Japanese phonology

The phonology of Japanese features a phonemic inventory of five vowels (/a,e,i,o,u/) and 15 or more consonants (depending on how certain sounds are analyzed). The phonotactics are relatively simple, allowing for few consonant clusters. Japanese phonology has been affected by the presence of several layers of vocabulary in the language: in addition to native Japanese vocabulary, Japanese has a large amount of Chinese-based vocabulary and loanwords from other languages.

Standard Japanese is a pitch-accent language, wherein the position or absence of a pitch drop may determine the meaning of a word: /haꜜsiɡa/ (箸が, 'chopsticks'), /hasiꜜɡa/ (橋が, 'bridge'), /hasiɡa/ (端が, 'edge').

Unless otherwise noted, the following describes the standard variety of Japanese based on the Tokyo dialect.

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Alveolo-
palatal
Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m n (ɲ) (ŋ) (ɴ)
Plosive p  b t  d k  ɡ
Affricate (t͡s)  (d͡z) (t͡ɕ)  (d͡ʑ)
Fricative (ɸ) s  z (ɕ)  (ʑ) (ç) h
Liquid r
Semivowel j w
Special moras /N/  /Q/

Consonants inside parentheses can be analyzed as allophones of other phonemes, at least in native words. In loanwords, /ɸ,ɕ,ʑ,t͡s,d͡z,t͡ɕ,d͡ʑ/ sometimes occur phonemically.

Phonetic notes

  • Voiceless stops /p,t,k/ are slightly aspirated—less so than English stops, but more than those in Spanish.
  • Non-coronal voiced stops /b,ɡ/ between vowels may be weakened to fricatives, especially in fast or casual speech:
/b/ > bilabial fricative [β] /abareru/ > [aβaɾeɾɯ] 暴れる, abareru, 'to behave violently'
/ɡ/ > velar fricative [ɣ] /haɡe/ > [haɣe] はげ, hage, 'baldness'
However, /ɡ/ is further complicated by its variant realization as [ŋ].
  • /t,d,n/ are laminal denti-alveolar (that is, the blade of the tongue contacts the back of the upper teeth and the front part of the alveolar ridge) and /s,z/ are laminal alveolar.
  • The distinction between [zʑ] and [d͡z,d͡ʑ] (voiced sibilant fricatives and affricates) is neutralized in most dialects, including Standard Japanese. See Yotsugana. A 2010 corpus study found that in neutralizing varieties, both variants were found in all positions, and that the time it takes to produce the consonant or consonant cluster (to which /N/, /Q/, and pauses contribute) was the most reliable predictor for affricate realization.
    • In non-merging dialects, the affricates [d͡z] [d͡ʑ] can be analyzed as conditioned allophones of /d/ (pronounced [d͡z] before /u/, [d͡ʑ] before /i/ or /j/, and [d] elsewhere) whereas the fricatives [z], [ʑ] can be analyzed as allophones of /z/ (pronounced [ʑ] before /i/ or /j/, and [z] elsewhere). In neutralizing dialects, the phoneme resulting from the merger is often assumed to be /z/, though some analyze it as /d͡z/, the voiced counterpart to [t͡s].
    • Some dialects (e.g. Tosa) retain the distinctions between /zi/ and /di/ and between /zu/ and /du/, while others retain only /zu/ and /du/ but not /zi/ and /di/, or merge all four (e.g. north Tōhoku).
    • As a result of the neutralization, the historical spelling distinction between these sounds has been eliminated from the modern written standard except in cases where a mora is repeated once voiceless and once voiced, or where rendaku occurs in a compound word: く[続く] /tuduku/, いちける[位置付ける] /itidukeru/ from |iti+tukeru|.
  • /w/ is traditionally described as a velar [ɰ] or labialized velar approximant [w] or something between the two, or as the semivocalic equivalent of /u/ with little to no rounding, while a 2020 real-time MRI study found it is better described as a bilabial approximant [β̞].
  • /h/ is [ç] before /i/ and /j/ (listen), and [ɸ] before /u/ (listen), coarticulated with the labial compression of that vowel.
  • Realization of the liquid phoneme /r/ varies greatly depending on environment and dialect. The prototypical and most common pronunciation is an apical tap, either alveolar [ɾ] or postalveolar [ɾ̠]. Utterance-initially and after /N/, the tap is typically articulated in such a way that the tip of the tongue is at first momentarily in light contact with the alveolar ridge before being released rapidly by airflow. This sound is described variably as a tap, a "variant of [ɾ]", "a kind of weak plosive", and "an affricate with short friction, [d̠ɹ̝̆]". The apical alveolar or postalveolar lateral approximant [l] is a common variant in all conditions, particularly utterance-initially and before /i,j/. According to Akamatsu (1997), utterance-initially and intervocalically (that is, except after /N/), the lateral variant is better described as a tap [ɺ] rather than an approximant. The retroflex lateral approximant [ɭ] is also found before /i,j/. In Tokyo's Shitamachi dialect, the alveolar trill [r] is a variant marked with vulgarity. Other reported variants include the alveolar approximant [ɹ], the alveolar stop [d], the retroflex flap [ɽ], the lateral fricative [ɮ], and the retroflex stop [ɖ].
  • /N/ is a syllable-final moraic nasal with variable pronunciation: depending on what follows, it undergoes a variety of assimilatory processes. These assimilations occur beyond word boundaries. It is variously:
    • bilabial [m] before /p,b,m/.
    • laminal [n] before coronals [d,t,t͡s,n]; never found utterance-finally. Apical [] is found before liquid /r/.
    • alveolo-palatal [ɲ̟] before alveolo-palatals [t͡ɕ,d͡ʑ,ɲ].
    • velar [ŋ] before /k,ɡ/. Before palatalized consonants, it is also palatalized, as in [ɡẽŋʲkʲi].
    • some sort of nasalized vowel before vowels, approximants /j,w/, liquid /r/, and fricatives [ɸ,s,ɕ,ç,h]. Depending on context and speaker, the vowel's quality may closely match that of the preceding vowel or be more constricted in articulation. It is thus broadly transcribed with [ɰ̃], an ad hoc semivocalic notation undefined for the exact place of articulation. It is also found utterance-finally. When utterance-final, the moraic nasal is traditionally described as uvular [ɴ], sometimes with qualification that the occlusion may not always be complete or that it is, or approaches, velar [ŋ] after front vowels. However, instrumental studies in the 2010s showed that there is considerable variability in the realization of utterance-final /N/ and that it often involves a lip closure or constriction. A 2023 real-time MRI study found that the tongue position of utterance-final /N/ largely corresponds to that of the preceding vowel, though with overlapping locations, leading the researcher to conclude that /N/ has no specified place of articulation rather than a clear allophonic rule. 5% of the samples of utterance-final /N/ were realized as nasalized vowels with no closure, where appreciable tongue raising was observed only when following /a/.
  • /Q/ is a syllable-final moraic obstruent consonant pronounced as gemination of the following consonant.

