General Study on N-pattern Accent in Japanese

在将N字型重音定义为一个只有N个对立词而不考虑重音单位长度的系统之后，我们用跨辩证的方法考察了四个特征：(1)重音单位是一串串，这是泛方言中的发现；(2)串行化基本适用于该系统，但当一个名词有一个从词尾指定的重音核心时，则不适用；(3)复合重音规则，即复合词的重音继承其第一个成员的重音，以及重音模式在连词中的一致性都有许多例外。两者都取决于这种方言是如何经历历史变化的，至少在日本大陆是这样。最后，考察了九州的双调系统和冲绳的三调的历史。

After defining an N-pattern accent as a system where only N oppositions exist irrespective of the length of the accentual unit, we examine four characteristics cross-dialectically and argue that: (1) The accentual unit is a bunsetsu, which is found pandialectally; (2) Serialization basically holds true for the system, but not, when a noun has an accent kernel specified from the end of the word; (3) Both the compound accent rule to the effect that the accent of a compound inherits the accent of its first member, and accent pattern congruity in conjugation have many exceptions. Both depend on how the dialect underwent historical changes, at least in Mainland Japanese. Finally, the histories of two-pattern accent systems in Kyushu and three-pattern accents in Oki-no-shima are considered.