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Basic Japanese Sounds and Romaji

In this section you will learn basic vowels and consonants, using romaji ローマ字, romanization of Japanese. This uses the popular Hepburn romaji with some modifications. In this section, you will also learn about the pitch accent in Japanese, which is very different from the stress accent in English.

Vowels

Japanese has only five basic vowels: a,i,u,e, and o: a is as in the vowel in Aha, i is as in the initial part of the vowel in eat, u is as in the initial part of the vowel in boot, but without lip rounding; e is as in the initial part of the vowel in eight and o is as in the initial part of the vowel in oat.

pronunciation

a---> ah---> atama (ah-tah-mah)---> Head
i---> ee---> ishi (ee-shee)---> Stone
u---> oo---> unagi (oo-nah-gee)---> Eel
e---> eh---> eki (eh-kee)---> Train Station
o---> oh---> origami (rh-ree-gah-mee)---> Origami

Long Vowels

The five vowels introduced above have long counterparts, which are represented by doubling the vowel, as in aa, if there is a morphological boundary. In Japanese, the vowel length can make a difference in meaning. For example, おばさん (obasan) means Aunt, but おばあさん (obaasan) means Grandmother. Therefore; you need to pay attention to the vowel length to understand Japanese correctly.

Oral Practice

Practice Pronouncing the following Japanese words paying special attention to the vowel length.

-おばさん--->obasan--->Aunt
-おばあさん--->obaasan--->Grandmother
-おじさん--->ojisan--->Uncle
-おじいさん--->ojiisan--->Grandfather
-しゅじん--->shujin--->Husband
-しゅうじん--->shuujin--->Prisoner
-え--->e--->Painting
-ええ--->ee--->Yes
-とり--->tori--->Bird
-とおり--->toori--->Street

Devoiced Vowels

The Vowels i and u tend to be whispered or devoiced when they are between two voiceless consonants such as p,t,k,s,sh,ch,ts, and h or when they are at the end of the word, preceded by a voiceless consonants. For example, you may not hear the underlined vowels in kushi (Comb) and sukiyaki (sukiyaki) when native speakers of Japanese say them at normal or fast speed. However, you may hear these vowels when they speak extremely slowly and deliberately.

Consonants

Most Japanese consonants written in romaji can be read just as in English by r and f are quite different from their English pronunciation. r is made by tapping the tip of the tongue behind the upper teeth, like a brief flap sound tt in lettuce or letter in American English. Japanese f is pronounced by bringing the upper and lower lips close to each other, blowing air between them gently.
Some consonants written in romaji are pronounced just slightly differently from English. W, sh, and ch are pronounced without lip rounding. The sound g is often nasalized when it occurs between vowels. When the consonant n is followed by a consonant made with the lips (p, b, or m), it changes to m.
Some Consonants, such as p, t, k, and s, can be doubled, which is actually realized as a single consonant preceded by a brief pause. The later brief pause is represented by an extra consonant in the romaji system, as in kitte (Stamp) and gakki (Musical instrument)

Oral Practice

Practice pronouncing the following Japanese words paying special attention to the sound quality of the consonants

ちず--->Chizu--->Map
ふね--->Fune--->Boat
ほんだ--->Honda--->Honda
きって--->Kitte--->Stamp
くし--->Kushi--->Comb
りんご--->Ringo--->Apple
つなみ--->Tsunami--->Tsunami
わし--->Washi--->Eagle
やま--->Yama--->Mountain

Pitch Accent

Unlike in English, where an accented syllable is stressed and pronounced louder and longer, an accented syllable in Japanese is not stressed but changes pitch. Each syllable in a Japanese word is either high or low in pitch. For example, the word 雨（あめ）[Rain] and 飴（あめ）[Candy] sound exactly the same except for their pitch pattern. 雨（あめ）[Rain] has an accent on the first syllable, so the pitch falls right after the first syllable. That is, the first syllable a in 雨（あめ）is pronounced high, and the second syllable me is pronounced low. By contrast, 飴（あめ）[Candy] has no accent, so there is no pitch fall within this word. The first syllable a in 飴（あめ）is low in pitch, and the second syllabe me is high in pitch. However, the pitch patternof Japanese words differs greatly depending on the region, and the range of variation in pitch patterns of words is very wide. Therefore, the slight difference in pitch doesnt change any misunderstanding in general, and you do not have to be too concerned about it when you study Japanese.

The Japanese Writing Systems

Japanese is generally written by combining three writing systems, which are Kanji (漢字), Hiragana (ひらがな), and Katakana (カタカナ). Kanji (漢字) are Chinese characters taht were brought to Japan in around the 5th century AD, and they are used for representing concrete meanings conveyed by nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Hiragana (ひらがな) and Katakana (カタカナ) were created from simplified Kanji in the Heian period (792-1192). Each Hiragana or Katakana represents syllable sound rather than meaning. Katakana are mainly composed of straight lines and sharp angles and are used for representing foreign words such as Coffee and Salad. (Tge wirds borrowed from Chinese are usually writtien in Kanji.) Katakana are also used for representing many instances of onomatopoeia and plant or animal names. Hiragana are composed mainly of curved lines and are used for representing grammatical items, such as verb endings and particles, and words that are not written in Kanji or Katakana. Accordingly, one Japanese sentence can contain Kanji, Katakana, and Hiragana:

私は中国と、アメリカに行きます。
Watashi wa Chuugoku to Amerika ni ikimasu.
I will go to China and America.

私 I
中国 China
行 To go
are all Kanji.

アメリカ America
Is Katakana.

は as for
と and
に to
きます [Verb inflection]
Are all Hiragana.

[To be continued]