Debated or marginal consonant phonemes

Palatalized consonants

The palatals /i/ and /j/ palatalize the consonants that precede them, for example:

/m/ > [mʲ] /umi/ > [ɯmʲi] , umi, 'sea'
/ɡ/ > [ɡʲ] /ɡjoːza/ > [ɡʲoːza] ぎょうざ, gyōza, 'fried dumpling'
/r/ > [ɾʲ] /kiri/ > [kʲiɾʲi] , kiri, 'fog'

/i/ and /j/ also palatalize /h/ to [ç]:

/h/ > [ç] /hito/ > [çito] , hito, 'person'
/hj/ > [ç] /hjaku/ > [çakɯ] , hyaku, 'hundred'

It has been debated whether palatalized consonants in Japanese should be phonologically analyzed as single phonemes /Cʲ/ or as /Cj/ clusters. The cluster analysis is supported by the longer average duration of syllables such as [gja, nja, mja, bja, ɾja] compared to [ga, na, ma, ba, ɾa]; in contrast, comparable duration differences were not generally found between pairs of palatalized and unpalatalized consonants in Russian.

Alveolo-palatal sibilants

For coronal consonants, the palatalization goes further so that alveolo-palatal consonants correspond with dental or alveolar consonants (e.g. [ta] , ta, 'field' versus [t͡ɕa] , cha, 'tea'):

/n/ > [ɲ̟] /nihoN/ > [ɲihoɴ] 日本, Nihon, 'Japan'
/s/ > [ɕ] /sio/ > [ɕi.o] , shio, 'salt'
/z/ > [d͡ʑ] or [ʑ] /zisiN/ > [d͡ʑiɕiɴ] 地震, jishin, 'earthquake'
/t/ > [t͡ɕ] /tiziN/ > [t͡ɕid͡ʑiɴ] ~ [t͡ɕiʑiɴ] 知人, chijin, 'acquaintance'

The coronal obstruents /tdsz/ underwent coalescent palatalization when historically followed by /j/:

/sj/ > [ɕ] /sjaboN/ > [ɕaboɴ] シャボン, shabon, 'soap'
/zj/ > [d͡ʑ~ʑ] /ɡozjuː/ > [ɡod͡ʑɯː] ~ [ɡoʑɯː]
/zjaɡaimo/ > [d͡ʑaɡaimo]
五十, gojū, 'fifty'
じゃがいも, jagaimo, 'potato'
/tj/ > [t͡ɕ] /tja/ > [t͡ɕa] , cha, 'tea'

Therefore, alveolo-palatal [t͡ɕd͡ʑɕʑ] can be analyzed as positional allophones of /tdsz/ before /i/, or as the surface realization of underlying /tjdjsjzj/ clusters before other vowels. For example, [ɕi] can be analyzed as /si/ and [ɕa] as /sja/. Likewise, [t͡ɕi] can be analyzed as /ti/ and /t͡ɕa/ as /tja/. (These analyses correspond to the representation of these sounds in the Japanese spelling system.) Most dialects show a merger in the pronunciation of underlying /d and z/ before /j/ or /i/, with the resulting merged phone varying between [ʑ] and d͡ʑ]. The contrast between /d and z/ is also neutralized before /u/ in most dialects (see above).

