The Phonology of Japanese

The Phonology of Japanese
Laurence Labrune
Print publication date: 2012 Print ISBN-13: 9780199545834 Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May-12 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.001.0001
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The Phonology of JapaneseThe Phonology of the Worlds LanguagesThe Phonology of Japanese

General Editor: Jacques Durand Published The Phonology of Icelandic and Faroese
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The Phonology of German
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(p. iv )
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Laurence Labrune
Acknowledgements DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.002.0005
This work is a substantially revised and updated version of my book in French entitled La phonologie du japonais, jointly published by the Paris Linguistic Society and Peeters editions in 2006. For his constant support and enthusiasm, I would like to express my gratitude to Jacques Durand, who supervised this work from its very beginnings and later gave me the opportunity to publish it at Oxford University Press. Many thanks are also due to the following friends and colleagues for their comments and help on earlier versions in French or in English of this book or on parts of it: the late Nick Clements, Marc Plnat, Takayama Tomoaki, Catherine Garnier, Franois Dell, Tanaka Shinichi, Irne Tamba, Elsa GomezImbert, Martin Kramer and several anonymous readers. I am especially indebted to Kamiyama Takeki who read the entire final manuscript with great care, making many valuable comments and suggestions which helped me correct a number of mistakes. Particular mention must also be made of Abe Junko, Hiraide Naoya, Wakasa Anju, Furihata Atsuko, Nakamura Yayoi, Kawaguchi Yuji, and many other friends and colleagues who kindly provided information on the Japanese examples, of Joan Busquets for his help in editing the figures, and of Michel Vieillard-Baron for assistance with the poetic materials. I am also most grateful to all the Japanese scholars who have provided me with their teaching, advice, support, and help throughout the last twenty
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Acknowledgements
years or so during my research stays in Japan, in particular Komatsu Hideo, Kitahara Yasuo, Hayashi Chikafumi, Haraguchi Shsuke, Jo Hakutar, Kond Takako, Aoki Sabur, and I am especially grateful to Takayama Tomoaki who was always willing to share his vast knowledge of the phonology of Modern and Ancient Japanese with me. I owe a special and old debt to Akinaga Kazue thanks to whom I discovered the joy of Japanese phonology at Waseda University during the years 19871989. I acknowledge with gratitude several scholarships from the Japanese Ministry of Education and The Japan Foundation, which allowed me to conduct research in Japan at Waseda University and Tsukuba University on several occasions. These institutions gave me the precious opportunity to carry out most of the preliminary investigation for this work. My research has also benefited from the constant scientific and financial support of my CNRS research team in Bordeaux and in Toulouse, CLLE ERSS (UMR 5263) and the University of Bordeaux 3 which I also want to thank. I also thank Teddy Auly, a cartographer at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and the University of Bordeaux 3, who edited the two maps included in this book.
(p. vi )
Finally, my sincere thanks go to John Davey and his staff at Oxford University Press for their editorial support and everlasting patience. None of these persons, of course, necessarily agrees with the analyses I propose. All errors and omissions are mine.
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Acknowledgements

Laurence Labrune
Tables, Figures, and Maps DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.002.0007
Table 1.1. Hiragana (basic symbols) 8 Table 1.2. Katakana (basic symbols) 9 Table 3.1. Consonantal phonemes of Japanese 59 Table 4.1. Summary of blocking patterns among Yamato nounnoun compounds 123 Table 6.1. The 103 distinctive moras of Modern Standard Japanese in phonological transcription 144 Table 7.1. Location of accent in nominal Yamato and Sino-Japanese words (according to Sibata, 1994), in relation to length of lexemes 187 Table 7.2. Accent of simplex Yamato nouns 194 Table 7.3. Accentual effect of particles 195 Table 7.4. Accent of verbs 198 Table 7.5. Accent of -i adjectives 199 Table 7.6. Accent of compounds made up of a numeral + SinoJapanese specifier 246 Table 7.7. Cross-dialectal accent correspondences for bimoraic nouns for the five Kindaichi word classes 256 Figure 2.1. Spectrogram and oscillogram of aki kara (with devoiced i) 35 Figure 2.2. Spectrogram and oscillogram of aki demo (no devoicing of i) 36 Figure 2.3. Final vowel shortening in Western clippings 48 Figure 2.4. Token frequency of vowels in Archaic Japanese 57 Figure 2.5. Token frequency of vowels in Modern Japanese 57
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Tables, Figures, and Maps
