Accentual Variations in Derived Nouns Containing the Suffix -kata: Interference from Native Dialect Observed in the Frequency of De-accentuation

Abstract

This study examined the accentual variations in the form containing the suffix -kata utilizing the Corpus of Spontaneous Japanese. The result of our survey indicated that the variation that effect de-accentuation is more frequent than those that shift toward the accented pattern. A close examination of the data revealed that the occurrence of the de-accenting pattern by speakers from the Kinki district is more frequent than that of Tokyo speakers. Since -kata is a de-accenting morpheme in Kinki dialects, we can conclude that the interference from the native dialect is at work even in speech aiming at the Standard Japanese.