3. The diphthongs, such as ao, au, ei, ii, ou, call for no special comment, as each vowel retains its own proper sound.

4. The consonants are pronounced approximately as in English, subject to the following remarks:

f is a true labial. In pronouncing this letter the under lip does not touch the upper teeth but only approaches them, the result being like a strongly aspirated wh.

g never has the sound of j. At the beginning of a word it is pronounced hard, like the g in give. In the middle of a word it has the sound of English ng in "longing." Thus Kiga, the name of a place, rhymes almost exactly with "singer" ("singa"), as pronounced in the southeastern portion of the United States (not with "finger"). The words ga, "of," and gotoki, "like," also take the ng sound.

h before i sounds nearly like the German ch in "mich," and sometimes passes almost into sh.

n at the end of a word is pronounced halfway between a true n and the French nasal n. Nouns having a final n are mostly of Chinese origin.

y is always a consonant. Thus the syllable mya in myaku, "the pulse," is pronounced as one syllable, like mia in the English word "amiable." Care must be taken not to confound it with the dissyllable in such words as miyako, "a capital city."

z has almost the sound of dz when preceding the vowel u; thus mizu, "water," is pronounced almost midzu.

Double consonants must be distinctly sounded, as in Italian, thus: kite, "having come"; kitte, "a ticket." koka, "an ancient poem"; kokka, "hearth and home."

5. Generally speaking, the Japanese pronunciation both of vowels and of consonants is less broad and heavy than that current in most European languages, and especially in English. This applies more particularly to the letters ch, j, r, sh, and ts. Tones, such as those of the Chinese, are entirely absent. There is little or no tonic accent, and only a very slight rhetorical accent; that is to say, that all the syllables of a word and all the words of a sentence are pronounced equally, or nearly so. Students must beware of importing into Japanese the strong and constantly recurring stress by which we in English single out one syllable in every word, and the chief words in every sentence.

6. All Japanese words end either in a vowel or in the consonant n. There are no combinations of consonants excepting ts and the double consonants already mentioned, among which must be counted ssh and tch, standing for double sh and double ch, as in kesshin, "resolve"; zetchō, "peak." By some very careful speakers w is pronounced after k in many words taken from the Chinese. Thus kwannin, "an official"; Gwaimushō, "the Foreign Office." But the pronunciation current in Tokyo and in most parts of the country is simply kannin, Gaimushō.

LETTER-CHANGES

7. "Nigori," i.e., "muddling," is the name given by the Japanese to the substitution of sonants for surds.

NOTE.-F and h also often change into p, especially in Chinese compounds. This is called "han-nigori," i.e., "halfmuddling."

9. The rule regarding the nigori, stated broadly, is that the initial surd of an independent word changes into the correspond

In contradistinction to the sonant letters, the surd letters are said to be sumi, i.e., "clear." The two categories together are termed sei-daku, sei being the Chinese equivalent for "clear," and daku for "muddled."

ing sonant when the word is used as the second member of a compound, thus:

kuni-ju, "throughout the land," from kuni and chū
waru-jare, "a practical joke," from waruki and share
fune-bune, "all sorts of vessels," from fune repeated
mushiba, "a decayed tooth," from mushi and ha
hongoku, "native country," from hon and koku
ronzuru, "to discuss," from ron and suru
kanzume, "tinned," from kan and tsume
kondate, "a bill of fare," from kon and tate

The foregoing rule is by no means an absolute one, euphony, and sometimes the varying caprice of individuals, deciding in each case whether the change shall or shall not take place. Fand h, however, always change either into b or into p if the first member of the compound ends in the consonant n, thus:

nampu, "the south wind," from nan and fū
sam-ben, "three times," from san and hen

10. As shown in the preceding examples, n changes into m before a labial.

11. The following category of changes affects a large number of compound words of Chinese origin, and notably the numerals as combined with the "auxiliary numerals" (§§ 47, 48):

san-gen for san ken "three"
rok-ken for roku ken "six"
jik-ken for jū ken "ten"

hyak-ken for hyaku ken "hundred"
sen-gen for sen ken "thousand"

m sam-mai for san-mai "three"

sem-mai for sen mai "thousand"
s is-so for ichi so "one"
sanzō for san so "three"
has-sō for hachi sō "eight"
jis-sō for ju sõ "ten"
sen-zō for sen so "thousand"

sh is-shu for ichi shu "one"
has-shu for hachi shu "eight"
jis-shu for jū shu "ten"

t it-tsū for ichi tsū "one"
hat-tsū for hachi tsū "eight"
jit-tsū for jū tsū "ten”

Similarly, as-sei for atsu sei "tyranny"
hak-kō for hatsu kō "issuing"

kessuru for ketsu suru "to resolve"

w sam-ba for san wa "three"
rop-pa for roku wa "six"
jip-pa for ju wa "ten"

12. The Japanese cannot pronounce all their consonants before all their vowels. This leads to the following euphonic laws:

a) d, j, and z are correlated in such wise that d stands only before the three vowels, a, e, and 0; j only before a, i, o, and u; and z only before a, e, o, u. Apparent irregularities are hereby

caused in the conjugation of many verbs, thus:

b) f and h are similarly correlated, f standing only before u,

and h only before the other four vowels, thus:

c) s and sh are correlated, sh standing only before i, and s

only before the other four vowels, thus:

d) t, ts, and ch are correlated, t standing only before a, e,

and o; ts only before u; and ch only before a, i, o, and u, thus:

e) w is inserted before a in verbal terminations when another

13. A few monosyllables and dissyllables of pure native origin ending in e change the e into a when used as the first member of a compound, thus:

kana-gu, "metal work," from kane and gu. ta-makura, "the arm used as a pillow," from te and makura. uwa-zutsumi, "an outer wrapper," from ue and tsutsumi.

I In reality kana, ta, etc., are the original forms, which have become softened into kane, te, etc., except in compounds.