Japanese phonology

The phonology of Japanese features a phonemic inventory of about 15 consonants, plus a five-vowel system of /a, e, i, o, u/ commonly seen in other languages. There is a relatively simple phonotactic distribution of phonemes, allowing for few consonant clusters. Traditionally, autochthonous Japanese linguistics has described the language as having a unit of timing called the mora, with each mora taking up about the same length of time. In this way, the disyllabic [ɲip.poɴ] (日本, 'Japan') may be analyzed as /niQpoN/, dissected into four moras: /ni/, /Q/, /po/, and /N/.

Standard Japanese is a pitch-accent language, wherein the position or absence of a pitch drop may determine the meaning of a word: /haꜜsiɡa/ (箸が, 'chopsticks'), /hasiꜜɡa/ (橋が, 'bridge'), /hasiɡa/ (端が, 'edge').

Unless otherwise noted, the following describes the standard variety of Japanese based on the Tokyo dialect.

Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Alveolo-
palatal		 Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m n (ɲ) (ŋ) (ɴ)
Plosive p  b t  d k  ɡ
Affricate (t͡s)  (d͡z) (t͡ɕ)  (d͡ʑ)
Fricative (ɸ) s  z (ɕ)  (ʑ) (ç) h
Liquid r
Semivowel j w
Special moras /N/  /Q/
  • Voiceless stops /p, t, k/ are slightly aspirated—less so than English stops, but more than those in Spanish.[1]
  • /p/, a remnant of Old Japanese, now occurs almost always medially in compounds, typically as a result of gemination (as in 切符, kippu, 切腹, seppuku or 北方, hoppō) or after /N/ (as in 音符, onpu), and in a few older compounds as a result of the contractions of pronunciations over time (as in 河童, kappa). It occurs initially or medially in onomatopoeia. Some few non-onomatopoeic exceptions where it occurs initially include 風太郎, pūtarō, although as a personal name it is still pronounced Fūtarō. As gairaigo, loanwords of non-Middle-Chinese origin (non-Middle-Chinese Chinese borrowings such as パオズ, paozu, ペテン, peten as well as borrowings from non-Chinese languages such as パーティー, pātī, etc.), enter the language, /p/ is increasingly used in transcription, initially or medially.
  • /t, d, n/ are laminal denti-alveolar (that is, the blade of the tongue contacts the back of the upper teeth and the front part of the alveolar ridge) and /s, z/ are laminal alveolar.
  • /w/ is traditionally described as a velar [ɰ] or labialized velar approximant [w] or something between the two, or as the semivocalic equivalent of /u/ with little to no rounding, while a 2020 real-time MRI study found it is better described as a bilabial approximant [β̞].[2]
  • Consonants inside parentheses are allophones of other phonemes, at least in native words. In loanwords, /ɸ, ɕ, ʑ, t͡s, d͡z, t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ/ sometimes occur phonemically, outside of the allophonic variation described below.[3]
  • /s, t/ before /i/ and /sj, tj/ are alveolo-palatal [ɕ, t͡ɕ]. /t/ before /u/ is [t͡s]. /z, d/ before /i/ and /zj, dj/ are [ʑ, d͡ʑ], but in most dialects they are neutralized as free variation between the two realizations; /d/ before /u/ is [d͡z], but /zu, du/ are also neutralized in most dialects (see below). Traditionally, it is described that, in neutralizing varieties, [d͡z, d͡ʑ] occur when word-initial or preceded by /N/, and [z, ʑ] otherwise. However, a 2010 corpus study found that both variants were found in all positions, and that the time it takes to produce the consonant or consonant cluster (to which /N/, /Q/, and pauses contribute) was the most reliable predictor for affricate realization.[4]
  • /h/ is [ç] before /i/ and /j/ (listenⓘ), and [ɸ] before /u/ (listenⓘ),[5] coarticulated with the labial compression of that vowel. Geminate /h/ is now only found in recent loanwords (e.g. ゴッホ, Gohho, '(van) Gogh', バッハ, Bahha, 'Bach'), and rarely in Sino-Japanese or mixed compounds (e.g. 十針, juhhari, 'ten stitches', 絶不調, zeffuchō, 'terrible slump').[6]
  • /N/ is a syllable-final moraic nasal with variable pronunciation depending on what follows. It may be considered an allophone of /n, m/ in syllable-final position or a distinct phoneme.
  • Realization of the liquid phoneme /r/ varies greatly depending on environment and dialect. The prototypical and most common pronunciation is an apical tap, either alveolar [ɾ] or postalveolar [ɾ̠].[7][8][5] Utterance-initially and after /N/, the tap is typically articulated in such a way that the tip of the tongue is at first momentarily in light contact with the alveolar ridge before being released rapidly by airflow.[9][8] This sound is described variably as a tap, a "variant of [ɾ]", "a kind of weak plosive",[9] and "an affricate with short friction, [d̠ɹ̝̆]".[5] The apical alveolar or postalveolar lateral approximant [l] is a common variant in all conditions,[5] particularly utterance-initially[9] and before /i, j/.[7] According to Akamatsu (1997), utterance-initially and intervocalically (that is, except after /N/), the lateral variant is better described as a tap [ɺ] rather than an approximant.[9][10] The retroflex lateral approximant [ɭ] is also found before /i, j/.[7] In Tokyo's Shitamachi dialect, the alveolar trill [r] is a variant marked with vulgarity.[7] Other reported variants include the alveolar approximant [ɹ],[5] the alveolar stop [d], the retroflex flap [ɽ], the lateral fricative [ɮ],[7] and the retroflex stop [ɖ].[11]

Weakening

Non-coronal voiced stops /b, ɡ/ between vowels may be weakened to fricatives, especially in fast or casual speech:

/b/ > bilabial fricative [β] /abareru/ > [aβaɾeɾɯ] 暴れる, abareru, 'to behave violently'
/ɡ/ > velar fricative [ɣ] /haɡe/ > [haɣe] はげ, hage, 'baldness'

However, /ɡ/ is further complicated by its variant realization as a velar nasal [ŋ]. Standard Japanese speakers can be categorized into 3 groups, referred to as A-, B-, and C-speakers, as defined below. If a B-speaker consistently realizes a given word with the allophone [ŋ], they will never employ [ɣ] as an allophone in that same word. A-speakers vary between [ŋ] and [ɡ], and C-speakers are generally consistent in using [ɡ]: for these groups, the velar fricative [ɣ] is another possible allophone in fast speech.

/ɡ/ may be weakened to nasal [ŋ] when it occurs within words—this includes not only between vowels but also between a vowel and a consonant. There is a fair amount of variation between speakers, however. Vance (1987) suggests that the variation follows social class,[12] while Akamatsu (1997) suggests that the variation follows age and geographic location.[13] The generalized situation is as follows.

At the beginning of words

All present-day standard Japanese speakers generally use the stop [ɡ] at the beginning of words.

外遊, gaiyū, 'overseas trip'
/ɡaijuu/ > [ɡaijɯː], but not *[ŋaijɯː]
In the middle of simple words (i.e. non-compounds)
家具, kagu, 'furniture'
A-speakers, a majority, use either [ŋ] or [ɡ] in free variation. /kaɡu/ > [kaŋɯ] or [kaɡɯ]
B-speakers, a minority, consistently use [ŋ]. /kaɡu/ > [kaŋɯ] but not *[kaɡɯ]
C-speakers, the majority in western Japan with a smaller minority
in Kantō, consistently use [ɡ].		 /kaɡu/ > [kaɡɯ] but not *[kaŋɯ]
In the middle of compound words (morpheme-initially)

C-speakers, as mentioned directly above, consistently use [ɡ]. Thus, for them the words [seŋɡo] 千五, sengo, 'one thousand and five' and [seŋŋo] 戦後, sengo, 'postwar'[14] are a minimal pair, while for others they are homophonous.

To summarize:

はげ, hage, 'baldness'
A-speakers /haɡe/ > [haŋe] or [haɡe] or [haɣe]
B-speakers /haɡe/ > [haŋe]
C-speakers /haɡe/ > [haɡe] or [haɣe]

Some phonologists posit a distinct phoneme /ŋ/, citing pairs such as [oːɡaɾasɯ] (大硝子, 'big sheet of glass') versus [oːŋaɾasɯ] (大烏, 'big raven').[15]

Palatalization and affrication

The palatals /i/ and /j/ palatalize the consonants that precede them, for example:[5]

/m/ > [mʲ] /umi/ > [ɯmʲi] 海, umi, 'sea'
/ɡ/ > [ɡʲ] /ɡjoːza/ > [ɡʲoːza] ぎょうざ, gyōza, 'fried dumpling'
/r/ > [ɾʲ] /kiri/ > [kʲiɾʲi] 霧, kiri, 'fog'

For coronal consonants, the palatalization goes further so that alveolo-palatal consonants correspond with dental or alveolar consonants (e.g. [ta] 田, ta, 'field' versus [t͡ɕa] 茶, cha, 'tea'):[16]

/n/ > [ɲ̟] /nihoN/ > [ɲihoɴ] 日本, Nihon, 'Japan'
/s/ > [ɕ] /sio/ > [ɕi.o] 塩, shio, 'salt'
/z/ > [d͡ʑ] or [ʑ] /ɡozjuː/ > [ɡod͡ʑɯː] ~ [ɡoʑɯː]
/zisiN/ > [d͡ʑiɕiɴ]		 五十, gojū, 'fifty'
地震, jishin, 'earthquake'
/t/ > [t͡ɕ] /tiziN/ > [t͡ɕid͡ʑiɴ] ~ [t͡ɕiʑiɴ] 知人, chijin, 'acquaintance'

/i/ and /j/ also palatalize /h/ to [ç]: /hito/ > [çito] 人, hito, 'person'

Of the allophones of /z/, the affricate [d͡z] is most common, especially at the beginning of utterances and after /N/, while fricative [z] may occur between vowels. Both sounds, however, are in free variation.

In the case of the /t/ when followed by /j/, historically, the consonant was palatalized with /j/ merging into a single pronunciation. In modern Japanese, this is arguably a separate phoneme, at least for the portion of the population that pronounces it distinctly in English borrowings.

/sj/ > [ɕ] /sjaboN/ > [ɕaboɴ] シャボン, shabon, 'soap'
/zj/ > [d͡ʑ ~ ʑ] /zjaɡaimo/ > [d͡ʑaɡaimo] じゃがいも, jagaimo, 'potato'
/tj/ > [t͡ɕ] /tja/ > [t͡ɕa] 茶, cha, 'tea'
/hj/ > [ç] /hjaku/ > [çakɯ] 百, hyaku, 'hundred'

The vowel /u/ also affects consonants that it follows:[17]

/h/ > [ɸ] /huta/ > [ɸɯta] ふた, futa, 'lid'
/t/ > [t͡s] /tuɡi/ > [t͡sɯɡi] 次, tsugi, 'next'

Although [ɸ] and [ts] occur before other vowels in loanwords (e.g. [ɸaito] ファイト, faito, 'fight'; [ɸjɯː(d)ʑoɴ] フュージョン, fyūjon, 'fusion'; [tsaitoɡaisɯto] ツァイトガイスト, tsaitogaisuto, 'zeitgeist'; [eɾitsiɴ] エリツィン, Eritsin, 'Yeltsin'), [ɸ] and [h] are distinguished before vowels except [ɯ] (e.g. English fork > [ɸoːkɯ] フォーク, fōku versus hawk > [hoːkɯ] ホーク, hōku). *[hɯ] is still not distinguished from [ɸɯ] (e.g. English hood and food > [ɸɯːdo] フード, fūdo).[18] Similarly, *[si] and *[(d)zi] usually do not occur even in loanwords, so that English cinema > [ɕinema] シネマ, shinema;[19] although they may be written スィ and ズィ respectively, they are rarely found even among the most innovative speakers and do not occur phonemically.[20][21]

/d, z/ neutralization
Main article: Yotsugana

The contrast between /d/ and /z/ is neutralized before /i/ and /u/: [(d)ʑi, (d)zɯ]. By convention, it is often assumed to be /z/, though some analyze it as /d͡z/, the voiced counterpart to [t͡s]. The writing system preserves morphological distinctions, though spelling reform has eliminated historical distinctions except in cases where a mora is repeated once voiceless and once voiced, or where rendaku occurs in a compound word: つづく[続く] /tuduku/, いちづける[位置付ける] /itidukeru/ from |iti+tukeru|. Some dialects (e.g. Tosa[22]) retain the distinctions between /zi/ and /di/ and between /zu/ and /du/, while others retain only /zu/ and /du/ but not /zi/ and /di/, or merge all four (e.g. north Tōhoku).[22]

Moraic nasal

Some analyses of Japanese treat the moraic nasal as an archiphoneme /N/;[23] other less abstract approaches take its uvular or alveolar realization as basic (i.e., /ɴ/ or /n/).[24][25] It undergoes a variety of assimilatory processes. It is variously:[26]

  • bilabial [m] before /p, b, m/.
  • laminal [n] before coronals [d, t, t͡s, n]; never found utterance-finally. Apical [n̺] is found before liquid /r/.[27]
  • alveolo-palatal [ɲ̟] before alveolo-palatals [t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ, ɲ].[28]
  • velar [ŋ] before /k, ɡ/. Before palatalized consonants, it is also palatalized, as in [ɡẽŋʲkʲi].[28]
  • some sort of nasalized vowel before vowels, approximants /j, w/, liquid /r/, and fricatives [ɸ, s, ɕ, ç, h]. Depending on context and speaker, the vowel's quality may closely match that of the preceding vowel or be more constricted in articulation. It is thus broadly transcribed with [ɰ̃], an ad hoc semivocalic notation undefined for the exact place of articulation.[27] It is also found utterance-finally.[5]

These assimilations occur beyond word boundaries.[29]

When utterance-final, the moraic nasal is traditionally described as uvular [ɴ], sometimes with qualification that the occlusion may not always be complete[28] or that it is, or approaches, velar [ŋ] after front vowels.[30] However, instrumental studies in the 2010s showed that there is considerable variability in the realization of utterance-final /N/ and that it often involves a lip closure or constriction.[31][32][33][34] A 2023 real-time MRI study found that the tongue position of utterance-final /N/ largely corresponds to that of the preceding vowel, though with overlapping locations, leading the researcher to conclude that /N/ has no specified place of articulation rather than a clear allophonic rule.[35] 5% of the samples of utterance-final /N/ were realized as nasalized vowels with no closure, where appreciable tongue raising was observed only when following /a/.[36]

Gemination

While Japanese features consonant gemination, there are some limitations in what can be geminated. Most saliently, voiced geminates are prohibited in native Japanese words.[37] This can be seen with suffixation that would otherwise feature voiced geminates. For example, Japanese has a suffix, |ri| that contains what Kawahara (2006) calls a "floating mora" that triggers gemination in certain cases (e.g. |tapu| +|ri| > [tappɯɾi] 'a lot of'). When this would otherwise lead to a geminated voiced obstruent, a moraic nasal appears instead as a sort of "partial gemination" (e.g. |zabu| + |ri| > [(d)zambɯɾi] 'splashing').[38][39]

In the late 20th century, voiced geminates began to appear in loanwords, though they are marked and have a high tendency to be devoiced. A frequent example is loanwords from English such as bed and dog that, though they end with voiced singletons in English, are geminated (with an epenthetic vowel) when borrowed into Japanese. These geminates frequently undergo devoicing to become less marked, which gives rise to variability in voicing:[40]

ドッグ, doggu → ドック, dokku, 'dog'
ベッド, beddo → ベット, betto, 'bed'

The distinction is not rigorous. For example, when voiced obstruent geminates appear with another voiced obstruent they can undergo optional devoicing (e.g. doreddo ~ doretto 'dreadlocks'). Kawahara (2006) attributes this to a less reliable distinction between voiced and voiceless geminates compared to the same distinction in non-geminated consonants, noting that speakers may have difficulty distinguishing them due to the partial devoicing of voiced geminates and their resistance to the weakening process mentioned above, both of which can make them sound like voiceless geminates.[41]

There is some dispute about how gemination fits with Japanese phonotactics. One analysis, particularly popular among Japanese scholars, posits a special "mora phoneme" (モーラ 音素, Mōra onso) /Q/, which corresponds to the sokuon ⟨っ, tsu⟩.[42] However, not all scholars agree that the use of this "moraic obstruent" is the best analysis. In those approaches that incorporate the moraic obstruent, it is said to completely assimilate to the following obstruent, resulting in a geminate (that is, double) consonant. The assimilated /Q/ remains unreleased and thus the geminates are phonetically long consonants. /Q/ does not occur before vowels or nasal consonants. This can be seen as an archiphoneme in that it has no underlying place or manner of articulation, and instead manifests as several phonetic realizations depending on context, for example:

