View source for Pitch-accent language

{{short description|Language that uses pitch changes for accent}}
{{redirect|Pitch accent|pitch accent in music|Accent (music)|intonational pitch accent|Pitch accent (intonation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
{{IPA notice}}
A '''pitch-accent language''' is a type of language that, when spoken, has certain [[syllable]]s in words or [[morpheme]]s that are prominent, as indicated by a distinct contrasting [[pitch (music)|pitch]] ([[tone (linguistics)|linguistic tone]]) rather than by volume or length, as in some other languages like [[English language|English]]. Pitch-accent languages also contrast with fully [[tonal languages]] like [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], [[Thai language|Thai]] and [[Standard Chinese]], in which practically every syllable can have an independent tone. Some scholars have claimed that the term "pitch accent" is not coherently defined and that pitch-accent languages are a sub-category of tonal languages in general.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Larry |last=Hyman |url=http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~hyman/papers/2006-hyman-word.pdf |title=Word-Prosodic Typology |journal=Phonology |year=2006 |volume=23 |issue=2 |pp=225-257 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/S0952675706000893}}</ref>

Languages that have been described as pitch-accent languages include: most dialects of [[Serbo-Croatian]], [[Slovene language|Slovene]], [[Baltic languages]], [[Ancient Greek]], [[Vedic Sanskrit]], [[Tlingit language|Tlingit]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Limburgish]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]] of [[Sweden]], Western [[Basque language|Basque]],<ref name="Hualde86">{{cite journal |last=Hualde |first=J. I. |year=1986 |url=http://www.ehu.eus/ojs/index.php/ASJU/article/viewFile/7813/7007 |title=Tone and Stress in Basque: A Preliminary Survey |journal=Anuario del Seminario Julio de Urquijo (ASJU) |volume=XX |issue=3 |pp=867-896 |issn=2444-2992 |doi=10.1387/asju.7813 |doi-broken-date=7 September 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228174920/http://www.ehu.eus/ojs/index.php/ASJU/article/viewFile/7813/7007 |archive-date=28 December 2018|doi-access=free }}</ref> [[Yaqui language|Yaqui]],<ref name="Demers99">{{cite journal|last1=Demers |first1=Richard |last2=Escalante |first2=Fernando |last3=Jelinik |first3=Eloise |year=1999 |title=Prominence in Yaqui Words |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=40–55 |jstor=1265972 |doi=10.1086/466375 |s2cid=144693748}}</ref> certain dialects of [[Korean language|Korean]], [[Shanghainese]],{{sfnp|Chen|2000|p=223}} and [[Livonian language|Livonian]].

Pitch-accent languages tend to fall into two categories: those with a single pitch-contour (for example, high, or high{{ndash}}low) on the accented syllable, such as Tokyo [[Japanese language|Japanese]], Western [[Basque language|Basque]], or [[Persian language|Persian]]; and those in which more than one pitch-contour can occur on the accented syllable, such as [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]], or [[Serbo-Croatian]]. In this latter kind, the accented syllable is also often stressed another way.

Some of the languages considered pitch-accent languages, in addition to accented words, also have accentless words (e.g., [[Japanese language|Japanese]] and Western [[Basque language|Basque]]); in others all major words are accented (e.g., [[Blackfoot language|Blackfoot]] and [[Barasana-Eduria language|Barasana]]).<ref name="Levi">{{Cite journal |last=Levi |first=Susannah V. |year=2005 |title=Acoustic correlates of lexical accent in Turkish |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231963635_Acoustic_correlates_of_lexical_accent_in_Turkish |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=73–97 |doi=10.1017/S0025100305001921 |s2cid=145460722 |issn=1475-3502}}</ref>

The term "pitch accent" is also used to denote a different feature, namely the use of pitch when speaking to give selective [[prominence (phonetics)|prominence]] (accent) to a [[syllable]] or [[mora (linguistics)|mora]] within a [[phrase]].{{sfnp|Gordon|2014|pp=84–5}}

==Characteristics of pitch-accent languages==
===Definitions===
Scholars give various definitions of a pitch-accent language. A typical definition is as follows: "Pitch-accent systems [are] systems in which one syllable is more prominent than the other syllables in the same word, a prominence that is achieved by means of pitch" ({{harvnb|Zanten|Dol|2010|p=120}}). That is to say, in a pitch-accent language, in order to indicate how a word is pronounced it is necessary, as with a stress-accent language, to mark only one syllable in a word as accented, not specify the tone of every syllable. This feature of having only one prominent syllable in a word or morpheme is known as ''culminativity''.{{sfnp|Downing|2010|p=411}}

Another property suggested for pitch-accent languages to distinguish them from stress languages is that "Pitch accent languages must satisfy the criterion of having ''invariant tonal contours'' on accented syllables ... This is not so for pure stress languages, where the tonal contours of stressed syllables can vary freely" ({{harvnb|Hayes|1995|p=50}}). Although this is true of many pitch-accent languages, there are others, such as the [[Franconian (linguistics)|Franconian dialects]], in which the contours vary, for example between declarative and interrogative sentences.<ref name="Köhnlein"/>

According to another proposal, pitch-accent languages ''can only use F0'' (i.e., pitch) to mark the accented syllable, whereas stress languages may also use duration and intensity ({{harvnb|Beckman|1986}}). However, other scholars disagree, and find that intensity and duration can also play a part in the accent of pitch-accent languages ({{harvnb|Levi|2005}}).

A feature considered characteristic of stress-accent languages is that a stress-accent is ''obligatory'', that is, that every major word has to have an accent.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hyman |first=Larry M. |year=2012 |title=Do all languages have word-accent? |url=http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/phonlab/documents/2012/Hyman_UConn_Accent_Rev_PLAR.pdf |journal=UC Berkeley PhonLab Annual Report |volume=8 |pp=32–54 |doi=10.5070/P70956402p}}</ref>{{rp|p=35}} This is not always true of pitch-accent languages, some of which, like Japanese and Northern Bizkaian Basque, have accentless words. But there are also some pitch-accent languages in which every word has an accent.<ref name=Levi />

One feature shared between pitch-accent languages and stress-accent languages is ''demarcativeness'': prominence peaks tend to occur at or near morpheme edges (word/stem initial, word/stem penult, word/stem final).{{sfnp|Downing|Mtenje|2017|p=133}}

Often, however, the difference between a pitch-accent language, a stress-accent language, and tonal language is not clear. "It is, in fact, often not straightforward to decide whether a particular pitch system is best described as tonal or accentual. ... Since raised pitch, especially when it coincides with vowel length, makes a syllable perceptually more prominent, it can often require detailed phonetic and phonological analysis to disentangle whether pitch is playing a more stress-like or a more tone-like role in a particular language" ({{harvnb|Downing|2010|p=382}}).

{{harvtxt|Hyman|2009}} argues that tone is made up of a variety of different typological features, which can be mixed and matched with some independence from each other. Hyman claims that there can be no coherent definition of pitch-accent, as the term describes languages that have non-prototypical combinations of tone system properties (or both a tone system, usually still non-prototypical, and a stress system simultaneously). Since all pitch-accent languages can be analysed just as well in purely tonal terms, in Hyman's view, the term "pitch-accent" should be superseded by a wider understanding of what qualifies as a tone system - thus, all "pitch-accent" languages are tone languages, and there is simply more variety within tone systems than has historically been admitted.<ref name=Hyman2009>{{cite journal |first=Larry| last=Hyman| year=2009 | url=http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~hyman/papers/2009-hyman-pitchaccent.pdf |title=How (not) to do phonological typology: the case of pitch-accent |journal=Language Sciences |volume=31 |issue=2-3 |pp=213-238 |doi=10.1016/j.langsci.2008.12.007}}</ref>

===Characteristics of the accent===
====High vs. low accent====
When one particular tone is marked in a language in contrast to unmarked syllables, it is usual for it to be a high tone. There are, however, a few languages in which the marked tone is a low tone, for example the [[Dogrib language]] of northwestern Canada,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hyman |first=L. |date=12-16 December 2000 |title=Privative Tone in Bantu |url=https://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~hyman/Privative_Tone_Tokyo_A4.pdf |journal=Symposium on Tone |location=Tokyo}} (draft)</ref> [[Kansai dialect|the Kansai dialect of Japanese]], and certain Bantu languages of the Congo such as [[Luba-Kasai language|Ciluba]] and [[Ruund language|Ruund]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Nash |first=J.A. |year=1994 |url=https://journals.flvc.org/sal/article/view/107413/102733 |title=Underlying Low Tones in Ruwund |journal=Studies in African Linguistics |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=223–278 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423232732/https://journals.linguisticsociety.org/elanguage/sal/article/download/1296/1296-2281-1-PB.pdf |archive-date=23 April 2018 |doi=10.32473/sal.v23i3.107413|doi-access=free }}</ref>

====Disyllabic accents====
One difference between a pitch accent and a stress accent is that it is not uncommon for a pitch accent to be realised over two syllables. Thus in [[Serbo-Croatian]], the difference between a "rising" and a "falling" accent is observed only in the pitch of the syllable following the accent: the accent is said to be "rising" if the following syllable is as high as or higher than the accented syllable, but "falling" if it is lower (see [[Serbo-Croatian phonology#Pitch accent]]).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zec |first1=D. |last2=Zsiga |first2=E. |author-link2=Elizabeth Zsiga |year=2010 |url=https://zsigaedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/zec_zsiga_interactiontonestressserbian_fasl18_2010.pdf |title=Interaction of Tone and Stress in Standard Serbian |journal=Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics |volume=18 |pp=535–555 |location=Ann Arbor |publisher=Michigan Slavic Publications}}</ref>

In [[Vedic Sanskrit]], the ancient Indian grammarians described the accent as being a high pitch ({{IAST|udātta}}) followed by a falling tone ({{IAST|svarita}}) on the following syllable; but occasionally, when two syllables had merged, the high tone and the falling tone were combined on one syllable.{{sfnp|Whitney|1889|loc=§§81–3}}{{sfnp|Allen|1987|p=121}}

In [[Swedish language|Standard Swedish]], the difference between accent 1 and accent 2 can only be heard in words of two or more syllables, since the tones take two syllables to be realised. In [[Värmland]] as well as [[Norrland]] accent 1 and 2 can be heard in monosyllabic words however. In the central Swedish dialect of [[Stockholm]], citation forms of words with accent 1 have a LHL contour and a HLHL contour when marked with accent 2, with an additional peak in the second syllable.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Tomas |last=Riad |year=2006 |url=https://www.su.se/polopoly_fs/1.29915.1320939951!/RiadStuf2006.pdf |title=Scandinavian accent typology |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808231941/http://www.su.se/polopoly_fs/1.29915.1320939951!/RiadStuf2006.pdf |archive-date=8 August 2017 |journal=STUF - Language Typology and Universals |volume=59 |issue=1 |location=Berlin |pages=36–55}}</ref>{{rp|pp=38–9}}

In [[Welsh language|Welsh]], in most words the accent is realised as a low tone on the penultimate syllable (which is also stressed) followed by a high tone on the final; but in some dialects this LH contour may take place entirely within the penultimate syllable.{{sfnp|Cooper|2015|p=165}}

