3

I have a question regarding pitch accent of 二回. As far as I am aware of ~回　accent goes ~か\い. However tokoboto and japandict shows 二回 as (に/かい) and ojad lists it as (にか\い) like I expected it to be. So I moved a step further and check native recordings on forvo, 二回(https://forvo.com/word/%E4%BA%8C%E5%9B%9E/#ja) pronounced by "kaoring" which sounds for me like a 中高 word, however few people told me that for them it's obvious 平板. So I confronted ot with 二階 which I'm certain is 平板:(https://forvo.com/word/%E4%BA%8C%E9%9A%8E/#ja)[there is even reading by the same person "kaoring"], which sounds different than the 二回, more 平板-like. Now, there are two spectrograms made by reddit u/AdrixG, for 二回 二回 and second for 二階 (there are more pronunciations of this word on forvo so there are 4 spectrograms二階 In my opinion it's clearly visible that one the first picture pitch on last mora goes back to the pitch of the first mora(LHL), and the second one although goes down is higher than the first mora of the word 二階(LHH). Which leads to my question: what is the pitch accent of 二回?

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

As a standalone word, it’s 中高.

二回です。([にかいです]{LHLLL})

However, it may get flattened when it’s used adverbially before a verb.

二回します。([にかいします]{LHHHHL})

Retaining the original pitch also sounds acceptable to me.

二回します。([にかいします]{LHLLLL})

When the number is such that か is already low, as in 二十回, the pitch tends to remain unchanged.

二十回します。([にじゅっかいします]{LHHHLLLLL})

Improve this answer
1
  • You write that it might get flattened so it won't always get flattened? I made some more research in the meantime and found this Here also it's stated that it changes.
    – SuperSix
    Commented Feb 26 at 7:07

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .