What is Japanese Alphabet ? of Recent Article

What is RENDAKU?

 

連濁[RENDAKU](lit. "sequential voicing") is a phenomenon in Japanese morphophonology that governs the voicing of the initial consonant of the non-initial portion of a compound or prefixed word.

In modern Japanese, RENDAKU is common but unpredictable.

The "voicing" is not a strict change from voiceless to voiced sounds, but rather the action of adding a "濁点[dakuten](Dot marks for voiced sound)" to the first kana of the portion being altered.

It is also known as "sequential voicing".

 

RENDAKU example in Japanese

RENDAKU can be seen in the following.

1.
人[hito] + 人[hito] > 人々[hitobito] ("person" + "person" → "people")

 

手[te] + 紙[kami] > 手紙[tegami] ("hand" + "paper" → "letter")

 

 

Properties blocking RENDAKU

Research into defining the range of situations affected by RENDAKU has largely been limited to finding circumstances which cause the phenomenon not to manifest itself.

<Lyman's Law>
The most famous of the conditions affecting RENDAKU is known as Lyman's Law, which stated that RENDAKU does not occur if the second consonant of the second element is a voiced obstruent.

This was later modified to state that RENDAKU does not occur when the second element of the compound contains a voiced obstruent in any position (see third example below).
This is considered to be one of the most fundamental of the rules governing RENDAKU.

 

2.
山[yama] + 火事[kaji] > 山火事[yama kaji], not [yama gaji] ("mountain" + "fire" > "forest fire") ( indicates an unacceptable form)

 

一人[hitori] + 旅[tabi] > 一人旅[hitori tabi], not [hitori dabi] ("one person" + "travel" > "traveling alone")

 

角[tsuno] + トカゲ[tokage] > 角トカゲ[tsuno tokage], not [tsuno dokage] ("horn" + "lizard" > "horned lizard")

While this law is named after Benjamin Smith Lyman, who independently discovered it in 1894, it is really a re-discovery.

The Edo period linguists 賀茂真淵[Kamo no Mabuchi (1765)] and 本居宣長[Motoori Norinaga (1767--1798)] separately and independently discovered the law during the 18th century.

 

<Lexical properties>
Similar to Lyman's Law, it has been found that for some lexical items, RENDAKU does not manifest itself if there is a voiced obstruent near the morphemic boundary, including preceding the boundary.

Some lexical items tend to resist RENDAKU voicing regardless of other conditions, while some tend to accept it.

RENDAKU also occurs infrequently in Sino-Japanese words (Japanese words of Chinese origin) especially where the element undergoing RENDAKU is well integrated ("vulgarized").

The third example demonstrates that RENDAKU hardly manifests in most words of foreign origin.

3.
株式[kabushiki] + 会社[kaisha] > 株式会社[kabushiki gaisha] not [kabushiki kaisha]("stock" + "company" > "corporation")

アイス[aisu] + コーヒー[kÔ-hii] > アイスコーヒー[aisukÔ-hii], not [aisugÔ-hii] ("ice" + "coffee" > "iced coffee")

 

<Semantics>
RENDAKU also tends not to manifest itself in compounds which have the semantic value of "X and Y" (so-called dvandva or copulative compounds):

4.
山[yama] + 川[kawa] > 山川[yamakawa] "mountains and rivers".
Compare this to 山[yama] + 川[kawa] > 山川[yamagawa] "mountain river".
The pronunciation of "Yamakawa" as a general noun is "Yamagawa", and the meaning is "River that flows in the mountain."

 

The pronunciation by a Japanese family name has the family name with the pronunciation such as "山川[Yamagawa]" and "山川[san gawa]" though "山川[Yama kawa]" is general.

This might be very confusing for you, but RENDAKU is important in the pronunciation of words in Japanese.

