# Japanese/Pronunciation

Japanese is characterised largely by its small number of vowels and
consonants (five and fourteen, respectively). Pronunciation of each
syllable is highly regular with the written system and there are only a
few exceptions such as vowel devoicing. This is in stark contrast to
English where the written and spoken language can differ a great deal
(e.g. the vowel digraph \"ou\" in \"noun\" and \"cough\" and the
consonant \"g\" in \"goat\" and \"giraffe\").

Apart from a single isolated consonant (the moraic nasal, \"n\") and
double consonants (e.g. \"i**tt**e\" and \"ke**kk**on\") all consonants
must be followed by a vowel to form syllables. Double consonants are
always a pair of the same consonant, though vowel devoicing sometimes
makes different consonants sound one after the other (e.g.
\"**s**u**ki**\" and \"**s**u**teki**\").

Japanese has a great deal of homophones that make correct pronunciation
quite important. While language learners may have difficulty hearing the
difference between nuances like long and short vowels, native speakers
are used to these and might not understand incorrectly pronounced words.

## The syllabary

There are five vowels in Japanese, normally transcribed into the English
alphabet as: \"a\", \"i\", \"u\", \"e\" and \"o\".

+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Vowel    | **a**    | **i**    | ```{=me  | **e**    | ```{=me  |
|          |          |          | diawiki} |          | diawiki} |
|          |          |          | {{       |          | {{       |
|          |          |          | Audio|Ja |          | Audio|Ja |
|          |          |          | -U.oga|' |          | -O.oga|' |
|          |          |          | ''u'''|h |          | ''o'''|h |
|          |          |          | elp=no}} |          | elp=no}} |
|          |          |          | ```      |          | ```      |
|          |          |          | \*       |          |          |
+==========+==========+==========+==========+==========+==========+
| App      | f        | meat`<u> | f`<u>    | `<u>`{   | `<u>`{   |
| roximate | `<u>`{=h | `{=html} | `{=html} | =html}*e | =html}*o |
| sound    | tml}*a*` | *y*`</u> | oo`</u>` | *`</u>`{ | *`</u>`{ |
|          | </u>`{=h | `{=html} | {=html}d | =html}gg | =html}ld |
|          | tml}ther |          |          |          |          |
+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+

\*This sound is pronounced
compressed, for
which there is no approximation in English. See:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_back_rounded_vowel#Close_back_compressed_vowel>
Spanish and Italian speakers may note that Japanese vowels produce the
same sounds as their Spanish and Italian equivalents.

Japanese vowels always represent distinct phonemes and don\'t form
digraphs --- i.e. they don\'t blend together or sound differently when
joined. When one vowel follows another they are pronounced separately.
Examples are the names *Sae* (sa.e) and *Aoi* (a.o.i)

The rest of the syllabary is formed by combining the above vowels with a
consonant.

<table>
<thead>
<tr class="header">
<th><p>Clear</p></th>
<th><p> </p></th>
<th><p>Voiced</p></th>
<th><p> </p></th>
<th><p>Plosive</p></th>
<th><p> </p></th>
<th><p>Clear medial y</p></th>
<th><p> </p></th>
<th><p>Voiced medial y</p></th>
<th><p> </p></th>
<th><p>Plosive medial y</p></th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="odd">
<td><p> </p></td>
<td><p>a</p></td>
<td><p>i</p></td>
<td><p>u</p></td>
<td><p>e</p></td>
<td><p>o</p></td>
<td><p> </p></td>
<td><p>a</p></td>
<td><p>i</p></td>
<td><p>u</p></td>
<td><p>e</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td><p>k</p></td>
<td><p>ka</p></td>
<td><p>ki</p></td>
<td><p>ku</p></td>
<td><p>ke</p></td>
<td><p>ko</p></td>
<td><p>g</p></td>
<td><p>ga</p></td>
<td><p>gi</p></td>
<td><p>gu</p></td>
<td><p>ge</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td><p>s</p></td>
<td><p>sa</p></td>
<td></td>
<td><p>su</p></td>
<td><p>se</p></td>
<td><p>so</p></td>
<td><p>z</p></td>
<td><p>za</p></td>
<td><p><strong>ji</strong></p></td>
<td><p>zu</p></td>
<td><p>ze</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td><p>t</p></td>
<td><p>ta</p></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td><p>te</p></td>
<td><p>to</p></td>
<td><p>d</p></td>
<td><p>da</p></td>
<td><p><strong>ji</strong></p></td>
<td><p><strong>zu</strong></p></td>
<td><p>de</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td><p>n</p></td>
<td><p>na</p></td>
<td></td>
<td><p>nu</p></td>
<td><p>ne</p></td>
<td><p>no</p></td>
<td><p> </p></td>
<td><p>ni</p></td>
<td><p>nya</p></td>
<td><p>nyu</p></td>
<td><p>nyo</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td><p>h</p></td>
<td><p>ha</p></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td><p>he</p></td>
<td><p>ho</p></td>
<td><p>b</p></td>
<td><p>ba</p></td>
<td><p>bi</p></td>
<td><p>bu</p></td>
<td><p>be</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td><p>m</p></td>
<td><p>ma</p></td>
<td><p>mi</p></td>
<td><p>mu</p></td>
<td><p>me</p></td>
<td><p>mo</p></td>
<td><p> </p></td>
<td><p> </p></td>
<td><p>mi</p></td>
<td><p>mya</p></td>
<td><p>myu</p></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td><p>y</p></td>
<td><p>ya</p></td>
<td></td>
<td><p>yu</p></td>
<td></td>
<td><p>yo</p></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td><p>r</p></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td><p>ri</p></td>
<td><p>rya</p></td>
<td><p>ryu</p></td>
<td><p>ryo</p></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td><p>w</p></td>
<td><p>wa</p></td>
<td></td>
<td><p><strong>o</strong></p></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Note that the sound which is written with a \"y\" is not considered a
vowel, but a consonant. This will come as little surprise to German
speakers where the same sound is written with a \"j\".