Figure 3.1. Textual frequency (in %) of Archaic Japanese consonants 99 Figure 3.2. Lexical frequency (in %) of Archaic Yamato Japanese consonants for the initial of words 100 Figure 3.3. Lexical frequency in absolute value of consonants according to their position in bimoraic Yamato nouns in the modern language 100 Figure 3.4. Textual frequency of modern Japanese consonants 101 Figure 7.1. Accent curve (F0) of hana-ga flower 182 Figure 7.2. Accent curve (F0) of hana-ga nose 182 Map 1. Administrative Japan xiv Map 2. Geographical distribution of accent types 252
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Tables, Figures, and Maps

Laurence Labrune
Notes on Transcription, Abbreviations, and Other Matters DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.002.0008
The system of romanization adopted throughout the book is the Hepburn system (####, hebon-shiki), except for the notation of the bilabial fricative [F] which is written as h before u, and of vowel length. Long vowels are transcribed as ou, aa, ii, ei, or ee,uu (rather than ,,, , ), except in proper names, linguistic terms, and in the bibliography. This transcription, which has been calqued on the kana writing, has the advantage of allowing for a more adequate notation of accent by dissociating the two parts of a long vowel. It has one drawback, which is that it does not allow for a distinction between tou # tower (actually pronounced as [to]) and tou ## to ask ([to]) which are both spelled as ## in hiragana. IPA transcription will be provided for disambiguation of ou sequences in the text when necessary. When needed, the phonological transcription (see Table 6.1, section 6.1) is used, as well as phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For instance, the word ####(## in kanji) meaning repair will be transcribed as shuuri in adapted Hepburn, /syuRri/ in phonological transcription, and [i] in IPA. In Hepburn romanizations, the accented mora appears in bold. In IPA transcriptions, the sign is placed before the accented mora following the usual practice in the IPA: kokoro [kokoo] heart, kyouto [kjoto] Kyto. Atonic words are followed by the symbol : sakura cherry tree. Many Japanese words display several possible accent patterns. Generally, only the most frequent pattern is given for a word, except when accent variation may be relevant to the discussion. Accent will not be provided for ancient, dialectal, or invented forms (except when relevant for the discussion), for non-independent morphemes and in cases where the form has to be
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Notes on Transcription, Abbreviations, and Other Matters
considered independently of its accentuation. In the citation of examples taken from other scholars who do not provide accent information, I have automatically added the accent patterns if necessary. The source word of Western loans is given between braces: konpyuutaa computer {computer}. The components in transparent compound words are separated by a hyphen: kodomo-beya children's room when relevant to the discussion. The following abbreviations are used:
(p. xiii )
intr.= intransitive verb
tr.= transitive = any mora m= deficient (weak) mora M= regular mora = syllable = foot V= vowel C= consonant C1= initial constituent, C2 = final constituent (in compounds) #= word boundary *= unattested form (or, reconstructed forms in passages dealing with historical matters) jp= Japanese ch= Chinese rk= Rykyan H= high (tone), or heavy syllable
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L= low (tone), or light syllable AJ= Archaic Japanese OJ= Old Japanese. In Chapter 3, which is devoted to the consonantal system, the notation of classical (linear) generative phonology is used. For instance, the formula x y /_ z reads as x becomes y when occurring before z. Old Chinese reconstructions come from Td (1996) except when otherwise specified. Japanese personal names are given in the following order: family name, personal name. They are cited under the romanized form which appears in the original publication. Authors names of books and papers published in Japanese have been transcribed following the Hepburn system, except for those people who have chosen some other transcription (when this other transcription is known to me). The spectrograms and the oscillograms were made using the Praat software developed by Paul Boersma and David Weenink, Amsterdam. Finally, note that contrary to a majority of recent Western works on Japanese phonology, I do not recognize the existence of the syllable in this language, although I will occasionally provide syllabic information or representations for comparative purposes when needed. The view retained in this book is that of the native Japanese tradition in phonology, which holds that only the mora is relevant. (p. xiv )
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Map 1. Administrative Japan
Page 4 of 4

Laurence Labrune
Introduction
Laurence Labrune
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.003.0001
Abstract and Keywords

This first chapter provides a general introduction to the book, presenting its aims, methods, theoretical background, the status, origins, and periodisation of the Japanese language, as well as the previous scholarship written on the subject of Japanese phonology. It also presents the writing system of modern Japanese, made of a mixture of Chinese characters, two kana syllabaries and Latin alphabet, and describes and discusses the issue of the lexicon partition into Yamato, Sino-Japanese and Western words.