[p̚] before [p] /niQ.poN/ > [ɲip̚.poɴ] 日本, nippon, 'Japan'
[s] before [s] /kaQ.seN/ > [kas.seɴ] 合戦, kassen, 'battle'
[t̚] before [t͡ɕ] /saQ.ti/ > [sat̚.t͡ɕi] 察知, satchi, 'inference'

Another analysis of Japanese dispenses with /Q/. In such an approach, the words above are phonemicized as shown below:

[p̚] before [p] /nip.poN/ > [ɲip̚.poɴ] 日本, nippon, 'Japan'
[s] before [s] /kas.seN/ > [kas.seɴ] 合戦, kassen, 'battle'
[t̚] before [t͡ɕ] /sat.ti/ > [sat̚.t͡ɕi] 察知, satchi, 'inference'

Gemination can of course also be transcribed with a length mark (e.g. [ɲipːoɴ]), but this notation obscures mora boundaries.

Sandhi

Various forms of sandhi exist; the Japanese term for sandhi generally is ren'on (連音), while sandhi in Japanese specifically is called renjō (連声). Most commonly, a terminal /N/ on one morpheme results in /n/ or /m/ being added to the start of the next morpheme, as in tennō (天皇, emperor), てん ＋ おう > てんのう (ten + ō = tennō). In some cases, such as this example, the sound change is used in writing as well, and is considered the usual pronunciation.

Vowels
The vowels of Standard Japanese on a vowel chart. Adapted from Okada (1999:117).
Vowel phonemes of Japanese
Front Central Back
Close iu
Mid eo
Open a
  • /u/ is a close near-back vowel with the lips unrounded ([ɯ̟])[43][44] or compressed ([ɯ̟ᵝ]).[5][45] When compressed, it is pronounced with the side portions of the lips in contact but with no salient protrusion. In conversational speech, compression may be weakened or completely dropped.[45] It is centralized [ɨ] after /s, z, t/ and palatalized consonants (/Cj/),[43] and possibly also after /n/.[45]
  • /e, o/ are mid [e̞, o̞].[46]
  • /a/ is central [ä].[46]

Except for /u/, the short vowels are similar to their Spanish counterparts.

Vowels have a phonemic length contrast (i.e. short vs. long). Compare contrasting pairs of words like ojisan /ozisaN/ 'uncle' vs. ojiisan /oziisaN/ 'grandfather', or tsuki /tuki/ 'moon' vs. tsūki /tuuki/ 'airflow'.

Some analyses make a distinction between a long vowel and a succession of two identical vowels, citing pairs such as 砂糖屋 satōya 'sugar shop' [satoːja] vs. 里親, satooya, 'foster parent' [satooja]. They are usually identical in normal speech, but when enunciated a distinction may be made with a pause or a glottal stop inserted between two identical vowels.[47]

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 many i-type adjectives, for example, and having three or more vowels in sequence within a word also occurs, as in あおい, 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」, wo o-okuri-shimasu, '...humbly send...'. More extreme examples follow:

/hoː.oː.o.o.oː/ [hoː.oː.o.o.oː] hōō o oō (鳳凰（ほうおう）を追（お）おう) 'let's chase the fenghuang'
/toː.oː.o.oː.oː/ [toː.oː.o.oː.oː] tōō o ōō (東欧（とうおう）を覆（おお）おう) 'let's cover Eastern Europe'

Devoicing
See also: Elision § Japanese

In many dialects, the close vowels /i/ and /u/ become voiceless when placed between two voiceless consonants or, unless accented, between a voiceless consonant and a pausa.[48]

/kutu/ > [kɯ̥t͡sɯ] 靴, kutsu, 'shoe'
/atu/ > [at͡sɯ̥] 圧, atsu, 'pressure'
/hikaN/ > [çi̥kaɴ] 悲観, hikan, 'pessimism'

Generally, devoicing does not occur in a consecutive manner:[49]

/kisitu/ > [kʲi̥ɕit͡sɯ] 気質, kishitsu, 'temperament'
/kusikumo/ > [kɯɕi̥kɯmo] 奇しくも, kushikumo, 'strangely'

This devoicing is not restricted to only fast speech, though consecutive devoicing may occur in fast speech.[50]

To a lesser extent, /o, a/ may be devoiced with the further requirement that there be two or more adjacent moras containing the same phoneme:[48]

/kokoro/ > [ko̥koɾo] 心, kokoro, 'heart'
/haka/ > [hḁka] 墓, haka, 'grave'

The common sentence-ending copula です, desu and polite suffix ます, masu are typically pronounced [desɯ̥] and [masɯ̥].[51]

Japanese speakers are usually not even aware of the difference of the voiced and devoiced pair. On the other hand, gender roles play a part in prolonging the terminal vowel: it is regarded as effeminate to prolong, particularly the terminal /u/ as in あります, arimasu, 'there is'. Some nonstandard varieties of Japanese can be recognized by their hyper-devoicing, while in some Western dialects and some registers of formal speech, every vowel is voiced. Recent research has argued that "vowel deletion" more accurately describes the phenomena.[52]

However, Japanese contrasts devoiced vowel between two identical voiceless fricatives and voiceless fricative gemination. Vowel between two identical voiceless fricatives may have either a weak voiceless approximant release or a revoiced vowel depending on the rate of speech and individual speech habits.