The -i line (ki, gi, shi, ji, chi, ni, hi, bi, pi, mi, ri) can be
combined with the y- line (ya, yu, yo) to create the *medial y*
combinations. These are just like regular consonant + vowel syllables,
in that they should be pronounced as one mora (syllabic sound).

```{=html}
<div style="border: 2px solid #fd9;">
```
From this table one can see that the Japanese syllabary is highly
systematic. There are a few exceptions, though, and these have been
bolded in the table:

-   \"si\" becomes \"**shi**\"
-   \"ti\" becomes \"**chi**\" and \"tu\" becomes \"**tsu**\"
-   \"zi\" and \"di\" become \"**ji**\", and \"du\" becomes \"**zu**\"
-   \"hu\" becomes \"**fu**\"
-   \"wo\" becomes \"**o**\"

```{=html}
</div>
```
## Mora

Japanese is quite regular in the timing and stress of its syllables. The
basic timing unit is called mora. Each mora is pronounced with equal
stress and should take about the same amount of time. Two morae should
sound twice as long as a single one.

The following take up one mora:

-   a short vowel
-   a consonant followed by a short vowel
-   a medial y
-   a moraic nasal

Whereas these take up two morae:

-   a long vowel
-   a double consonant

### Examples

-   *a-o-i* / あおい (*e.* blue): three morae, each vowel is short
-   *mi-do-ri* / みどり (*e.* green): three morae.
-   *sha-shu* / しゃしゅ (*e.* car model): two morae.
-   *ni-n-ji-n* / にんじん (*e.* a carrot): four morae.
-   *ī-e* / いいえ (*e.* no): three morae (note the long vowel \"i\",
    denoted by a macron)
-   *a-k-ka* / あっか (*e.* to worsen): three morae (note that the
    double consonant isn\'t pronounced twice, just twice as long).

The medial y often takes a long vowel.

-   *gyūnyū* / ぎゅうにゅう (*e.* milk): four morae.

## Long vowels

A long vowel takes two morae. In rōmaji it\'s written with a macron: *ā,
ī, ū, ē and ō*.

In hiragana, it\'s written with an extra
\"あ\" (a), \"い\" (i) or \"う\" (u) depending on the vowel. In
katakana, it\'s marked by appending a
dash-like symbol \"ー\".

+----------+----------+------------+--------------------------------+
| Word     | Japanese | Meaning    | Soundbyte                      |
+==========+==========+============+================================+
| *Ōsaka*  | 大阪     | Osaka city | There are a couple of consonants that are pronounced differently from
English:

  Consonant   Approximate sound                                                    Notes
  ----------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  g           _*g*_ive or si_*ng*_   approximately halfway between these sounds, it is made almost like *ng* depending on the age of the speaker and, in certain cases, dialect. Nowadays, it is beginning to sound more like our guttural g, but the older folks may still say *ng*, which was also taught in many Japanese grammar classes.
  sh, ch, j                                                                        sound is made further back along the tongue than in English
  ts          ba_*ts*_                                      try saying \"fatso\" without the \"fa\"
  f           _*wh*_o (in British English)                  blown between the lips, not between the lips and teeth; as if it were a combination of both H+F
  r                                                                                similar to a rolling *r*, but only trilled once making it sound deceptively like a *D* to untrained listeners. The sound is often described as being between \"r\" and \"l\".

Except for the doubled consonants and the *n* (which we will cover
later), consonants can never end a syllable. They can only begin it.

