Help:IPA for Japanese
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The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Japanese language and Okinawan pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. Sounds occurring only as allophones are included for narrow transcription.
See Japanese phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Japanese.
Examples in the charts are Japanese words transliterated according to the Hepburn romanization system.
| IPA | Hiragana example | Japanese example | English approximation |
|---|---|---|---|
| b | ばしょ, きぶん | basho, kibun | bog |
| ç | ひと, ひょう | hito, hyō | hue, humor, h with a j sound |
| ɕ | した, しょう | shita, shō | sheep |
| d | どうも, どうどう | dōmo, dōdō | doctor |
| z[1] | ずっと, ぜんぜん | zutto, zenzen | zen |
| dz | づくし, つづく | dukushi, tsuduku | cards |
| dʑ, | じぶん, じょじょ | jibun, jojo | jeep |
| ɸ | ふじ, ふうふ | fuji, fūfu | like p with lips closed incompletely or making an f sound with only lips |
| ɡ | がっこう, ごご | gakkō, gogo | gape |
| h | ほん, ほほ | hon, hoho | hone |
| j | やくしゃ, ゆゆしい | yakusha, yuyushii | yak |
| k[2] | くる, けっきょく | kuru, kekkyoku | skate |
| m | みかん, せんぱい, もんもん | mikan, sempai, monmon | much |
| n | なっとう, きねん | nattō , kinen | not |
| ɴ | ふんいき, にほん | fun’iki, nihon | roughly like long but pronounced very far back in the throat |
| ɲ | にわ, こんにゃく | niwa, konnyaku | canyon |
| ŋ | りんご, なんきょく, が | ringo, nankyoku, ga | pink |
| p[2] | パン, たんぽぽ | pan, tanpopo | span |
| ɽ~ɺ[3] | ろく, そら | roku, sora | the [ɽ] is close to /t/ in auto, better, or buddy in American English, or between lock and Scottish rock ([l] and [ɾ]). It is a flapped D to an L sound, instead of rolling the tongue [ɺ] . |
| s | する, さっそう | suru, sassō | sue |
| t[2] | たべる, とって | taberu, totte | stop |
| ts | つなみ, つつむ | tsunami, tsutsumu | cats |
| tɕ | ちかい, ちち | chikai, chichi | itchy |
| w[4] | わさび, を | wasabi, wo | roughly like was, but lips are opened wider (compressed) |
| ʔ | っ | atsu'! (or as found in Ryukyu languages) | uh-oh! (glottal stop); Hebrew א |
| IPA | Hiragana example | Japanese example | English approximation |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | ある | aru | father |
| e | えき, へ | eki | met |
| i | いる | iru | meet |
| i̥ | よし, した | yoshi, shita | like meet, but voiceless |
| o | おに, を | oni | owe |
| ɯ[5] | うなぎ | unagi | roughly like food but with lips opened wider (compressed) |
| ɯ̥[5] | です, すきやき | desu, sukiyaki | roughly like food but with lips opened wider (compressed) and voiceless |
| Suprasegmentals | ||
|---|---|---|
| IPA | Japanese example | English approximation |
| ː | long vowel: ojiisan |
re-equalize |
| double consonant: seppuku |
unnecessary (compare innovation) | |
| ꜜ[6] | tone drops: kaꜜki (oyster), kakiꜜ (fence) |
– |
| ̃ | nasal vowel: hon’ō |
vin blanc |
| Syllabification | ||
| . | mo.e, a.ni.me, sai.kin, zas.shi | |
Notes
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<references />, or <references group="..." />- ↑ The fricative [z] tends to be used between vowels, and the affricate [dz] in pausa, though some speakers use [z] everywhere. Before /i/, this is palatalized to [dʑ], or less often [ʑ] and is usually represented phonemically as /z/. Some dialects maintain a distinction (see yotsugana).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 /p/, /t/, /k/ are unaspirated, as in Austronesian and Romance languages, or as in English spy, sty, sky
- ↑ The Japanese r varies between a postalveolar flap [ɽ] and an alveolar lateral flap [ɺ].
- ↑ The Japanese w is not equivalent to a typical IPA [w] since it is pronounced with lip compression, rather than rounding.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 There is no simple symbol in the IPA for Japanese u, which is neither rounded [u] nor unrounded [ɯ] but is compressed [ɯᵝ]. The labial spreading diacritic is an extended IPA character.
- ↑ The position of this downstep, which does not occur in all words, varies between dialects and is frequently not indicated. The downstep is a drop in pitch; the word rises in pitch before the ꜜ. When ꜜ occurs after the final syllable of a word, any attached grammatical particles will have low tone.
