Vowels
Japanese has 5 vowels:
| IPA | Notes |
|---|---|
| /a/ | This is a low central vowel, ; it is between the English ⟨a⟩ in father and the English ⟨a⟩ in dad. |
| /i/ | This sounds like the English ⟨ee⟩ in feet. |
| /u/ | This is a somewhat centralized close back compressed vowel, listen, pronounced with the lips compressed toward each other but neither rounded like nor spread to the sides like . |
| /e/ | This is a pure e, somewhat like the English ⟨e⟩ in set. |
| /o/ | This is a pure o, listen, somewhat like the ⟨o⟩ in English core. |
The Japanese vowels are pronounced as monophthongs, unlike in English; except for /u/, they are similar to their Spanish or Italian counterparts.
Vowels have a phonemic length distinction (short vs. long). Compare contrasting pairs of words like ojisan /ozisaɴ/ "uncle" vs. ojiisan /oziisaɴ/ "grandfather", or tsuki /tuki/ "moon" vs. tsūki /tuuki/ "airflow".
In most phonological analyses, all vowels are treated as occurring with the time frame of one mora. Phonetically long vowels, then, are treated as a sequence of two identical vowels. For example, ojiisan is /oziisaɴ/ not /oziːsaɴ/.
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 all i-type adjectives, for example, and three vowels within a word also occur, as in aoi "blue/green". In phrases, sequences with multiple o sounds are most common, due to the direct object particle を "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」 ... (w)o o-okuri-shimasu "humble send ...". More extreme examples follow:
-
/hoo.oꜜo.o/ hōō o (鳳凰を) "Phoenix (Fenghuang)" (direct object) /too.oo.oꜜ.oo.u/ tōō o ōu (東欧を覆う) "to cover Eastern Europe"
(This artificial example would be unlikely in normal speech.)
Read more about this topic: Japanese Phonology
Famous quotes containing the word vowels:
“As no one can tell what was the Roman pronunciation, each nation makes the Latin conform, for the most part, to the rules of its own language; so that with us of the vowels only A has a peculiar sound.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Playing “bop” is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.”
—Duke Ellington (1899–1974)
“These equal syllables alone require,
Though oft the ear the open vowels tire;”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)