Japanese Phonology: The Ins and Outs of Japanese Sounds

Let me inform you a fast, private story that I believe underscores the significance of studying Japanese phonology or phonetics.

It was a snowy day throughout my Japanese class in a small college in the midst of nowhere. As a part of a grammar train, my trainer requested me a random query.

She mentioned  “サミさん！先生はかわいいと思いますか？( さみさん！せんせいは かわいいと おもいますか？
),” which meant “Sami! Do you assume I’m cute?”

Attempting to not look too relieved at the truth that it was a simple query, I nodded and responded: “うん。とっても怖いです！ ( うん。とっても こわい です！
)” Mainly, I mentioned: “Yeah, you’re extremely scary!”

Whoops.

Shocked, my trainer made what seemed like a choking sound. A number of folks began laughing, however fortunately, my pal rapidly spoke up in my protection, telling the trainer that no, she’s cute, she’s actually cute: “いや！かわいいです！先生はかわいいですよ！ ( いや！かわいいです！せんせいは かわいい ですよ！
)”

That was the second I realized the worth of Japanese phonetics and clear pronunciation. In the event you handle to complete this text, you’ll have all the data you should select the variations between こわい
(scary) and かわいい
(cute)—after which some.

Contents

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Once I started learning Japanese, I was advised that Japanese pronunciation was very simple. In actual fact, we solely spent one class interval on pronunciation for the next causes:

• The language is atonal. It’s not like, say, Mandarin Chinese language the place the way in which you pronounce sure phrases adjustments their that means and the character you utilize to put in writing them. For instance, the Chinese language characters for “purchase” and “promote” are 买 and 卖, respectively. They each sound like “mai,” besides the previous has a falling then rising intonation, whereas the latter solely has a falling intonation. 
• Spelling is phonetic and pronunciation is constant. Put in one other means, phrases sound like they give the impression of being and seem like they sound. Even somebody who’s by no means studied Japanese earlier than might learn a textual content written in romaji and be understood with out a lot hassle (in contrast to somebody learning French, for instance).
• It’s comparatively simple for native audio system of languages like Spanish. In the event you pronounce the Japanese vowels the way in which you do in Spanish, you’ll be simply wonderful.

This all begs a query you’re in all probability pondering proper now, given that you just’ve determined to learn a complete article concerning the topic: if Japanese pronunciation is really easy, why would somebody commit time to learning the phonetics of Japanese—or what Webster’s English Language Learner Dictionary defines as “the examine of speech sounds?”

The explanation all boils right down to this: Japanese has sounds that don’t exist in English and vice versa. Go spend a couple of minutes trying on the IPA pages for English and Japanese, and also you’ll discover that the 2 languages could have related sounds however they’re not precisely equivalent. 

With out additional ado, let’s get began with the fundamentals of Japanese phonology!

In the event you’ve tried shadowing Japanese speech, you would possibly’ve seen that every of its mora (the constructing blocks of syllables) will get one beat and has the identical size.

In different phrases, one mora is mainly one kana (excluding small kanas just like the ょ in ぎょ). So should you’re training pronunciation by clapping, the variety of claps ought to correspond to the variety of kana in a given phrase.

As most Japanese sounds are “consonant + vowel” pairs, the language itself kind of forces you to have a comparatively constant rhythm. That’s the final rule, anyway.

After which there’s ん
.

Do not forget that ん is one mora and must be vocalized as such. For instance, the phrase for “now” or 今度
(こんど) ought to get three beats (KO-N-DO), not two (KON-DO).

Apart from the truth that /i/ and /ɯ/ change into unvoiced when surrounded by sure consonants, these 5 vowels are at all times pronounced the identical.

Once I say “unvoiced” on this context, it means your vocal cords don’t vibrate when producing these sounds. That is simpler to grasp whenever you really feel it, although. Put your fingers in your neck as should you have been checking your pulse. Say the phrase “Who’re you?” out loud after which whisper the identical phrase. Do you discover the distinction?

As there are solely 5 sounds, be sure you’re announcing these accurately! And one of the simplest ways to take action is to apply, apply and apply some extra.

Right here’s the really useful technique to apply sounds should you don’t have a speech trainer to seek the advice of (like I did):

• Discover a video that includes a native Japanese speaker speaking and has correct subtitles.
• Learn a sentence from the subtitles.
• Hearken to the native speaker say it.
• Re-read the sentence based mostly on what you hear.
• Sit in entrance of a mirror and get a tape recorder rolling. Watch your mouth as you communicate and hearken to the recording. Examine it to the native speaker’s model and spot any variations.
• Make acceptable adjustments based mostly on what you seen and repeat the sentence once more.
• Hold going till you good the sentence, then transfer on to a different.

