Aspects of the Pitch-Accent System of a Japanese Dialect: The Case of Ibuki-jrna, Kagawa-ken

Abstract

This is a brief report on the accent system of a unique dialect of Japanese, that of Ibuki-jima, Kan onji City, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan, which was the object of study for the author's Ph. D. dissertation. In the mid 1960's this dialect was discovered to maintain the same 5-way distinction for 2-mora nouns that is documented in the Ruijuumyougisho, a dictionary compiled in 1081. As described in Wada (1966b) not only does a 5-way distinction exist, but there is also a difference in the manifestation of the pitches between different age groups. Using the model for Japanese PitchAccent proposed in Pierrehumbert & Beckman (1988) sequences of the 3 -mora nouns were analyzed to determine the degree and manner that 'catathesis' applies in the dialect. We conclude that catathesis most likely does apply, but unlike Osaka, focus does not cause a lowering of the Fo for words that start Low. In emulation of Pierrehumbert & Beckman, the dissertation presents an algorithm for generating pitch contours for Ibuki accent classes using a set of parameters including, declination, maximum and minimum Fo levels, accent peaks as a percentage of available pitch range, focus increment, and catathesis. To demonstrate the validity of the algorithm, a computer program, IBUGEN, is used to produce contours which are matched with pitch extractions for actual utterances.