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Wikipedia:IPA for Japanese

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Consonants
IPAJapanese exampleEnglish approximation
b bashobog
ç hitohero
ɕ shita, shugoshow
d dōmodome
dz, z[1] zazenzen, rods
dʑ, ʑ[1] jibun, gojuugelatin, fusion
ɸ fugufood
(lips don't touch teeth, more like blowing out a candle)
ɡ gakuseigape
h honhone
j yakusha, kyūyak
k kuruskate
m mikanmuch
n nattōnot
ɴ nihonlong
ŋ ringofinger
p panspan
ɽ[2] rokuclose to /t/ in auto in American English,
or between lock and Scottish rock ([l] and [ɾ]).
s surusue
t taberutan
ts tsunamicats
tɕ chikai, kinchōitch
w͍[3] wasabiwas
ʔ (in Ryukyu languages)oh-oh!
Vowels
IPAJapanese exampleEnglish approximation
a arufather
e ekimet[4]
i iruneed
i̥ yoshi, shita(almost silent)
o oniisancold
u͍[5] unagiclosest to boot
u͍̥[5] desu, sukiyaki(almost silent)


Suprasegmentals
IPAJapanese examplesEnglish examples
ː long vowel:
ojiisan
re-equalize
double consonant:
seppuku
big gram (compare big ram)
ꜜ tone drops:

kaꜜki (oyster), kakiꜜ (fence)[6]

  1. 1 2 The fricative [z]~[ʑ] is in free variation with the affricate [dz]~[dʑ]. Usually, this is represented phonemically as /z/.
  2. ↑ The Japanese r varies between a postalveolar flap [ɽ] and an alveolar lateral flap [ɺ].
  3. ↑ The Japanese w is not equivalent to a typical IPA [w] since it is pronounced with lip compression rather than rounding. The labial spreading diacritic is an extended IPA character.
  4. ↑ The Japanese /e/ doesn't quite line up with any English vowel, though the nearest equivalents are the vowel of pay (for most English dialects) and the vowel of met; the Japanese vowel is usually articulated at a point between the two.
  5. 1 2 There is no simple symbol in the IPA for Japanese u, which is neither rounded [u] nor unrounded [ɯ], but compressed [ɯ͡β̞]. The labial spreading diacritic is an extended IPA character.
  6. ↑ The position of this downstep, which does not occur in all words, varies between dialects, and frequently is 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.