Re: Pronunciation of Japanese "j"

To: Constructed Languages List <CONLANG@...>,
CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
Subject: Re: Pronunciation of Japanese "j"

At 12:48 5.12.2003, John Cowan wrote:

>[s\] and [C] are awfully close in my articulation: about the only
>difference is that the tongue tip is behind the lower teeth in [s\],
>whereas in [C] it's retracted just a bit.  About like the difference
>between [t_d] and [t], really.
Yes, in [s\] the tip of the tongue (it should be spelled _tung_! :)
is behond the lower teeth or lower gum, but in [C] the tip of the
tung (I told you! :) is actually covering the edges of the lower
teeth, which prevents the creation of hissy turbulence when the air
passes over the edges of the lower teeth.  In fact it is this
hiss which constitutes te main acoustical difference between the
sounds.  Cool, ain't it? :)  BTW my /j/ is [z\] in some positions,
notably word-finally as in _familj, hej_.  Add to that the fact that
my /r/ often is close to [z], and I must really take care if learning
Polish!



----------
To: Constructed Languages List <CONLANG@...>,
CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
Subject: Re: Pronunciation of Japanese "j"

At 10:08 5.12.2003, Andreas Johansson wrote:

>Quoting Benct Philip Jonsson <bpj@...>:
>
> > Mind you, Andreas, that Swedish _tj_ is alveopalatal [s\]
> > rather than dorsopalatal [C].  Try comparing the way a
> > German says _Chemie_ with the way you say _kemi_!
>
>Let's do a YASDT, shall we? Near as I can tell, I've got [S] for /C/.
Are you from Finland? :)  Actually it does not surprise me at all
if your _sj_ is [x], but don't you distinguish _rs_ and _tj_?
If your _tj_ is really [S] the latter distinction must be minimal
indeed, or perhaps it is the _s_/_rs_ distinction you lack?
I surely lack it most of the time!


/BP 8^)
--
B.Philip Jonsson mailto:melrochX@melroch.se (delete X)
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