 

 

<Branching constraint>
Finally, RENDAKU is also blocked by what is called a "branching constraint".
The process is blocked in the second element of a right-branching compound:

5.
もん[mon] + しろちょう([shiro + cho-]) > もんしろちょう[mon shiro chou], not もんじろちょう[mon jiro chou] ("family crest" + {"white" + "butterfly"} > "cabbage butterfly")

尾([o] + 白[shiro])+ 鷲[washi] > おじろわし[o jiro washi] ({"tail" + "white"} + "eagle" > "white-tailed eagle")

 

 

<Further considerations>
Despite a number of rules which have been formulated to help explain the distribution of the effect of RENDAKU, there still remain many examples of words in which RENDAKU manifests in ways currently unpredictable.

Some instances are linked with a lexical property as noted above but others may obey laws yet to be discovered.

RENDAKU thus remains partially unpredictable, sometimes presenting a problem even to native speakers (the Japanese), particularly in Japanese names, where RENDAKU occurs or fails to occur often without obvious cause.

In many cases, an identically written name may either have or not have RENDAKU, depending on the person.
For example, 中田 may be read in a number of ways, including both "Nakata and Nakada".

 

I made these images based on information on the RENDAKU page of Wikipedia.

 

At the end.
How do you think the Japanese is learning a lot of RENDAKU phrases?
We (the Japanese) don't learn the rule of RENDAKU but learn each RENDAKU phrase one by one.
Therefore, almost all the Japanese not know even word "RENDAKU".

 

Hararie

 

Web page for you to convert English words and phrases into Hiragana and Katakana easily.

Because I found the web page of Japan that can easily change the word into the Hiragana and Katakana, I introduce it to you.

But, that web page is written in Japanese.

http://europe.s9.xrea.com/convert/convert_tool.html

So, I made the explanatory on the page for the reader.

But, on this website, you have to use a "Roman alphabet."
It may be difficult.

Please refer to this Hiragana chart for Roman letters input.
And, refer to this Katakana chart for Roman letters input.

The image expands by the click.

-文頭用 bunto yo <For beginnings of sentences>-

No.	Japanese	English
1	こんにちわ。 konnnichiwa	Hello.
2	久しぶり！ hisashiburi	It is been a long time.
3	元気にしてる？ genki ni shiteru ?	How are you doing ?
4	こっちは元気だよ！ kocchi wa genki dayo !	I'm fine.
5	メールありがとう。 me-ru arigatou.	Thanks for the mail.

 

-本文用 honbun yo < For the main body >-

No.	Japanese	English
6	ここからの文章、ひらがなと カタカナが多くなるけど、 ごめんね。 kokokara no bunshou, hiragana to katakana ga ooku narukedo, gomennne	Though a sentence from here, a hiragana letter and katakana increase, I'm sorry.

 

-文末用 bubmatsu yo < For the end of sentence >-

No.	Japanese	English
7	じゃあ、またメールするね。 jaa, mata me-ru surune	I will e-mail you again soon.
8	よかったら、またメールちょうだい。 yokattara, mata me-ru choodai.	Could you send me e-mail again?
9	日本に帰ったら連絡するね。 nihon ni kaettara rennraku surune.	When I returned to Japan, will contact you.

 

-絵文字 emoji <Emoticons>-

No.	Japanese	English
10	(笑)	Laughing mark
11	(苦笑)	Wry smile mark
12	(泣)	Crying mark
13	(爆)	Suicide bombing mark Burst-of-laughter mark
14	☆	Star mark
15	♪	Note mark
16	(^-^;	Laughing emoticon
17	(T-T )	Crying emoticon
18	(>_<)	Desperate emoticons
19	m(_ _)m	Emoticon of apology
20	＼(´▽｀)／	Happy emoticons
21	???	I'm sorry. I was not able to understand this emoticon.

