Japanese

Etymology

Compound of (heiban, "flat; monotone") +‎ ? (gata, "type")

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ? [hèébá?gátá] (Heiban - [0])
• IPA^(key): [he?:bãa?ta?]

Noun

 () o (heiban-gata)

1. (phonetics) monotone type:

   The most common pitch accent pattern in "standard" Japanese or ? ()? ()? (?) (hy?jungo), as used in the mass media, where no syllable is accented: the first syllable has a low pitch and all subsequent syllables have a higher, gradually lowering pitch.

Usage notes

All accent patterns in Japanese may be described as either  () (heiban-shiki) or ? (?) (?) (kifuku-shiki). While ? (?) (?) (kifuku-shiki) is further divided into ? () (?) (atamadaka-gata),  () (nakadaka-gata), and ? (?) (?) (odaka-gata), there are no subcategories to  () (heiban-shiki). When contrasting with ? () (?) (atamadaka-gata),  () (nakadaka-gata), or ? (?) (?) (odaka-gata), it is customary to use the word  () (heiban-gata) to avoid the inconsistency of comparing ? () (-gata) with ? () (-shiki).

Synonyms

•  () (heiban-shiki)

See also

• ? () (?) (atamadakagata)
•  () (nakadakagata)
• ? (?) (?) (odakagata)