Chapter 2. Early compound accent in Japanese Tōkyō -type dialects
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Elisabeth M. de Boer✝
Abstract
Japanese pitch accent is of great interest to historical linguists due to its relative stability. Japanese dialects can be grouped into accent types and subtypes, and their similarities may in some cases point to historical connections between populations. One common accentual behaviour is found in noun compounding: All dialects of the widespread Tōkyō-type are said to have similar rules for deriving compound accent from component nouns. The rules imply that the accent of a compound never occurs before its morpheme boundary. We have, however, found instances of such accents in our fieldwork. We discuss the historical interpretation of this anomalous finding, in the context of the ERC Japanese Prehistoric Migrations project, which aims to illuminate ancient population movements through linguistic evidence.
Abstract
Japanese pitch accent is of great interest to historical linguists due to its relative stability. Japanese dialects can be grouped into accent types and subtypes, and their similarities may in some cases point to historical connections between populations. One common accentual behaviour is found in noun compounding: All dialects of the widespread Tōkyō-type are said to have similar rules for deriving compound accent from component nouns. The rules imply that the accent of a compound never occurs before its morpheme boundary. We have, however, found instances of such accents in our fieldwork. We discuss the historical interpretation of this anomalous finding, in the context of the ERC Japanese Prehistoric Migrations project, which aims to illuminate ancient population movements through linguistic evidence.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editors’ introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Signs of prehistoric language shifts involving Unangam Tunuu (Aleut) 8
- Chapter 2. Early compound accent in Japanese Tōkyō -type dialects 36
- Chapter 3. Phylogenetic signal in the lexicon 59
- Chapter 4. Solving Galton’s problem 74
- Chapter 5. Re-examining initial geminates 109
- Chapter 6. Recurrent change in pronouns 146
- Chapter 7. The role of geography and migration in the branching and spread of the Japonic language family 172
- Chapter 8. Iconicity principles from an evolutionary perspective 194
- Chapter 9. Modality across semantic spaces 216
- Chapter 10. Something out of nothing 240
- Chapter 11. The diachronic development of postverbal dé 得 in Chinese 260
- Chapter 12. Food, contact phenomena and reconstruction in Oriental Berber 283
- Chapter 13. A cognitive-typological perspective on the origins of causative‑applicative polysemy 330
- Index 367
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Editors’ introduction 1
- Chapter 1. Signs of prehistoric language shifts involving Unangam Tunuu (Aleut) 8
- Chapter 2. Early compound accent in Japanese Tōkyō -type dialects 36
- Chapter 3. Phylogenetic signal in the lexicon 59
- Chapter 4. Solving Galton’s problem 74
- Chapter 5. Re-examining initial geminates 109
- Chapter 6. Recurrent change in pronouns 146
- Chapter 7. The role of geography and migration in the branching and spread of the Japonic language family 172
- Chapter 8. Iconicity principles from an evolutionary perspective 194
- Chapter 9. Modality across semantic spaces 216
- Chapter 10. Something out of nothing 240
- Chapter 11. The diachronic development of postverbal dé 得 in Chinese 260
- Chapter 12. Food, contact phenomena and reconstruction in Oriental Berber 283
- Chapter 13. A cognitive-typological perspective on the origins of causative‑applicative polysemy 330
- Index 367