 

-日時 nichiji <The date and time>-

No.	Japanese	English
22	一昨日 ototoi ; issakujitsu	Day before yesterday
23	昨日 kinou; sakujitsu	Yesterday
24	今日 kyou	Today
25	明日 ashita	Tomorrow
26	明後日 asatte; myougonichi	Day after tomorrow
27	先々週 sennsennshu	Week before last
28	先週 sennshu	Last week
29	来週 raishuu	Next week
29	再来週 saraishuu	Week after next

 

-曜日 yobi <The Day of the week>-

No.	Japanese	English
31	月曜日 getsu youbi	Monday
32	火曜日 ka youbi	Tuesday
33	水曜日 sui youbi	Wednesday
34	木曜日 moku youbi	Thursday
35	金曜日 kin youbi	Friday
36	土曜日 do youbi	Saturday
37	日曜日 nichi youbi	Sunday

 

-旅行 ryoko <Travel>-

No.	Japanese	English
38	旅行 ryokou	Travel, Trip
39	出発 shuppatsu	Departure
40	到着 touchaku	Arrival
41	宿泊 shukuhaku	Lodging, a stay
42	帰国 kikoku	Homecoming, Return,
43	空港 kuukou	Airport
44	電車 densha	Train
45	飛行機 hikouki	Airplane
46	地下鉄 chikatetsu	Subway

 

-連絡 renraku <Communication>-

No.	Japanese	English
47	連絡 rennraku	Communication , Report , Contact
48	電話 dennwa	Telephone
49	手紙 tegami	Letters
50	住所 juusho	Address
51	日本語 nihonngo	Japanese
52	英語 eigo	English
53	日本 nihonn; nipponn	Japan
54	欧州、ヨーロッパ oushuu, yo-roppa	Europe

 

Did you understand the explanatory drawing?
If this web page is useful for you, I am very glad.

 

By Hararie

Japanese kanji's pronunciation isn't often one, and further it has onyomi and kunyomi.

 

There are 音読み[onyomi ] and 訓読み[kunyomi] in a Japanese kanji.

Two kinds of pronunciations "音読み(onyomi) and 訓読み(kunyomi) of a Japanese kanji" are very important for you who is learning Japanese.

 

Reason why Japan kanji has ONYOMI and KUNYOMI.

A kanji is a character introduced into Japan from ancient China, and onyomi is the pronunciation of the China form.
But, those kanji are used with Japan style pronunciation.

Therefore, please don't forget "The pronunciation of Chinese and Japanese is quite different."

Well, often the one kanji has many pronunciations.
The onyomi, the Sino-Japanese reading, is the modern descendent of the Japanese approximation of the Chinese pronunciation of the character at the time it was introduced. Some kanji were introduced from different parts of China at different times, and so have multiple on'yomi, and often multiple meanings.

In a word, most of a Japanese kanji is to have two or more onyomi and two or more kunyomi.

Look at the kanji as a example, please.
This kanji is "納[nou]".

<Kanji of Japan with the most a lot of onyomi >

This is the Japanese kanji that has most a lot of onyomi.

• 音読み(Onyomi) : nou, tou, na, nat, nan,
• 訓読み(Kunyomi) : osa(meru), osa(maru),

Please see the example of the word for which this kanji is used as onyomi kanji.

Kanji	Pronunciation	Meaning
納税	nou zei	Payment of taxes
納豆	nattou	Natto
結納	yui nou	a ceremonial exchange of engagement gifts
納得	nattoku	understanding, consent, satisfaction, conviction
納期	nou ki	Delivery date
納品	nou hin	Delivery of goods

These are a part of only idioms as the example.
Kanji with a lot of Onyomi; It shows that there are a lot of words for which that kanji is used.

 

When is ONYOMI used?

Onyomi is mainly used on a kanji idiom.

Japanese is a language of mixed writing of kanji and kana.
Kunyomi makes sense by accompanying the hiragana though Onyomi hardly needs the hiragana.

The meaning of the word is understood by reading the compounded kanji symbols aloud by Onyomi.
But , the Onyomi idiom kanji has the troublesome problem.

It means that there is many "idioms of the same pronunciation."
"The troublesome problem" is that quite a lot of kanji idioms with "Same pronunciation by Onyomi" exists in Japanese.

Look at the following examples, please.
The meaning is quite different though these have the same pronunciation.