Keywords: Japanese language, periodisation, Japanese writing system, Chinese characters, two kana syllabaries, Latin, Yamato words, Sino-Japanese words, Western words
The Phonology of Japanese offers a comprehensive overview of the phonological structure of modern Japanese from its segmental to its prosodic and accentual structure. The purpose of the book is twofold. First, it will present the actual state of the art of Japanese phonology, based on a compilation of recent and older Western and Japanese materials, reflecting current debates in Japanese phonology. The aim is to provide a synthesis of two major research streams: that of Japanese traditional linguistics and philology, kokugogaku ###, which is characterized by its data-oriented approach, a strong philological background, and careful attention to the empirical realities of the language, but which, unfortunately, seems to be largely ignored outside Japan in spite of its excellence and remarkable achievements (see the seminal works by Kindaichi Haruhiko, Hashimoto Shinkichi, Hattori Shir, Hamada Atsushi, Kamei Takashi, and
Page 1 of 30
Introduction
many others); that of Western scholarship, for which Japanese has often served as a test ground for newly developing theories. One should recall that many aspects of Japanese phonology have contributed to the advance of modern phonological theory in a significant manner. Without aiming at exhaustivity, let us mention the works of James McCawley in the 1960s (classical generative phonology), Haraguchi Shsuke in the 1970s (nonlinear phonology), It Junko and Armin Mester in the 1980s and 1990s (underspecification theory, Optimality Theory), and Kubozono Haruo in the 1990s and 2000s (Optimality Theory). In sum, the main ambition of this book is to survey the achievements by scholars belonging to different linguistic schools and traditions, to assess them critically, and to integrate them into a uniform approach in order to make the results available to a larger scientific community. It is hard to simply grasp the quantity and quality of native research when one has no access to it, and it is even harder to evaluate it, be it in the field of phonology or of any other area of linguistics. It should also be acknowledged that some recent Western works often fail to give credit to the richness and excellence of this tradition.1 This is (p. 2 ) why it has appeared essential to devote so much attention to Japanese contributions through an approach that attempts to blend and reconcile, in a unifying perspective, two ways of doing linguistics that usually ignore each other. This stand by no means precludes our casting a critical eye over one or other approach. Further, this book aims to offer new analyses and data concerning some of the central issues of Japanese phonology in a theoretically oriented approach. Issues for which new analyses are proposed in this volume are those of the mora and syllable, the notion of special mora, compound noun accentuation, default accentuation (through a case study of Western borrowings), the underlying accent of some Sino-Japanese morphemes, the status of diphthongs, the consonant /r/, and the interaction of moras and feet. The aim is thus to provide both a critical synthesis of the state of the art in Japanese phonology and to provide theoretically oriented description and analyses in its main areas. However, the purpose is not to promote a given theoretical or formal framework set in advance and to which the data of Japanese would be forcefully moulded. Rather, what I have tried to do is to provide generalalbeit preciseinformation on the phonological structure of the Japanese language in all its complexity and, whenever it appears relevant, to point to the analytical and theoretical extensions of the
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Introduction
issue likely to be considered. Therefore it is why priority is always given to the presentation of the linguistic data. I have nevertheless chosen to give a tighter theoretical and formal treatment to a small number of specific issues that have appeared to deserve more thorough treatment due to their importance in the field. There are unfortunately a number of issues that I could not address as I would have liked to. Notably, there is no in-depth treatment of intonation. The morpho-phonology of verbal flexion would also probably have merited a whole chapter. However, this aspect of Japanese morpho-phonology being generally introduced in Japanese grammars and even textbooks, it is relatively easy to find good descriptions of it outside specialized phonology or morphology works. This book is intended for a general audience of students and linguists with no specialized knowledge of the Japanese language, and to non-linguist Japanologists who want to obtain up-to-date information in the field of Japanese phonology. For the needs of the latter audience, Japanese terminology has been provided both in roman transcription and in the original writing (kana or kanji), and priority has been given to first-hand sources and references in the Japanese language.
(p. 3 )
1.1 Theoretical Background
The general framework of our reflection and analyses will be that of generative phonology in the broad sense as it has been developed from the end of the 1960s onwards, although some parts of the book also owe a great deal to structural phonology, a current that was widely followed in Japan in the 1940s, 1950s, and even later, in the works of outstanding Japanese linguists like Hattori Shir and Kindaichi Haruhiko, whose analyses will be often referred to in the following pages. But whatever framework lies behind our discussions, a distinction is always made between an underlying form (or input) and a surface form (output). In order to account for the formal relation which exists between these two levels, we adopt a non-derivational approach which is that of Optimality Theory (see Prince and Smolensky, 1993, Kager, 1999, for introductions), in which the relationship between the input and the output is viewed as the result of the interaction of constraints rather than sequential rule application as in the traditional generative model (Chomsky and Halle, 1968). Such an approach proves to be particularly effective for the treatment of phenomena relating to prosodic morpho-phonology, and it
Page 3 of 30
Introduction
will be used, in particular, for the formal analysis of default accentuation and compound nouns accentuation which will be offered in Chapter 7. As regards contents representations, be it the internal structure of segments in terms of distinctive features or the architecture of the prosodic components, the references are clearly those of traditional non-linear and autosegmental phonology. Optimality Theory has actually very little to say about the contents and nature of representations, and is compatible with various representational conceptions. Phonology being a relatively technical and formal discipline, it was not possible within the limits of this work to provide definitions and explanations of all the concepts used here. It is assumed that the basic notions of articulatory phonetics and of phonological analysis are known. Readers who want to acquaint themselves with the discipline are invited to consult for example the reference works of Kenstowicz (1994a), Goldsmith (1990, 1995), and Hayes (2009), which provide good introductions to various aspects of phonological theory. In the pages devoted to the presentation of segmental phonology (Chapters 2, 3, and 4), the theoretical background of the description and analyses will be cast in a classical (and rather neutral) framework in terms of features and statements. A broadly generativist phonological framework will be adopted, such as the one introduced in Kenstowicz (1994a). For the mora and syllable analysis (Chapter 6), the autosegmental, non-linear framework will be used. I will refer especially to the conceptions developed by Larry Hyman (2003 [1985]) regarding (p. 4 ) the status of the TBU (tone-bearing units), i.e. the moras, for the analysis, but other standard models will also be reviewed for the sake of comparison. The accentual analyses of compound nouns and of Western borrowings in Chapter 7 (sections 7.2.5 and 7.3.2) are cast within the framework of Optimality Theory. Some other current phonological frameworks will occasionally be referred to when necessary, for instance when previous scholarship and analyses concerning some of the problems of Japanese phonology provide alternative and arguably more insightful views of the phenomena under consideration.
