Laurence Labrune
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199545834
- eISBN:
- 9780191738562
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.003.0002
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Phonetics / Phonology, Language Families
Chapter 2 presents the five vowels /a, i, u, e, o/ and their corresponding long vowels in Tôkyô Japanese, with a look at other modern dialectal systems and the ancient Kyôto language. The special ...
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Chapter 2 presents the five vowels /a, i, u, e, o/ and their corresponding long vowels in Tôkyô Japanese, with a look at other modern dialectal systems and the ancient Kyôto language. The special status of the high vowels /i/ and /u/, which undergo frequent elisions or insertions, and are the locus of devoicing, a phenomenon of major relevance in the phonology of Japanese, is discussed in detail. This chapter also provides a detailed description of prosodic lengthening and shortening, and proposes a discussion and analysis on the status of the so-called diphthongs.Less
Chapter 2 presents the five vowels /a, i, u, e, o/ and their corresponding long vowels in Tôkyô Japanese, with a look at other modern dialectal systems and the ancient Kyôto language. The special status of the high vowels /i/ and /u/, which undergo frequent elisions or insertions, and are the locus of devoicing, a phenomenon of major relevance in the phonology of Japanese, is discussed in detail. This chapter also provides a detailed description of prosodic lengthening and shortening, and proposes a discussion and analysis on the status of the so-called diphthongs.
Laurence Labrune
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199545834
- eISBN:
- 9780191738562
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Phonetics / Phonology, Language Families
This book offers a comprehensive overview of the phonology of Japanese, based on Japanese and Western materials and the author’s original research. It provides a rich source of materials and critical ...
More
This book offers a comprehensive overview of the phonology of Japanese, based on Japanese and Western materials and the author’s original research. It provides a rich source of materials and critical discussion of some current problems, reviewing previously published analyses and proposing solutions. Focussing on modern standard (Tôkyô) Japanese, with occasional excurses into major dialectical variations and historical backgrounds, the book offers both a critical synthesis of Japanese phonology and new analyses on some of its central features. Starting with the vowel inventory, the phonology of high vowel devoicing, insertion and elision, prosodic lengthening and shortening, and the status of diphthongs, it moves to the consonant system and the phonology of voicing, and to the so-called moraic segments. The chapter dedicated to the prosodic units provides a detailed and original analysis of the relation between the mora and syllable, one of the key issue of Japanese phonology, not to forget the foot and the prosodic word. It argues that the mora and the foot are sufficient for the comprehension and analysis of the phonology of Japanese. The final and longest chapter is devoted to accent, through descriptions and analyses of simplex and compound noun accentuation, default accentuation, the underlying accent of Sino-Japanese morphemes and that of numeral compounds to name just a few. It also addresses the question of the typological status of the Japanese accent in relation to tone.Less
This book offers a comprehensive overview of the phonology of Japanese, based on Japanese and Western materials and the author’s original research. It provides a rich source of materials and critical discussion of some current problems, reviewing previously published analyses and proposing solutions. Focussing on modern standard (Tôkyô) Japanese, with occasional excurses into major dialectical variations and historical backgrounds, the book offers both a critical synthesis of Japanese phonology and new analyses on some of its central features. Starting with the vowel inventory, the phonology of high vowel devoicing, insertion and elision, prosodic lengthening and shortening, and the status of diphthongs, it moves to the consonant system and the phonology of voicing, and to the so-called moraic segments. The chapter dedicated to the prosodic units provides a detailed and original analysis of the relation between the mora and syllable, one of the key issue of Japanese phonology, not to forget the foot and the prosodic word. It argues that the mora and the foot are sufficient for the comprehension and analysis of the phonology of Japanese. The final and longest chapter is devoted to accent, through descriptions and analyses of simplex and compound noun accentuation, default accentuation, the underlying accent of Sino-Japanese morphemes and that of numeral compounds to name just a few. It also addresses the question of the typological status of the Japanese accent in relation to tone.