Similarly in the [[Chewa language|Chichewa]] language of Malawi a tone on a final syllable often spreads backwards to the penultimate syllable, so that the word {{lang|ny|Chichew'''á'''}} is actually pronounced ''Chich<u>ēw'''ā'''</u>'' with two mid-tones,{{sfnp|Louw|1987|pp=22, 60}} or ''Chichěw'''ā''''', with a rising tone on the penultimate syllable. Sentence-finally it can become ''Chich<u>ěwà</u>'' with a rising tone on the penultimate and a low tone on the final.{{sfnp|Downing|Mtenje|2017|p=119}}<ref name="Hyman07">{{cite journal |last=Hyman |first=L.M. |year=2007 |title=Tone: Is it different? |journal=UC Berkeley PhonLab Annual Report |url=https://linguistics.berkeley.edu/phonlab/documents/2007/Hyman_Blackwell_Tone_PLAR.pdf}} (draft)</ref>{{rp|p=500}}

====Peak delay====
A phenomenon observed in a number of languages, both fully tonal ones and those with pitch-accent systems, is peak delay.{{sfnp|Yip|2002|pp=8–9}} In this, the high point (peak) of a high tone does not synchronise exactly with the syllable itself, but is reached at the beginning of the following syllable, giving the impression that the high tone has spread over two syllables. The Vedic Sanskrit accent described above has been interpreted as an example of peak delay.<ref name="Beguš16" />

====One-mora accents====
Conversely, a pitch accent in some languages can target just part of a syllable, if the syllable is [[mora (linguistics)|bi-moraic]]. Thus in [[Luganda]], in the word {{lang|lg|Abag'''â'''nda}} "Baganda people" the accent is considered to occur on the first mora of the syllable {{lang|lg|ga(n)}}, but in {{lang|lg|Bugá'''ń'''da}} "Buganda (region)" it occurs on the second half (with spreading back to the first half).{{sfnp|Kamoga|Stevick|1968|pp=ix–x}}{{sfnp|Dutcher|Paster|2008|p=?}} In Ancient Greek, similarly, in the word {{lang|grc|οἶκοι}} ({{grc-transl|'''οἶ'''κοι}}) "houses" the accent is on the first half of the syllable ''oi'', but in {{lang|grc|οἴκοι}} ({{grc-transl|'''οἴ'''κοι}}) "at home" on the second half.{{sfnp|Smyth|1984|at=§169}} An alternative analysis is to see Luganda and Ancient Greek as belonging to the type of languages where there is a choice of different contours on an accented syllable.

===High tone spread===
====Anticipation====
In some pitch-accent languages, the high pitch of the accent can be anticipated in the preceding syllable or syllables, for example, [[Japanese language|Japanese]] {{tlit|ja|at<u>ám'''á'''</u> ga}} "head", [[Basque language|Basque]] {{lang|eu|lag<u>únén am'''ú'''</u>ma}} "the friend's grandmother", [[Turkish language|Turkish]] {{lang|tr|<u>sínírl'''é'''n</u>meyecektiniz}} "you would not get angry",<ref name=Levi/> Belgrade [[Serbian language|Serbian]] {{lang|sr|<u>pápr'''í'''</u>ka}} "pepper",<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Inkelas |first1=Sharon |last2=Zec |first2=Draga |date=June 1988 |title=Serbo-Croatian Pitch Accent: The Interaction of Tone, Stress, and Intonation |journal=[[Language (journal)|Language]] |publisher=Linguistic Society of America |volume=64 |number=2 |pages=227-248 |doi=10.2307/415433}}</ref>{{rp|pp=230–1}} Ancient Greek {{lang|grc|<u>ápáít'''é'''</u>ì}} "it demands".<ref>[[Seikilos epitaph]] line 4. See also: {{cite journal |last1=Devine |first1=A.M. |last2=Stephens |first2=Laurence D. |year=1991 |title=Dionysius of Halicarnassus, De Compositione Verborum XI: Reconstructing the Phonetics of the Greek Accent |journal=Transactions of the American Philological Association |volume=121 |pages=229–286 |jstor=284454}}</ref>

====Forwards spreading====
Forwards spreading of a tone is also common in some languages. For example, in the [[Northern Ndebele language]] of Zimbabwe, the tonal accent on the prefix ''ú-'' spreads forward to all the syllables in the word except the last two: {{lang|nd|<u>'''ú'''kú</u>hleka}} "to laugh"; {{lang|nd|<u>'''ú'''kúhlékí</u>sana}} "to make one another laugh". Sometimes the sequence HHHH then becomes LLLH, so that in the related language [[Zulu language|Zulu]], the equivalent of these words is {{lang|zu|uk'''ú'''hleka}} and {{lang|zu|ukuhlek'''í'''sana}} with an accent shifted to the antepenultimate syllable.<ref name=Hyman07 />{{rp|p=498}}

In [[Yaqui]], the accent is signalled by an upstep before the accented syllable. The high pitch continues after the accent, declining slightly, until the next accented syllable.<ref name="Hagberg08" /> Thus it is the opposite of Japanese, where the accent is preceded by high pitch, and its position is signalled by a downstep after the accented syllable.

====Plateau between accents====
In other languages the high pitch of an accent, instead of dropping to a low on the following syllable, in some circumstances can continue in a plateau to the next accented syllable, as in [[Luganda]] {{lang|lg|k<u>'''í'''rí mú Búg'''áń'''</u>da}} "it is in Buganda" (contrast {{lang|lg|k'''í'''ri mu Bunyóró}} "it is in Bunyoro", in which ''Bunyóró'' is unaccented apart from automatic default tones).{{sfnp|Kamoga|Stevick|1968|pp=29, 105}}

Plateauing is also found in [[Chewa language|Chichewa]], where in some circumstances a sequence of HLH can change to HHH. For example, {{lang|ny|nd'''í'''}} + {{lang|ny|njing'''á'''}} "with a bicycle" makes {{lang|ny|nd<u>'''í''' njíng'''á'''</u>}} with a plateau.{{sfnp|Downing|Mtenje|2017|p=122}}

In Western [[Basque language|Basque]] and Luganda, the default high tones automatically added to accentless words can spread in a continuous plateau through the phrase as far as the first accent, for example, in Basque {{lang|eu|Jon<u>én lágúnén ám'''ú'''</u>ma}} "John's friend's grandmother",<ref name="Hualde06" />{{rp|page=161}} Luganda {{lang|lg|ab<u>ántú mú kíb'''ú'''</u>ga}} "people in the city".{{sfnp|Kamoga|Stevick|1968|p=xviii}}

===Simple pitch-accent languages===
According to the first two criteria above, the Tokyo dialect of [[Japanese language|Japanese]] is often considered a typical pitch-accent language, since the pronunciation of any word can be specified by marking just one syllable as accented, and in every word the accent is realised by a fall in pitch immediately after the accented syllable. In the examples below the accented syllable is marked in bold (the particle {{tlit|ja|ga}} indicates that the word is subject):<ref name=Hyman2009/>
*{{tlit|ja|m'''á'''kura ga}} "pillow"
*{{tlit|ja|an'''á'''ta ga}} "you"
*{{tlit|ja|atám'''á''' ga}} "head"
*{{tlit|ja|sakáná gá}} "fish" (unaccented)

In Japanese there are also other high-toned syllables, which are added to the word automatically, but these do not count as accents, since they are not followed by a low syllable. As can be seen, some of the words in Japanese have no accent.

In [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] and its descendant, [[Vedic Sanskrit]], the system is comparable to Tokyo Japanese and [[Cupeño language|Cupeño]] in most respects, specifying pronunciation through inherently accented morphemes such as {{lang|ine-x-proto|-ró-}} and {{lang|ine-x-proto|-tó-}} (Vedic {{IAST|-rá-}} and {{IAST|-tá-}}) and inherently unaccented morphemes.{{sfnp|Lundquist|Yates|2017|at=§3.1}} The examples below demonstrate the formation of such words using morphemes:
* PIE {{lang|ine-x-proto|/h{{sub|2}}erǵ-ró-(o)s/|italic=no}} > {{lang|ine-x-proto|*h{{sub|2}}r̥ǵrós}} "shining" (Vedic {{IAST|r̥jrás}})
* PIE {{lang|ine-x-proto|/ḱlew-tó-(o)s/|italic=no}} > {{lang|ine-x-proto|ḱlutós}} "heard (of), famous" (Vedic {{IAST|śrutás}})

If there are multiple accented morphemes, the accent is determined by specific morphophonological principles. Below is a comparison of Vedic, Tokyo Japanese and Cupeño regarding accent placement:
* Vedic {{IPA|/''gáv-ā́''/}} > {{IPA|''gáv-ā''}} "with the cow"
* Japanese {{IPA|/''yón-dára''/}} > {{IPA|''yón-dara''}} "if (he) reads"
* Cupeño {{IPA|/''ʔáyu-qá''/}} > {{IPA|''ʔáyu-qa''}} "(he) wants"

The [[Basque language|Basque]] language has a system very similar to Japanese. In some Basque dialects, as in Tokyo Japanese, there are accented and unaccented words; in other dialects all major words have an accent.<ref name="Hualde06" />{{rp|page=159}} As with Japanese, the accent in Basque consists of a high pitch followed by a fall on the next syllable.

[[Turkish language|Turkish]] is another language often considered a pitch-accent language (see [[Turkish phonology#Word-accent]]). In some circumstances, for example in the second half of a compound, the accent can disappear.

[[Persian language|Persian]] has also been called a pitch-accent language in recent studies, although the high tone of the accent is also accompanied by stress; and as with Turkish, in some circumstances the accent can be neutralised and disappear.<ref name="Abol">{{Cite journal |last1=Abolhasanizadeh |first1=Vahideh |last2=Bijankhan |first2=Mahmood |last3=Gussenhoven |first3=Carlos |year=2012 |title=The Persian pitch accent and its retention after the focus |journal=Lingua |language=en |volume=122 |issue=13 |pages=1380–1394 |doi=10.1016/j.lingua.2012.06.002}}</ref>{{sfnp|Sadat-Tehrani|2007|p=?}}<ref>{{harvp|Hosseini|2014|p=35}} ; 22f for a review of the literature</ref> Because the accent is both stressed and high-pitched, Persian can be considered intermediate between a pitch-accent language and a stress-accent language.

===More complex pitch accents===
In some simple pitch-accent languages, such as Ancient Greek, the accent on a long vowel or diphthong could be on either half of the vowel, making a contrast possible between a rising accent and a falling one; compare {{lang|grc|οἴκοι}} ({{grc-transl|'''οἴ'''κοι}}) "at home" vs. {{lang|grc|οἶκοι}} ({{grc-transl|'''οἶ'''κοι}}) "houses".{{sfnp|Smyth|1984|at=§169}} Similarly in [[Luganda]], in bimoraic syllables a contrast is possible between a level and falling accent: {{lang|lg|Bug'''áń'''da}} "Buganda (region)", vs. {{lang|lg|Abag'''â'''nda}} "Baganda (people)". However, such contrasts are not common or systematic in these languages.

In more complex types of pitch-accent languages, although there is still only one accent per word, there is a systematic contrast of more than one pitch-contour on the accented syllable, for example, H vs. HL in the Colombian language [[Barasana-Eduria language|Barasana]],<ref name=Levi /> accent 1 vs. accent 2 in [[Swedish language|Swedish]] and [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], rising vs. falling tone in [[Serbo-Croatian language|Serbo-Croatian]], and a choice between level (neutral), rising, and falling in [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]].

