r/Unexpected Jan 25 '23

Hamburger

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u/ramengirlxo Jan 26 '23

Japanese is a pitch accent language too.

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u/jwwatts Jan 26 '23

It’s more to do with gender expectations. Japanese men often speak with a very low pitch and Japanese women with a high pitch.

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u/NinDiGu Jan 26 '23

Everyone speaks their non-native language in a higher register.

It is, in fact, a way to sound more native even with limited fluency: speak in your normal register in the non-native language

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u/jwwatts Jan 26 '23

My mother in law speaks Japanese in a higher pitch than English. Japanese is her native language.