JJapanese

Velar nasal vs. voiced velar stops minimal pairs

Wikipedia mentions that for some speakers, /g/ and /ŋ/ can form minimal pairs, such as

* 千五　せんご
* 戦後　せんこ゜

How common is this? Is this a regional, generational, or class thing? Is there a way to predict whether an が行 kana should actually be /ŋ/ based on Chinese etymology or something?

1 comment

  1. Based on what I’ve heard some extremely experienced and knowledgeable second language speakers say, 鼻濁音 is effectively dead in natural speech in the standard dialect, and I’d be inclined to agree according to my own (admittedly somewhat limited) personal experience

    So you really don’t need to worry about it unless you want to work in a field that requires extremely “proper” pronunciation, like newscasting or (voice) acting. If you just want to use 鼻濁音 for effect sometimes you’ll pick up more than enough from just listening to people who still have it speak

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