What do you think about having a voiced bilabial [β] secondary articulation in the IPA transcription of “-u” vowels (つ、く、む etc) ?

9 comments

1. Do you think Japanese ‘u’ vowels slide into a voiced bilabial [ᵝ] at the end? (i.e. the lips close up slightly at the very end, almost like a ‘w’)

   For example, in the screenshot, 確率 is transcribed in IPA as [ka̠kɯ̟ᵝɾʲit͡sɨᵝ]. Can you actually hear that [ᵝ]?

2. I don’t think so.

   But what program is that? Looks useful!

3. It has Wikipedia reference.

   https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology

   ᵝ indicates compressed, a kind of roundness.

   https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundedness

   Japanese u is generally said to be unround, but it can be compressed, kinda rounded, but hears like unround still.

4. Definitely never heard it, or maybe I have never noticed. Especially 「は」 coming after it, it just seems kinda odd, in my opinion,

   Honestly, I’d just get rid of the IPA all together. There’s way too much information on screen just to learn one word. I can’t see how it [IPA] can prove to be all that useful in the case of Japanese. And that’s coming from someone who’s degree is in linguistics (spent a lot of time with syntax and phonology).

   Taking a quick look at your profile, it looks like you’re studying Korean too. If you can grasp Korean phonemes and all, Japanese will be super straight forward.

5. I‘m sorry i don’t understand your question, but… seeing せいこう written as せーこー just gives me an aneurysm

6. Flat no. Sorry. In your example word かくりつ what is being picked up may be voicing in the next sound. くis followed by r, and つ is followed by ‘wa’.

   Does this appear when ‘u’( sorry I can not get the IPA symbol now) is followed by a voiceless sound?

7. in my opinion, they’re using a diacritic with the vowel when they should be using a different vowel entirely. The Japanese vowel in う sounds isn’t ⟨u⟩, it’s ⟨ɯ⟩. (witten as an upside-down m if you can’t see it)

8. Ayy Claymore!

9. What website is this