Phonetics

I.S. Ibrakhim
Associate professor at the Department of Japan Studies,
Faculty of Asian and African Studies
Phonetics

• Basic rules of phonetics

• Pitch accent in Japanese
Reduction

Learn these rules!

The [ I ] and [ U ] sounds are subject to elision or reduction when
unstressed in the position between two unvoiced consonants.
s[u]КI MAs[u]taa
k[i]SHA chiKAi DEsh[i]ta

The sound [ U ] as part of the -SU syllable

at the end of a word is also reduced when unstressed.
des[u] mas[u]
shiMAs[u] GOZAIMAs[u]

* the reduced vowels are in parentheses

Does Japanese have the stress?
Pitch accent in Japanese

 Pitch accent  – the raising of the tone

at a particular part of a word.

Pitch accent vs dynamic stress:

• The stressed syllable is emphasised not by the intensity of the
sound, but by its pitch as compared to the rest or the word.
• More than one syllable in a word can be stressed.

 For example:  [ oHAYOU GOZAIMAsu ] (good morning)

or [ suMIMASEn ] (I’m sorry).
St Petersburg
University