Some linguists adopt an analysis where Japanese [t͡ɕ(d)ʑɕ] (but not other palatalized consonants) are their own phonemes. Arguments for this include the following:

  • Standard Japanese is widely recognized to now show a surface contrast between [t͡ɕi(d)ʑi] and unaffricated [tidi]. The latter of these pairs occurs in vocabulary with a foreign origin. A more marginal contrast may exist between [ɕi and [si]. (*[si] and *[(d)zi] usually do not occur even in loanwords, so that English cinema > [ɕinema] シネマ, shinema; although they may be written スィ and ズィ respectively, they are rarely found even among the most innovative speakers and do not occur phonemically.)
  • The sequences [t͡ɕe(d)ʑeɕe] are used and faithfully realized in loanwords, whereas /je/ is variably replaced with /ie/ and consonant + /je/ sequences such as [pje], [kje] are generally absent.
  • Phonetically, [t͡ɕ(d)ʑɕ] display not only palatalization, but also a shift from alveolar to postalveolar articulation.
  • The aforementioned duration contrast observed between /Ca/ and /Cja/ syllables was not found between the pair [d͡za] and [d͡ʑa].

Alternatively, affrication but not palatalization may be analyzed as phonemic for both voiceless and voiced coronal obstruents. When this analysis is adopted, [t͡ɕ] is analyzed as a palatalized allophone of an underlying affricate phoneme /t͡s/, just as [(d)ʑ] is analyzed as a palatalized allophone of /(d)z/.

ɸ and t͡s

The vowel /u/ also affects consonants that it follows:

/h/ > [ɸ] /huta/ > [ɸɯta] ふた, futa, 'lid'
/t/ > [t͡s] /tuɡi/ > [t͡sɯɡi] , tsugi, 'next'

Although [ɸ] and [t͡s] occur before other vowels in loanwords (e.g. [ɸaito] ファイト, faito, 'fight'; [ɸjɯː(d)ʑoɴ] フュージョン, fyūjon, 'fusion'; [tsaitoɡaisɯto] ツァイトガイスト, tsaitogaisuto, 'zeitgeist'; [eɾitsiɴ] エリツィン, Eritsin, 'Yeltsin'), [ɸ] and [h] are distinguished before vowels except [ɯ] (e.g. English fork > [ɸoːkɯ] フォーク, fōku versus hawk > [hoːkɯ] ホーク, hōku). *[hɯ] is still not distinguished from [ɸɯ] (e.g. English hood and food > [ɸɯːdo] フード, fūdo).

Moraic consonants N Q

Some analyses of Japanese treat the moraic nasal as an archiphoneme /N/; other less abstract approaches take its uvular or alveolar realization as basic (i.e., /ɴ/ or /n/). It may be considered an allophone of /n,m/ in syllable-final position or a distinct phoneme.

There is some dispute about how gemination fits with Japanese phonotactics. One analysis, particularly popular among Japanese scholars, posits a special "mora phoneme" (モーラ 音素, Mōra onso) /Q/, which corresponds to the sokuon , tsu. However, not all scholars agree that the use of this "moraic obstruent" is the best analysis. In those approaches that incorporate the moraic obstruent, it is said to completely assimilate to the following obstruent, resulting in a geminate (that is, double) consonant. The assimilated /Q/ remains unreleased and thus the geminates are phonetically long consonants. /Q/ does not occur before vowels or nasal consonants. This can be seen as an archiphoneme in that it has no underlying place or manner of articulation, and instead manifests as several phonetic realizations depending on context, for example:

[p̚] before [p] /niQ.poN/ > [ɲi.poɴ] 日本, nippon, 'Japan'
[s] before [s] /kaQ.seN/ > [kas.seɴ] 合戦, kassen, 'battle'
[t̚] before [t͡ɕ] /saQ.ti/ > [sa.t͡ɕi] 察知, satchi, 'inference'

Another analysis of Japanese dispenses with /Q/. In such an approach, the words above are phonemicized as shown below:

[p̚] before [p] /nip.poN/ > [ɲi.poɴ] 日本, nippon, 'Japan'
[s] before [s] /kas.seN/ > [kas.seɴ] 合戦, kassen, 'battle'
[t̚] before [t͡ɕ] /sat.ti/ > [sa.t͡ɕi] 察知, satchi, 'inference'

Gemination can of course also be transcribed with a length mark (e.g. [ɲipːoɴ]), but this notation obscures mora boundaries.

In the analysis with archiphonemes, geminate consonants are the realization of the sequences /Nn/, /Nm/ and sequences of /Q/ followed by a voiceless obstruent, though some words are written with geminate voiced obstruents. In the analysis without archiphonemes, geminate clusters are simply two identical consonants, one after the other.

ŋ

/ɡ/ may be realized as a velar nasal [ŋ] when it occurs within words—this includes not only between vowels but also between a consonant and a vowel. There is a fair amount of variation between speakers, however. Vance (1987) suggests that the variation follows social class, while Akamatsu (1997) suggests that the variation follows age and geographic location. The generalized situation is as follows.

Standard Japanese speakers can be categorized into 3 groups, referred to as A-, B-, and C-speakers, as defined below. If a B-speaker consistently realizes a given word with the allophone [ŋ], they will never employ [ɣ] as an allophone in that same word. A-speakers vary between [ŋ] and [ɡ], and C-speakers are generally consistent in using [ɡ]: for these groups, the velar fricative [ɣ] is another possible allophone in fast speech.