Other languages deviate from a simple pitch accent in more complicated ways. For example, in describing the [[Osaka]] dialect of [[Japanese language|Japanese]], it is necessary to specify not only which syllable of a word is accented, but also whether the initial syllable of the word is high or low.<ref name="Hyman2009"/>

In [[Luganda]] the accented syllable is usually followed immediately after the HL of the accent by an automatic default tone, slightly lower than the tone of the accent, e.g., {{lang|lg|t'''ú'''gend<u>á</u>}} "we are going"; however, there are some words such as {{lang|lg|b'''á'''lilab<u>á</u>}} "they will see", where the automatic default tone does not follow the accent immediately but after an interval of two or three syllables. In such words it is therefore necessary to specify not only which syllable has the accent, but where the default tone begins.<ref name="Hyman93">{{Cite journal |last1=Hyman |first1=Larry M. |first2=Francis X. |last2=Katamba |year=1993 |title=A new approach to tone in Luganda |journal=Language |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=33–67 |jstor=416415}}</ref>{{rp|pp=36, 45}}

Because of the number of ways languages can use tone, some linguists, such as the tonal languages specialist [[Larry Hyman]], argue that the category "pitch-accent language" can have no coherent definition, and that all such languages should simply be referred to as "tonal languages".<ref name=Hyman2009 />

==Languages==
===Proto-Indo-European===
{{main|Proto-Indo-European accent}} 
The theoretical proto-language [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]], the putative ancestor of most European, Iranian and North Indian languages, is usually reconstructed to have been a free pitch-accent system. ("Free" here refers to the position of the accent since its position was unpredictable by [[Proto-Indo-European phonology|phonological rules]] and so could be on any syllable of a word, regardless of its structure.) From comparisons with the surviving [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] daughter languages, it is generally believed that the accented syllable was higher in pitch than the surrounding syllables. Among daughter languages, a pitch-accent system is found in Vedic Sanskrit, Ancient Greek, the Baltic languages and some South Slavic languages, although none of them preserves the original system intact.{{sfnp|Fortson|2004|p=62}}

===Vedic Sanskrit===
{{main|Vedic accent}}
[[Vedic Sanskrit]], the earliest form of the Indian language [[Sanskrit]], is believed to have had a pitch accent that was very similar to that of ancestor language Proto-Indo-European. Most words had exactly one accented syllable, but there were some unaccented words, such as finite verbs of main clauses, non-initial [[Vocative case|vocatives]], and certain pronouns and particles. Occasionally, a compound word occurred with two accents: {{tlit|vsn|'''á'''pa-bhart'''á'''vai}} "to take away".<ref name="Beguš16">{{cite journal |last=Beguš |first=Gašper |year=2016 |url=https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/begus/files/begus_the_phonetics_of_independent_svarita_in_vedic.pdf |title=The Phonetics of the Independent Svarita in Vedic |editor-last1=Jamison |editor-first1=Stephanie W. |editor-link1=Stephanie_W._Jamison |editor-last2=Melchert |editor-first2=H. Craig |editor-last3=Vine |editor-first3=Brent |journal=Proceedings of the 26th Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference |location=Bremen |publisher=Hempen |pages=1–12}}</ref>

The ancient Indian grammarians describe the accented syllable as being "raised" ({{IAST|udātta}}), and it appears that it was followed in the following syllable by a downwards glide, which the grammarians refer to as "sounded" ({{IAST|svarita}}). In some cases, language change merged an accented syllable with a following svarita syllable, and the two were combined in a single syllable, known as "independent svarita".

The precise descriptions of ancient Indian grammarians imply that the {{IAST|udātta}} was characterised by rising pitch and the {{IAST|svarita}} by falling pitch. In the tradition represented by the [[Rigveda]], a collection of hymns, the highest point of the accent appears not to have been reached until the beginning of the {{IAST|svarita}} syllable. In other words, it was an example of "peak delay" (see above).<ref name="Beguš16" />

In the later stages of Sanskrit, the pitch accent was lost and a stress accent remained. The stress in Sanskrit, however, was weaker than that in English and not free but predictable. The stress was heard on the penultimate syllable of the word if it was heavy, on the antepenultimate if the antepenultimate was heavy and the penultimate light, and otherwise on the pre-antepenultimate.{{sfnp|Ruppell|2017|pp=25–6}}
===Ancient Greek===
{{Main|Ancient Greek accent}}
In [[Ancient Greek]], one of the final three syllables of a word carried an accent. Each syllable contained one or two [[vowel|vocalic]] [[mora (linguistics)|morae]], but only one can be accented, and accented morae were pronounced at a higher pitch. In [[polytonic orthography]], accented vowels were marked with the [[acute accent]]. Long vowels and [[diphthong]]s are thought to have been bimoraic and, if the accent falls on the first mora, were marked with the [[circumflex]]. Long vowels and diphthongs that were accented on the first mora had a high–low (falling) [[pitch contour]] and, if accented on the second mora, may have had a low–high (rising) pitch contour:

{|
|-
| {{lang|grc|γάλα}} || {{IPA|el|ɡ'''á'''la|}} || "milk" || short accented vowel
|-
| {{lang|grc|γῆ}} || {{IPA|[ɡ'''ɛ́͜ɛ''']}} || "earth" || long vowel accented on the first mora
|-
| {{lang|grc|ἐγώ}} || {{IPA|[eɡ'''ɔ͜ɔ́''']}} || "I" || long vowel accented on the second mora
|-
| colspan="3" | [[File:Grc-γάλα, γῆ, ἐγώ.ogg|thumb|recording of {{lang|grc|γάλα}}, {{lang|grc|γῆ}}, {{lang|grc|ἐγώ}}]] ||
|}

The Ancient Greek accent was melodic, as is suggested by descriptions by ancient grammarians but also by fragments of Greek music such as the [[Seikilos epitaph]], in which most words are set to music that coincides with the accent. For example, the first syllable of the word {{lang|grc|φαίνου}} ({{grc-transl|φαίνου}}) is set to three notes rising in pitch, the middle syllable of {{lang|grc|ὀλίγον}} ({{grc-transl|ὀλίγον}}) is higher in pitch than the other two syllables, and the circumflex accent of {{lang|grc|ζῆν}} ({{grc-transl|ζῆν}}) has two notes, the first a third higher than the second.{{sfnp|Allen|1987|pp=116–120}}

In addition to the two accents mentioned above (the acute and the circumflex), Ancient Greek also had a grave accent. It was used only on the last syllable of words, as an alternative to an acute. The acute was used when the word was cited in isolation or came before a pause, such as a comma or a full stop, or an [[clitic|enclitic]]. Otherwise, a grave was written. The exact interpretation of the grave is disputed: it may have indicated that the accent was completely suppressed or that it was partly suppressed but not entirely absent.{{sfnp|Probert|2003|p=17}}

By comparing the position of the Ancient Greek and Vedic Sanskrit accents, the accent of the ancestor language Proto-Indo-European can often be reconstructed. For example, in the declension of the word for "father" in these two languages, the position of the accent in some cases is identical:{{sfnp|Allen|1987|p=117}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Case !! Ancient Greek !! Vedic Sanskrit
|-
| Nominative sg. || {{lang|grc|πατήρ}} ({{grc-transl|πατ'''ή'''ρ}}) || {{IAST|pit'''ā'''}}
|-
| Vocative sg. || {{lang|grc|πάτερ}} ({{grc-transl|π'''ά'''τερ}}) || {{IAST|p'''i'''tar}}
|-
| Accusative sg. || {{lang|grc|πατέρα}} ({{grc-transl|πατ'''έ'''ρα}}) || {{IAST|pit'''a'''ram}}
|-
| Dative sg. || {{lang|grc|πατρί}} ({{grc-transl|πατρ'''ί'''}}) || {{IAST|pitr'''ē'''}}
|-
| Dative pl. || {{lang|grc|πατράσι}} ({{grc-transl|πατρ'''ά'''σι}}) || {{IAST|pit'''r'''su}} (locative)
|}

In later stages of Greek, the accent changed from a pitch accent to a stress accent, but remained largely on the same syllable as in Ancient Greek. The change is thought to have taken place by the 4th century AD.{{sfnp|Allen|1987|p=130}} Thus, the word {{lang|grc|ἄνθρωπος}} ({{grc-transl|ἄνθρωπος}}) ("man, person"), which is believed to have been pronounced in ancient times with the first syllable always higher than the other two, is now pronounced with the first syllable either higher or lower than the other two.

===Baltic languages===
Two languages of the [[Baltic languages|Baltic]] branch of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] family survive today: [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] and [[Latvian language|Latvian]]. (Another Baltic language, [[Old Prussian]], died out in the 18th century.) Both languages have a tonal accent that is believed to derive from the ancestral [[Proto-Indo-European language]].

[[File:Baltic tones.svg|thumb|right|Possible relationships<br />between Baltic tones<ref>{{cite journal |author =Oleg Poljakov |year=1997 |title=Über Herkunft und Entwicklung der Silbenakzente im Lettischen |url=https://www.baltistica.lt/index.php/baltistica/article/view/402/357 |lang=de |journal=Baltistica |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=57–69 |doi=10.15388/baltistica.32.1.402|doi-access=free }}</ref>{{rp|at=Fig.1}}]]
Baltic tones are often classified as either "acute" or "circumflex". However, these labels indicate a [[Diachrony|diachronic]] correspondence rather than a phonetic one. For example, the "acute" accent is falling in [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] but a high level tone in [[Latvian language|Latvian]] and is presumed to have been rising in [[Old Prussian]] and [[Classical Greek]]. The "circumflex" is rising in Lithuanian but falling in Latvian, Prussian and Classical Greek.{{sfnp|Dahl|Koptjevskaja-Tamm|2001|p=736}}

In the tree diagram on the right, as adopted from Poljakov, names for (original) Baltic tones have been equated with those of modern Standard Lithuanian and the falling tone in Latvian is depicted as derived from a Baltic rising tone. According to some it was Lithuanian that "switched the places" of the Baltic tones.<ref name="kort" /> This might explain why most languages call a rising tone "acute" while in Baltic terminology a falling tone is "acute". Some controversy surrounds Poljakov's model, and it has been harshly criticized by [[Frederik Kortlandt]]. Kortlandt contends that broken tone in Latvian and [[Žemaitian dialect|Žemaitian]] is a reflex of a now disappeared [[glottal stop]] in Balto-Slavic not preserved in Aukštaitian (Standard Lithuanian) or Slavic languages and not a recent development of acute.<ref name="kort">{{cite journal |first=Frederik |last=Kortlandt |author-link=Frederik Kortlandt |year=1998 |title=The rise and fall of glottalization in Baltic and Slavic |journal=Linguistica Baltica |volume=7 |pages=147–150 |hdl=1887/1935}}</ref>

====Lithuanian====
{{main|Lithuanian accentuation}}
Long segments in Lithuanian can take one of two accents: rising or falling. "Long segments" are defined as either [[long vowel]]s, [[diphthong]]s or a sequence of a vowel followed by a [[sonorant]] if they are in a [[stress (linguistics)|stressed]] position. Pitch can serve as the only distinguishing characteristic for [[minimal pair]]s that are otherwise [[orthography|orthographically]] identical, e.g., {{lang|lt|kar̃tų}} 'time:gen.pl' vs. {{lang|lt|kártų}} 'hang:irr.3' (rising and falling tone indicated by a tilde and an acute accent respectively.)<ref name="Kortmann">{{harvtxt|Kortmann|Auwera|2011|p=6}}: "Both Latvian and Lithuanian are pitch languages. In Lithuanian, stressed long vocalic segments (long vowels, diphthongs, and sequences of vowel plus sonorant) show a distinctive opposition of rising and falling pitch, cf. {{lang|lt|kar̃tų}} 'time:gen.pl' vs. {{lang|lt|kártų}} 'hang:irr.3'. In standard Latvian (and some of the dialects), long vocalic sequences (of the same type as in Lithuanian) distinguish three varieties of pitch: 'even', 'falling', and 'broken' ('broken pitch' being a falling pitch with superadded [[glottalisation]]). They are fully differentiated in stressed syllables only: unstressed syllables have an opposition of glottalised and non-glottalised long vocalic segments. Segments with 'even' pitch are ultra long. Neither Lithuanian nor Latvian mark pitch in their standard orthography."</ref>

