1) It can change meaning
Pitch accent is closely tied to a speaker’s regional dialect.
Japanese is not like Mandarin where every word’s tone changes meaning.
Still, some words can be heard as different words depending on pitch/intonation, so the wrong pattern can cause confusion.
Word | Pitch | Meaning |
橋（はし） | は↗︎し | bridge 🌉 |
箸（はし） | は↘︎し | chopsticks 🥢 |
飴（あめ） | あ↗︎め | candy 🍬 |
雨（あめ） | あ↘︎め | rain ☔️ |
2) It reveals where you’re from
Even when it doesn’t affect the meaning of a word, you can often tell whether someone is from that region just by hearing their pitch accent.
Let’s hear an example sentence in 3 different dialects.
今日は雨だから、あまり外に出たくないけど、友だちに誘われたから行こうと思う。
[きょう は あめ だから、あまり そと に でたくない けど、ともだち に さそわれた から いこう と おもう]
(It’s raining today, so I don’t really feel like going out, but a friend asked me, so I think I’ll go.)
Standard Japanese
Kansai dialect
Shimane dialect
Made with Bullet