[niɕɕimbaɕi] 日進橋, Nisshinbashi vs. [niɕi̥ɕimbaɕi] or [niɕiɕimbaɕi] 西新橋, Nishi-shinbashi
[kessai] 決済, 'check out' vs. [kesɯ̥sai] or [kesɯsai] 消す際, 'while erasing'

Nasalization

Japanese vowels are slightly nasalized when adjacent to nasals /m, n/. Before the moraic nasal /N/, vowels are heavily nasalized:

/kaNtoo/ > [kantoː] 関東, Kantō 'Kanto region'
/seesaN/ > [seːsãɴ] 生産, seisan, 'production'

Glottal stop insertion

At the beginning and end of utterances, Japanese vowels may be preceded and followed by a glottal stop [ʔ], respectively. This is demonstrated below with the following words (as pronounced in isolation):

/eN/ > [eɴ] ~ [ʔeɴ] 円, en, 'yen'
/kisi/ > [kiɕiʔ] 岸, kishi, 'shore'
/u/ > [ɯʔ ~ ʔɯʔ] 鵜, u, 'cormorant'

When an utterance-final word is uttered with emphasis, this glottal stop is plainly audible, and is often indicated in the writing system with a small letter っ, tsu, called a sokuon. This is also found in interjections like あっ, a and えっ, e.

Phonotactics
Further information: Hiragana, Katakana, On (Japanese prosody), Mora (linguistics) § Japanese, and Transcription into Japanese
Phonotactically legal phoneme sequences, each counting as one mora
/-a//-i//-u//-e//-o//-ja//-ju//-jo/
/∅-/ /a//i//u/
[ɯ]		/e//o//ja//ju/
[jɯ]		/jo/
/k-/ /ka//ki/
[kʲi]		/ku/
[kɯ]		/ke//ko//kja/
[kʲa]		/kju/
[kʲɨ]		/kjo/
[kʲo]
/ɡ-/ /ɡa//ɡi/
[ɡʲi]		/ɡu/
[ɡɯ]		/ɡe//ɡo//ɡja/
[ɡʲa]		/ɡju/
[ɡʲɨ]		/ɡjo/
[ɡʲo]
/s-/ /sa//si/
[ɕi]		/su/
[sɨ]		/se//so//sja/
[ɕa]		/sju/
[ɕɨ]		/sjo/
[ɕo]
/z-/ /za/
[(d)za]		/zi/
[(d)ʑi]		/zu/
[(d)zɨ]		/ze/
[(d)ze]		/zo/
[(d)zo]		/zja/
[(d)ʑa]		/zju/
[(d)ʑɨ]		/zjo/
[(d)ʑo]
/t-/ /ta//ti/
[t͡ɕi]		/tu/
[t͡sɨ]		/te//to//tja/
[t͡ɕa]		/tju/
[t͡ɕɨ]		/tjo/
[t͡ɕo]
/d-/ /da/(/di/)
[(d)ʑi]		(/du/)
[(d)zɨ]		/de//do/(/dja/)
[(d)ʑa]		(/dju/)
[(d)ʑɨ]		(/djo/)
[(d)ʑo]
/n-/ /na//ni/
[ɲi]		/nu/
[nɯ]		/ne//no//nja/
[ɲa]		/nju/
[ɲɨ]		/njo/
[ɲo]
/h-/ /ha//hi/
[çi]		/hu/
[ɸɯ]		/he//ho//hja/
[ça]		/hju/
[çɨ]		/hjo/
[ço]
/b-/ /ba//bi/
[bʲi]		/bu/
[bɯ]		/be//bo//bja/
[bʲa]		/bju/
[bʲɨ]		/bjo/
[bʲo]
/p-/ /pa//pi/
[pʲi]		/pu/
[pɯ]		/pe//po//pja/
[pʲa]		/pju/
[pʲɨ]		/pjo/
[pʲo]
/m-/ /ma//mi/
[mʲi]		/mu/
[mɯ]		/me//mo//mja/
[mʲa]		/mju/
[mʲɨ]		/mjo/
[mʲo]
/r-/ /ra/
[ɾa]		/ri/
[ɾʲi]		/ru/
[ɾɯ]		/re/
[ɾe]		/ro/
[ɾo]		/rja/
[ɾʲa]		/rju/
[ɾʲɨ]		/rjo/
[ɾʲo]
/w-/ /wa/
[β̞a]
Marginal combinations mostly found in Western loans[53]
[ɕ-] [ɕe]
[(d)ʑ-] [(d)ʑe]
[t-] [tʲi][tɯ][tʲɨ]
[t͡ɕ-] [t͡ɕe]
[t͡s-] [t͡sa][t͡sʲi][t͡se][t͡so]
[d-] [dʲi][dɯ][dʲɨ]
[ɸ-] [ɸa][ɸʲi][ɸe][ɸo][ɸʲɨ]
[j-] [je]
[β̞-] [β̞i][β̞e][β̞o]
Special moras
/V-/ /N/
[ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃]
/V-C/ /Q/
(geminates the following consonant)
/V-/ /R/
[ː]

Japanese words have traditionally been analysed as composed of moras, a distinct concept from that of syllables.[54][55] Each mora occupies one rhythmic unit, i.e. it is perceived to have the same time value.[56] A mora may be "regular" consisting of just a vowel (V) or a consonant and a vowel (CV), or may be one of two "special" moras, /N/ and /Q/. A glide /j/ may precede the vowel in "regular" moras (CjV). Some analyses posit a third "special" mora, /R/, the second part of a long vowel (a chroneme).[57][58] In this table, the period represents a mora break, rather than the conventional syllable break.

