      Takano, Shoji.
    • Journal Title

      Proceedings of the 13th Meeting of the Japanese Association of Sociolinguistic Sciences

      Pages: 141-143

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] Daini gengo shuutoku kenkyuu ni okeru VARBRUL bunseki no katsuyou to sono igi (The utility of VARBRUL in second language acquisition research and its implications).2004

    • Author(s)
      Takano, Shoji.
    • Journal Title

      Proceedings of the 14thMeeting of the Japanese Association of Sociolinguistic Sciences

      Pages: 225-226

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary

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Published: 2004-04-01   Modified: 2016-04-21  

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