Change in pitch-accent patterns of Osaka Japanese: Analysis of words and phrases

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K02648
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Linguistics
• Research Institution: Doshisha University
• Principal Investigator: Yoshida Yuko 同志社大学, グローバル・コミュニケーション学部, 教授 (70288603)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 大阪方言 / ピッチ・アクセント / 発音の変化 / 撥音 / 統率音韻論

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project focused on recent developments in Osaka Japanese and contrasting pitch-patterns of Osaka and Tokyo Japanese. Trimoraic words of Osaka allow for a medial accent pattern, which is unusual in Tokyo. The changing pitch pattern of old coined words e.g. guriko may suggest a more recent change of the system, however, newly coined words are medially accented. Accents on special moras, such as /N/, motivate the theoretical claim that there is a novel tier for licensors (LT) accounting for a unique accentual pattern in Osaka. This representation accounts for apparently unconnected dialectal traits in Tokyo and Osaka: the difference in the phonetic interpretation of /N/ and the contrasting accentual status of /nu/. Both /N/ and /nu/ are represented as a nasal element followed by the |U| element; the formal difference comes from a point of parametric variation: |U| can either be headed (Osaka [u]) or not headed (Tokyo unrounded), this determines whether the element is projected to LT.

Free Research Field

理論言語学・音韻論

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

大阪方言の特徴の世代差は方言話者を中心として、また、共通語の次に公共放送で使われる大阪方言言はあまりないことからも国民の関心事でもある。特に中高と呼ばれるアクセント型は特徴的で、若年層でもユニバ、ファミマのように中高語として誕生している。コンビのように共通語ではめったに高いピッチで発音されない「ン」の音も高く発音されることなど、観察を行った。「ん」と「ぬ」の発音の東京、大阪間の違いをもとにピッチ型の違いと合わせて考察し、音韻理論の発展に繋げたことがこのプロジェクトの学術的意義と言える。