Pitch Accent of ありがとうございます According to Forvo


One of the first things you learn in Japanese is that the proper pitch accent
of ありがとう has the step-down after り (in standard dialect). But if you listen to
the pronunciations on Forvo (and more generally, but Forvo will do), the pitch
of が tends to be at the same level as り、if not slightly higher, followed by a
drop (which is sometimes not so steep compared to the drop on the long vowel).
This is confirmed by analyzing the numerous recordings in Praat. In none of
them, regardless of region, does り actually seem to take the accent.

Please note that this is not just my ears saying the pitch is different from
what it "should" be - I'm attaching a few of the Praat spectrums for
ありがとうございます to show what I mean. In all cases, the highest pitch occurs with が.
Even if you look at ありがとう by itself the same pattern emerges. Note that some
speakers will also use the pitch pattern 低高高高低 as well, but never 低高低低低 as it
is "supposed" to be. So my question is, why is the "correct" pitch accent
rarely used, or am I just missing something? It seems more likely to me that
rather than every accent dictionary in existence being incorrect, I am
mistaken in one thing or another, and I would be happy to find out what that
is.

[![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8FyVb.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/8FyVb.png)

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/nkFlK.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/nkFlK.png)[![enter
image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/epGRb.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/epGRb.png)




This will be a somewhat unrigorous answer (since that’s faster to write), but
basically there’s a layer of interpretation that your mind does on the pitch,
where it’s actually not just the height of the pitch that matters, but the
direction of the pitch change throughout the mora that matters.

For example

> わざわざ  
>  ／＼＿＿

or even

> わざわざ  
>  ／￣＼＿

will generally get interpreted as HLLL

Of course a clear

> わざわざ  
>  ＿￣＿＿

sounds like LHLL and entirely wrong.

In other words, when there are slides in the pitch, it causes an “fuzzy”
accent kernel, which the listener’s brain will then just place in the right
spot.

As far as ありがとうございます on forvo goes, they all unambiguously sound accented on
the り to me (aside from a kansaiben recording in there). The が might be high
in pitch but as long as it’s sliding downwards there’s no way it will be
interpreted as the accent kernel.




This will be a somewhat unrigorous answer (since that’s faster to write), but
basically there’s a layer of interpretation that your mind does on the pitch,
where it’s actually not just the height of the pitch that matters, but the
direction of the pitch change throughout the mora that matters.

For example

> わざわざ  
>  ／＼＿＿

or even

> わざわざ  
>  ／￣＼＿

will generally get interpreted as HLLL

Of course a clear

> わざわざ  
>  ＿￣＿＿

sounds like LHLL and entirely wrong.

In other words, when there are slides in the pitch, it causes an “fuzzy”
accent kernel, which the listener’s brain will then just place in the right
spot.

As far as ありがとうございます on forvo goes, they all unambiguously sound accented on
the り to me (aside from a kansaiben recording in there). The が might be high
in pitch but as long as it’s sliding downwards there’s no way it will be
interpreted as the accent kernel.