At the beginning of words

All present-day standard Japanese speakers generally use the stop [ɡ] at the beginning of words.

外遊, gaiyū, 'overseas trip'
/ɡaijuu/ > [ɡaijɯː], but not *[ŋaijɯː]
In the middle of simple words (i.e. non-compounds)
家具, kagu, 'furniture'
A-speakers, a majority, use either [ŋ] or [ɡ] in free variation. /kaɡu/ > [kaŋɯ] or [kaɡɯ]
B-speakers, a minority, consistently use [ŋ]. /kaɡu/ > [kaŋɯ] but not *[kaɡɯ]
C-speakers, the majority in western Japan with a smaller minority
in Kantō, consistently use [ɡ].
/kaɡu/ > [kaɡɯ] but not *[kaŋɯ]
In the middle of compound words (morpheme-initially)

B-speakers consistently use [ɡ] when /ɡ/ occurs morpheme-initially. Thus, for them the words [seŋɡo] 千五, sengo, 'one thousand and five' and [seŋŋo] 戦後, sengo, 'postwar' are a minimal pair, while for others they are homophonous.

To summarize:

はげ, hage, 'baldness'
A-speakers /haɡe/ > [haŋe] or [haɡe] or [haɣe]
B-speakers /haɡe/ > [haŋe]
C-speakers /haɡe/ > [haɡe] or [haɣe]

Some phonologists posit a distinct phoneme /ŋ/, citing pairs such as [oːɡaɾasɯ] (大硝子, 'big sheet of glass') versus [oːŋaɾasɯ] (大烏, 'big raven').

Vowels

The vowels of Standard Japanese on a vowel chart. Adapted from Okada (1999:117).
Vowel phonemes of Japanese
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a
  • /u/ is a close near-back vowel with the lips unrounded ([ɯ̟]) or compressed ([ɯ̟ᵝ]). When compressed, it is pronounced with the side portions of the lips in contact but with no salient protrusion. In conversational speech, compression may be weakened or completely dropped. It is centralized [ɨ] after /s,z,t/ and palatalized consonants (/Cj/), and possibly also after /n/.
  • /e,o/ are mid [,].
  • /a/ is central [ä].

Except for /u/, the short vowels are similar to their Spanish counterparts.

Vowels have a phonemic length contrast (i.e. short vs. long). Compare contrasting pairs of words like ojisan /ozisaN/ 'uncle' vs. ojiisan /oziisaN/ 'grandfather', or tsuki /tuki/ 'moon' vs. tsūki /tuuki/ 'airflow'.

Some analyses make a distinction between a long vowel and a succession of two identical vowels, citing pairs such as 砂糖屋 satōya 'sugar shop' [satoːja] vs. 里親, satooya, 'foster parent' [satooja]. They are usually identical in normal speech, but when enunciated a distinction may be made with a pause or a glottal stop inserted between two identical vowels.

Within words and phrases, Japanese allows long sequences of phonetic vowels without intervening consonants, pronounced with hiatus, although the pitch accent and slight rhythm breaks help track the timing when the vowels are identical. Sequences of two vowels within a single word are extremely common, occurring at the end of many i-type adjectives, for example, and having three or more vowels in sequence within a word also occurs, as in あおい, aoi, 'blue/green'. In phrases, sequences with multiple o sounds are most common, due to the direct object particle , wo (which comes after a word) being realized as o and the honorific prefix お〜, o, which can occur in sequence, and may follow a word itself terminating in an o sound; these may be dropped in rapid speech. A fairly common construction exhibiting these is 「〜をお送りします」, wo o-okuri-shimasu, '...humbly send...'. More extreme examples follow:

/hoː.oː.o.o.oː/ [hoː.oː.o.o.oː] hōō o oō (鳳凰ほうおうおう) 'let's chase the fenghuang'
/toː.oː.o.oː.oː/ [toː.oː.o.oː.oː] tōō o ōō (東欧とうおうおおおう) 'let's cover Eastern Europe'

Devoicing

In many dialects, the close vowels /i/ and /u/ become voiceless when placed between two voiceless consonants or, unless accented, between a voiceless consonant and a pausa.

/kutu/ > [kɯ̥t͡sɯ] , kutsu, 'shoe'
/atu/ > [at͡sɯ̥] , atsu, 'pressure'
/hikaN/ > [çi̥kaɴ] 悲観, hikan, 'pessimism'

Generally, devoicing does not occur in a consecutive manner:

/kisitu/ > [kʲi̥ɕit͡sɯ] 気質, kishitsu, 'temperament'
/kusikumo/ > [kɯɕi̥kɯmo] 奇しくも, kushikumo, 'strangely'

This devoicing is not restricted to only fast speech, though consecutive devoicing may occur in fast speech.

To a lesser extent, /o,a/ may be devoiced with the further requirement that there be two or more adjacent moras containing the same phoneme:

/kokoro/ > [ko̥koɾo] , kokoro, 'heart'
/haka/ > [hḁka] , haka, 'grave'

The common sentence-ending copula です, desu and polite suffix ます, masu are typically pronounced [desɯ̥] and [masɯ̥].

