Voiceless vowels
Do you know the distinction between voiced consonants and voiceless consonants? Put your fingers on your throat while pronouncing the English sound [g]. You should feel vibration, which makes the sound “voiced”. In contrast, if you pronounce a voiceless consonant [k], you won’t feel vibration. Notice that the tongue position and the shape of the lips for pronouncing [k] is the same as pronouncing [g]. The only difference between them is the presence or absence of vibration.
Okay, so you got the difference between voiced and voiceless. Now, here’s a question: are vowels (e.g. [a], [o], etc.) voiced or voiceless? Put your fingers on your throat while pronouncing some vowel. Well, vowels seem to be voiced, don’t they? Yes, in English at least, all vowels are voiced. However in Japanese, vowels are sometimes voiceless. Particularly, [i] and [u] sometimes become voiceless.
Here are a few examples where you hear voiceless [i] or [u]
[i] in ひと hito (person).
the first [i] in ちかい chikai (near)
[i] and [u] in きます kimasu (to come)
[u] in ですdesu (to be) is voiceless
[u] in たくさん takusan (a lot)
[u] in すき suki (to like)
The precise rules of when voiceless [i] or [u] occurs is complex. Generally speaking, it is likely to occur when [i] or [u] is sandwiched by consonants, but notice how [u] in desu is not followed by a consonant and yet is voiceless. Rather than trying to find the exact rules of occurrence (that’s a job for linguists!), I recommend that you always listen to the audio whenever you encounter a new word in your LL Japanese book and check the pronunciation. That way, you can always pronounce a word correctly!
Okay, so you got the difference between voiced and voiceless. Now, here’s a question: are vowels (e.g. [a], [o], etc.) voiced or voiceless? Put your fingers on your throat while pronouncing some vowel. Well, vowels seem to be voiced, don’t they? Yes, in English at least, all vowels are voiced. However in Japanese, vowels are sometimes voiceless. Particularly, [i] and [u] sometimes become voiceless.
Here are a few examples where you hear voiceless [i] or [u]
[i] in ひと hito (person).
the first [i] in ちかい chikai (near)
[i] and [u] in きます kimasu (to come)
[u] in ですdesu (to be) is voiceless
[u] in たくさん takusan (a lot)
[u] in すき suki (to like)
The precise rules of when voiceless [i] or [u] occurs is complex. Generally speaking, it is likely to occur when [i] or [u] is sandwiched by consonants, but notice how [u] in desu is not followed by a consonant and yet is voiceless. Rather than trying to find the exact rules of occurrence (that’s a job for linguists!), I recommend that you always listen to the audio whenever you encounter a new word in your LL Japanese book and check the pronunciation. That way, you can always pronounce a word correctly!