The Role of L in the Pitch Accent System of Tokyo Japanese

要旨

This paper demonstrates how L contributes in two different ways to the pitch pattern of nouns in Tokyo Japanese. First, L functions as a prosodic marker, signalling the left edge of prosodic word domains. And second, L (rather than H) functions as the marked tonal property. It is argued that a lexical accent is cued by a fall in pitch, represented as a lexical L on the accented mora preceded by an unspecified (default H tone) mora. At the segmental level, L also represents the voicing contrast in Japanese obstruents. The result is a characterisation of Japanese as a language in which L dominates throughout the phonology.

主題