====Latvian====
In [[Latvian language|Latvian]], long segments (the same criteria as in Lithuanian) can take on one of three pitches ({{lang|lv|intonācijas}} or more specifically {{lang|lv|zilbes intonācijas}}) either {{lang|lv|stiepta}} ("level"), {{lang|lv|lauzta}} ("broken") or {{lang|lv|krītoša}} ("falling") indicated by Latvian linguists with a [[tilde]], [[circumflex]] or a [[grave accent]] respectively<ref>{{harvtxt|Masļanska|Rubīna|1992|p=11}}: {{lang|ru|В латышском языке имеется слоговая интонация, которая может быть протяжной (~), прерывистой (^) и нисходящей (\). В некоторых случаях интонация имеет смыслоразличительное значение, например: {{lang|lv|zãle}} ("зал"), {{lang|lv|zâle}} ("трава"), {{lang|lv|zàles}} ("лекарство")}}
</ref> (in [[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]], however, the tilde is replaced by a [[macron (diacritic)|macron]] because the former is already reserved to denote [[nasalized vowel]]s.) Some authors note that the level pitch is realized simply as "ultra long" (or [[Overlong vowel|overlong]].)<ref name="Kortmann" /> Endzelīns (1897) identifies "level diphthongs" as consisting of 3 [[Mora (linguistics)|moras]] not just two. Broken pitch is, in turn, a falling pitch with superadded glottalization.<ref name="Kortmann" /> And, indeed, the similarity between the Latvian broken pitch and Danish ''[[stød]]'' has been described by several authors. At least in Danish phonology, ''stød'' (unlike Norwegian and Swedish pitch accents) is not considered a pitch accent distinction but, rather, variously described as either [[glottalization]], [[laryngealization]], [[creaky voice]] or [[vocal fry]]. Some authors point out that the so-called broken pitch is not a pitch accent but a ''[[register (phonology)|pitch register]]'' distinction similar to the [[Vietnamese phonology#Tone|''ngã'' register of Northern Vietnamese]].

Outside of Central [[Vidzeme]] (Standard Latvian), the three-way system has been simplified, in Eastern Latvian ([[Latgale]]) only broken and falling pitches are distinguished. Speakers of [[Riga]] Latvian and other more westward varieties differentiate only between level and broken pitches with the falling pitch being merged with the broken one. Thus the Standard Latvian "minimal triplet" or "minimal set" of {{IPA|[zāːle]}} (hall), {{IPA|[zâːle]}} (grass) and {{IPA|[zàːles]}} (medicine) in Rīga Latvian would be reduced to "hall" (level pitch) and "grass" (broken pitch) and "medicine" would be pronounced with a broken pitch just like "grass". Speakers around [[Ērgļi]] tend to have just levelled pitch.

====Livonian====
The extinct [[Livonian language]] is a [[Finnic languages|Finnic]] language rather than Baltic but was influenced by Latvian. In the late 19th century, Danish linguist [[Vilhelm Thomsen]] identified a characteristic in the speech of a Livonian sailor that to him seemed very similar to the Danish ''[[stød]]''. The feature was later the subject of research by several Finno-Ugricists.kiparsky<ref name="kiparsky">{{harvtxt|Kiparsky|2017|p=220}}: "(..)what is the historical relationship between the Livonian ''stød'' and the identical or at least very similar "Stosston" intonation of the coterritorial Latvian language? Almost certainly one of them got it from the other. The languages have influenced each other in many ways, in both directions. But which way did the influence go in this case? Scholarly opinion on this question is divided. Thomson (1890: 59) and Kettunen (1925: 4) thought that Livonian had borrowed the ''stød'' from Latvian, whereas Posti (1942: 325) thought that Latvian got it from Livonian. My conclusion that the Livonian ''stød'' is a tonal feature is more consonant with the former view. Livonian is the only Uralic language known to have a tonal or pitch accent, while it is a feature of several branches of Indo-European, including Balto-Slavic in particular. On the hypothesis that Livonian got its ''stød'' under the influence of Latvian, we account for the Livonian ''stød'' by language contact, and for the Latvian ''stød'' as a Baltic inheritance.</ref> Although the ([[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]]) Latvian and ([[Uralic languages|Uralic]]) [[Livonian language|Livonian]] are [[phylogenetic]]ally unrelated (being from different language families) both have influenced each other heavily in terms of phonology. Whether Livonian acquired this feature from Latvian or vice versa is debated; however, as Livonian is the only Finno-Ugric language to have this feature, the majority of researchers believe it was a product of Latvian influence on Livonian and not the other way around.<ref name="kiparsky" /> It is possible that "Livonian stød" would be classified as a pitch accent only by Latvian classification just like the identical Latvian {{lang|lv|lauztā intonācija}}, otherwise it would be considered a pitch register, glottalization or similar categories as discussed above.

The Livonian-Estonian-Latvian dictionary at [https://web.archive.org/web/20131230232840/http://www.murre.ut.ee/liivi/lv/ www.murre.ut.ee] uses an apostrophe after a vowel to indicate broken pitch, for example, {{lang|liv|Mi'nnõn u'm vajāg}} instead of just {{lang|liv|Minnõn um vajāg}}.

===Norwegian and Swedish===

{{main|1=Norwegian phonology#Accent|2=Swedish phonology#Stress and pitch}}
[[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] and [[Swedish language|Swedish]] are stress-accent languages, but in addition to the stress, two-syllable words with the stress on the first syllable in most dialects also have differences in tone. There are two kinds of tonal accent, referred to as the [[acute accent|acute]] and [[grave accent]]s, but they are also called ''accent 1'' and ''accent 2'' or ''tone 1'' and ''tone 2''. Over 150 two-syllable word pairs are differentiated only by their use of the accent. Tone 1 is used generally for words whose second syllable is the [[definite article]] and for words that were monosyllabic in [[Old Norse]].

For example, in most Norwegian dialects, the word {{lang|no|bønder}} (farmers) is pronounced with tone 1, while tone 2 is used when pronouncing {{lang|no|bønner}} (beans or prayers). Differences in spelling occasionally let readers distinguish written words, but most [[minimal pairs]] are written alike. An example in Swedish is the word {{lang|sv|anden}}, which means "the duck" when using tone 1 and "the spirit" when using tone 2. In some dialects of Swedish, including those spoken in Finland, the distinction is absent. There are significant variations in the realization of pitch accent between dialects. Thus, in most of western and northern Norway (the so-called high-pitch dialects), accent 1 is falling, and accent 2 is rising in the first syllable and falling in the second syllable or somewhere around the syllable boundary; but in most of eastern Norway (the so-called low-pitch dialects), accent 1 uses a low flat pitch in the first syllable, while accent 2 uses a high, sharply falling pitch in the first syllable and a low pitch in the beginning of the second syllable.

The word accents give Norwegian and Swedish a "singing" quality that makes them easy to distinguish from other languages. In [[Danish language|Danish]] (except for some southern dialects), the pitch accent of Swedish and Norwegian corresponds to the glottalization phenomenon known as ''[[stød]]''.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

=== Rhinelandic dialects ===
[[File:Germanic pitch.png|thumb|Extent (orange) of pitch usage in Benelux, Germany and France at the beginning of the 20th century<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fournier |first1=Rachel |last2=Gussenhoven |first2=Carlos |last3=Peters |first3=Jörg |last4=Swerts |first4=Marc |last5=Verhoeven |first5=Jo |title=The tones of Limburg |website=The Interaction between Tone and Intonation in Limburgian Dialects |url=http://www.let.ru.nl/gep/jp/TonenLimburg_engels.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226145130/http://www.let.ru.nl/gep/jp/TonenLimburg%20engels.html |archive-date=26 February 2012 |access-date=26 February 2012 |hdl=2066/42960}}</ref>]]
A pitch accent is found in the following [[Rhinelandic]] languages or dialects: [[Limburgish]], [[Ripuarian language|Ripuarian]] and [[Moselle Franconian]] (excluding [[Luxembourgish language|Luxembourgish]]). They are sometimes collectively referred to as [[West Central German]] tonal languages.

In these dialects there is a distinction between two different tonal contours, known as "tonal accent 1" and "tonal accent 2". As with Lithuanian, the distinction is made only in stressed syllables and, for the most part,{{sfnp|Goosens|2003|pp=37–8}} only when the syllable contains a long vowel or diphthong or vowel that is followed in the same syllable by a sonorant (''r, l, m, n, ŋ''). No distinction of tones is made in stressed syllables containing a short vowel only.<ref name="de Vaan">{{cite journal |last=Vaan |first=M. de |year=1999 |title=Towards an Explanation of the Franconian Tone Accents |journal=Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik |volume=52 |pages=23–44 |hdl=1887/14124 |doi=10.1163/18756719-051-01-90000004}}</ref>{{rp|p=2}}{{sfnp|Vaan|2003|p=?}} Although the accentual system resembles that of Swedish, the two are thought to have arisen independently.<ref name="Köhnlein">{{cite journal |last=Köhnlein |first=Björn |year=2013 |url=https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/u.osu.edu/dist/b/23850/files/2015/10/Koehnlein_Lingua_final-2kj4gvy.pdf |title=Optimizing the relation between tone and prominence: Evidence from Franconian, Scandinavian, and Serbo-Croatian tone accent systems |journal=Lingua |volume=131 |page=1–28 |doi=10.1016/j.lingua.2013.03.002}}</ref> Unlike Swedish, where the distinction in tones is not made in monosyllables (except for in northern and western dialects), in the Franconian dialects it very frequently occurs in monosyllables, e.g., ([[Ripuarian language|Ripuarian]] dialect) {{IPA|''zɛɪ''<sup>1</sup>}} "sieve" vs. {{IPA|''zɛɪ''<sup>2</sup>}} "she".<ref name="de Vaan" />{{rp|p=2}}

The tonal accents are referred to under a variety of names. Tonal accent 1 is called {{lang|nl|[[stoottoon]]}} ("thrusting tone") in Dutch or {{lang|de|Schärfung}} in German, while tonal accent 2 is named {{lang|nl|[[sleeptoon]]}} ("slurring tone") in Dutch and {{lang|de|Schleifton}} in German, apparently referring to the double peak it has in areas such as [[Limburg (Belgium)|Limburg]].<ref name="de Vaan" />{{rp|p=2}}<ref group="nb">The corresponding terms for Rhinelandic tone accents are as follows:
:{| class=wikitable
! !! Accent 1 (T1) !! Accent 2 (T2)
|-
| e.g. ||{{IPA|''zɛɪ''<sup>1</sup>}} 'sieve' || {{IPA|''zɛɪ''<sup>2</sup>}} 'she'
|-
!rowspan=3|German<br>terms
|{{lang|de|Schärfung}} (+{{lang|de|Schärfung}}) ||(−{{lang|de|Schärfung}})
|-
|{{lang|de|geschärft}} (+{{lang|de|geschärft}})||{{lang|de|ungeschärft}} (−{{lang|de|geschärft}})
|-
|{{lang|de|Stoßton}} ||{{lang|de|Schleifton}}
|-
!rowspan=2|Dutch<br>terms
|{{lang|nl|stoottoon}}||{{lang|nl|sleeptoon}}
|-
|{{lang|nl|hoge toon}}||{{lang|nl|valtoon}}
|}
The Dutch terms {{lang|nl|hoge toon}} and {{lang|nl|valtoon}} are misnomers for Colognian.</ref>