Fortunately, you could find subtitled movies with native Japanese audio system on a language studying platform like FluentU.

Typically, simply listening to the right pronunciation of a given sound is sufficient to enhance your personal pronunciation. Different instances, you would possibly hear the error however are not sure methods to repair it.

If it’s the latter downside you’re coping with, you may rent a tutor particularly to work in your pronunciation expertise. A talented trainer can present you what you may’t hear for your self.

Even should you don’t have entry to an expert tutor, a local speaker or language alternate associate can inform you in case your recording sounds right or if one thing sounds humorous even when they will’t clarify precisely why.

In the event you’re not prepared for that kind of dedication, I’d additionally wish to share a wonderful YouTube sequence by Fluent Perpetually that appears at Japanese vowels—together with the variations between the Japanese and English u sounds—intimately:

One motive is that English has extra vowel sounds than Japanese. There’s additionally the truth that English may be sneaky concerning the diphthong, a sound the place there are two vowels in a single syllable.

For instance, take the English phrase “no.” Say it as you usually would, then say it slowly. You must discover that it has two sounds: a brief /o/ sound adopted by the u sound /ʊ/. Primarily, you’re saying “nou.”

Now, apply this to Japanese. The no sound in の
isn’t a diphthong. Right here, you say the /o/, however cease earlier than you get to the /ʊ/.

I don’t imply to say that Japanese by no means places two vowels collectively. For instance, the phrase 能力 ( のうりょく
) or “skill” options the /o/ sound in の and the Japanese /ɯ/ sound う. The identical goes for the pronunciation of the identify of Japan’s capital 東京
(とうきょう), the place the 2 characters each have the /o/ and /ɯ/ sounds subsequent to one another.

And right here’s one other video demonstrating sound adjustments in Japanese—i.e., what adjustments the diacritic markers in は→ ば
・ ぱ
really signify:

Whereas learning hiragana and katakana, you’ll have realized that “small” kanas may be appended to greater ones to make new sounds—equivalent to び
and よ
to make びょ.

While you add a small や
, ゆ
or よ
to Japanese consonants, you’re really representing a palatalized sound.

For instance, the g sound in ぎょ and ご
aren’t the identical.

Attempt it for your self: repeat the sounds slowly forwards and backwards. Shut your eyes and focus your consideration in your mouth. The place are the sounds coming from? What does your mouth really feel like? You must really feel that the sound in ぎょ appears to come back from a barely “greater” place than that of ご.

In the event you’re struggling, I believe it helps to whisper the sounds. Once more, ぎょ includes a palatalized /g/, whereas the sound in ご is a plain /g/.

Whereas は, ひ
, ふ
, へ
and ほ
are all transcribed as starting with the letter h (as you may see in this examine), there are literally three completely different preliminary consonants right here: /h/, /ç/ and /ɸ/.

Now, return to ご vs. ぎょ and discover the distinction in feeling as soon as extra, then strive once more with ほ
and ひょ. You must really feel a distinction in place. And should you maintain your hand in entrance of your mouth, you must also discover a lot much less air hitting your hand whenever you say ひょ.

The sound in ひ, /ç/, is a palatalized variant of the /h/ sound, whereas /ɸ/ is a brand new but accessible sound that’ll take a little bit of enjoying together with your lips. That is essential as a result of ふ has a mixture of consonant and vowel sounds that don’t exist in English: /ɸ/+/ɯ/.

So, what’s the distinction between the /f/ (as in “fan”) that we’re all acquainted with and /ɸ/ as in Mt. 富士
(ふじ)?

Nicely, whenever you have a look at this visible IPA chart, you may see that the technical time period for /f/ is “labiodental fricative” whereas /ɸ/ is “bilabial fricative.” That’s fancy communicate for one sound that includes your lip touching your enamel and one other that includes each of your lips however not your enamel.

Fake that you just’re blowing out a candle and freeze in the midst of blowing. Take note of how your mouth feels, after which preserve that place whereas saying ふ. In the event you’re not sure, try this hyperlink from Wasabi Japanese and evaluate your pronunciation to that of a local speaker’s.

Now that you just’ve acquired that discovered, choose a place within the center and say a couple of Japanese phrases that start with this r sound like ラーメン
  (“ramen”). If the sound isn’t an l sound, not fairly an r sound but additionally appears to be someplace within the center, you’re heading in the right direction!