Kanji	Pronunciation	Meaning
移動	idou	movement, transfer.
異同	idou	difference
異動	idou	a change
監視	kanshi	watch, keep, guard,
看視	kanshi	on the lookout
冠詞	kanshi	article
漢詩	kanshi	Chinese poem
期間	kikan	a period
機関	kikan	an engine, a means, an agency
器官	kikan	an organ
帰還	kikan	return, repatriation
基幹	kikan	a foundation
奇観	kikan	a spectacular sight
季刊	kikan	quarterly

 

Next, this is a kanji idiom where it has a different meaning though it has the most a lot of same pronunciations, in Japan.

交渉、高尚、公証、考証、厚相、公称、公傷、公証、鉱床、口承、哄笑、工廠、工商、興商、公娼、好尚、康正、工匠、高唱、校章、口証
(I omit the explanation about the meaning of these kanji idioms because there are quite a lot of numbers.)

Pronunciations: こうしょう[koushou]

The pronunciations of these kanji idiom are all "koushou."
(But, the idiom not so used is included in these kanji.)

 

Well, did you understand Onyomi?

To tell the truth, I feel that Japanese is very difficult language for the Japanese, too.
It is natural that you feel Japanese difficult.

Keep up your effort, please!

 

By Hararie

 

 

The role of Hiragana in Japanese is very important.

ひらがな[Hiragana] is a script into which "Kanji that has been transmitted from ancient China" has transformed.

Ancient Japanese have evolved the language of Japan by using China kanji and Hiragana.
[Reference:Kanji transmission from ancient China.]

The hiragana symbol is a versatile script that can undertake "All parts of speech" of "Business card, adjective, verb, pronoun, and conjunction, etc.".

In a word, you may write sentences by using only the hiragana if it says extremely.

But, if all the conversations are written by the hiragana symbols, it becomes troublesome sentences.

As for sentences to which everything is written by the hiragana, the distinction of each part of speech and the boundary of sentences become uncertain sentences.

In the Japanese sentence, as for the noun, the pronoun, and the adjective, etc. the kanji is used.
And, the hiragana takes charge of other parts.

If sentences are compared to man's body, the hiragana does "Bone and muscular role" of the Japanese sentence.

The hiragana is an important element for the Japanese sentence.

 

The concrete example in which the hiragana is used

The images below are a concrete example in which the hiragana is used.

 

<Noun or verb that cannot be shown by kanji.>

Japanese has many "words in which the kanji notation doesn't exist."
In that case, the Hiragana is used.

By the way, it is said that 50,000 kanji exist in Japan and China.

Therefore, if we do not write the kanji for a long time, we forget it.
On a case like this, we write it by the hiragana.

But, if we use the kanji as much as possible, it becomes well-balanced sentences.

 

 

The katakana was used in the textbook of the national language of the elementary school in Japan instead of the hiragana until 1940 though this is a bytalk.

 

 

<Case the hiragana is used as OKURIGANA of the kanji>

Okurigana is required for "Kunyomi" of kanji.

Okurigana is necessary for most kunyomi kanji.
In that case, okurigna is usually shown by the hiragana.

[Okurigana of Katakana may be used for special media, such as an advertisement.]

And kunyomi kanji is often used for the verb.
Hiragana in that case is used so that the tense of the verb may change.

 

私は彼を見る。
[watashi wa kare wo miru.]
I see him.

私は彼を見た。
[watashi wa kare wo mita.]
I saw him.

私は彼を見てしまった。
[watashi wa kare wo miteshimatta.]
I have seen him.

This page might be useful for you.
笑う、笑わせる、泣く、泣かせる、怒る、怒らせる

 

< When hiragana is used as furigana [or yomigana] of kanji. >

The kind of kanji is numerous.

Though I have lived in Japan for 40 years or more, there are a lot of kanji that I cannot read.
In general, the Chinese character that the Japanese uses in daily life is called about 2000 characters.
I can read the kanji of about 4000 characters.

In fact, "A lot of kanji not used" exists in Japanese.

 

<Hiragana used for printed matter as furigana. >

Moreover, Furigana[or Yomigana] is often used for a name of a person and the name of a place of Japan.