The two accents have different realisations in different dialects. For example, in [[Colognian dialect|Cologne]], accent 1 has a sharp fall near the beginning of the syllable, and accent 2 remains level for a while before falling. In [[Arzbach]], near [[Koblenz]], on the other hand, accent 1 rises slightly or remains level, while it is accent 2 that falls sharply, that is, more or less the reverse of the Cologne pattern. In Hasselt in [[Belgian Limburg]], accent 1 rises then falls, and with accent 2 there is a fall and then a rise and another fall. The three types are known as Rule A, Rule B and Rule 0, respectively.<ref name="Köhnlein" /> Although traditionally accent 2 has been analysed as the marked variant, in certain Rule A areas (especially Cologne, where accent 2's realization is nigh-indistinguishable from an unpitched long vowel) accent 1 is thought of as the marked variant. Grammars of the [[Colognian dialect|Cologne dialect]] will treat the pitches as "{{lang|de|ungeschärft}}" (accent 2) and "{{lang|de|geschärft}}" (accent 1).{{sfnp|Herrwegen|2002|pp=266–9}} Adam {{harvtxt|Wrede|1958}}'s influential dictionary of the Cologne dialect also treats accent 2 as indistinct; the above examples {{IPA|''zɛɪ<sup>1</sup>''}} "sieve" and {{IPA|''zɛɪ<sup>2</sup>''}} "she," "they" are transcribed (zeiː) and (zei) respectively; the differing transcriptions of the vowel are due to the pronunciation being different in Cologne than the surrounding dialects.{{sfnp|Herrwegen|2002|pp=266–9}}

It has recently been observed that in interrogative sentences, however, all three types have nearly identical intonations. In all dialects in accent 1, there is then a rise and then a fall. In accent 2, there is then a fall, a rise and then another fall.<ref name="Köhnlein"/>

Since the contour of the accent changes in different contexts, from declarative to interrogative, those dialects apparently contradict {{harvtxt|Hayes|1995}}'s proposed criterion for a pitch-accent language of the contour of a pitch-accent remaining stable in every context.

===West South Slavic languages===
The West South [[Slavic languages]] include [[Serbo-Croatian]] (Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian) and [[Slovene language|Slovenian]], spoken in the former [[Yugoslavia]].

The late Proto-Slavic accentual system was based on a fundamental opposition of a short/long circumflex (falling) tone, and an acute (rising) tone, the position of the accent being free as was inherited from [[Proto-Balto-Slavic language|Proto-Balto-Slavic]]. Common Slavic accentual innovations significantly reworked the original system primarily with respect to the position of the accent ([[Dybo's law]], [[Illič-Svityč's law]], [[Meillet's law]] etc.), and further developments yielded some new accents, such as the so-called neoacute ([[Ivšić's law]]), or the new rising tone in [[Štokavian|Neoštokavian]] dialects (the so-called "Neoštokavian retraction").

As opposed to other Slavic dialect subgroups, West South Slavic dialects have largely retained the Proto-Slavic system of free and mobile tonal accent (including the dialect used for basis of Modern Standard [[Slovene language|Slovene]] and the Neoštokavian dialect used for the basis of standard varieties of [[Serbo-Croatian language|Serbo-Croatian]]: [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]] and [[Serbian language|Serbian]]), though the discrepancy between the codified norm and actual speech may vary significantly.{{sfnp|Smiljanic|2013|p=22}}<ref group="nb">For example the accentual systems of the spoken dialects (completely for Kajkavian, partially for Čakavian) of the Croatian capital [[Zagreb]] and the city of [[Rijeka]]{{citation needed|date=September 2025|reason=No explicit mention in (consultable part of) source of Rijeka}} are stress-based and do not use distinctive vowel length or pitch accent.</ref>

====Serbo-Croatian====
{{see also|Shtokavian accentuation}}

The Neoštokavian dialect used for the basis of standard Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian distinguishes four types of pitch accents: short falling (ȅ), short rising (è), long falling (ȇ), and long rising (é). There are also unaccented vowels: long (ē) and short (e). The accent is said to be relatively free, as it can be manifested on any syllable except the last. The long accents are realized by pitch change within the long vowel; the short ones are realized by the pitch difference from the subsequent syllable.{{sfnp|Smiljanic|2004|p=?}}

Accent alternations are very frequent in inflectional paradigms by both types of accent and placement in the word (the so-called "mobile paradigms", which were present in the [[Proto-Indo-European language|PIE]] itself but became much more widespread in Proto-Balto-Slavic). Different inflected forms of the same lexeme can exhibit all four accents: {{lang|sh|lònac}} 'pot' (nominative sg.), {{lang|sh|lónca}} (genitive sg.), {{lang|sh|lȏnci}} (nominative pl.), {{lang|sh|lȍnācā}} (genitive pl.).{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

Restrictions on the distribution of the accent depend on the position of the syllable but also on its quality, as not every kind of accent is manifested in every syllable.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}
# A falling tone generally occurs in monosyllabic words or the first syllable of a word ({{lang|sh|pȃs}} 'belt', {{lang|sh|rȏg}} 'horn'; {{lang|sh|bȁba}} 'old woman', {{lang|sh|lȃđa}} 'river ship'; {{lang|sh|kȕćica}} 'small house', [[Karlovac|Kȃrlovac]]). The only exception to this rule are the interjections, i.e., words uttered in the state of excitement ({{lang|sh|ahȁ}}, {{lang|sh|ohȏ}}){{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}
# A rising tone generally occurs in any syllable of a word except the ultimate and never in monosyllabic words ({{lang|sh|vòda}} 'water', {{lang|sh|lúka}} 'harbour'; {{lang|sh|lìvada}} 'meadow', {{lang|sh|lúpānje}} 'slam'; {{lang|sh|siròta}} 'female orphan', {{lang|sh|počétak}} 'beginning'; {{lang|sh|crvotòčina}} 'wormhole', {{lang|sh|oslobođénje}} 'liberation').{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

Thus, monosyllables generally have falling tone, and polysyllabic words generally have falling or rising tone on the first syllable and rising in all the other syllables except the last. The tonal opposition rising vs. falling is generally possible only in the first accented syllable of polysyllabic words, but the opposition by length, long vs. short, is possible even in the nonaccented syllable and the post-accented syllable (but not in the preaccented position).{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

[[Proclitic]]s (clitics that latch on to a following word), on the other hand, can "steal" a falling tone (but not a rising tone) from the following monosyllabic or disyllabic words (as seen in the examples {{IPA|/vîdiːm/→/ně‿vidiːm/, /ʒěliːm/→/ne‿ʒěliːm/}}). The stolen accent is always short and may end up being either falling or rising on the proclitic. That phenomenon is obligatory in Neoštokavian idiom and therefore in all three standard languages, but it is often lost in spoken dialects because of the influence of other dialects (such as in [[Zagreb]] because of the influence of [[Kajkavian dialect]]).<ref name="Brown">{{cite web |first1=Wayles |last1=Brown |first2=Theresa |last2=Alt |year=2004 |title=A Handbook of Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian |url=http://seelrc.org:8080/grammar/mainframe.jsp?nLanguageID=1 |location=Duke University |publisher=Slavic and Eurasian Language Resource Center (SEELRC)}}</ref>

{| class=wikitable
!|
!colspan=2|'''in isolation'''||colspan=2|'''with proclitic'''
|-
|rowspan=2|'''rising'''
|{{IPA|/ʒěliːm/}}||''I want''
|{{IPA|/ne‿ʒěliːm/}}||''I don't want''
|-
|{{IPA|/nemɔɡǔːtɕnɔːst/}}||''inability''
|{{IPA|/u‿nemɔɡǔːtɕnɔsti/}}||''not being able to''
|-
|rowspan=4|'''falling'''
|[[Nominative|N]]: {{IPA|/zǐːma/}}, [[Accusative|A]]: {{IPA|/zîːmu/}}||''winter''
|{{IPA|/û‿ziːmu/}} (A)||''in the winter''
|-
|{{IPA|/vîdiːm/}}||''I see''
|{{IPA|/ně‿vidiːm/}}||''I can't see''
|-
|N, A: {{IPA|/ɡrâːd/}}||''city''
|{{IPA|/û‿ɡraːd/}} (A)
|''to the city'' (stays falling)
|-
|N: {{IPA|/ʃûma/}}||''forest''
|{{IPA|/ǔ‿ʃumi/}} ([[Locative|L]])
|''in the forest'' (becomes rising)
|}

====Slovenian====
In Slovenian, there are two concurrent standard accentual systems: the older, tonal, with three "pitch accents", and the younger, dynamic (i.e., stress-based), with louder and longer syllables. The stress-based system was introduced because two thirds of Slovenia has lost its tonal accent. In practice, however, even the stress-based accentual system is just an abstract ideal, and speakers generally retain their own dialect even when they try to speak Standard Slovenian. For example, speakers of urban dialects in the west of Slovenia without distinctive length fail to introduce a quantitative opposition when they speak the standard language.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

The older accentual system is tonal and free ({{lang|sl|jágoda}} 'strawberry', {{lang|sl|malína}} 'raspberry', {{lang|sl|gospodár}} 'master, lord'). There are three kinds of accents: short falling (è), long falling (ȇ) and long rising (é). Non-final syllables always have long accents: {{lang|sl|rakîta}} 'crustacea', {{lang|sl|tetíva}} 'sinew'. The short falling accent is always in the final syllable: {{lang|sl|bràt}} 'brother'. Three-way opposition among accents can only then be present: {{lang|sl|deskà}} 'board' : {{lang|sl|blagọ̑}} 'goods, ware' : {{lang|sl|gospá}} 'lady'. Accent can be mobile throughout the inflectional paradigm: {{lang|sl|dȃr}} — {{lang|sl|darȗ}}, {{lang|sl|góra — gorẹ́}} — {{lang|sl|goràm}}, {{lang|sl|bràt — bráta}} — {{lang|sl|o brȃtu}}, {{lang|sl|kráva — krȃv}}, {{lang|sl|vóda — vodọ̑}} — {{lang|sl|na vọ̑do}}). The distinction is made between open {{lang|sl|-e-}} and {{lang|sl|-o-}} (either long or short) and closed {{lang|sl|-ẹ-}} and {{lang|sl|-ọ-}} (always long).{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

