Guys, what's the difference between the high and low pitch? (Page 1 of 2)

Thanks. From what I understand, making my pitch high is similar to mimicing a gal (or a kid.). so, the OO in OO ka mi will sound like a gal's words while the ka mi is just my regular masculine voice, is this correct?

Last edited by modernic2007 (2007-08-09 23:31:13)

おおかみ［おほかみ］ 1 【▼狼】　⇒　お↓おかみ　≒　ＨＬＬＬ

Last edited by Faumdano (2007-08-10 00:02:33)

Anyway, what's the difference between "pitch accents" and "pitches?"

Last edited by modernic2007 (2007-08-10 12:18:02)

Faumdano: You maxed out the system.  Congrats anyway

better follow taniwha's advice, don't focus too much on the rules (they're boring and dry), try to listen more and it will come with you naturally.

Learning pronunciation by ear is better than any other method.
تعلم النطق بالسماع

I think it's easier for you since your native is not English and you don't have a stress accent (hmm, I've always wondered whether Arabic was pitch accented or not or what ..)

That's the problem... for me to hear and know what I'm hearing, I have to learn more vocabulary, huh? However, if I did learn the vocabulary before listening to them, maybe I'll have hard times making my pronunciation right in the future. So, by which to start.

By the way, Ustadh Hasan, did I say something about Arabic in this post? It seems I'm being tracked. Anyway, I think we do have pitch intonation. When I ask a question, for example, my pitch increasese as I ask it (The Syrian and Lebanese always increase the ptich. (Even in statements.) I just wonder why in the world do they do this?!) . However, I think the words are intonated by tones not pitches (mufakham and muraqaq as Tajweed learners call the tones.). For example, the r in ri YAD (Riyadh) is lighter (in tone) compared to the one in RA mi. There are pridectable rules, like (When R is maksorah or is sakinna but the letter before it is maksor or is sakinah in a word and in its origin (main word in the word family) it is maksorah, then make it low in tone. Ain't this true.)

Last edited by modernic2007 (2007-08-10 12:22:29)

*ACCENT QUIZ* Practice,practice,practice!

1)柿　牡蠣
2)紙　神
3)寝ろ　ネロ
4)買う　飼う
5)日本 二本
6)型　肩
7)酒　鮭
8)夜　寄る
10)山羊　八木
11)買った　勝った
12)クラブ(部活) クラブ(ダンスフロア)

Which is which? And sorry for the low quality sound.
Oops! I fogot No.9!
Well. I'll go to the Seven Eleven and buy a たけのこの里!

Last edited by bubblebath (2007-08-10 12:34:53)

1.　か↑き　か↓き
2.　か↑み　か↓み
3.　ね↑ろ　ね↓ろ
4.　か↓う　か↑う
5.　に↓ほん　にほん (last sounds like flat tone)
6.　か↑た　か↓た
7.　さ↓け　さ↑け
8.　よ↓る　よ↑る
10.　や↑ぎ　や↓ぎ
11.　か↑った　か↓った
12.　く↑ら↓ぶ　く↑らぶ

Wow, I have extreme difficulty with this. I have no association whatsoever between tone and word. I can at most recognise which accent you are using on the words. Even some of those I'm likely to mistake.

1)柿　牡蠣
０　１　→　柿　牡蠣

2)紙　神
０　１　→　紙　神

3)寝ろ　ネロ
０　１　→　　？

4)買う　飼う
１　０　→　飼う　買う

5)日本 二本
２　１　→　日本　二本

6)型　肩
０　１　→　型　肩

7)酒　鮭
１　０　→　鮭　酒

8)夜　寄る
１　０　→　夜　寄る

10)山羊　八木
０　１　→　八木　山羊

11)買った　勝った
０　１　→　勝った　買った

12)クラブ(部活) クラブ(ダンスフロア)
０　１　→　クラブ(ダンスフロア)　クラブ(部活)

This is something that's going to take a long time and a lot of effort It's just something soooo foreign to English. More so than any other aspect of Japanese IMO.

No, I'm saying exactly what I wrote. The accents are on 2 and 1 in those two words as he spoke them:
にほ↓ん HHL
に↓ほん HLL

For others out there who don't understand the various pitch accent indicator methods (I know you do Scout):

Take a 6 mora word: えんおうこく

０　＝　∅えんおうこく　→　ＬＨＨＨＨＨ
１　＝　え↓んおうこく　→　ＨＬＬＬＬＬ
２　＝　えん↓おうこく　→　ＬＨＬＬＬＬ
３　＝　えんお↓うこく　→　ＬＨＨＬＬＬ
４　＝　えんおう↓こく　→　ＬＨＨＨＬＬ
５　＝　えんおうこ↓く　→　ＬＨＨＨＨＬ
６　＝　えんおうこく↓　→　ＬＨＨＨＨＨ

Last edited by Faumdano (2007-08-10 15:56:11)

One question:
If you can raise your pitch in japanese to create a question, wouldn't that change the pitch of the word? Ex.　「読んでる。」　VS　「読んでる？」。　How about when you add か　Or　の？