Japanese speakers are usually not even aware of the difference of the voiced and devoiced pair. On the other hand, gender roles play a part in prolonging the terminal vowel: it is regarded as effeminate to prolong, particularly the terminal /u/ as in あります, arimasu, 'there is'. Some nonstandard varieties of Japanese can be recognized by their hyper-devoicing, while in some Western dialects and some registers of formal speech, every vowel is voiced.[citation needed] Recent research has argued that "vowel deletion" more accurately describes the phenomena.

However, Japanese contrasts devoiced vowel between two identical voiceless fricatives and voiceless fricative gemination. Vowel between two identical voiceless fricatives may have either a weak voiceless approximant release or a revoiced vowel depending on the rate of speech and individual speech habits.

[niɕɕimbaɕi] 日進橋, Nisshinbashi vs. [niɕi̥ɕimbaɕi] or [niɕiɕimbaɕi] 西新橋, Nishi-shinbashi
[kessai] 決済, 'check out' vs. [kesɯ̥sai] or [kesɯsai] 消す際, 'while erasing'

Nasalization

Japanese vowels are slightly nasalized when adjacent to nasals /m,n/. Before the moraic nasal /N/, vowels are heavily nasalized:

/kaNtoo/ > [kãntoː] 関東, Kantō 'Kanto region'
/seesaN/ > [seːsãɴ] 生産, seisan, 'production'

Glottal stop insertion

At the beginning and end of utterances, Japanese vowels may be preceded and followed by a glottal stop [ʔ], respectively. This is demonstrated below with the following words (as pronounced in isolation):

/eN/ > [eɴ] ~ [ʔeɴ] , en, 'yen'
/kisi/ > [kiɕiʔ] , kishi, 'shore'
/u/ > [ɯʔ~ʔɯʔ] , u, 'cormorant'

When an utterance-final word is uttered with emphasis, this glottal stop is plainly audible, and is often indicated in the writing system with a small letter , tsu, called a sokuon. This is also found in interjections like あっ, a and えっ, e.

Prosody

Moras

Japanese words have traditionally been analysed as composed of moras, a distinct concept from that of syllables. Each mora occupies one rhythmic unit, i.e. it is perceived to have the same time value. A mora may be "regular" consisting of just a vowel (V) or a consonant and a vowel (CV), or may be one of two "special" moras, /N/ and /Q/. A glide /j/ may precede the vowel in "regular" moras (CjV). Some analyses posit a third "special" mora, /R/, the second part of a long vowel (a chroneme). In the following table, the period represents a mora break, rather than the conventional syllable break.

Mora type Example Japanese Moras per word
V /o/ , o, 'tail' 1-mora word
jV /jo/ , yo, 'world' 1-mora word
CV /ko/ , ko, 'child' 1-mora word
CjV /kjo/1 , kyo, 'hugeness' 1-mora word
R /R/ in /kjo.R/ or /kjo.o/ 今日, kyō, 'today' 2-mora word
N /N/ in /ko.N/ , kon, 'deep blue' 2-mora word
Q /Q/ in /ko.Q.ko/ or /ko.k.ko/ 国庫, kokko, 'national treasury' 3-mora word
^1 Traditionally, moras were divided into plain and palatal sets, the latter of which entail palatalization of the consonant element.

Thus, the disyllabic [ɲip.poɴ] (日本, 'Japan') may be analyzed as /niQpoN/, dissected into four moras: /ni/, /Q/, /po/, and /N/.

In English, stressed syllables in a word are pronounced louder, longer, and with higher pitch, while unstressed syllables are relatively shorter in duration. Japanese is often considered a mora-timed language, as each mora tends to be of the same length, though not strictly: geminate consonants and moras with devoiced vowels may be shorter than other moras. Factors such as pitch have negligible influence on mora length.

Pitch accent

Standard Japanese has a distinctive pitch accent system: a word can have one of its moras bearing an accent or not. An accented mora is pronounced with a relatively high tone and is followed by a drop in pitch. The various Japanese dialects have different accent patterns, and some exhibit more complex tonic systems.