Mora type Example Japanese Moras per word
V /o/ 尾, o, 'tail' 1-mora word
jV /jo/ 世, yo, 'world' 1-mora word
CV /ko/ 子, ko, 'child' 1-mora word
CjV /kjo/1 巨, kyo, 'hugeness' 1-mora word
R /R/ in /kjo.R/ or /kjo.o/ 今日, kyō, 'today' 2-mora word
N /N/ in /ko.N/ 紺, kon, 'deep blue' 2-mora word
Q /Q/ in /ko.Q.ko/ or /ko.k.ko/ 国庫, kokko, 'national treasury' 3-mora word
^1 Traditionally, moras were divided into plain and palatal sets, the latter of which entail palatalization of the consonant element.[59]

/N/ is restricted from occurring word-initially, and /Q/ is found only word-medially.[60] Vowels may be long, and the voiceless consonants /p, t, k, s/ may be geminated (doubled).[61] In the analysis with archiphonemes, geminate consonants are the realization of the sequences /Nn/, /Nm/ and sequences of /Q/ followed by a voiceless obstruent, though some words are written with geminate voiced obstruents. In the analysis without archiphonemes, geminate clusters are simply two identical consonants, one after the other.

In English, stressed syllables in a word are pronounced louder, longer, and with higher pitch, while unstressed syllables are relatively shorter in duration. Japanese is often considered a mora-timed language, as each mora tends to be of the same length,[62] though not strictly: geminate consonants and moras with devoiced vowels may be shorter than other moras.[63] Factors such as pitch have negligible influence on mora length.[64]

Accent
Main article: Japanese pitch accent

Standard Japanese has a distinctive pitch accent system: a word can have one of its moras bearing an accent or not. An accented mora is pronounced with a relatively high tone and is followed by a drop in pitch. The various Japanese dialects have different accent patterns, and some exhibit more complex tonic systems.

Sound change

As an agglutinative language, Japanese has generally very regular pronunciation, with much simpler morphophonology than a fusional language would. Nevertheless, there are a number of prominent sound change phenomena, primarily in morpheme combination and in conjugation of verbs and adjectives. Phonemic changes are generally reflected in the spelling, while those that are not either indicate informal or dialectal speech which further simplify pronunciation.

Rendaku
Main article: Rendaku

In Japanese, sandhi is prominently exhibited in rendaku – consonant mutation of the initial consonant of a morpheme from unvoiced to voiced in some contexts when it occurs in the middle of a word. This phonetic difference is reflected in the spelling via the addition of dakuten, as in ka, ga (か／が). In cases where this combines with the yotsugana mergers, notably ji, dzi (じ／ぢ) and zu, dzu (ず／づ) in standard Japanese, the resulting spelling is morphophonemic rather than purely phonemic.

Gemination

The other common sandhi in Japanese is conversion of つ or く (tsu, ku), and ち or き (chi, ki), and rarely ふ or ひ (fu, hi) as a trailing consonant to a geminate consonant when not word-final – orthographically, the sokuon っ, as this occurs most often with つ. So that

  • 一 (いつ itsu) + 緒 (しょ sho) = 一緒 (いっしょ issho)
  • 学 (gaku) + 校 (kō) = 学校

Some long vowels derive from an earlier combination of a vowel and fu ふ (see onbin). The f often causes gemination when it is joined with another word:

  • 法 (hafu はふ > hō ほう) + 被 (hi ひ) = 法被 (happi はっぴ), instead of hōhi ほうひ
  • 合 (kafu かふ > gō ごう) + 戦 (sen せん) = 合戦 (kassen), instead of gōsen
  • 入 (nifu > nyū) + 声 (shō) = 入声 (nisshō), instead of nyūshō
  • 十 (jifu > jū) + 戒 (kai) = 十戒 (jikkai) instead of jūkai

Most words exhibiting this change are Sino-Japanese words deriving from Middle Chinese morphemes ending in /t̚/, /k̚/ or /p̚/, which were borrowed on their own into Japanese with a prop vowel after them (e.g., 日 MC */nit̚/ > Japanese /niti/ [ɲit͡ɕi]) but in compounds as assimilated to the following consonant (e.g. 日本 MC */nit̚.pu̯ən/ > Japanese /niQ.poN/ [ɲip̚.poɴ]).

Renjō
Further information: 連声 and Late Middle Japanese § Medial gemination

Sandhi also occurs much less often in renjō (連声), where, most commonly, a terminal /N/ or /Q/ on one morpheme results in /n/ (or /m/ when derived from historical m) or /t̚/ respectively being added to the start of a following morpheme beginning with a vowel or semivowel, as in ten + ō → tennō (天皇: てん + おう → てんのう). Examples:

First syllable ending with /N/
  • 銀杏 (ginnan): ぎん (gin) + あん (an) → ぎんなん (ginnan)
  • 観音 (kannon): くゎん (kwan) + おむ (om) → くゎんのむ (kwannom) → かんのん (kannon)
  • 天皇 (tennō): てん (ten) + わう (wau) → てんなう (tennau) → てんのう (tennō)
First syllable ending with /N/ from original /m/
  • 三位 (sanmi): さむ (sam) + ゐ (wi) → さむみ (sammi) → さんみ (sanmi)
  • 陰陽 (onmyō): おむ (om) + やう (yau) → おむみゃう (ommyau) → おんみょう (onmyō)
First syllable ending with /Q/
  • 雪隠 (setchin): せつ (setsu) + いん (in) → せっちん (setchin)
  • 屈惑 (kuttaku): くつ (kutsu) + わく (waku) → くったく (kuttaku)

Onbin
Spelling changes
ArchaicModern
あ＋う (a + u)
あ＋ふ (a + fu)		おう (ō)
い＋う (i + u)
い＋ふ (i + fu)		ゆう (yū)1
う＋ふ (u + fu)うう (ū)
え＋う (e + u)
え＋ふ (e + fu)		よう (yō)
お＋ふ (o + fu)おう (ō)
お＋ほ (o + ho)
お＋を (o + wo)		おお (ō)
auxiliary verb む (mu)ん (n)
medial or final は (ha)わ (wa)
medial or final ひ (hi), へ (he), ほ (ho)い (i), え (e), お (o)
(via wi, we, wo, see below)
any ゐ (wi), ゑ (we), を (wo)い (i), え (e), お (o)1
1. usually not reflected in spelling
Further information: Japanese grammar § Euphonic changes (音便 onbin)

Another prominent feature is onbin (音便, euphonic sound change), particularly historical sound changes.

