Beginning Japanese for Professionals: Book 1

10 (with certain exceptions) is written as / ei /. Long Consonants The consonants /t/, /s/, /k/, and /p/ can be long. When these consonants constitute an entire syllable without a vowel, they are not pronounced but take a full syllable length. o 6 syllables: i-t-te ki-ma-su ‘I’m leaving.’ o 3 syllables: I-p-pon ‘one long thing’ o 3 syllables: I-k-ko ‘one round thing’ o 3 syllables: i-s-sho ‘together’ The consonant /n/ can take up an entire syllable by itself, as in konnichiwa ’ hello’ (5 syllables: ko-n-ni-chi-wa ). Pitch Accent As you listen to Japanese, you will notice rises and falls in pitch. Pitch can change from syllable to syllable in order to distinguish meaning. For example, there is a fall in pitch in hai ‘yes’, while there is a rise in hai ‘ash’. The difference in pitch pattern distinguishes these two words. This is called pitch accent. HAi ‘yes’ haI ‘ash’ (The high pitch is indicated by the capital and emphasis.) On the other hand, in English a difference in loudness serves this function. This is called stress accent. Compare the following. IN sult (noun) in SULT (verb) (The loud syllable is indicated by the capital and emphasis.) All Japanese words have one of the following pitch patterns: Fall: JAa ‘well then’ DOumo ‘thanks’ DOuzo ‘go ahead’ Rise: iIE ‘no’ saYONARA ‘good bye’ taDAIMA ‘I’m home’ oHAYOU ‘good morning’ yoROSHIKU ‘Nice to meet you’