Phonotactics

Phonotactically legal phoneme sequences, each counting as one mora
/-a/ /-i/ /-u/ /-e/ /-o/ /-ja/ /-ju/ /-jo/
/-/ /a/ /i/ /u/
[ɯ]
/e/ /o/ /ja/ /ju/
[jɯ]
/jo/
/k-/ /ka/ /ki/
[kʲi]
/ku/
[kɯ]
/ke/ /ko/ /kja/
[kʲa]
/kju/
[kʲɨ]
/kjo/
[kʲo]
/ɡ-/ /ɡa/ /ɡi/
[ɡʲi]
/ɡu/
[ɡɯ]
/ɡe/ /ɡo/ /ɡja/
[ɡʲa]
/ɡju/
[ɡʲɨ]
/ɡjo/
[ɡʲo]
/s-/ /sa/ /si/
[ɕi]
/su/
[sɨ]
/se/ /so/ /sja/
[ɕa]
/sju/
[ɕɨ]
/sjo/
[ɕo]
/z-/ /za/
[(d)za]
/zi/
[(d)ʑi]
/zu/
[(d)zɨ]
/ze/
[(d)ze]
/zo/
[(d)zo]
/zja/
[(d)ʑa]
/zju/
[(d)ʑɨ]
/zjo/
[(d)ʑo]
/t-/ /ta/ /ti/
[t͡ɕi]
/tu/
[t͡sɨ]
/te/ /to/ /tja/
[t͡ɕa]
/tju/
[t͡ɕɨ]
/tjo/
[t͡ɕo]
/d-/ /da/ (/di/)
[(d)ʑi]
(/du/)
[(d)zɨ]
/de/ /do/ (/dja/)
[(d)ʑa]
(/dju/)
[(d)ʑɨ]
(/djo/)
[(d)ʑo]
/n-/ /na/ /ni/
[ɲi]
/nu/
[nɯ]
/ne/ /no/ /nja/
[ɲa]
/nju/
[ɲɨ]
/njo/
[ɲo]
/h-/ /ha/ /hi/
[çi]
/hu/
[ɸɯ]
/he/ /ho/ /hja/
[ça]
/hju/
[çɨ]
/hjo/
[ço]
/b-/ /ba/ /bi/
[bʲi]
/bu/
[bɯ]
/be/ /bo/ /bja/
[bʲa]
/bju/
[bʲɨ]
/bjo/
[bʲo]
/p-/ /pa/ /pi/
[pʲi]
/pu/
[pɯ]
/pe/ /po/ /pja/
[pʲa]
/pju/
[pʲɨ]
/pjo/
[pʲo]
/m-/ /ma/ /mi/
[mʲi]
/mu/
[mɯ]
/me/ /mo/ /mja/
[mʲa]
/mju/
[mʲɨ]
/mjo/
[mʲo]
/r-/ /ra/
[ɾa]
/ri/
[ɾʲi]
/ru/
[ɾɯ]
/re/
[ɾe]
/ro/
[ɾo]
/rja/
[ɾʲa]
/rju/
[ɾʲɨ]
/rjo/
[ɾʲo]
/w-/ /wa/
[β̞a]
Marginal combinations mostly found in Western loans
[ɕ-] [ɕe]
[(d)ʑ-] [(d)ʑe]
[t-] [tʲi] [tɯ] [tʲɨ]
[t͡ɕ-] [t͡ɕe]
[t͡s-] [t͡sa] [t͡sʲi] [t͡se] [t͡so]
[d-] [dʲi] [dɯ] [dʲɨ]
[ɸ-] [ɸa] [ɸʲi] [ɸe] [ɸo] [ɸʲɨ]
[j-] [je]
[β̞-] [β̞i] [β̞e] [β̞o]
Special moras
/V-/ /N/
[ɴ,m,n,ɲ,ŋ,ɰ̃]
/V-C/ /Q/
(geminates the following consonant)
/V-/ /R/
[ː]

The phoneme /p/, a remnant of Old Japanese, now occurs almost always medially in compounds, typically as a result of gemination (as in 切符, kippu, 切腹, seppuku or 北方, hoppō) or after /N/ (as in 音符, onpu), and in a few older compounds as a result of the contractions of pronunciations over time (as in 河童, kappa). It occurs initially or medially in onomatopoeia. Some few non-onomatopoeic exceptions where it occurs initially include 風太郎, pūtarō, although as a personal name it is still pronounced Fūtarō. As gairaigo, loanwords of non-Middle-Chinese origin (non-Middle-Chinese Chinese borrowings such as パオズ, paozu, ペテン, peten as well as borrowings from non-Chinese languages such as パーティー, pātī, etc.), enter the language, /p/ is increasingly used in transcription, initially or medially.

/N/ is restricted from occurring word-initially, and /Q/ is found only word-medially. Vowels may be long, and the voiceless consonants /p,t,k,s/ may be geminated (doubled).

Geminates

While Japanese features consonant gemination, there are observable constraints to where geminates occur and which consonants can be geminated. However, some of these constraints can be violated in certain contexts, or may apply only within certain layers of Japanese vocabulary.

In native Japanese vocabulary, geminate consonants do not occur after long vowels, diphthongs or the moraic nasal consonant (i.e. geminates are typically found after a short vowel). While some Japanese words do exhibit geminates in these positions, such as tootta and rondonkko, these can be characterized as exceptional cases.

Voiced geminates are prohibited in native Japanese words. This can be seen with suffixation that would otherwise feature voiced geminates. For example, Japanese has a suffix, |ri| that contains what Kawahara (2006) calls a "floating mora" that triggers gemination in certain cases (e.g. |tapu| +|ri| > [tappɯɾi] 'a lot of'). When this would otherwise lead to a geminated voiced obstruent, a moraic nasal appears instead as a sort of "partial gemination" (e.g. |zabu| + |ri| > [(d)zambɯɾi] 'splashing').

