Introduction step 3
Japanese sound system
part1
The key point is that
If a unit which is called Mora in English or Haku
in Japanese
(1 haku becomes 1 ippaku in correct romanization: this change is caused
by Japanese counter's rule)
short vowels |
a |
i |
u |
e |
o |
length: mouth: lips: |
ah Shorten narrow |
eat shorten |
soon shorten less lip-rounding |
get narrow |
go remove [u] less lip-rounding |
long vowels |
aa |
ii |
uu |
ee |
oo |
length: |
double pronounce them as
a continuous sound, not as Staccato. |
There are
two types of transcription for long vowels.
The selection of which type is used in the textbook depnds on publisher's
or writer's concept.
aa/ā, ii/ī, uu/ū, ee/ē, oo/ō
Have you visit Japan? The place name, “Kobe” should be transcript “Koobe”,
“Kōbe, or “Koube”
ou ->You will study about this later.
Let’s have a break! (Yasumimashoo!)
part 2
Before reading the bellow, please install Japanese fonts in your computer, so that you can understand this part easily. The knowledge
of Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji will be necessary soon or later,
since your Kanji knowledge will not only enrich your vocabulary,
but also will make rapid progress of your Japanese leaning.
Special Haku(or Mora)
There are 3 types of special Haku in Japanese.
examples | the number of Haku | |
1. prolonged sound (Chouon) |
Look at these minimum pairs. The right file is the prolonged sound. obasan(おばさん, aunt) obaasan/obāsan(おばあさん, grandmather) ojisan(おじさん, uncle) ojiisan/ojīsan(おじいさん, grandfather) yuki(ゆき, snow) yuuki(ゆうき, courage) e(え、picture) ee(ええ、yes) heya(へや, room) heiya/heeya/hēya)(へいや, plain) koko(ここ, here) koukou/kookoo/kōkō(こうこう, high school) |
"baa" is counted as 1 syllable 2 haku |
2. syllabic nasal (Hatsuon) |
The sound of ん is not always the same sound. The mouth is closed and pronounce is like the "ng" in "king". before m,p,b ->pronounced "m" ex.): Shinbun->shimbun before n,t,d,z ->pronounced "n" ex.): shintai->shintai before k,g,ng, and the end of a word->pronunced "ng" (ex).: janken->jangkeng The change is happened only in it's pronunciation and the writing in Romaji or Hiragana and Katakana is never changed. Just be careful in the case of "before m,p,b" *shinbun (newspaper) *shinatai (body) *janken (the game of "scissors-paper-rock"to select a winner |
"shin" is counted as 1 syllable 2 haku |
3. geminated consonant (Sokuon) |
The sound small that is represented by small tsu(っ )is written with double
consonants in Romaji. ex.) kippu(きっぷ, ticket) kitto(きっと, surely) massugu(まっすぐ, straight ) kakko(かっこ, paretheses) |
"kip" is counted as 1 syllable 2 haku "kippu" is counted 2 syllable 3 haku |
(sound with ya,yu,yo) | ex.) kya, kyu, kyo, sha,shu,sho...etc. | "kya" is counted as 1 syllable 1 haku |
Note:
1. Compared with 3 types of special sound, each Hiragana( あ~ん), and also Katakana( ア~ン)
is counted 1 letter 1 syllable, and 1 haku (1 haku is not correct. "ippaku" is correct
counters usage. As for japanese counters, let's study
later.
2. "obasan" and "ojisan" refer to your/his/her/theiraunt/uncle or a general middle-aged
woman and man. My aunt is "oba" and my uncle is "oji".
Also, "obaasan"and "ojiisan"refer to your/his/her/their
grandmather or grandmather.
My grandmather is "sobo" and my grandfather
is "sofu"
Let’s have a break! (Yasumimashoo!)