Despite the fact that the particle ne and its intonation patterns has been a popular subject of inquiry in Japanese linguistics, the ways in which such intonation has been analyzed in previous studies are somewhat limited. Distinctions between various intonation patterns are made based on impressionistic judgments or by observations of pitch contours only, but not based on analyses of other prosodic features (e.g., Koyama, 1997). The detailed analysis of multiple prosodic characteristics in this study reveals that categorizations of intonation are finer than it has been considered to be. Various functions of the particle ne are not realized in all dimensions of prosodic features but in some combinations of multiple prosodic features.
The present study focuses on the particle ne that occurs independently without attaching to a sentence or a phrase (hereafter called independent ne). A production study was conducted to investigate how prosodic features such as pitch contours, timing, duration, and pitch range play a part in distinguishing its functions. The five functions that have been reported in earlier studies (e.g., Izuhara, 1994) and that have been found in my corpus of spontaneous conversation, were examined.
The results show that speakers use four different boundary tones in their uses of the independent ne. One boundary tone (the high- rising tone) was realized predominantly for three different functions, such as MONITORING, RECONFIRMING, and AGREEING. These functions are further distinguished prosodically within the same boundary tone: durations of the vowel /e/ make a distinction between MONITORING and the rest; and peak F0 values distinguish between RECONFIRMING and AGREEING.
The present study suggests that analyses of intonation should include not only pitch contours but also other prosodic features. Such a detailed analysis complements the existing descriptions of intonation in Japanese textbooks and immensely benefits teachers of Japanese to help improve learners' pronunciation.