===Basque===
The [[Basque language]] of northeastern Spain and southwestern France has a number of different dialects and a number of accentual patterns. Only western varieties seem to have a tonal accent, and eastern varieties have a stress accent (the stress-accent dialects also differ one from another).<ref name="Hualde86" /> According to an analysis first suggested by J.R. Hualde,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hualde |first=J. I. |year=1987 |title=A theory of pitch-accent, with particular attention to Basque |journal=ASJU |volume=XXII |issue=3 |pages=915-919 |issn=2444-2992 |doi=10.1387/asju.8019 |doi-broken-date=October 2025|doi-access=free }}</ref> [[Biscayan dialect|Northern Bizkaian]] has most nouns accentless in their [[absolutive case|absolutive]] singular form, but they have a default high tone (shown by underlining below), which continues throughout the word except for the first syllable. These examples come from the [[Guernica]] (Gernika) dialect:
*{{lang|eu|Gern<u>íké</u>}} "Guernica"
*{{lang|eu|bas<u>óá</u>}} "forest"
*{{lang|eu|pat<u>átíé</u>}} "potato"
*{{lang|eu|gunts<u>úrrúné</u>}} "kidney"

There are, however, a few nouns (often borrowings) with a lexical accent. As in Japanese, the accent consists of a high tone, followed by a low one:
*{{lang|eu|B'''í'''lbo}} "Bilbao"
*{{lang|eu|ap'''á'''riže}} "supper"

In addition, some suffixes (including all plural suffixes) are preaccenting and so cause an accent on the syllable before the suffix:
*{{lang|eu|'''á'''ndrak}} "women"
*{{lang|eu|txak'''ú'''rren}} "of dogs" (genitive plural)
*{{lang|eu|Gern<u>ík'''é'''</u>tik}} "from Guernica"

Other suffixes do not cause any extra accent:
*{{lang|eu|txakúrrén}} "of the dog" (genitive singular)

When a preaccenting suffix is added to an already-accented word, only the first accent is retained:
*{{lang|eu|B'''í'''lbotik}} "from Bilbao"

The accent from [[Ondarroa]] is similar but the accent of the word, if any, always appears on the penultimate syllable:
*{{lang|eu|Bilb'''ó'''tik}} "from Bilbao" (Ondarroa pronunciation)

Intonation studies show that when an accentless word is spoken either in isolation or before a verb, it acquires an accent on its last syllable (or, in Ondarroa, on its penultimate syllable). However, that is an intonational accent, rather than a lexical accent:<ref name=Elordieta>{{cite journal |last=Elordieta |first=Gorka |year=2011 |title=Basque Word Accents in the Sentence |journal=Symposium on Prosody and Education |url=http://eudia.ehu.es/eudia-4/files/07-G.%20Elordieta-Basque%20word%20accents%20in%20the%20sentence.pdf |url-status=dead |editor-last1=Aurrekoetxea |editor-first1=Gotzon |editor-last2=Gaminde |editor-first2=Iñaki |location=Bilbao |publisher=University of the Basque Country Press |pages=47–62 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704123205/http://eudia.ehu.es/eudia-4/files/07-G.%20Elordieta-Basque%20word%20accents%20in%20the%20sentence.pdf |archive-date=4 July 2018}}</ref>{{sfnp|Lee|Gordon|Büring|2007|p=5}}
*{{lang|eu|lagún'''á''' etorri da}} "the friend ({{lang|eu|laguna}}) has come"

When an accentless word in those dialects of Basque is followed by an accented word, the automatic high tones continue in a plateau as far as the accent:<ref name=Elordieta />
*{{lang|eu|lag<u>únén ám'''ú'''</u>ma ikusi dot}} "I have seen the friend's grandmother ({{lang|eu|am'''ú'''ma}})"

That also applies if the accent is intonational. In the following sentence, all words are unaccented apart from the intonational accent before the verb:{{sfnp|Hualde|2007|p=300}}
*{{lang|eu|lag<u>únén álábí'''á'''</u> etorri da}} "the friend's daughter has come"

When an accented word is focused, the pitch of the accented syllable is raised, but if the word is accentless, there is no rise in pitch on that word but only on the accented word. In the following phrase, only the word {{lang|eu|am'''ú'''ma}} "grandmother" is thus accented, whether the focus is on "John", "friend", or "grandmother", or none of these:<ref name="Hualde06">{{cite journal |last=Hualde |first=José Ignacio |title=Remarks on Word-Prosodic Typology |date=2006 |journal=Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=157 |doi=10.3765/bls.v32i1.3452 |doi-access=free}}</ref>{{rp|p=161}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Arregi |first=Karlos |year=2006 |title=Stress and Islands in Northern Bizkaian Basque |url=https://home.uchicago.edu/~karlos/Arregi-2006-stress.pdf |journal=ASJU |volume=XL |pages=81–106 |hdl=10810/49363}}</ref>
*{{lang|eu|Jonén lágúnén ám'''ú'''ma}} "John's friend's grandmother"

Another pitch accent area in Basque is found in western [[Navarre]], near the border with France in the towns of Goizueta and Leitza. There is a strong stress accent there on the second or the first syllable of every word, like with central dialects of Basque, but there is also a pitch contrast superimposed on the stress: {{lang|eu|mend'''i'''k}} (rise-dip-rise) "the mountain" vs. {{lang|eu|mend'''i'''k}} (rise-fall) "the mountains".{{sfnp|Hualde|2007|p=300}}

===Turkish===
{{main|Turkish phonology#Word-accent}}
Although the Turkish accent is traditionally referred to as "stress", recent studies have pointed out that the main correlate of lexical accent is actually pitch. In a word like {{lang|tr|sözc'''ü'''kle}} "with a word", the accented second syllable is thus higher than the other two but has less intensity (loudness).<ref name="Levi" />{{rp|at=fig 8, p. 85}}

Turkish word-accent is found especially in geographical names ({{lang|tr|İst'''a'''nbul}}, {{lang|tr|'''A'''nkara}}, {{lang|tr|Yunanist'''a'''n}} "Greece", {{lang|tr|Ad'''a'''na}}), foreign borrowings ({{lang|tr|sal'''a'''ta}} "salad", {{lang|tr|lok'''a'''nta}} "restaurant"), some proper names ({{lang|tr|'''E'''rdoğan}}, {{lang|tr|Ken'''e'''di}}), compound words ({{lang|tr|b'''a'''şkent}} "capital city"), some words referring to relatives ({{lang|tr|'''a'''nne}} "mother"), and certain adverbs ({{lang|tr|ş'''i'''mdi}} "now", {{lang|tr|y'''a'''lnız}} "only"). It is also caused by certain suffixes, some of which are "pre-accenting" and so cause an accent on the syllable preceding them, such as negative {{lang|tr|-me-/-ma-}}, question particle {{lang|tr|mi?}}, or copula {{lang|tr|-dir}} "it is" ({{lang|tr|g'''e'''lmedi}} "he did not come", {{lang|tr|geld'''i''' mi?}} "did he come?", {{lang|tr|güz'''e'''ldir}} "it is beautiful").<ref name="KabakVogel">{{cite journal |last1=Kabak |first1=B. |last2=Vogel |first2=I. |year=2001 |title=The phonological word and stress assignment in Turkish |url=http://www.anglistik.uni-wuerzburg.de/fileadmin/04110230/user_upload/Kabak_CV/THE_PHONOLOGICAL_WORD_AND_STRESS_ASSIGNMENT_IN_TURKISH_KABAK_CV.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180401213012/http://www.anglistik.uni-wuerzburg.de/fileadmin/04110230/user_upload/Kabak_CV/THE_PHONOLOGICAL_WORD_AND_STRESS_ASSIGNMENT_IN_TURKISH_KABAK_CV.pdf |archive-date=1 April 2018 |journal=Phonology |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=315–360 |doi=10.1017/S0952675701004201 |jstor=4420202}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Inkelas |first1=S. |last2=Orgun |first2=C.O. |year=2003 |title=Squibs and replies Turkish stress : A review |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/daac/c6c3bd1a52da4bf34779ffa29177efd48b68.pdf |journal=Phonology |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=139–161 |jstor=4420243 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180401144550/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/daac/c6c3bd1a52da4bf34779ffa29177efd48b68.pdf |archive-date=1 April 2018}}</ref>
The accented syllable is slightly higher in pitch than the following syllable. All other words, when pronounced in isolation, either have a slightly raised pitch on the final syllable or are pronounced with all the syllables level.<ref name="Levi" />{{rp|p=90}}

Turkish also has a phrase-accent and focus-accent. An accent on the first word of a phrase usually causes an accent in the following words or suffixes to be neutralised, e.g., {{lang|tr|çob'''a'''n salatası}} "shepherd salad", {{lang|tr|'''A'''nkara'dan da}} "also from Ankara", {{lang|tr|telef'''o'''n ettiler}} "they telephoned", with only one accent.<ref name=KabakVogel />

A controversy exists over whether Turkish has accentless words, like Japanese and Basque. Some scholars, such as {{harvtxt|Levi|2005}} and {{harvtxt|Özçelik|2016}}, see the final raised pitch sometimes heard in words such as {{lang|tr|arkadaş}} ("friend") or {{lang|tr|geldi}} ("he came") as a mere phrasal tone or boundary tone.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Özçelik |first=Öner |year=2016 |url=https://oozcelik.pages.iu.edu/papers/Footless%20Languages%20-%20Stress%20in%20Turkish%20French%20child%20English.pdf |url-status=live |title=The Foot is not an obligatory constituent of the Prosodic Hierarchy: "stress" in Turkish, French and child English |journal=The Linguistic Review |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=157–213 |doi=10.1515/tlr-2016-0008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919044058/https://oozcelik.pages.iu.edu/papers/Footless%20Languages%20-%20Stress%20in%20Turkish%20French%20child%20English.pdf |archive-date=19 September 2020}}</ref>{{rp|p=10}} Others, such as {{harvtxt|Kabak|2016}}, prefer the traditional view that the final accent in such words is a kind of stress.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kabak |first=Barış |date=October 2016 |title=Refin(d)ing Turkish stress as a multifaceted phenomenon |type=handout |url=http://www.iub.edu/~celcar/ConCALL2016/images/pdf/PS3%20-%20Baris%20Kabak%20-%20Handout.pdf |journal=2nd Conference on Central Asian Languages and Linguistics (ConCALL2) |publisher=Indiana University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180401144550/http://www.iub.edu/~celcar/ConCALL2016/images/pdf/PS3%20-%20Baris%20Kabak%20-%20Handout.pdf |archive-date=1 April 2018}}</ref>

===Persian===
{{see|Persian phonology#Word accent}}
The accent of [[Persian language|Persian]] words used to be always referred to as "stress" but is recognised as a pitch accent in recent works. Acoustic studies show that accented syllables have some of the characteristics of stressed syllables in stress-accent languages (slightly more intensity, more length, more open vowels), but that effect is much less than would normally be expected in stress-accent languages. The main difference is one of pitch, with a contour of (L)+H*.<ref name="Abol" />

Normally, the pitch falls again at the end of the syllable (if final) or on the next syllable.

Persian nouns and adjectives are always accented on the final syllable. Certain suffixes, such as the plural {{tlit|fa|-ha}}, shift the accent to themselves:
*{{tlit|fa|ket'''â'''b}} "book"
*{{tlit|fa|ketâb-h'''â'''}} "books"
*{{tlit|fa|ketâb-'''i'''}} "bookish"

Other suffixes, such as possessives and the indefinite {{tlit|fa|-i}}, are [[clitic]] and so are unaccented:
*{{tlit|fa|ket'''â'''b-etun}} "your book"
*{{tlit|fa|ket'''â'''b-i}} "a book"

In verbs, the personal endings in the past tense are clitic but are accented in the future tense:
*{{tlit|fa|ger'''e'''ft-am}} "I took"
*{{tlit|fa|gereft'''e'''-am}} "I have taken"
*{{tlit|fa|xâh'''a'''m gereft}} "I will take"

When prefixes are added, the accent shifts to the first syllable:
*{{tlit|fa|m'''i'''-gir-am}} "I'm taking"
*{{tlit|fa|n'''a'''-gereft-am}} "I did not take"
*{{tlit|fa|b'''e'''-gir-am}} "I should take"

In the vocative ({{tlit|fa|x'''â'''nom!}} "madam") and sometimes elsewhere, such as {{tlit|fa|b'''a'''le!}} "yes" or {{tlit|fa|'''a'''gar}} "if", the accent is also on the first syllable.

