MORA AND KANA Accent Intonation

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MORA AN D KANA (syllabary and sound)If you're learning Japanese, you may be f o c u s e d on w r i t i n g or g r a m m a r , butit's i m p o r t a n t to r e m e m b e r to practice pronunciation as well, especiallybecause it is so different from English. Good pronunciation will help you bebetter understood, and your Japanese will sound more natural. In this post, Ioutline 6 i m p o r t a n t pronuncation points to learn, r e m e m b e r , and practice, asyou i m p r o v e your Japanese speaking skills!MORASJapanese has moras, which are similar to syllables, but they are r h y t h m i cunits (for more on moras, click here}. Each mora is pronounced with equalstress and for the same d u r a t i o n of time. This is i m p o r t a n t to r e m e m b e r f o rlater points. Although there are some exceptions, one kana (a hiragana orkatakana character) is usually one mora. Except for A (n), each kana iseither a vowel sound, or a consonant +vowel sound together.For the most part, one kana = one mora (or beat). However, there areexceptions like( k y a h(kyu),(kyo}. These are one mora each.You can visually differentiate them from others t h r o u g h the small(ya},(yu), orj; (yo) characters that follow a bigger kana. In the hiragana chartbelow, they are listed in the bottom one third of the page.5 VOWELSThere are 5 vowel_sounds which do not change. As m e n t i o n e d above, exceptfor one, every kana is a either just a vowel sound, or a consonant +a vowel.In the hiragana chart, you'll see the five vowel sounds across the top:(a),U (i),0 (u),X. (e), fc- (o) . In the left-hand column, you'll see a series ofconsonants beginning in the second row: k, s, t, and so on. Each of theseconsonants combines with the vowel sound in that colum. So, for example,the 'k' sound plus the 'a' sound is 'ka' ( fr), the 't' sound plus the 'e' sound is'te' ( X ) .Because each kana includes one of the 5 vowel sounds (each of which neverchange), it's cruicial to pronounce all 5 of them correctly.Hiragana Chart*****

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LONG VOWELSJapanese has short (regular length) and long (double length) vowels. Here'sone example:(obasan) is aunt/middle-aged woman, and(obaasan, also written as: obasan) is grandmother/old woman. The differencebetween a long and short vowel can be significant!Long vowels can be expressed in a few different ways. They can either be arepetition of the previous vowel sound, as in(o-ba-a-sa-n), or withan 5 (u) as in ftco5 (hi-ko-u-ki) (airplane). A final option can only be usedwith katakana, which is a line:jj—F (ka-(long)-do) (card). In every case, thevowel of the previous kana is simply pronounced for double the usual length.'RA1PRONUNCIATIONAlthough in Romaji, 6 (rah 0 (ri), § (ru), ft (re), and 5 (ro) are written withT's, it's actually not the same sound at all. The Japanese sound is called analveolar tap. This means that the sound is produced by gently tapping the tipof your tongue to the area just behind your top, front teeth. It's a bit like ahybrid sound between an English 'd' and an Italian T. (Confusing? Don'tworry! skip to 8:33 in this video to learn more.)SMALLTSU'The small 'tsu' (-□) is a full mora on it's own, which means it takes a full beatfor itself. In Romaji, it's written as a double consonant, and is called a glottalstop. It's pronounced by using the root of your tongue to temporarilyblocking the air during speech. In English, we use it for emphasis like in 'Uh-oh!' (If you're having trouble, pronounce it a few times and feel the air stopand go, stop and go.)PITCH ACCENTThere are two pitch accents in Japanese: high and low. Each word comeswith it's own pre-determined pitch accent pattern. This does not changedepending on your emotions or emphasis, but itmaychange depending onthe dialect. (For many, the most notable difference is between standardJapanese and the Kansai dialect.) It can be challengingfor Japanese learnersto get used to, but the correct pitch accent determines meaning, and it just

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needs to be memorizei h;n i h i11It*U Ku n i t1Take fatf) (ame) for example. It can either mean rain or candy, depending onthe accent pattern. Although the kanji are different, the kana are the same,so it's important to get it correct.When we have the LH (low high) pattern, we have the word for candy. Theopposite pattern, HL (high low), is rain. (This is the pattern for standardJapanese. Regional dialects may differ/be opposite.)PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHERLet's take a look at an example. Below, you'll see three words: bracket, past,and processing/manufacturing. The first and third word are composed of 3mora - they're 3 beats long and each beat is of equal length. The small 'tsu'in fro z (kakko) and the long vowel infytzo(kako) each get their own beat.Both froz(kakko) and frz(kako) start high and go low, but frzo(kako)starts low and ends high.

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