We all know the basic rules of pitch accent: there are 2 basic pitches, high and low, and, in general, words will go between H and L locations with the H->L drop being the most important part of the pitch contour.
However, when doing training with my (Kanto Standard Dialect) language partner, we've found the 2 following sentences which seem to introduce a 3rd pitch and don't seem to follow the above pattern:
その頃から日本の経済は強くなっていった。
そ／のこ＼ろからに／ほんのけ＼いざいは／つ＼よく／な＼ってい＼た
(2 drops in a row)
and
日本語を勉強するかい？
に／ほんごを＼べ／んきょうす／る＼かい？
(2 rises in a row)
After doing hundreds/thousands of sentences, these are, so far, the only 2 I've found that appear to use a 3rd pitch, by having 2 rises or 2 drops in a row.
Can anybody else confirm with other (preferably Kanto Standard Dialect) speakers that these are indeed the correct notation and/or why my partner prefers this pronunciation so strongly over something that could be notated with only 2 pitches?
I do note that なっていた does end the sentence, but this is the only instance of ていた this speaker likes with a drop on い＼た, so I don't think sentence pitch contour explains it.
Similarly for するかい？ Maybe it's explainable by having する？ as a question with an immediate drop for the actual question marker (which also gets a second question-level contour)…
However, in both instances, it seems the native speaker and myself both feel that the double-rise and double-drop are the best way to notate it, that this is a pitch-accent level pitch change and not a sentence-contour level change.
Can anybody else confirm with other native speakers or resources about how they think these sentences should be notated and/or if this is some rare 3rd pitch or how anybody else would make sense of this?
by Available-String-109