In compound verbs, the accent is on the first element:
*{{tlit|fa|k'''â'''r kard-am}} "I worked"

However, in compound nouns, the accent is on the second element:
*{{tlit|fa|ketâb-xân'''e'''}} "bookcase"

In the {{tlit|fa|ezâfe}} construction, the first noun is optionally accented but generally loses its pitch:{{sfnp|Sadat-Tehrani|2007|pp=3, 22, 46–47, 51}}
*{{tlit|fa|mard'''o'''m-e Ir'''â'''n}} / {{tlit|fa|mardom-e Ir'''â'''n}} "the people of Iran"

When a word is focussed, the pitch is raised, and the words that follow usually lose their accent:
*{{tlit|fa|nâme-ye <u>mâm'''â'''n</u>-am bud ru miz}} "it was my <u>mom</u>'s letter that was on the table"

However, other researchers claim that the pitch of post-focus words is reduced but sometimes still audible.<ref name="Abol" />

===Japanese===
[[File:Japan pitch accent map.png|thumb|300px|Map of Japanese pitch-accent types. Red: Tone plus variable downstep. Green: Variable downstep in accented words. Lavender: Fixed downstep in accented words. Yellow: Variable pitches but no distinction.]]
{{main|Japanese pitch accent}}
[[Standard Japanese]] and certain other varieties of [[Japanese language|Japanese]] are described as having a pitch accent, which differs significantly among dialects. In Standard Japanese, the "accent" may be characterized as a [[downstep]] rather than as pitch accent. The pitch of a word rises until it reaches a downstep and then drops abruptly. In a two-syllable word, a contrast thus occurs between ''high–low'' and ''low–high''. Accentless words are also ''low–high'', but the pitch of following enclitics differentiates them.{{sfnp|Pierrehumbert|Beckman|1988}}

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan=3|Accent on first mora
!colspan=3|Accent on second mora
!colspan=3|Accentless
|-
|{{IPA|/kaꜜki o/}}||{{lang|ja|牡蠣を}}||oyster
|{{IPA|/kakiꜜ o/}}||{{lang|ja|垣を}}||fence
|{{IPA|/kaki o/}}||{{lang|ja|柿を}}||persimmon
|-
|colspan=3|''high–low–low''
|colspan=3|''low–high–low''
|colspan=3|''low–high–high''
|}

The [[Osaka]] accent ([[Kansai dialect]]) (marked red on the map to the right) differs from the Tokyo accent in that in some words, the first syllable of the word (always ''low'' in Tokyo Japanese unless accented) can be ''high''. To give a full description of the accent of a word, therefore, it is necessary to specify not only the position of the accent (downstep) but also the height of the first syllable.<ref name="Hyman2009"/>

===Korean===
Standard ([[Seoul]]) [[Korean language|Korean]] uses pitch only for [[prosody (linguistics)|prosody]]. However, several other dialects retain a [[Middle Korean]] pitch-accent system.

In the dialect of [[North Gyeongsang Province|North Gyeongsang]], in southeastern [[South Korea]], any syllable and the initial two syllables may have a pitch accent in the form of a high tone. For example, in trisyllabic words, there are four possible tone patterns:<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jun |first1=Jongho |last2=Kim |first2=Jungsun |last3=Lee |first3=Hayoung |last4=Jun |first4=Sun-Ah |year=2006 |title=The Prosodic Structure and Pitch Accent of Northern Kyungsang Korean |url=https://linguistics.ucla.edu/people/jun/papers%20in%20pdf/Jun_Kim_Lee_Jun-J%20of%20EastAsianLing-2006.pdf |journal=Journal of East Asian Linguistics |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=289–317 |doi=10.1007/s10831-006-9000-2 |s2cid=18992886}}</ref>{{rp|p=289}}
{| class="wikitable"
|+Examples
![[Hangul]]
![[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]
!English
|-
|{{lang|ko-kr|며느리}}
|{{IPA|mjə́.nɯ.ɾi}}
|daughter-in-law
|-
|{{lang|ko-kr|어머니}}
|{{IPA|ə.mə́.ni}}
|mother
|-
|{{lang|ko-kr|원어민}}
|{{IPA|wə.nə.mín}}
|native speaker
|-
|{{lang|ko-kr|오라비}}
|{{IPA|ó.ɾá.bi}}
|elder brother
|}

===Shanghainese===
The [[Shanghainese|Shanghai dialect]] of [[Wu Chinese]] is marginally [[Shanghainese#Tones|tonal]], with characteristics of a pitch accent.

Not counting closed syllables (those with a final [[glottal stop]]), a monosyllabic Shanghainese may carry one of three tones: ''high'', ''mid'', ''low''. The tones have a contour in isolation, but for the following purposes, it can be ignored. However, ''low'' tone always occurs after [[voiced consonant]]s and only then. Thus, the only tonal distinction is after voiceless consonants and in vowel-initial syllables, and there is only a two-way distinction between ''high'' tone and ''mid'' tone.

In a polysyllabic word, the tone of the first syllable determines the tone of the entire word. If the first tone is ''high'', the following syllables are mid. If it is either ''mid'' or ''low'' and not closed'','' the second syllable is ''high'', and any following syllables are ''mid''. If it is ''low'' and closed, the following syllables are mid. Thus, a mark for the high tone is all that is needed to note the tone in Shanghainese:

{| class=wikitable
!
![[Romanization of Wu Chinese|Romanization]]
!Hanzi
!Pitch pattern
!English
|-
|No voiced initial (mid tone)
|{{tlit|wuu|au-da-li-ia}}
|{{lang|wuu|澳大利亚}}
|mid–high–mid–mid
|Australia
|-
|No voiced initial (high tone)
|{{tlit|wuu|kón-kon-chi-tso}}
|{{lang|wuu|公共汽車}}
|high–mid–mid–mid
|bus
|-
|Voiced initial (not closed)
|{{tlit|wuu|zaon-he-gnin}}
|{{lang|wuu|上海人}}
|low–high–mid
|Shanghainese person
|-
|Voiced initial (closed)
|{{tlit|wuu|zeq-pen-gnin}}
|{{lang|wuu|日本人}}
|low–mid–mid
|Japanese person
|}

===Bantu languages===
The [[Bantu languages]] are a large group of about 550 languages, spread over most of southern and central Africa. [[Proto-Bantu]] is believed to have had two tones: H and L.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Greenberg |first=J.H. |year=1948 |title=The Tonal System of Proto-Bantu |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00437956.1948.11659343 |journal=WORD |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=196-208 |doi=10.1080/00437956.1948.11659343}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Hyman |first=L. M. |year=2017 |title=Bantu Tone Overview |url=http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/phonlab/documents/2017/Hyman_Bantu_Tone_Overview.pdf |journal=UC Berkeley PhonLab Annual Report |volume=13 |doi=10.5070/P7131040751}}</ref> It does not appear to have had a pitch-accent system, as defined above, since words with such forms as HL, HH, LH, and LL were all found: *''káda'' "charcoal", *''cómbá'' "fish", *''nyangá'' "horn" and *''tope'' "mud". In other words, words like *''cómbá'' could have two high tones, while others had one tone or none.<ref name="Hyman99">{{cite journal |last1=Hyman |first1=L. M |last2=Mtenje |first2=Al |year=1999 |title=Non-etymological high tones in the Chichewa verb |journal=Malilime: Malawian Journal of Linguistics |volume=1 |pages=121–156 |issn=1562-1820}}</ref>{{rp|p=121–2}}

However, over time, processes such as [[Meeussen's rule]], by which sequences such as HHH became HLL, LHL, or LLH, tended to eliminate all but one tone in a word in many Bantu languages, making them more accent-like.{{sfnp|Downing|2010|p=411}} Thus in [[Chewa language|Chichewa]], the word for "fish" ({{lang|ny|nsómba}}) now has HL tones, exactly like the word for "charcoal" ({{lang|ny|khála}}).

Another process that makes for culminativity in some Bantu languages is the interaction between stress and tone. The penultimate syllable of a word is stressed in many Bantu languages, and some of them tend to have high tones on the penultimate syllable. For example, in [[Tumbuka language|Chitumbuka]], every phonological phrase is accented with a falling tone on the penultimate: {{lang|tum|ti-ku-phika sî:ma}} "we are cooking porridge".{{sfnp|Downing|2012|p=123}} In other languages, such as [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]], the high tone is attracted to the antepenultimate although the penultimate being stressed.{{sfnp|Downing|2010|p=416}}

[[Luba-Kasai language|Ciluba]] and [[Ruund language|Ruund]], in the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], are two Bantu languages that are interesting for their "tone reversal". Low tone is phonologically active in places that other languages of the same family have a high tone. Thus, in a word like *''muk'''í'''la'' "tail", most other Bantu languages have a high tone on the second syllable, but Chiluba has {{lang|lua|muk'''ì'''la}} and Ruund has {{lang|rnd|nocat=yes|muk'''ì'''l}}, with a low-toned accent.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Nash |first=J.A. |year=1994 |title=Underlying Low Tones in Ruwund |url=https://journals.linguisticsociety.org/elanguage/sal/article/download/1296/1296-2281-1-PB.pdf |journal=Studies in African Linguistics |volume=23 |issue=3| pages=226}}</ref>{{rp|p=226}}

====Luganda====
{{main|Luganda tones}}
[[Luganda]], a language of [[Uganda]], has some words with apparent tonal accents. They can be either high or falling (rising tones do not occur in Luganda). Falling tones are found on bimoraic syllables or word-finally:{{sfnp|Kamoga|Stevick|1968|at=Introduction}}
*{{lang|lg|ens'''î'''}} "country"
*{{lang|lg|ekib'''ú'''ga}} "city"
*{{lang|lg|eddw'''â'''liro}} "hospital"

Some words, however, have two accents, which are joined in a plateau:
*{{lang|lg|K<u>'''á'''mpál'''â'''</u>}} "Kampala"

Other words are accentless:
*{{lang|lg|ekitabo}} "book"

However, accentless words are not always without tones but usually receive a default tone on all syllables except the first one or the first [[mora (linguistics)|mora]]:
*{{lang|lg|ek<u>ítábó</u>}} "book"
*{{lang|lg|Buny<u>óró</u>}} "Bunyoro" (name of region)

A double consonant at the beginning of a word counts as a mora. In such words, the first syllable also can have a default tone:
*{{lang|lg|Tt<u>óró</u>}} "Toro" (a region)

Default tones are also heard on the end of accented words if there is a gap of at least one mora after the accent (the default tones are lower in pitch than the preceding accent):
*{{lang|lg|amas'''é'''reng<u>étá</u>}} "south"
*{{lang|lg|eddw'''â'''l<u>író</u>}} "hospital"

The default tones are not always heard but disappear in certain contexts, such as if a noun is the subject of a sentence or used before a numeral:
*{{lang|lg|Mbarara kib'''ú'''ga}} "Mbarara is a city"
*{{lang|lg|ebitabo kk'''ú'''mi}} "ten books"

In some contexts, such as affirmative verb + location, or phrases with "of"), the high tone of an accent (or of a default tone) can continue in a plateau until the next accented syllable:
*{{lang|lg|mu mas<u>'''é'''réngétá g'''á''' Úg'''áń'''</u>da}} "in the south of Uganda"
*{{lang|lg|al<u>í mú Búgá'''ń'''</u>da}} "he is in Buganda"

However, the situation with verbs is more complicated since some verbal roots have inherent word accent, and the prefixes added to the verb often have an accent. Also, some tenses (such as negative and relative clause tenses) add an accent to the final syllable.

