This document discusses the Japanese language phonetic system. [1] It outlines the 5 vowels - /i/, /e/, /a/, /o/, /u/ and notes differences from English vowels. [2] It examines major phonetic characteristics of Japanese including lack of certain consonants and unusual pronunciations of other consonants. [3] It analyzes difficulties Japanese speakers face pronouncing some English consonant pairs and provides examples.

1. GROUP 3
JAPANESE
Haider Al-Mansury
Yu Jung, Chen
David Racker

2. VOWELS
1- / i / : / imi /
2- / e / : / eme /
3- / a / : / ama /
4- / o / : / omo /
5- / u / : / umu /

4. VOWELS (CONTD.)
Differences:
1- Lack of / ɪ, ε, æ, Λ, Ə, ʊ , Ɔ /
2- Lax vs. Tense vowels
Example:
http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php?function=detail&
speakerid=224

5. CONSONANTS

6. MAJOR PHONETIC CHARACTERISTICS
 No affricate /f/, /v/, /θ /, /ð/, / ʃ /, / ʒ /, /ʧ/, and /ʤ/
 /Φ/ – /fu/ (ex. Mt. Fuji)
 /Ҫ/ – /hi/ (ex. human)
 Liquid consonant – in between /r/ and /l/ sounds
 Also the /n/ consonants is stand alone so you can
have word like ―Japanese person‖.

7. DIFFICULTY SPEAKERS HAVE WITH ENGLISH
 /b/ vs. /v/ ex. berry - very
 /s/ vs. /ʃ/ ex. sip - ship
 /t/ vs. /ʧ/ ex. tick - chick
 /l/ vs. /r/ ex. light – right
Japanese3 elicitation
(from ―Speech Accent Archive‖)

8. MORAE
 The Japanese language is a combination of vowels:
/a, i, u, e, o/ with the voiceless consonants: /k, s, t,
n, h, m, j , r, w, and p/, also the voiced consonants:
/g, z, d, and b/.
 There are 110 distinct single syllable sounds in
Japanese—in comparison, English has around
8000.

9. MORAE

10. MORAE
• Japanese also contains contracted
sounds that blend the /i/ pairings with
/ja/, /ju/, /jo/, Example:
o /ki/ and /jo/ = /kjo/
o /ʃi/ and /ju/ = /ʃu/
• Some words like /ha‘pa/ (‗leaves‘)
contain a slight pause.

11. EXCEPTIONS TO CV STRUCTURE
• /i/ and /u/ often get shortened or
deleted between voiceless consonants,
for instance:
o The word ‗to like‘ is pronounced like
/s:ki/.
o Addition, /u/ is often left off the end
of a sentence.
• Also we mention earlier the /n/.

12. NATIVE SPEAKER‘S AUDIO
HOW TO SAY GREETINGS IN JAPANESE

13. WORKS CITED
Banno, Eri, Yoko Ikeda, Yutaka Ohno, Chikiako Shinagawa, and Kyoko Tokashiki. Genki I: An
Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese. 2nd ed. Tokyo: Japan Timese, 2011.
Print.
Dissident. "B's Easy Peasy Japanese Pronunciation Guide." Web log post. Reckless
Philosophers. Reckless Philosophers, 30 Jan. 2011. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.
<http://blog2.recklessphilosophers.com/2011/01/30/bs-easy-peasy-japanese-
pronunciation-guide.aspx>.
Konoike-Cockerham, Yoshiko. "Japanese 101." Japanese 101. Indiana State University, Terre
Haute. Fall 2012. Lecture.
Konoike-Cockerham, Yoshiko. "Japanese 102." Japanese 102. Indiana State University, Terre
Haute. Spring 2013. Lecture.
Ohata, Kota. "Phonological Differences between Japanese and English: Several
Potentially Problematic Areas of Pronunciation for Japanese ESL/EFL
Learners." Asian EFL Journal (n.d.): 1-19. Web.
Okada, Hideo. The Hand Book of the IPA. Print.
Weinberger, Steven. (2013). Speech Accent Archive. George Mason University. Retrieved
from http://accent.gmu.edu