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)