How does adding 自体 to a noun affect the accent?


Examples phrases:

  * 料理自体
  * みそ自体
  * アメリカ自体
  * 鼻自体
  * 男自体
  * 食べたこと自体

My intuition is that the noun and 自体 are said as two separate words, both of
their accents being preserved. (I guess this would make sense
grammatically...?) Is this correct?

Is there any strong, predictable tendency? Are certain combinations more prone
to the initial word losing its accent?




自体 is not a suffix but an independent word, so you pronounce them as two
separate words, like:

  * りょうりじたい【HLLLHLL】
  * みそじたい【HLHLL】
  * アメリカじたい【LHHHHLL】
  * はなじたい【LHHLL】
  * おとこじたい【LHHHLL】
  * たべたことじたい【HLLLHHLL】 or たべたことじたい【HLLLLHLL】

In other words, 自体 has nothing to do with [this
phenomenon](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/56960/5010).




自体 is not a suffix but an independent word, so you pronounce them as two
separate words, like:

  * りょうりじたい【HLLLHLL】
  * みそじたい【HLHLL】
  * アメリカじたい【LHHHHLL】
  * はなじたい【LHHLL】
  * おとこじたい【LHHHLL】
  * たべたことじたい【HLLLHHLL】 or たべたことじたい【HLLLLHLL】

In other words, 自体 has nothing to do with [this
phenomenon](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/56960/5010).