## Moraic nasal

Normally, Japanese consonants must be followed by a vowel except where
they double. There is an exception to this: the *moraic nasal* which is
transliterated as n. It is usually found at the end of words, but can be
found in the middle of composite words.

The difference between the moraic nasal and the syllables \"na\",
\"ni\", \"nu\", \"ne\" and \"no\" can be difficult for language learners
to spot, while native speakers may have difficulty understanding
incorrect pronunciation.

-   *kin\'en* (*ki-n-e-n*) no smoking vs. *kinen* (*ki-ne-n*)
    commemoration.
-   *hon\'ya* (*ho-n-ya-*) bookstore (not *ho-nya*)

The pronunciation of the moraic nasal changes depending on what sound
follows it. This is not so much an irregularity as a shortcut to bridge
the sounds between the two morae. When followed by the bilabial
plosives, \"b\" and \"p\", the moraic nasal is pronounced like an \"m\".
An example:

-   \"shinbun\" is read as: *shi**m**bun*

(OggVorbis, 151 KB)

1.  At the end of a word:
    -   *dan* 段 \"level\"
    -   *kin* 金 \"gold\"
    -   *fun* 糞 \"dung\"
    -   *zen* 善 \"goodness\"
    -   *hon* 本 \"book\"
2.  Directly before a consonant:
    -   *banzai* 万歳 \"hurrah\", \"long live (the Emperor)\"
    -   *kingyo* 金魚 \"goldfish\" (pronounced like \"ng\")
    -   *kunrei* 訓令 \"directive\"
    -   *zenchi* 全知 \"omniscience\" (pronounced like \"n\")
    -   *honten* 本店 \"main office\" (pronounced like \"n\")
3.  Before *m*, *b*, *p*
    -   *genmai* 玄米 \"unmilled rice\"
    -   *honbu* 本部 \"headquarters\"
    -   *tenpura* 天ぷら (battered and fried vegetables or fish)
4.  Before *a*, *i*, *e*, *y*
    -   *zen\'aku* 善悪 \"good and evil\"
    -   *ken\'i* 権威 \"authority\"
    -   *han\'ei* 反映 \"reflection\"
    -   *sen\'you* 専用 \"exclusive use\"
5.  Note that before *a*, *i*, *e*, and *y*, moraic n is written *n*\'
    (with an apostrophe). This is to distinguish it from the regular
    consonant *n*, which is pronounced differently and can produce
    different words. Some examples of cases where this becomes important
    are:
    -   *kani* 蟹 \"crab\" **vs.** *kan\'i* 簡易 \"simplicity\"
    -   *kinyuu* 記入 \"fill in\" **vs.** *kin\'yuu* 金融 \"finances\"
    -   *konyakku* コニャック \"cognac\" **vs.** *kon\'yaku* 婚約
        \"engagement (to be married)\"

## Consonant doubling (gemination)

There are four consonants that can become geminates (get doubled) in
native Japanese words: /p/, /t/, /k/, and /s/. The geminate (represented
linguistically as \"Q\") takes up an extra mora, with the general effect
being to insert a pause that sounds as long as a regular syllable with a
short vowel. The geminate is /t/ before ch and ts, /s/ before sh.

+--------------+---------------------+---------------------------------------+
| Word         | Meaning             | Soundbyte                             |
+==============+=====================+=======================================+
| ta**kk**yū   | table tennis        |     (OggVorbis, 75 KB)

  Word          Japanese   Meaning
  ------------- ---------- ------------------------------------------------
  akai          赤         red
  *iro*         色         color
  *egaku*       描く       draw (a picture)
  *utsu*        打つ       hit, beat
  *osameru*     治める     govern
  *oya*         親         parent(s)
  *wabi*        侘び       (the Japanese aesthetic of subdued refinement)
  *pari*        パリ       Paris (France)
  *tomodach*i   友達       friend
  *hana*        花         flower
  *shiji*       指示       instruction
  *hiza*        膝         knee
  *tsumori*     積もり     intention

### Long and double vowels

(OggVorbis, 125 KB) Note in particular that \"deiri\" and \"koushi\" are
not long vowels since the vowels are split between composite words.

