noun
pitch accent leveling; loss of pitch accent
Linguistic term referring to the phenomenon where a word that normally has a pitch accent is pronounced without it, often in certain dialects or casual speech. Related to 平板型 (heiban-gata), the unaccented pattern.
See also: 平板型
若者の間で、単語の平板化が進んでいるという研究がある。
There is research suggesting that pitch accent leveling of words is progressing among young people.
この方
In this dialect, pitch accent leveling is observed in many words.
Compound of 平板 (heiban, 'flat, unaccented') + 化 (-ka, '-ization'). The term is a modern linguistic coinage.