Japanese scripts and pronunciation Pronunciation ‘The Japanese language has five vows sounds: a, | u, @ and 0, Japanese sounds are sither a single vowel, a combination af a con- ‘sonant and vowel, or ef @ consonant, iy] Sound plus a vows, with ‘one exception m, which does not take any vowel. For example: consonant + vows = m4+a=ma p+a=po. consonant + y+ vowel sy +u=shu om+y+u=myu Each sound has one syllable. Therefor, a, ka and kya tke the same length of time to pronounce, 1. Basic syllables: vowel, consonant + vowel ‘and n/m (¢0 4; 2-7) Vowet tke ah akairod ai blue ke nk Jima row ish stone ke cook (do not round uma horse uml ocean your lips too mach) tke elephant ‘epicure ghon picture book ko hot ‘oka nil amet heavy Consonant + vowel the eat ka ki ku ke ko tke goat ‘98 gl gu ge 90 ke g00, ah tke she ‘50 ahi eu se 20) 2 Tike magazno, ke juice zajizu 2020 ‘ike table, eh ik choose, ts tho cats ta chi tsu to to ko dar j ke co, 2 ike magszire da 2u de do nike poodle ‘pani nu ne no hike hut, ke Blowing out candle ha hi fu he ho like oy babi bu be bo P tke pink papi pu pe po Japanese scrots and pronunciation Consonant + vowel (cont) m tke matin ‘mami mu me mo yy tke yard yawyo r rarirurero wike wow wa (wo! ‘similar to one but more nasal , Note that when you pronounce the Japanesa “r* sound, do not touch your tongue atthe back of te font teth tke the English “I or cut tke the Engish "The tip of your tongue should be lightly tapping the font palate ++ Whereas wo used to keap the “w" sound, tno longer keeps It 20 its pronunciations identical t the vowel “a. This hiragana is used 8 an object marker only (Uni 7). “The following tables show Japanese syllable sounds. Each line has one ofthe five vowels in common, e.g all sounds under the “s-ine™ have the a” sound, Hine wire i Sf sGzuiln Rul 3) chew alae Volt ke rem Se C7 ew ee ae nom etm etm re tw 2) ae ee ee re mom fT om eS mo Lm ek mo bE yomrr mo w ora wow b> fo © 9 fim wm& sors ene Japanese scrips and pronunciation TO TG 2. Combined sounds: consonant + ya, yu, yo “The sem-vowes ya, yu and yo can attach othe folowing consonants ‘and create a one-sylabe sound, key kyalike kiand —g +y_gya tke gl and ya ‘ya run together run together ey tke cube ‘oyu lk gl ard yu eye tke Tokg0 ‘un together {70 ke gi and yo. ‘un together ‘sha lke shower J+y_ jake Japan hu ike shoes ju te Jet ‘sho like show je the ob cha tke champion n+ yy Tice ni and ya chu tke chew run together ho tke choo py ke knee ‘ye the nl and yo. run together ha ke hand ya rn together Fry tke hi and yu run together tye ke i nd yo run together Japanese scripts and pronunciation BE59 1232807 |e bey pty my bya ike bi and ya run together boy ke beautiful but shorter byo tke bi and yo run together ya tke pl and ya ran together yu tke pup but shorter ye like champion ‘mya like mi and ya run together yu tke maw but shorter Inyo tke mi and yo run together 1 like and ya run together ‘yu like and yu run together ry lke oan yo run together Hl CL i a fae < oo i da cede gg | ewe 39°93 39932 Us ee é6 Japenese scpis and pronunciation Japanese scripts ond pronunciation In action to the above combined sounds, katakana has the folow- lng combined sounds. i oie bine : iy omc ue ney oy wae ggg | ome a s em armen ‘ wor ot og 72 74 «om Mm ye we 74 i 2 ‘ ar wf ei mee ” moo woe (()3 The double consonant character (0 1; vy ‘The coubla consonant character, [>] of [>], indicates that a pause existe between the two sounds. ‘ote bought 2 shoulder $=°C stamp 3 please come katte kata Kitt Kite ece 8 ee e . Roman leters Kk, 98, ppt, 99 ste. Hiagana 5 (A size) Keatakana » (4 siz0) * Not that when wring these sounds by hand, they shouldbe one quarter ofthe usual size. 4, Long vowel sounds (Unit 6) (co; 10) ‘Ahorzontal ine ontop of a vowel J, 0; @, 6) mean thatthe vowel is pronounced twice as long as the normal enath oman itera Bferan) Ter) Glory Ber ee) B(er 0) Hanoi ee ENS DS wans>? loin wets weg ‘2 obasan middle-aged ——«&_—_obasan edery woman, woman, aunt ‘fandmother 1 ojisan miccle-agea 1 offsan elderly man, man, uncle cgranctatnor ek sta, stm a aki ai picture 8 Byes ol ol carp 8 kl action "Note that though pronunciation of the Japanese language tons to folow Is speling, te following vowel sequence is pronounced citferenty (the {rst sound is prenounced longer and the second vowel dlsappears): ‘Speting Pronunciation 2 @i-+8 sensei teacher (sens) 8) eu 8 arigatou tank you [aigato) ‘Nso not that when the same vowels appear in sequence, a dash (-) 's used forthe socond vowel in katakana words (29. 27-—+ (ou .@ Ke, whereas this isnot the case in hragana words (9. 1% (16 5, Devoicing th When the sounds “u" and “" appear (1) between unvoiced sounds (kt 5,t5, ch, hf p)or@) at the end ofa word and aftr an unviced sound, they are devoiced (whispered). For example, "u" in tsuki “moon” and “i eki “station” are devoies, and “i” sounds (cD 1;11) sushi sushi tsukue desk Kissaton café