Re: Japanese Speech

From: Louise Bremner (dame_zumari_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 10/23/04 

Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 04:47:24 GMT

MM <mark24173@hotmail.com> wrote:

> "Anthony J. Bryant" <ajbryant_NOSPAM@indiana.edu> wrote in message
> news:<cksn2d$q59$1@hood.uits.indiana.edu>...
> > Michael Cash wrote:
> >
> > > I admire you. I was never able to pick up on that. Despite having been
> > > to Japan three times, it still remains a total mystery to me, and
> > > probably always will.
> >
> > Obviously, Michael, what you need to do is spend a lot of time in Japan.
> > Maybe get a job there, too... something that would allow you to travel
> > around the country a bit to encounter all sorts of regional accents.
> > Then you'd have the experience with hearing all varieties of Japanese
> > and would be better able to talk about the HLL phenomenon.
>
>
> I've been living and working in Japan for about 14 months now, and I
> spent around two and a half years studying the language (from native
> speakers) before coming here. In all that time, I've never come across
> this High and Low concept, and it hasn't made any difference in my
> ability to communicate with the Japanese. It may be a useful thing to
> study if you want to be able to sound like a native, or indeed to
> understand more about the language in theory, but in terms of
> communicative ability, I don't think it has a great deal of relevance.

You must have a good ear and so can mimic the sounds you hear native
speakers produce. You probably are using the HLL stuff, but without
realising it.

But there are some people who seem unable to copy sounds exactly as
given, so the pitch markings are supposed to help them. (Mind you, I
feel that someone so cloth-eared wouldn't be able to know what to do
with a LH switch if it jumped up and on him making *pi* *po* sounds....)

________________________________________________________________________
                   Louise Bremner (log at gol dot com)
   If you want a reply by e-mail, don't write to my Yahoo address!

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