Reconstr uction of Accentual Innovations in K yushu -Focusing on Edge Features -N ozom i KoDAMA* SUM M ARY: The author argues that the loss of Proto-Japanese right edge tone, a possible source of the pitch accent HL, left the lexical tone systems in Kyushu with only non-falling tones: H+ (high level), L+{ (low level with the right edge rise), L+H (slow rising), and LH+ (fast rising). The present-day tonal variants in K yushu are explained as outcomes of the combinations of four major

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... , of which two are mutually exclusive: (1) the merging of L+{, L+H and LH+, (2) the shifting of H+ to LH+} or L+{(H+}) with the phonemicization of the previously phonetic falling edge tone, }, (3) the raising of L+ in L+{ and L+H, which gave rise to the pitch accent HI H, and (4) LH+ taking on word-initial accentuation.