  Word                     Japanese   Meaning
  ------------------------ ---------- ------------------
  *sā*                     さあ       come now
  *ai*                     愛         love
  *au*                     会う       meet
  *hae*                    蠅         fly (insect)
  *aoi*                    青い       blue, green
  *ī*                      いい       good
  *iu*                     言う       say
  *ie*                     家         house
  *shio*                   塩         salt
  *shurui*                 種類       type, kind
  *nū*                     縫う       sew
  *ue*                     上         above
  *uo*                     魚         fish
  *rē*                     例         example
  *supein*                 スペイン   Spain
  *urei*                   憂い       grief
  *deiri* (*de* + *iri*)   出入り     coming and going
  *dēta*                   データ     data
  *oi*                     甥         nephew
  *sō*                     そう       that way, so
  *omou*                   思う       think
  *koushi*                 仔牛       calf (baby cow)
  *moeru*                  燃える     burn
  *hō*                     頬         cheek (facial)

### Compound consonants

Audio missing

  Word         Japanese   Meaning
  ------------ ---------- ----------------------------------
  *toukyou*    東京       Tokyo
  *gyouza*     餃子       pot-stickers (Chinese dumplings)
  *gyuunyuu*   牛乳       milk (from a cow)
  *hyou*       表         chart
  *byouin*     病院       hospital
  *denpyou*    伝票       voucher
  *myou*       妙         strange
  *muryou*     無料       free (as in beer)
  *ryuu*       龍         dragon
  *takkyuu*    卓球       table tennis
  *happyou*    発表       announcement

### Moraic nasal

-       (OggVorbis, 91 KB)

  Word         Japanese   Meaning
  ------------ ---------- ------------------------------
  *tenki*      天気       weather
  *renshuu*    練習       practice
  *zangyou*    残業       overtime (work)
  *anshin*     安心       relief
  *sunnari*    すんなり   slender
  *denpa*      電波       reception (cell phone, etc.)
  *senbei*     煎餅       Japanese hard rice cake
  *genmai*     玄米       unprocessed rice
  *sen*        千         thousand
  *hon*        本         book
  *sen\'you*   専用       exclusive use
  *hon\'ya*    本屋       bookstore
  *san\'en*    三円       three yen
  *tan\'i*     単位       unit, (course) credit

### Comparisons of similarly pronounced words

(OggVorbis, 190 KB)

1.  *yuki* 雪 \"snow\" and *yuuki* 勇気 \"courage\"
2.  *soto* 外 \"outside\" and *souto* 僧徒 \"Buddhist disciple\"
3.  *soto* 外 \"outside\" and *sotou* 粗糖 \"unrefined sugar\"
4.  *soto* 外 \"outside\" and *soutou* 相当 \"suitable\"
5.  *soto* 外 \"outside\" and *sotto* そっと \"softly\"
6.  *sotto* そっと \"softly\" and *sottou* 卒倒 \"fainting\"
7.  *maki* 巻 \"scroll\" and *makki* 末期 \"last period\"
8.  *hako* 箱 \"box\" and *hakkou* 発行 \"publish\"
9.  *issei* 一斉 \"all at once\" and *isei* 異性 \"opposite sex\"
10. *tani* 谷 \"valley\" and *tan\'i* 単位 \"unit\", \"(course) credit\"
11. *san\'en* 三円 \"three yen\" and *sannen* 三年 \"three years\"
12. *kinyuu* 記入 \"fill out\" and *kin\'yuu* 金融 \"finances\"
13. *kinen* 記念 \"commemoration\" and *kin\'en* 禁煙 \"no smoking\"

### Normal speech

The narration of the following excerpt of Natsume
Soseki\'s classic novel
*Botchan* is spoken at a
natural pace which may be difficult to follow for unaccustomed
listeners.

-       (OggVorbis, 674KB)

:   *Oyayuzuri no muteppou de kodomo no toki kara son bakari shite iru.
    Shougakkou ni iru jibun gakkou no nikai kara tobiorite isshuukan
    hodo koshi o nukashita koto ga aru. Naze sonna muyami o shita to
    kiku hito ga aru kamoshirenu. Betsudan fukai riyuu demo nai.
    Shinchiku no nikai kara kubi o dashite itara, doukyuusei no hitori
    ga joudan ni, \"Ikura ibatte mo, soko kara tobioriru koto wa
    dekimai. Yowamushi yaai,\" to hayakashita kara de aru. Kozukai ni
    obusatte kaette kita toki, oyaji ga ookina me o shite \"Nikai gurai
    kara tobiorite koshi o nukasu yatsu ga aru ka,\" to itta kara,
    \"Kono tsugi wa nukasazu ni tonde misemasu,\" to kotaeta.*

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```

:   *Shinrui no mono kara seiyousei no naifu o moratte kirei na ha o hi
    ni kazashite, tomodachi ni misete itara, hitori ga \"Hikaru koto wa
    hikaru ga, kiresou mo nai,\" to itta. \"Kirenu koto ga aru ka,
    nandemo kitte miseru,\" to ukeatta. \"Sonnara, kimi no yubi o kitte
    miro,\" to chuumon shita kara, \"Nan da yubi gurai kono toori da,\"
    to migi no te no oyayubi no kou o hasu ni kirikonda. Saiwai naifu ga
    chiisai no to, oyayubi no hone ga katakatta node, imadani oyayubi wa
    te ni tsuite iru. Shikashi kizuato wa shinu made kienu.*

