Japanese Pronunciation
Intro
This post will mainly serve to help me retain my knowledge by summarizing important information I’ve learned. I recently watched Japanese Pronunciation, Video 1: The Japanese Writing Systems and Pitch Accent. I am following a guideline I found to get me started on my learning journey, A year to learn Japanese. It’s a detailed guide, especially considering it’s freely accessible on the web.
The Japanese Writing System
- Kanji: adopted Chinese characters
- The two “Kana” syllabaries, which are duplicates of each other:
- Hiragana: Used for native Japanese words
- Katakana: Used for foreign or “loaned” words
Word Stress in English vs Japanese
First, let’s define some terms:
Vowels are speech sounds that are produced without any significant constriction or closure of the vocal tract. In English, the primary vowels are A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y and W. Vowels are characterized by the position of the tongue and lips, as well as the shape of the mouth. They form the nucleus of syllables in words.
A syllable is a unit of pronunciation that typically consists of a vowel sound and one or more accompanying consonant sounds. Syllables form the building blocks of words and are used to segment speech and organize language. For example, the word “water” has two syllables: “wa-ter”.
Volume refers to the loudness or intensity of a sound. In the context of speech and language learning, volume can affect how clearly and effectively you can be heard. Increasing the volume makes the sound louder, while decreasing it makes the sound softer.
Pitch refers to the perceived frequency of a sound and is associated with the highness or lowness of a tone. In speech, pitch variation is crucial for conveying meaning, mood, and emphasis. A higher pitch is perceived as a higher frequency sound, while a lower pitch is perceived as a lower frequency sound.
In English, we can change Vowels, Syllable length, Volume, and Pitch, while in Japanese:
- Vowels are consistent
- Syllables have even length
- Volume is even
- Pitch can be high or low
Common Japanese Pitch Patterns:
- Default melody: low, then high
- Downstep after first syllable: high, then low
- Downstep elsewhere: low, high until downstep, then low