1.2 The Japanese Language

Japanese is spoken by about 130 million speakers, nearly all living in the Japanese archipelago. Its genetic affiliation is dubious. It has often
Page 4 of 30
Introduction
been classified as a Ural-Altaic language, but the reality of its origins is more complex. Prehistoric Japanese is probably the result of hybridization between an Austronesian and an Altaic language, with some possible other continental influences. The language closest to Japanese is Rykyan, spoken in the Ryky Islands, southwest of Kysh. Together, they form the Japonic family. The language closest to Japanese outside Rykyan is Korean. There exist strong typological resemblances between the two languages, which suggest a genetic relationship, although well-established regular phonetic correspondences are hard to establish (see Martin, 1966 for an attempt). Two main Japanese dialect groups are recognized: Eastern dialects (Tky type) and Western dialects (Kyto-saka type), and Japan is still a country with great dialectal diversity. This book is primarily concerned with Modern and Contemporary Standard Japanese. Japanese linguists generally refer to that variety as hyjungo (## #) standard language, kytsgo (###) common language, or Tkygo (# ##) the Tky dialect. It corresponds roughly to the language spoken in the districts of the area known as Yamanote in Tky and in the national media, in particular the NHK (Japanese Broadcasting Corporation). We will also refer to dialectal varieties of the language and to historical developments when necessary for an understanding of the synchronic facts. For the periodization of Japanese, the following labels are adopted. These divisions also correspond to standard major political divisions in Japanese political history: Archaic Japanese (jdaigo###): before 794 (until the end of the Nara period) Old Japanese (chkogo ###): 7941350 (Heian and Kamakura) (p. 5 ) Middle Japanese (chseigo ###): 13501603 (Muromachi, Azuchi-Momoyama) Pre-modern Japanese (kinseigo ###): 16031868 (Edo) Modern Japanese (kindaigo ###): 18681945 (from Meiji to World War II) Archaic Japanese was the period when Chinese characters were first massively imported into Japan. The materials of those times are written exclusively using Chinese characters, read in a Chinese or a Japanese
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Introduction
manner (Manygana, #### Chinese characters used only for their phonetic value, see below). Old Japanese saw the development of the kana syllabaries, and the flourishing of a national literature written exclusively in kana with very few words of Chinese origin. The language reflected in the materials is primarily that of the Kyto aristocracy and has served as the basis for the prestige written language for centuries. The middle of the fourteenth century can be seen as the major turning point between Ancient and Modern Japanese, to the extent that it is sometimes sufficient to oppose Old Japanese (the language before the fifteenth century) to Modern Japanese (the language after the fifteenth century). Middle Japanese underwent significant changes due to the spread of the SinoJapanese vocabulary and the generalized use of the kanji to write it. The so-called kanji-kana majiri bun (######## kanji and kana mix style), based on a mixture of kanji and kana as in Modern Japanese (see section 1.5) became the most common style of writing. Middle Japanese is also a period of major modification in the verbal and adjectival flexional system as well as in the phonological system with the establishment of the special segments (see Chapter 5), as a result of the sound changes known as onbin ##, whose first occurrences can be traced back to Old Japanese. Pre-modern Japanese, in the Edo period, is known to us through a huge number of different types of materials reflecting the colloquial and dialectal diversity of the time, including a number of foreign descriptions of the Japanese language, principally European ones, with the publication of dictionaries and grammar books, but also accounts made by Chinese and Korean scholars (such foreign descriptions of Japanese actually started in the fifteenth century). Modern Japanese, starting with the Meiji Restauration in 1868, has been influenced by Western languages. It also corresponds to the spread of Tky Japanese as the standard language, and the development of a new form of written language closer to the spoken one. Contemporary Japanese (gendaigo ###) can be used more specifically to refer to the variety of language which developed after World War II.
