Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleGoetz
There aren't really any rules, right? I mean in the "I before E, except after C and when sounding like A as in neighbor and weigh" sense of rules. It's completely random for each word? So I can't memorize some simple rules, right? I'd have to basically learn all over again for every new word?
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There are no rules, period. Words are pronounced differently in each dialect to start with, which is why I said
"Standard Japanese" in my opening post. In each dialect, the pitch accent on each word has been determined arbitrarily in its early developement just as words themselves (their sound combinations) were arbitrary.
The reason that I created this thread is that I have been watching many Youtube videos in which Japanese-learners speak Japanese and I have become so certain that many of these people are simply unaware of the existence of pitch accent and therefore are placing random accents or speaking just flatly. These habbits can make it very difficult for us native speakers to understand what they are saying.