Hey everyone, just had a simple question that I feel could have a lot of different answers. When you pronounce these two kana, do you pronounce them any differently or exactly the same? Personally, I feel like I sress the “dz” more in づ than in ず, but I don’t think there is supposed to be a difference necessarily.
I’ve asked a Japanese friend of mine if they’d pronounce them differently, but she said they’re exactly the same. づ is already rare, but probably most frequently seen in 続ける. It makes me curious why the two exist in the first place if they both share the same sound. Does anyone know if certain dialects or if older iterations of Japanese differentiated these two kana? Is づ only there to give つ a voiced counterpart (e.g. 気遣い)?
5 comments
AFAIK it is regional and also historically they probably sounded different
ず being same as づ isn’t a bad starting point
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yotsugana
They’ve merged in Tokyo.
in standard tokyo dialect they’re the same
in other dialects, they can differ
same with じ and ぢ
That they were historically different but now the same doesn’t rally provide an answer as to why why the 1970s spelling reform changed a further number of cases of づ to ず but stil kept some. Many instances that have been changed to ず in the standard language are still pronounced as づ in the dialects that kept the distinction.
The real reason is that they repræsent different phonemes that have an identical surface realization. As in Japanese people due to morphological reasons of the language often think of them as different though pronouncing them the same. This is similar to many English speakers thinking of the final vowels in “titan” and “tighten” as two different morphological units despite being pronounced identically, due to morphological reasons in words such as “titanic”. As long as English speakers subconsciously realize that the words “titan” and “titanic” share a common root, they’ll continue to treat the vowel as different even though English neutralizes many vowels when they become unstressed, because it is stressed in “titanic” with the stress moving to the second syllable, they have something to remind them that it is actually a different vowel on a subconscious level.
They’re spelled differently because of morphological reasons in that ず derives from a voiced す, but づ from a voiced つ. So it’s more convenient for Japanese people to see something such as “葉月” as /haduki/ opposed to /hazuki/ since it derives from /tuki/, not /suki/. As long as Japanese people associate the second part of this name with “月” they have something to remind them that it derives from a voicing of つ, not す, and they will subconsciously analyse it as a different morphological unit though pronounced the same.
The 70s spelling reform changed all historical instances of づ to ず where such a morphological reason was lost for Japanese people to think of it that way. This even ocured in “融通” which is now spelled “ゆうずう” but historically was “ゆうづう” even though it very much derives from “つう” which is a pronunciation of “通”, but the reason seems to be that Japanese people don’t really think of it that way any more and more or less “forgot” this mentally speaking and now see it as one word rather than a combination of two so they no longer see it as /yuuduu/ but rather as /yuuzuu/.
This also happens with some Japanese people misspelling the “づらい” ending on verbs as “ずらい” as they’ve “forgotten” that it comes from “つらい” and they no longer make the mental association with it so it actually becomes /zurai/ to them opposed to /durai/.
Others have answered this, but there’s a consonant merger in parts of Japan.
A similar phenomena in (American?) English happens with vowels sometimes based on geography (merry-Mary-marry), and sometimes generationally (cot-caught).