In the late 20th century, voiced geminates began to appear in loanwords, though they are marked and have a high tendency to be devoiced. A frequent example is loanwords from English such as bed and dog that, though they end with voiced singletons in English, are geminated (with an epenthetic vowel) when borrowed into Japanese. These geminates frequently undergo devoicing to become less marked, which gives rise to variability in voicing:

ドッグ, dogguドック, dokku, 'dog'
ベッド, beddoベット, betto, 'bed'

The distinction is not rigorous. For example, when voiced obstruent geminates appear with another voiced obstruent they can undergo optional devoicing (e.g. doreddo ~ doretto 'dreadlocks'). Kawahara (2006) attributes this to a less reliable distinction between voiced and voiceless geminates compared to the same distinction in non-geminated consonants, noting that speakers may have difficulty distinguishing them due to the partial devoicing of voiced geminates and their resistance to the weakening process mentioned above, both of which can make them sound like voiceless geminates.

In native Japanese and Sino-Japanese words, [pp] functions as the geminate counterpart of /h/ due to the historical development of Japanese /h/ from Old Japanese [p]. Geminate /h/ is found only in recent loanwords (e.g. ゴッホ, Gohho, '(van) Gogh', バッハ, Bahha, 'Bach'), and rarely in Sino-Japanese or mixed compounds (e.g. 十針, juhhari, 'ten stitches', 絶不調, zeffuchō, 'terrible slump').

Palatals

As noted above, Japanese syllables may start with the palatal glide /j/ and also may start with consonant + /j/ clusters or palatalized consonants. These onsets normally can be found only before the back vowels /aou/.

Before /i/, /j/ never occurs. All consonants are phonetically palatalized before /i/, but do not contrast with their unpalatalized counterparts in native Japanese vocabulary: as a result, palatalized consonants in this context can generally be analyzed as allophones. However, this is complicated by the occurrence of certain contrasts in loanwords. The sequences [t͡ɕi(d)ʑi] and [tidi] are distinguished in recent loanwords (with [ti] generally preserved in words borrowed more recently than 1930) and to a lesser extent, some speakers may exhibit a contrast in loanwords between [t͡si(d)zisi] and [t͡ɕi(d)ʑiɕi].

Before /e/, [j] was lost in the current standard language, but some dialects (such as Kyushu) and pre-modern versions of the language contain [je] as well as exhibiting [ɕe] in place of modern standard [se]. In standard Japanese, non-foreign words do not contain [t͡ɕe(d)ʑeɕe], but as discussed above, these sequences can be found in recent loanwords; some loanwords instead show depalatalized pronunciations such as [se(d)ze].

Morphophonology

As an agglutinative language, Japanese has generally very regular pronunciation, with much simpler morphophonology than a fusional language would. Nevertheless, there are a number of prominent sound change phenomena, primarily in morpheme combination and in conjugation of verbs and adjectives. Phonemic changes are generally reflected in the spelling, while those that are not either indicate informal or dialectal speech which further simplify pronunciation.

Sandhi

Various forms of sandhi exist; the Japanese term for sandhi generally is ren'on (連音).

Rendaku

In Japanese, sandhi is prominently exhibited in rendakuconsonant mutation of the initial consonant of a morpheme from unvoiced to voiced in some contexts when it occurs in the middle of a word. This phonetic difference is reflected in the spelling via the addition of dakuten, as in ka, ga (か/が). In cases where this combines with the yotsugana mergers, notably ji, dzi (じ/ぢ) and zu, dzu (ず/づ) in standard Japanese, the resulting spelling is morphophonemic rather than purely phonemic.

Gemination

The other common sandhi in Japanese is conversion of or (tsu, ku), and or (chi, ki), and rarely or (fu, hi) as a trailing consonant to a geminate consonant when not word-final – orthographically, the sokuon , as this occurs most often with . So that

  • (い itsu) + (しょ sho) = 一緒 (いしょ issho)
  • (が gaku) + (こう ) = 学校 (がこう gakkō)

Some long vowels derive from an earlier combination of a vowel and fu ふ (see onbin). The f often causes gemination when it is joined with another word:

  • (hafu はふ >  ほう) + (hi ひ) = 法被 (happi はっぴ), instead of hōhi ほうひ
  • (kafu かふ >  ごう) + (sen せん) = 合戦 (kassen), instead of gōsen
  • (nifu > nyū) + (shō) = 入声 (nisshō), instead of nyūshō
  • (jifu > ) + (kai) = 十戒 (jikkai) instead of jūkai

Most words exhibiting this change are Sino-Japanese words deriving from Middle Chinese morphemes ending in /t̚/, /k̚/ or /p̚/, which were borrowed on their own into Japanese with a prop vowel after them (e.g., MC */nit̚/ > Japanese /niti/ [ɲit͡ɕi]) but in compounds as assimilated to the following consonant (e.g. 日本 MC */nit̚.pu̯ən/ > Japanese /niQ.poN/ [ɲip̚.poɴ]).

