pitch accent

8.8

A change in high or low voice on a part of a word that changes meaning

noun
/pɪtʃ ˈæksɛnt/

Specialized

: acento tonal

Japanese is known for having a pitch accent system rather than a stress accent system.

Examples

In Swedish, the pitch accent can change the meaning of a word completely.
Linguists study how pitch accent distinguishes meaning in tonal languages.
In Japanese, pitch accent plays a crucial role in distinguishing meanings.
The pitch accent in this word changes its meaning completely.
In Japanese, the pitch accent can change the meaning of words based on the variation in pitch.
The linguist explained that Finnish uses a pitch accent system to distinguish between different words.
Unlike stress accents found in English, a pitch accent relies on the height of the voice to convey meaning.

Synonyms

tonic accent

vspitch accent

Specialized

9.1

Emphasis on a syllable shown by a change to a higher or lower voice

is the same concept and emphasis method, not a different accent type

Antonyms

monotone

2 5.8

Said or sung in the same tone without change

How Tonal

tonal system

Specialized

7.9

pitch accent

Specialized

8.8

intonation

Specialized

7 4.6

monotone

8 5.3

Surface Forms

pitch accent singular

pitch accents plural

Morphology

pitch + accent

The meaning is directly derivable from the constituents: 'pitch' (highness/lowness of sound) combined with 'accent' (emphasis) yields an emphasis realized by pitch variation. This compositional pattern is transparent and cross-linguistically familiar (e.g., Japanese), so a B1 learner who knows both words should be able to infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Pitch accent comes from a musical image: pitch is a high or low note and accent is the stressed part of a word. Language experts used that picture to name the idea where a change in 'pitch' on a syllable, not how loud you say it, changes a word's meaning, so the term explains why pitch gives the 'accent'.