In cases where this has occurred within a morpheme, the morpheme itself is still distinct but with a different sound, as in hōki (箒 (ほうき), broom), which underwent two sound changes from earlier hahaki (ははき) → hauki (はうき) (onbin) → houki (ほうき) (historical vowel change) → hōki (ほうき) (long vowel, sound change not reflected in kana spelling).

However, certain forms are still recognizable as irregular morphology, particularly forms that occur in basic verb conjugation, as well as some compound words.

Verb conjugation
Further information: Onbin in verb conjugations

Polite adjective forms
Further information: Japanese grammar § Polite forms of adjectives

The polite adjective forms (used before the polite copula gozaru (ござる, be) and verb zonjiru (存じる, think, know)) exhibit a one-step or two-step sound change. Firstly, these use the continuative form, -ku (-く), which exhibits onbin, dropping the k as -ku (-く) → -u (-う). Secondly, the vowel may combine with the preceding vowel, according to historical sound changes; if the resulting new sound is palatalized, meaning yu, yo (ゆ、よ), this combines with the preceding consonant, yielding a palatalized syllable.

This is most prominent in certain everyday terms that derive from an i-adjective ending in -ai changing to -ō (-ou), which is because these terms are abbreviations of polite phrases ending in gozaimasu, sometimes with a polite o- prefix. The terms are also used in their full form, with notable examples being:

  • arigatō (有難う、ありがとう, Thank you), from arigatai (有難い、ありがたい, (I am) grateful).
  • ohayō (お早う、おはよう, Good morning), from hayai (早い、はやい, (It is) early).
  • omedetō (お目出度う、おめでとう, Congratulations), from medetai (目出度い、めでたい, (It is) auspicious).

Other transforms of this type are found in polite speech, such as oishiku (美味しく) → oishū (美味しゅう) and ōkiku (大きく) → ōkyū (大きゅう).

-hito

The morpheme hito (人 (ひと), person) (with rendaku -bito (〜びと)) has changed to uto (うと) or udo (うど), respectively, in a number of compounds. This in turn often combined with a historical vowel change, resulting in a pronunciation rather different from that of the components, as in nakōdo (仲人 (なこうど), matchmaker) (see below). These include:

  • otōto (弟 (おとうと), younger brother), from otohito (弟人 (おとひと)) 'younger sibling' + 'person' → otouto (おとうと) → otōto.
  • imōto (妹 (いもうと), younger sister), from imohito (妹人 (いもひと)) 'sister' + 'person' → imouto (いもうと) → imōto.
  • shirōto (素人 (しろうと), novice), from shirohito (白人 (しろひと)) 'white' + 'person' → shirouto (しろうと) → shirōto.
  • kurōto (玄人 (くろうと), veteran), from kurohito (黒人 (くろひと)) 'black' + 'person' → kurouto (くろうと) → kurōto.
  • nakōdo (仲人 (なこうど), matchmaker), from nakabito (仲人 (なかびと)) → nakaudo (なかうど) → nakoudo (なこうど) → nakōdo.
  • karyūdo (狩人 (かりゅうど), hunter), from karibito (狩人 (かりびと)) → kariudo (かりうど) → karyuudo (かりゅうど) → karyūdo.
  • shūto (舅 (しゅうと), stepfather), from shihito (舅人 (しひと)) → shiuto (しうと) → shuuto (しゅうと) → shūto.
  • kurōdo (蔵人 (くろうど), warehouse keeper (archivist, sake/soy sauce/miso maker)), from kurabito (蔵人 (くらびと)) 'storehouse' + 'person' → kurando (くらんど) → kuraudo (くらうど) → kuroudo (くろうど) → kurōdo. kurauzu (くらうず) is also found, as a variant of kuraudo (くらうど).

Fusion

In some cases morphemes have effectively fused and will not be recognizable as being composed of two separate morphemes.