Renjō

Sandhi also occurs much less often in renjō (連声), where, most commonly, a terminal /N/ or /Q/ on one morpheme results in /n/ (or /m/ when derived from historical m) or /t̚/ respectively being added to the start of a following morpheme beginning with a vowel or semivowel, as in ten + ō → tennō (天皇: てん + おう → てんのう). Examples:

First syllable ending with /N/
  • 銀杏 (ginnan): ぎん (gin) + あん (an) → ぎん (ginnan)
  • 観音 (kannon): くゎん (kwan) + おむ (om) → くゎん (kwannom) → かん (kannon)
  • 天皇 (tennō): てん (ten) + わう (wau) → てん (tennau) → てん (tennō)
First syllable ending with /N/ from original /m/
  • 三位 (sanmi): さむ (sam) + (wi) → さむ (sammi) → さん (sanmi)
  • 陰陽 (onmyō): おむ (om) + やう (yau) → おむゃう (ommyau) → おんょう (onm)
First syllable ending with /Q/
  • 雪隠 (setchin): せつ (setsu) + いん (in) → せっ (setchin)
  • 屈惑 (kuttaku): くつ (kutsu) + わく (waku) → くっ (kuttaku)

Onbin

Spelling changes
Archaic Modern
あ+う (a + u)
あ+ふ (a + fu)
おう (ō)
い+う (i + u)
い+ふ (i + fu)
ゆう ()1
う+ふ (u + fu) うう (ū)
え+う (e + u)
え+ふ (e + fu)
よう ()
お+ふ (o + fu) おう (ō)
お+ほ (o + ho)
お+を (o + wo)
おお (ō)
auxiliary verb (mu) (n)
medial or final (ha) (wa)
medial or final (hi), (he), (ho) (i), (e), (o)
(via wi, we, wo, see below)
any (wi), (we), (wo) (i), (e), (o)1
1. usually not reflected in spelling

Another prominent feature is onbin (音便, euphonic sound change), particularly historical sound changes.

In cases where this has occurred within a morpheme, the morpheme itself is still distinct but with a different sound, as in hōki (箒 (ほうき), broom), which underwent two sound changes from earlier hahaki (ははき)hauki (はうき) (onbin) → houki (ほうき) (historical vowel change) → hōki (ほうき) (long vowel, sound change not reflected in kana spelling).

However, certain forms are still recognizable as irregular morphology, particularly forms that occur in basic verb conjugation, as well as some compound words.

Verb conjugation

Polite adjective forms

The polite adjective forms (used before the polite copula gozaru (ござる, be) and verb zonjiru (存じる, think, know)) exhibit a one-step or two-step sound change. Firstly, these use the continuative form, -ku (-く), which exhibits onbin, dropping the k as -ku (-く)-u (-う). Secondly, the vowel may combine with the preceding vowel, according to historical sound changes; if the resulting new sound is palatalized, meaning yu, yo (ゆ、よ), this combines with the preceding consonant, yielding a palatalized syllable.

This is most prominent in certain everyday terms that derive from an i-adjective ending in -ai changing to (-ou), which is because these terms are abbreviations of polite phrases ending in gozaimasu, sometimes with a polite o- prefix. The terms are also used in their full form, with notable examples being:

  • arigatō (有難う、ありがとう, Thank you), from arigatai (有難い、ありがたい, (I am) grateful).
  • ohayō (お早う、おはよう, Good morning), from hayai (早い、はやい, (It is) early).
  • omedetō (お目出度う、おめでとう, Congratulations), from medetai (目出度い、めでたい, (It is) auspicious).

Other transforms of this type are found in polite speech, such as oishiku (美味しく)oishū (美味しゅう) and ōkiku (大きく)ōkyū (大きゅう).

-hito

The morpheme hito (人 (ひと), person) (with rendaku -bito (〜びと)) has changed to uto (うと) or udo (うど), respectively, in a number of compounds. This in turn often combined with a historical vowel change, resulting in a pronunciation rather different from that of the components, as in nakōdo (仲人 (なこうど), matchmaker) (see below). These include:

  • otōto (弟 (おとうと), younger brother), from otohito (弟人 (おとひと)) 'younger sibling' + 'person'otouto (おとうと)otōto.
  • imōto (妹 (いもうと), younger sister), from imohito (妹人 (いもひと)) 'sister' + 'person'imouto (いもうと)imōto.
  • shirōto (素人 (しろうと), novice), from shirohito (白人 (しろひと)) 'white' + 'person'shirouto (しろうと)shirōto.
  • kurōto (玄人 (くろうと), veteran), from kurohito (黒人 (くろひと)) 'black' + 'person'kurouto (くろうと)kurōto.
  • nakōdo (仲人 (なこうど), matchmaker), from nakabito (仲人 (なかびと))nakaudo (なかうど)nakoudo (なこうど)nakōdo.
  • karyūdo (狩人 (かりゅうど), hunter), from karibito (狩人 (かりびと))kariudo (かりうど)karyuudo (かりゅうど)karyūdo.
  • shūto (舅 (しゅうと), stepfather), from shihito (舅人 (しひと))shiuto (しうと)shuuto (しゅうと)shūto.
  • kurōdo (蔵人 (くろうど), warehouse keeper (archivist, sake/soy sauce/miso maker)), from kurabito (蔵人 (くらびと)) 'storehouse' + 'person'kurando (くらんど)kuraudo (くらうど)kuroudo (くろうど)kurōdo. kurauzu (くらうず) is also found, as a variant of kuraudo (くらうど).

Fusion

In some cases morphemes have effectively fused and will not be recognizable as being composed of two separate morphemes.[citation needed]

See also


This page was last updated at 2024-03-26 09:45 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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