(p. 6 )
1.3 Particular Status of Japanese for Linguistic Science
A word should be said here about the status of Japanese in the field of linguistics. Japanese is no doubt one of the best-documented non-IndoEuropean languages in the world, if not the best-documented. In addition, it
Page 6 of 30
Introduction
has a rare characteristic: most specialists of Japanese linguistics are native speakers of the language, who, moreover, have been working within their own rich linguistic tradition in a cumulative manner, without ignoring the achievements of general linguistics outside their country. This tradition, it should be emphasized, did not develop in an intellectual environment completely sealed off from the rest of the world. It has been nourished by Chinese, Indian, European, and American contributions throughout its long history. Descriptive and cumulative work has thus been conducted in an optimal manner, although one might have the feeling that, in very recent years, even the major works by outstanding scholars such as Arisaka Hideyo, Hashimoto Shinkichi, Kindaichi Haruhiko, and Hattori Shir, for example, are no longer part of the compulsory reading of younger Japanese linguists trained in the West. Last but not least, Japanese linguistic research has enjoyed quite a favourable economic environment. For decades, the various academic institutions of the country such as research centres and universities have devoted an impressive number of material means to research on the national language and its dialects, with the result that one can benefit, in the case of Japanese, from an exceptional quantity of quality data and documentation (even more, it seems, than for English or French, which have also been extensively studied). The accumulation of descriptive and analytical materials is completely bewildering, and contemporary phonology would be much worse off if it did not take account of the contributions of the Japanese academic tradition.
1.4 Previous Western Literature On the Phonology of Japanese

There exist few general references in European languages relating to the phonology of Japanese, in comparison to the huge number of studies carried out in Japan. I will only mention here studies of a general and broad character, but naturally there are a fair number of articles and some monographs relating to specific aspects of the phonology of Japanese (mainly in English). The excellent book by Timothy J. Vance, An Introduction to Japanese Phonology, published in 1987, constitutes the best descriptive reference of the (p. 7 ) discipline in the English language. Unfortunately, it has been out of print for a number of years, and therefore hard to get. Timothy Vance is also the author of The Sounds of Japanese, published in 2008, which is a
Page 7 of 30
Introduction
handbook designed for English-speaking students. It is of course impossible not to mention James McCawleys thesis, The Phonological Component of a Grammar of Japanese, published in 1968, which was one of the first studies seeking to apply to a language other than English the generativist framework of the Sound Pattern of English (Chomsky and Halle, 1968). This reference remains invaluable, and much of the data and analyses of McCawley have not lost their interest, but a lot of water has gone under the bridge of phonological theory since 1968, so the framework is a bit outdated. One should also mention the monograph by Samuel E. Martin, Morphophonemics of Standard Colloquial Japanese, published in 1952, that of Gnther Wenck, The Phonemics of JapaneseQuestions and Attempts (1966) as well as Japanese Phonetics (1997) and Japanese Phonology (2000) by Akamatsu Tsutomu. Wenck is also the author of a monumental Japanische Phonetik in four volumes, written in German (19541959). In French, one should mention Haruhiko Kinda-ichi (= Kindaichi) and Hubert Mass, Phonologie du japonais standard, published in 1978, which consists in fact of a translation and adaptation by the second author of an original Japanese text by the first author (Kindaichi), one of the most eminent Japanese phonologists. In addition to the fact that it is out of print, this work, which is rather short (59 pages), is theoretically outdated. I am the author of La phonologie du japonais, published in 2006 by the Socit de Linguistique de Paris (Peeters, Leuven). The present book is a substantially updated and modified version of this 2006 French edition. All these books, except for Labrune (2006) and Vance (2008), have sadly been out of print for a number of years.
1.5 Overview of the Writing System

Throughout this book, we will occasionally refer to the orthographical status which some of the phonological units of the language have received in the native writing system of Japanese. This is because the written dimension provides an interesting background to the phonological reality of these units. The graphemic system often reflects the phonemic one, and, vice versa, since phonology in turn can be influenced by the writing system, or, to put it in Suzukis words (Suzuki, 1977), writing can become a formative agent of the language. This is especially true for Japanese. Kess and Miyamoto (1999:32) observe that the nature of the multi-faceted Japanese orthography must be viewed as a formative agent that exerts some influence, if not power, over the spoken language itself. However, it goes without saying that the orthographical criteria should not be held up as definite proof of the phonological status of a given element.
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Introduction
This being said, a general presentation of the writing system of Japanese will be given in the following pages, but readers with no specific interest in the issue may skip this section and proceed directly to the following one.