When two or three accents appear in a row in a verb, H-H becomes H-L, and H-H-H becomes H-L-L. However, the default tones are not added on the syllables with deleted accents, which leads to forms like {{lang|lg|b'''á'''lilab<u>á</u>}} (from {{lang|lg|*b'''á'''-l'''í'''-l'''á'''ba}}) "they will see". There, not one but two low-toned syllables follow the accent.<ref name="Hyman93" />

Another rule is that if two accents in the same verb are not next to each other, they form a plateau. Thus, the negative tense {{lang|lg|t'''á'''gul'''â'''}} "he does not buy" is pronounced {{lang|lg|t<u>'''á'''gúl'''â'''</u>}}, with a plateau.

====Chichewa====
{{main|Chichewa tones}}
[[Chichewa]], a language widely spoken in [[Malawi]], is tonal but has accentual properties. Most Chichewa simple nouns have only one high tone, usually on one of the last three syllables.{{sfnp|Downing|Mtenje|2017|loc=Chapter 6}} (See [[Chichewa tones]].)
*{{lang|ny|ch'''í'''manga}} "maize"
*{{lang|ny|chik'''ó'''ndi}} "love"
*{{lang|ny|chinangw'''á'''}} "cassava" (usually pronounced {{lang|ny|chinăngwā}}, with rising tone on the penultimate){{sfnp|Louw|1987|p=?}}

However, many number of nouns have no high tone but are accentless. Unlike the accentless words in Luganda, however, they do not acquire any default tones but are pronounced with all the syllables low:
*{{lang|ny|chipatala}} "hospital"

A few nouns (often but not always compounds) have two high tones. If they are separated by only one syllable, they usually join in a plateau:
*{{lang|ny|chiz'''ó'''lówez'''í'''}} "habit"
*{{lang|ny|b<u>'''í'''rím'''á'''</u>nkhwe}} "chameleon"

Most verbal roots in Chichewa are accentless. However, a few verbs also have lexical accents, but they are not inherited from Proto-Bantu.<ref name="Hyman99" /> When there is an accent, it is always heard on the final {{lang|ny|-a}} of the verb:
*{{lang|ny|thokoz'''á'''-ni}} "give thanks (pl.)"

Prefixes and suffixes add some accents. For example, the infinitive prefix {{lang|ny|ku-}} is postaccenting, adding a tone on the following syllable, while the suffix {{lang|ny|-nso}} "again/also" is preaccenting:
*{{lang|ny|fotokoza}} "explain" (toneless)
*{{lang|ny|kuf'''ó'''tokoza}} "to explain"
*{{lang|ny|kuf'''ó'''tokoz'''á'''nso}} "to explain again"

The verbal system is complicated because overlying the verb's tones and suffixes is a series of tonal patterns that changes by tense. There are at least eight patterns for affirmative tenses and other patterns for relative clauses and negative verbs.{{sfnp|Downing|Mtenje|2017|loc=Chapter 7}}

For example, the present habitual tense has tones on the first and penultimate syllables, the recent past has a tone after the tense-marker -{{lang|ny|na}}-, the subjunctive has a tone on the final syllable and the potential is toneless. The tones apply, with minor variations, to all verbs, whether the stem is long or short:
*{{lang|ny|nd'''í'''mafotok'''ó'''za}} "I (usually) explain"
*{{lang|ny|ndinaf'''ó'''tokoza}} "I explained (just now)"
*{{lang|ny|ndifotokoz'''é'''}} "I should explain"
*{{lang|ny|ndingafotokoze}} "I could explain"

Most other tones tend to be suppressed when a verb has a penultimate accent. For example, in the negative future, both the tone of the future-tense marker, {{lang|ny|-dz'''á'''-}}, and the tone of the negative marker, {{lang|ny|s'''í'''-}} (both normally high), are neutralised:
*{{lang|ny|<u>si</u>ndi<u>dza</u>fotok'''ó'''za}} "I will not explain"

Those and other processes cause most verb tenses to have only one or two high tones, which are at the beginning, the penultimate or the final of the verb stem or at a prefix or sometimes even both. That gives the impression that the tones in the resultant words are clearly accentuated.

===English===
Most dialects of English are classified as [[stress accent|stress-accent languages]]. However, there are some dialects in which tone can play a part in the word accent.

====Hong Kong English====
Lexical words in [[Hong Kong English]] are assigned at least one H (high) tone. Disyllabic words may have the tone pattern H-o (clóckwise), H-H (sómetímes), o-H (creáte), where "o" stands for tonelessness. Trisyllabic words receive any one of seven possible tone assignments H-H-H (kángároo), H-H-o (hándwríting), H-o-H (róundabóut), H-o-o (thréátening), o-H-H (abóut-túrn), o-H-o (esséntial), o-o-H (recomménd). Toneless syllables receive other pitch assignments depending on their positions: word-initial toneless syllables are M(id)-toned, utterance-final toneless syllables are Low, and word-medial toneless syllables vary across two major sub-dialects in the community surfacing as either H or M. Because lexical stipulation of Hong Kong English tones are {H, o} privative, one is easily misled into thinking of Hong Kong English as a pitch-accented language. It is, however, probably more accurate to think of Hong Kong English as a language with lexical tones.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wee |first=Lian-Hee |year=2016 |title=Tone assignment in Hong Kong English |url=https://scholars.hkbu.edu.hk/ws/portalfiles/portal/55624501/RO_hkbu_staff_publication-6149_JA029072.pdf |journal=Language |volume=92 |at=e67–e87 |doi=10.1353/lan.2016.0039}}</ref>

====South African English====
In Broad [[South African English]], {{IPA|/h/}} (phonetically {{IPAblink|ɦ}}) is often deleted, such as in word-initial stressed syllables (as in '''''h'''ouse''), but at least as often, it is pronounced even if it seems to be deleted. The vowel that follows {{IPA|/h/}} in the word-initial syllable often carries a low or low rising tone. In rapid speech, that can be the only trace of the deleted {{IPA|/h/}}. Potentially minimal tonal pairs are thus created, like ''oh'' (neutral {{IPA|[ʌʊ˧]}} or high falling {{IPA|[ʌʊ˦˥˩]}}) vs. ''hoe'' (low {{IPA|[ʌʊ˨]}} or low rising {{IPA|[ʌʊ˩˨]}}).{{sfnp|Lass|2002|p=112}}

=== Welsh ===
In [[Welsh language|Welsh]] a stress accent usually comes on the penultimate syllable (with a few exceptions accented on the final, such as the word {{lang|cy|Cymraeg}} "Welsh"), and is usually on a low pitch followed by a rising pitch. "In Welsh, the stressed syllable is associated with lower pitch than less stressed or unstressed syllables ... However, the post-stress syllable in Welsh is typically produced on a higher pitch."{{sfnp|Hannahs|2013|p=42}} It is believed that this came about because late Brythonic (the ancestor of Welsh) had a penultimate accent that was pronounced with a high pitch. When the final vowels of words were lost, the high pitch remained on what was now the final syllable, but the stress moved to the new penultimate. Thus LHL changed to LH, with the stress on the low syllable.{{sfnp|Willis|2010|p=122}}

Although it is usually said that the high pitch is in the final syllable of the word, an acoustic study of [[Anglesey]] Welsh found that in that dialect at least the peak of the tone was actually in the penultimate syllable, thus the last two syllables were L+H* L.{{sfnp|Cooper|2015|p=165}}

===Yaqui===
The [[Yaqui]] are a native American people living mostly in [[Mexico]] but also in [[Arizona]]. About 17,000 people are said to speak Yaqui, which is a [[Uto-Aztecan language]].

Yaqui has a tonal accent in which the accent is on the first or the second [[mora (linguistics)|mora]] of the word. A long vowel has two moras in Yaqui, and a short vowel or diphthong has one mora. After the accent, the high tone continues with a very slight decline<ref name="Hagberg08">{{cite journal |last=Hagberg |first=Larry |url=https://linguistics.arizona.edu/sites/linguistics.arizona.edu/files/files-page/fuac_hagberg_slides.pdf |title=An Acoustic Analysis of Yaqui Stress |journal=Friends of Uto-Aztecan |date=3 October 2008 |publisher=University of Arizona |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113230254/https://linguistics.arizona.edu/sites/linguistics.arizona.edu/files/files-page/fuac_hagberg_slides.pdf |archive-date=13 January 2023}}</ref> until the end of the word.

About two thirds of words have an accent on the first mora, and all tones of the word are then high:<ref name="Demers99" />
*{{lang|yaq|k'''á'''rí}} "house"
*{{lang|yaq|ham'''ú'''t}} "woman"
*{{lang|yaq|t'''é'''éká}} "sky" (where {{lang|yaq|ee}} represents a long vowel)
*{{lang|yaq|te'''é'''ká}} "lay down"

In some words with a long first vowel, the accent moves to the second syllable, and the vowel of the first syllable then becomes short:
*{{lang|yaq|b'''á'''kót}} "snake"
*{{lang|yaq|bak'''ó'''ttá}} "snake (object of verb)"

In a certain kind of reduplication, the accent moves to the first mora, and the next consonant is then usually doubled. At the same time, since a long vowel cannot follow the accent, the vowel after the accent is also shortened:
*{{lang|yaq|te'''é'''ká}} "lay down"
*{{lang|yaq|t'''é'''ttéká}} "in the process of laying something down"

At the end of a phrase, the pitch drops, with a low boundary tone.<ref name="Hagberg08" />

To an English-speaker, the first high tone in Yaqui "sounds very much like a stress". However, acoustic studies show that the amplitude of the accented syllable is not really greater than the other syllables in the word are.<ref name="Demers99" />

==See also==
* [[Stress (linguistics)]]
* [[Tone (linguistics)]]

==Notes==

<references group="nb" />

==Citation==
{{Reflist}}

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{{divcol-end}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{citation
|last=Bodelier |first=Jorina
|year=2011
|title=Tone and intonation in the Lemiers dialect of Ripuarian
|type=MA General Linguistics Thesis
|publisher=University of Amsterdam
}}
* {{citation
|last=Hyman |first=L.M. 
|year=2015 
|title=Positional Prominence vs. Word Accent: Is there a difference? 
|journal=UC Berkeley PhonLab Annual Report
|url=http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/phonlab/documents/2015/Hyman_Positional_Prominence_vs_Word_Accent.pdf
}}
* {{citation 
|last=Hulst
|first=Harry van der 
|year=2011 
|chapter=Pitch Accent systems |title=Suprasegmental and Prosodic Phonology 
|series=The Blackwell Companion to Phonology |volume=II
|url=https://harry-van-der-hulst.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1733/2016/05/139-Pitch-accent-systems.pdf
|isbn=978-1-4443-3526-2
}}

{{Suprasegmentals}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitch Accent}}
[[Category:Tone (linguistics)]]

[[pt:Tonicidade]]