See also

Notes
  1. Riney et al. (2007).
  2. Maekawa (2020).
  3. Labrune (2012), p. 59.
  4. Maekawa (2010).
  5. Okada (1999), p. 118.
  6. Labrune (2012), pp. 70, 136.
  7. Labrune (2012), p. 92.
  8. Vance (2008), p. 89.
  9. Akamatsu (1997), p. 106.
  10. Akamatsu (1997) employs a different symbol, [l̆], for the lateral tap.
  11. Arai, Warner & Greenberg (2007), p. 48.
  12. Vance (1987), pp. 110–111.
  13. Akamatsu (1997), p. 130.
  14. Japanese academics represent [ɡo] as ご and [ŋo] as こ゚.
  15. Shibatani (1990), p. 172.
  16. Itō & Mester (1995), p. 827.
  17. Itō & Mester (1995), p. 825.
  18. Itō & Mester (1995), p. 826.
  19. Itō & Mester (1995), p. 828.
  20. Irwin (2011), p. 84.
  21. Hall (2013).
  22. Jeroen van de Weijer, Kensuke Nanjo, Tetsuo Nishihara (2005). Voicing in Japanese. Walter de Gruyter. p. 150. ISBN 9783110197686.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. Labrune (2012), pp. 132–133.
  24. Shibatani (1990), p. 170.
  25. Kubozono (2015), p. 34.
  26. Labrune (2012), pp. 133–134.
  27. Vance (2008), p. 97.
  28. Vance (2008), p. 96.
  29. Vance (2008), pp. 101–102.
  30. Saito (2005:94) and National Language Research Institute (1990:514), cited in Maekawa (2023:191–192).
  31. Yamane & Gick (2010).
  32. Hashi et al. (2014).
  33. Nogita & Yamane (2015).
  34. Mizoguchi (2019), p. 65.
  35. Maekawa (2023), p. 209.
  36. Maekawa (2023), pp. 209–210.
  37. Labrune (2012), p. 104.
  38. Kawahara (2006), p. 550.
  39. Labrune (2012:104–105) points out that the prefix |bu| has the same effect.
  40. Sano (2013), pp. 245–246.
  41. Kawahara (2006), pp. 559, 561, 565.
  42. Labrune (2012), p. 135.
  43. Labrune (2012), p. 25.
  44. Akamatsu (1997), p. 31.
  45. Vance (2008), pp. 54–56.
  46. Okada (1999), p. 117.
  47. Labrune (2012), pp. 45–46.
  48. Labrune (2012), pp. 34–35.
  49. Tsuchida (2001), p. 225.
  50. Tsuchida (2001), fn 3.
  51. Seward (1992), p. 9.
  52. Shaw & Kawahara (2018), pp. 101–102.
  53. Irwin (2011), pp. 75–76.
  54. Moras are represented orthographically in katakana and hiragana – each mora, with the exception of CjV clusters, being one kana – and are referred to in Japanese as 'on' or 'onji'.
  55. Verdonschot, Rinus G.; Kiyama, Sachiko; Tamaoka, Katsuo; Kinoshita, Sachiko; Heij, Wido La; Schiller, Niels O. (2011). "The functional unit of Japanese word naming: Evidence from masked priming". Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. 37 (6): 1458–1473. doi:10.1037/a0024491. hdl:1887/18409. PMID 21895391. S2CID 18278865.
  56. Labrune (2012), p. 143.
  57. Also notated /H/, following the conventional usage of h for lengthened vowels in romanization.
  58. Labrune (2012), pp. 143–144.
  59. Itō & Mester (1995:827). In such a classification scheme, the plain counterparts of moras with a palatal glide are onsetless moras.
  60. Aoyama (2001), p. 9.
  61. Aoyama (2001), p. 8.
  62. Aoyama (2001), pp. 1–2.
  63. Aoyama (2001), p. 11.
  64. Aoyama (2001), pp. 7–8.

References

Further reading
  • Akamatsu, Tsutomu (2000), Japanese Phonology: A Functional Approach, München: Lincom Europa, ISBN 978-3-89586-544-2
  • Bloch, Bernard (1950), "Studies in colloquial Japanese IV: Phonemics", Language, 26 (1): 86–125, doi:10.2307/410409, JSTOR 410409, OCLC 486707218
  • Fujimoto, Masako (2015), "Vowel devoicing", in Kubozono, Haruo (ed.), Handbook of Japanese Phonetics and Phonology, Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 167–214, doi:10.1515/9781614511984.167, ISBN 978-1-61451-252-3
  • Haraguchi, Shosuke (1977), The tone pattern of Japanese: An autosegmental theory of tonology, Tokyo, Japan: Kaitakusha, ISBN 978-0-87040-371-2
  • Haraguchi, Shosuke (1999), "Chap. 1: Accent", in Tsujimura, Natsuko (ed.), The Handbook of Japanese Linguistics, Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, pp. 1–30, ISBN 978-0-631-20504-3
  • Katayama, Motoko (1998), Loanword phonology in Japanese and optimality theory (dissertation), Santa Cruz: University of California, Santa Cruz
  • Kubozono, Haruo (1999), "Chap. 2: Mora and syllable", in Tsujimura, Natsuko (ed.), The Handbook of Japanese Linguistics, Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, pp. 31–61, ISBN 978-0-631-20504-3
  • Ladefoged, Peter (2001), A Course in Phonetics (4th ed.), Boston: Heinle & Heinle, Thomson Learning, ISBN 978-0-15-507319-7
  • Martin, Samuel E. (1975), A reference grammar of Japanese, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-01813-4
  • McCawley, James D. (1968), The Phonological Component of a Grammar of Japanese, The Hague: Mouton
  • Pierrehumbert, Janet; Beckman, Mary (1988), Japanese Tone Structure, Linguistic Inquiry monographs (No. 15), Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, ISBN 978-0-262-16109-1
  • Sawashima, M.; Miyazaki, S. (1973), "Glottal opening for Japanese voiceless consonants", Annual Bulletin, 7: 1–10, OCLC 633878218
  • Shibatani, Masayoshi (1990), "Japanese", in Comrie, Bernard (ed.), The major languages of east and south-east Asia, London: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-04739-5
  • Vance, Timothy J. (2018), "The inexorable spread of ⟨ou⟩ in Romanized Japanese", in Nishiyama, Kunio; Kishimoto, Hideki; Aldridge, Edith (eds.), Topics in Theoretical Asian Linguistics: Studies in honor of John B. Whitman, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 287–302, doi:10.1075/la.250.14van, ISBN 978-90-272-0172-0, S2CID 165750423
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