(p. 8 )
The Japanese writing system is composed of four different scripts. First, it has two original syllabaries2 of 48 signs each (of which 46 only are presently in common use), the hiragana ### and the katakana ###, which are referred to under the generic term of kana ##. Katakana and hiragana were created by the Japanese. They both took as their basis Chinese characters used only for their phonetic value (the manygana ####; see Seeley, 1991 for a general presentation of the history and development of the Japanese writing system in English). Hiragana and katakana are based on the mora3 and take as their basis the same units, so that a given mora of Japanese can be denoted by the corresponding letter of either set. The elaboration of these two sets of kana symbols was more or less achieved around the tenth century. In addition, several thousands of ideographic characters originally borrowed from Chinese, the kanji ##, are used. The Latin alphabet, rma-ji ####, and Arabic numerals are also part of the modern writing system. The writing of a Japanese text is done today by using in a joint and complementary way the first Table 1.1. Hiragana (basic symbols)
a ka sa ta na ha ma ya ra wa N
(p. 9 ) Page 9 of 30
Introduction
# # # # # # # # # # #
i ki shi chi ni hi mi ri wi
# # # # # # # # #
u ku su tsu nu hu mu yu ru
# # # # # # # # #
e ke se te ne he me re we
# # # # # # # # #
o ko so to no ho mo yo ro wo
# # # # # # # # # #
Table 1.2. Katakana (basic symbols)

a ka sa ta na ha ma ya ra wa N # # # # # # # # # # # ri wi # # i ki shi chi ni hi mi # # # # # # # u ku su tsu nu hu mu yu ru # # # # # # # # # re we # # e ke se te ne he me # # # # # # # o ko so to no ho mo yo ro wo # # # # # # # # # #
three systems (hiragana,katakana, and kanji), and, in an accessory manner, the latter two. The writing of Japanese is unanimously recognized as one of the most complex, or even the most complex, of all known systems. As Kess and Miyamoto (1999:13) put it, it is no stretch of the imagination to declare Japanese one of the most intricate, most elegant and yet most difficult writing systems in the modern world. Complexity lies first of all in the fact that the structure and the orthographical principles of these various scripts are fundamentally different. Kana and the Latin alphabet have in common the fact that they are phonographic. However, the kana adopt as a basic unit the mora, while the alphabet is based on the phoneme. Chinese characters, on the other hand, are primarily logographic (ideographic) symbols, like the Arabic numerals. Moreover, the way Chinese characters are used in Japanese writing is the source of another complexity, since, as we shall see below, most characters can be read in at least two fashions, depending mostly on the context in which they occur. Tables 1.1 and 1.2 present the hiragana and katakana according to the traditional order of the gojonzu (#### table of the fifty sounds4). As we shall see in more detail in Chapters 2, 3, and 4, the core phonemic system of Japanese consists of five vowels (a, i, u, e, o) and fourteen consonants (p, b, t, d, k, g, s, z, h, m, n, r, y, w). It will be noted that the combinations starting with p,b,d,z,g, which are derived from the corresponding unvoiced kana
Page 10 of 30
Introduction
letter by (p. 10 ) addition of a diacritic symbol, as well as those comprising a palatalization, do not appear here (we will reconsider this point a little further; a table of all the Japanese moras is provided in Chapter 6, Table 6.1). Hiragana mainly denote grammatical elements or elements with no stable referents such as enclitic particles, verbal and adjectival inflexions, functional names, interjections, connectors, and a number of adverbs. They are sometimes used to write lexical morphemes that the scripter does not want (or does not know how) to write in characters. Texts for children are thus transcribed exclusively in hiragana, which are the first writing symbols taught to Japanese children. Katakana are generally reserved for the transcription of recent foreign loans. They are also sometimes used to write mimetic words, the names of plants or animals, dialectal or slang forms, and sometimes also erudite words. They may also be employed to highlight an element in a sentence, somewhat like the italics in the Latin alphabet script, to mark irony, or even to give a more colloquial, oral flavour to a text. The modern versions of hiragana and katakana (Tables 1.1 and 1.2) comprise 46 or 48 signs if one takes into account the two kana denoting the moras wi and we that are in principle encountered only in texts written prior to 1946. The characteristic of the hiragana and the katakana is initially, as the term syllabary reflects, that they transcribe syllables with the traditional Japanese direction of the term, that is, moras. A second characteristic is that they use diacritics rather than distinct letters to denote the difference between voiceless and voiced obstruents. Another 58 additional moras can thus be written by the addition of a diacritic symbol, or combination of two existing kana. Voiced obstruents are marked by two small strokes, the dakuten ## or nigoriten ###, placed at the upper right corner of the matrix of a given kana (1a, see also sections 3.7.1 on the correspondence between h and b, and Chapter 4 on voicing in general). A comparable device is used to represent the moras pa,pi, pu, pe, and po: a small circle, the handakuten ### (literally semi-voicing dot, 1b) is added at the top of the kana transcribing the h series. (1) a. Notation of obstruent voicing
t: d ta chi tsu # # # : da ji zu # # #
Page 11 of 30
Introduction
te to s: z sa shi su se so ka ki ku ke ko ha hi hu he ho
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
de do : za ji zu ze zo : ga gi gu ge go : ba bi bu be bo : pa pi pu pe po # # # # #
