Re: Pronunciation of Japanese "j"

Quoting "Douglas Koller, Latin & French" <latinfrench@...>:

> Andreas wrote:
>
> >I was rereading Mark Rosenfelder's article on chance ressemblances between
> >words in different languages, and was suprise[d] to see Japanese "j" (in
> >_gaijin_, specifically) described as a "dental affricate" - presumeably
> [dz_d]
> >or [dD]. Other sources give postalveolar [dZ] or even palatal [J\j\].
> Anyone
> >nipponically enlightened out there feeling like telling me what's right?
>
> For my money, it's palatal, akin, but not identical, to Mandarin "j"
> (in pinyin). Dunno how that Sampa-izes. Voiced counterpart of
> Japanese "ch", which to my ear sounds like /tC/, Mandarin-esque "q".
> Likewise, Japanese "sh" is /C/-ish, Madarin "x".
[J\j\] is voiced palatal affricate, voiced counterpart to [cC], so it would
seem to be that, then.

Then I only wonder what possessed Mr Rosenfelder to describe it as "dental",
esp as he was contrasting it with palatal [j] (in Heb. _goyim_, specifically).

                                            Andreas

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