Opposite to what you’ll have been taught,  し
does not sound the identical as “she.”

The sound in “she” is known as a “unvoiced postalveolar fricative” and it appears like /ʃ/. In the meantime, the sound in し (and its katakana counterpart シ
) is a “unvoiced alveolo-palatal fricative” and appears like /ɕ/.

They’re completely different sounds.

Sadly, there aren’t a ton of excellent assets on methods to pronounce し, so I’m going to direct you to some movies geared toward Mandarin Chinese language learners, because the /ɕ/ sound exists in each languages.

One other sound you’ll hear in each Mandarin and Japanese is /tɕ/. Japanese represents this sound with the characters つ
in hiragana and ツ
in katakana.

You can begin by watching a video from OLS Mandarin, which compares a number of Mandarin consonant sounds. Pay shut consideration to the pinyin labels of x and j, which roughly correspond to the sounds of し and つ, respectively:

Attempt to hear the distinction between the 2 sounds, after which look into a couple of movies that speak concerning the sounds extra particularly, like those by Yoyo Chinese language (for し and for ち):

In the event you’re keen to go for a extra exact rationalization and don’t thoughts studying a bit extra concerning the Mandarin sh and zh, try the wonderful movies by Litao Chinese language (for し and for ち):

Sadly, the Japanese じ
sound (variably, /ʑ/ and /dʑ/) doesn’t exist in Mandarin. The one distinction between しand じ is that し is voiceless (your vocal chords don’t vibrate) whereas じ is voiced (your vocal chords ought to vibrate).

• The traditional n sound or /n/. For instance, you might have 海苔 ( のり
  ), the dried seaweed usually utilized in Japanese meals.
• The palatalized /ɲ/. This comes earlier than consonants apart from い or the little よ, や and ゆ sounds.
• The n that turns into m. In the event you’ve ever puzzled over the truth that 頑張る ( がんばる
  ) or “good luck/do your greatest” appears to be regularly misspelled as gambaru in some textbooks or phrasebooks, you’re doubtless acquainted with the rule that /n/ turns into /m/ (as in “mother”) earlier than /b/ (as in boy) or /p/ (as in pot).
• The /ŋ/ sound. This sounds just like the ng sound of -ing in phrases like “going” or “sing.” It occurs when ん comes earlier than a /ok/ or /g/ sound.
• The /ɴ/ sound. That is the sound of ん when it happens earlier than a pause or, as Wikipedia places it, on the finish of an utterance like in すみません…
  or “I’m sorry/excuse me…” By the way in which, right here’s a superb thread explaining methods to pronounce すみません.

You’ll wish to do not forget that Japanese phrases are all confused equally, however they comply with a couple of particular patterns of excessive and low pitches. 銀行
(ぎんこう) or “financial institution,” for instance, begins with a low pitch adopted by morae of three excessive pitches.

Though there are a couple of most important patterns that Japanese phrases comply with, these patterns aren’t fastened and fluctuate relying on what’s happening in a sentence. For instance, within the Tokyo/normal dialect of Japanese, there are two elementary guidelines:

1. The primary two morae of a phrase received’t have the identical stage of pitch. In different phrases, if the primary mora is excessive, then the second might be low and vice versa.

2. As soon as the pitch of a phrase drops, it received’t come again once more. Not like Mandarin Chinese language, normal Japanese lacks the falling-then-rising intonation of phrases like 买 or “purchase.”

If all of that is supplying you with a headache, I recommend spending a while studying about how pitch accent works. You’ll additionally wish to be taught a handful of widespread phrases for every sample so that you get a way for the way each feels. Then, simply take note of their accent as you eat media or hearken to folks speaking.

In case you’d like to take a look at this in depth, a man named Dogen has launched a complete sequence on the subject.

Wow, that was a journey! We’ve simply lined a ton of details about Japanese phonetics. At this level, you’re in all probability asking your self if it’s value all the hassle to determine these items out—and truthfully, that’s a query so that you can reply.

In the event you pronounce Japanese phrases the “fallacious” means (no matter which means) and native audio system can nonetheless perceive you, that’s all proper. In spite of everything, English audio system assume a French accent sounds romantic, and also you’ll in all probability get a cross for being a foreigner anyway.

But when your purpose is to change into fluent in spoken Japanese, studying about its phonetics will get you there. Gambatte, ne!

Obtain:
This weblog put up is accessible as a handy and moveable PDF that you just
can take anyplace.
Click on right here to get a duplicate. (Obtain)