Tonal Alternations of the Kitagata Dialect in Awara City, Fukui Prefecture

Abstract

In Awara City, Fukui Pref., the author conducted fieldwork and found that the dialect of Kitagata has a unique 3-pattern accent (tone) system which differs substantially in pitch realization from the systems of the surrounding dialects. This paper outlines the major characteristics of the system and describes a tonal change which causes each of two juxtaposed phrases to undergo tonal alternation depending on the context; for instance, hà-gá ʻleaf-nomʼ and dètá ʻcame outʼ become hà-gà détà ‘Leaves came out.’ As for the historical relationship with other dialects, the merger pattern of the accent classes of the Kitagata dialect shows a close affinity to the dialect of Kokonogi in Echizen Town (Nitta 2012).