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Article published In: Asia-Pacific Language Variation
Vol. 3:1 (2017) ► pp.5–40

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A sociophonetic approach to variation in Japanese pitch realizations

Region, age, gender and stylistic parameters

 | Hokusei Gakuen University
 | Kagoshima University
Published online: 28 September 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/aplv.3.1.02tak
Abstract
This paper explores the flattening of Japanese sentential pitch as a possible nationwide change in progress among younger generations. Comparative data collected by identical protocols are examined in terms of speakers’ age, gender, and native dialects (in the city of Sapporo and in a rural town in Hokkaido, and in the city of Kagoshima in Kyushu). The paper also stresses the significance of including different registers in prosodic analysis and addressing potential problems with standard practices in which read-aloud materials comprise the primary resource. Based on naturalistic speech production data (i.e., spontaneous speech from a picture story description), our results reveal that: (1) regardless of the accentual discrepancies in their native dialects, younger generations characteristically speak in phonetically flattened realizations of pitch accompanying consistent, steeper declination, and (2) an age-linked differentiation also exists in prosodic phrasing, which is closely linked to the flattening of sentential pitch.
Abstract (Japanese)
本稿は、特に若い世代を中心に全国的規模で進行中の言語変化と想定される音声ピッチの平坦化現象を検証する。北海道の二地域（札幌市・新ひだか町）、および九州南部地方鹿児島市など計３地域において、同一調査手順に則った実地調査を行い、収集された発話データを話者の年齢・性別・母方言などの観点から比較検討をした。また、従来の韻律研究では文章の読み上げ音声が分析の主な対象であった事実を背景に、異なるレジスターを分析の射程に含める重要性も経験的に立証している。本調査では、６コマのイラストで描かれた物語を見た後、その物語の内容を口頭で即興的に復元するタスクから得られた自然発生的談話に近い音声をデータとして分析した。その結果、（１）話者の母方言の差異とは無関係に、若い世代の話者のピッチは、（老年層話者のそれと比較して）一貫して急激な下降（declination）を伴う平坦化の傾向を示し、（２）韻律句生成（prosodic phrasing）においても、ピッチの平坦化に密接に関係した年齢差が明らかになった。
Article outline
  • 1.Background
    • 1.1Pitch flattening in read-aloud register
    • 1.2Issues of style and register in studies of prosodic variation
  • 2.The study
    • 2.1Data for analysis
    • 2.2Analytical procedures
    • 2.3Systematic pitch variability in story-telling register
      • 2.3.1Variability involving accented APs
      • 2.3.2Variability involving unaccented APs
    • 2.4Variability in the dephrasing of the accentual phrase
  • 3.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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