Dictionaries often struggle to agree on which pitch pattern is the most common for a word. A famous example is 映画 (えいが), it can be heiban or atamadaka and most dictionaries will prioritize atamadaka even though the heiban pitch is more common for this word nowadays.
So how do you choose which pattern to use when you speak? Is there an updated ressource that accurately tell which pitch is the most used?
Ps. I know some might suggest that I could pick up the correct pitch naturally by immersing a lot but it's been observed that by doing so, you end up with an inconsistent pitch usage so at best you'll end up pronouncing 映画 as sometimes atamadaka and sometimes heiban.
EDIT: So far it seems there are no convenient and up to date resources to check which pitch accent is the most commonly used for a word with multiple pitches… However, apparently the pitch used in anime is fairly consistent and accurate to the standard pitch used nowadays (be aware there are characters who speak with a kansai ben though). I saw online there is a database named immersionkit that compiles sentences from a lot of anime, so with a trained ear it could be a great way to search for a word and disambiguate which pitch to learn.
I'm sure there is a way to automate the process of disambiguating the pitch of a word by generating pitch graphs over anime sentence audio. It could result in a "standard anime pitch accent dictionary" resource that accurately reflect the standard pitch used nowadays. If someone ever creates this resource, let me know 🙂 I'll eventually explore this idea though, I'm sure it could alleviate a lot of stuggles and frustration for a lot of us.
by MelodicAmbassador584