In case of person's name, it is possible to read with guess.
But, in the case of the place name, there is the case that pronunciation of the kanji cannot guess at all.
For that case, Furigana[or Yomigana] is required for the kanji.

A lot of name of a places that we cannot read exist in Kyoto in Japan.

These are all "kanji which cannot be read by guess."

 

 

< Hiragana for children who can read only only a few kanji. >

Child doesn't have a lot of knowledge of kanji.

If Furigana[or Yomigana] is not attached, it is very difficult for a child to read kanji.

Naturally, children can write only only a few kanji.

In the textbook and the book, etc. for children in Japan there is little kanji.

Almost all children in Japan learn the kanjir at the school.

But, the time of the school training has been decreased by a strange policy of Japanese Government.

As a result, the knowledge of young people in Japan of the kanji is very little.
Japanese Government is very foolish.

 

< When we want to write the character quickly. >

When we write a complex kanji because the kanji is a set by many lines, it takes time.

The total of the line of the kanji is called "画数[Kakusuu]".
Time to write our kanji changes according to the number of these kakusuu.

If we write a lot of kanji, a lot of time is needed for it.

For instance, Kakusuu of this word "一人[hitori](One person)" is three.

 

On the other hand, kakusuu of this kanji "瞬間[shunkan](Moment)" is 31.

 

If we write many kanji by a lot of kakusuu, it takes the time considerably to do it.

Therefore, when we should write the memo and sentences fast, we write the sentence by hardly using kanji, and using a lot of hiraganas.

 

<When time when we have forgotten the shape of that kanji and we don't originally know the shape of that kanji, we use the hiragana. >

If we don't daily write the kanji, it's memory isn't kept.
We forget the shape at once.

It becomes impossible for us to recall the shape as time that we do not write the kanji becomes long.
The kanji that retraces a dopy memory and is written is wrong in many cases.

 

"I cannot recall that kanji !! "

Such a state is called "ド(ど)忘れ[dowasure]".

How was this theme?
Was it slightly difficult?

I must study English more.

 

By Hararie

 

Japanese has why "Katakana" must be used.

The katakana is used for the notation of the word of Loan word mainly.

 

1. Difficult loan word to translate into Japanese.
2. Loanword that has been established as Japanese.
3. Japanized English.
4. Emphasis of word in advertising media.

1. Difficult loan word to translate into Japanese.

Example	Katakana notation	Pronunciation
Design	デザイン	dezain
Image	イメージ	imeji
Gasoline	ガソリン	gasorin
Fastener	ファスナー	fasuna
Hard disk	ハードディスク	hado disuku
Antenna	アンテナ	antena

 

2. Loanword that has been established as Japanese. .

Example	Katakana notation	Pronunciation
Camera	カメラ	kamera
Taxi	タクシー	takushi
Apron	エプロン	epuron
Elevator	エレベーター	erebeta
U-turn	ユーターン	yu-ta-n
Volume	ボリューム	boryumu
Monitor	モニター	monita

 

3. Japanized English.

Example	Katakana notation	Pronunciation
PC	パソコン	pasokon
The keeping of one's own bottle of liquor in one's favorite bar.	ボトルキープ	botoru kipu
Air conditioner	エアコン	eakon
Custom-made	オーダーメード	oda meido
Last orders; Last call	オーダーストップ	oda sutoppu
One-room apartment	ワンルームマンション	wan rumu manshon
The state that does not become independent from mother mentally.	マザコン	mazakon

4. Katakana for emphasis by advertising media.

The katakana might be used to emphasize the word.
The consumer receives the strong impression to the advertisement by "Originally, word that should write by the kanji or the hiragana"'s being written by the katakana.
When the number of characters for the advertisement is little, the technique is very effective.

The man of this advertisement is a member of popular idol groups in Japan, and his name is "Junichi Okada".
He is very popular in Japan.
He announced the schedule of his marriage to media though the most recently.

The katakana word used for this advertisement is very impressive.

 

By Hararie