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
k: g
h: b
b. Notation of moras starting with /p/

h: p ha hi hu he ho # # # # #
The palatalized combinations (kya,kyu, and so on) are transcribed by adding onto the right side of a kana containing the -i vowel the kana ya,yu, and yo in (p. 11 ) reduced size, as shown below (in the following examples, capitals are used to reflect full-size kana, while small letters transcribe reduced-size kana): (2)
Page 12 of 30
Introduction
KI
: KIya (kya) : ##
SHI
: SHIyu (shu) : ##
CHI
: CHIyo (cho) : ##
Hiragana and katakana are indeed different scripts but they are almost identical as far as the principles that underlie their internal structure, organization, and phonemic referential units are concerned. The only difference between the two is a tiny one. It lies in the fact that vocalic length is not treated identically. In katakana, it is uniformly represented by an horizontal line (vertical in cases where the text is written from top to bottom), while in hiragana, it is transcribed differently according to the quality of the long vowel: the kana letter for u is added after the moras containing -u and -o when the length results from the fall of a consonant followed by u (the most frequent case), the letter for a is added after a, that for i after -e and -i. For instance (here the hyphens mark mora boundaries): (3)
toukyou written TO-UKIyo-U guuzen written GU-UZE-N reisei written RE-ISE-I Tky ## ### (##) fortuity ### # (# #) calm ### # (# #) pronounced [ese] pronounced [zeN] pronounced [tokjo]
There exist some particular uses, which one encounters, for instance, in cases of native Japanese words where the lengthening of the long vowel [o] corresponds to the loss of a consonant originally followed by o: the vocalic length is noted in that case by means of the letter o, as in the word ookii (#
Page 13 of 30
Introduction
ohokii) large. One can also mention words like oneesan older sister, whose long vowel is written ee and not ei. In katakana, vowel length is indicated by means of a horizontal or vertical bar following the vowel (according to the direction of the writing), whatever the quality of the vowel concerned, for example super suupaa ####. The reduced-size kana tsu (# in hiragana and # in katakana) is employed to write the first part of a non-nasal geminate consonant, whatever it may be. Thus atta ### had is noted A-tsu-TA in hiragana, while katto ### cut {cut} is noted KA-tsu-TO in katakana. Apart from rare exceptions, the kana spelling of Japanese words is simple and straightforward. The Chinese characters, or kanji (##), are generally used to write the nonvariable part of lexical morphemes of Chinese or Japanese origin. The stem of a flexional word of Japanese origin such as a verb or an adjective is written by (p. 12 ) means of one or several Chinese characters, while the variable part is transcribed in kana. Thus the kanji # represents the idea of reading but it can be read in different ways. As shown in the examples in (4), # is employed to represent the stable part of the various inflected forms of the verb to read in Japanese and it is read yo-, according to its native Japanese reading (kunyomi ### meaning-reading). The endings which undergo variation will be noted in hiragana. The same character # is also used in compound nouns such as dokusha ## reader, tokuhon ## reading book, koudoku ## subscription, and many others, with the Sino-Japanese reading (onyomi ### sound-reading) doku or toku. (Accents are ignored in the following examples.) (4)
yomu yonda ## ## # ## # # ## #.MU to read
#.N.DA
read (past tense) do(es) not read reader
yomanai
#.MA.NA.I
dokusha
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Introduction
tokuhon koudoku
## ##
reading book subscription
It is generally considered that the knowledge of approximately 2000 characters is sufficient for the reading of current Japanese texts. However, this figure is extremely relative, and represents in fact a minimum threshold.5 The difficulty raised by the Japanese sinograms comes from the fact that, on the one hand, a character almost always has several readings (see below, section 1.6.2), and that on the other hand, a lexeme can almost always be written using different characters. For instance, # is read yo-,doku, or toku. But the verb yomu to read can be written ## or ##. A written Japanese sentence is thus composed of an arrangement of kanji and kana, and it is not, moreover, uncommon that a text contains some sequences in the Latin alphabet or Arabic numerals. Texts are written from top to bottom vertically, starting from the rightmost side of the page, or horizontally, from left to right. One occasionally encounters horizontal inscriptions, generally made up of a couple of Chinese characters, written from right to left. Each symbol (kana,kanji,rma-ji, or figure) is separated by a blank. There does not exist any special demarcating device to separate words or syntagms. It is thus only the alternation between Chinese characters, hiragana, (p. 13 ) katakana, rma-ji, and Arabic numerals, as well as the use of punctuation, that helps the segmentation of the various elements of the sentence.
1.6 The Stratification of the Lexicon

The lexicon of Japanese is stratified into morphemes belonging to different classes corresponding to distinct morpho-phonological, semantic, and pragmatic systems. This organization is fundamental for the description and comprehension of Japanese as a whole. Lexicon stratification plays a central role in the grammar because it entails major structural as well as pragmatic (register) differences. Words belonging to different classes may undergo different rules or constraints. For instance, one of the best-known, and most often cited, examples is rendaku (sequential voicing), which applies differently according to the stratum (see Chapter 4).
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Introduction
Japanese linguistics traditionally distinguishes a minimum of three lexical classes: Wago ##, or Yamato lexemes, the class of native words within which one might possibly put the subclasses of the mimetic words and other expressive words such as childish, familiar, or slang vocabulary. Kango ##, Sino-Japanese lexemes. They are loans from Chinese introduced massively in Japan starting from the fourth century at least. This class comprises many words of the erudite and abstract vocabulary, as well as concepts and objects borrowed from Chinese culture, but it also contains other more common, unmarked items. Gairaigo ###, which are lexemes that have been recently borrowed from foreign languages, primarily Western languages from the sixteenth century. They contain mainly technical, scientific terms or refer to modern objects and concepts with a Western connotation. It is sometimes useful to distinguish a fourth stratum, that of mimetic words6: onomatopoeias (giseigo ###) and ideophones (gitaigo ###). The overwhelming majority of mimetic words are etymologically of native origin.7 For this reason, they belong to the Yamato class in the strict sense, even if (p. 14 ) they display a number of properties which may lead one to categorize them in a specific subclass. In this book, when necessary, we will make a distinction, within the Yamato class, between non-mimetic and non-expressive words (the Yamato class stricto sensu), and mimetic and expressive words (a distinct class for some authors). To the Yamato, Sino-Japanese, and Western strata, the class of nonintegrated foreign words (gaikokugo ###) is sometimes added. These are words whose degree of adaptation into the Japanese language is not as advanced as that of the gairaigo. They consist of direct quotes from a Western language in the Latin alphabet. Some scholars also distinguish between formal Sino-Japanese and vulgarized Sino-Japanese (Takayama, 2005). It is also necessary not to forget the existence of a mix or hybrid class (konshugo ###), which comprises compounds made up of words or morphemes belonging to different classes, for instance wago + kango as in nimotsu luggage, kango + wago as in juu-bako superposable meal box, gairaigo + wago as in demoru to demonstrate (in the streets) (from demo,demonsutoreeshon {demonstration} + -ru, verbal suffix). Finally,
Page 16 of 30
Introduction
note that a certain number of lexemes of Sanskrit, Ainu, or other origins do not fall into any of these categories and have unclear status as to the lexical class they belong to. This partition is largely determined by etymology, but it would be imprudent to adopt too narrow a vision and a simply historical approach to the problem. Often, the supposed etymology is more determining than the real one, and the actual phonological profile of the word plays a more important role than its origin (not to mention its semantic or pragmatic profiles). Actually, the differences between the lexical classes are extremely delicate to handle. First of all, it is difficult to establish with precision the origin of certain lexemes. Second, we know almost nothing about the history of the Japanese language before the fifth century, and in particular we are ignorant of the true nature of the contacts between the spoken language in Japan and the spoken language(s) in the Korean peninsula or elsewhere. One should also take into account the fact that loans from foreign languages (especially from Chinese) have had a deep influence and have considerably modified the morpho-phonology of the Yamato lexemes. Moreover, it is not unusual that the linguistic intuitions of non-linguist speakers regarding which lexical class a given lexeme belongs to are in clear contradiction with the true etymology. For example shio salt or mugi wheat are actually very old loans from Chinese, but they are handled and behave like Yamato words. The same applies to kappa raincoat or kasutera pound cake, which are words of Portuguese origin but treated as Yamato lexemes. Which is more important, the etymological data or speakers intuitions? As Takayama (2005) observes, in order to determine the lexical stratum to which a given word belongs, one has to consider both word forms (phonotactic patterns) and connotation, that is, (p. 15 ) whether the word is culturally associated with a foreign background. I would add that the writing may constitute another strong clue to determining which stratum a word belongs to. Lastly, it will be necessary to question the manner this partition is acquired by Japanese children. It is not clear whether native speakers acquire this intuition through education, especially the knowledge of Chinese characters and of the difference between Sino-Japanese and Japanese readings of the characters, and acquisition of katakana and hiragana (remember that katakana are used primarily for the notation of Western loanwords, while kanji and kana are used to transcribe Yamato and Sino-Japanese words), or if it is of a deeper, truly linguistic nature. Probably, both dimensions are involved, and education only serves to reinforce and stabilize a robust difference. How does the child manage to internalize the difference between
Page 17 of 30
Introduction
Yamato words, Sino-Japanese words, and Western words? Is this knowledge of a metalinguistic nature, that is, acquired through education and literacy, and particularly thanks to the mastering of the writing system? Ota (2004) provides a good discussion of the issue of the learnability of lexicon partition in Japanese, and points out the unrealistic scenario of phonological learning that is implied by OT constraint-based models (It and Mester, 1995a, b; It and Mester, 1999; It, Mester, and Padgett, 1999, for instance). In spite of these problems, the partition of the lexicon plays a key role in the grammar of the language. It is conveyed in the writing, and constitutes an important component of the metalinguistic knowledge of any Japanese speaker. In principle, Yamato words are written in hiragana or kanji,kango in kanji, and gairaigo in katakana. However, a well-integrated gairaigo can be written in hiragana or even in kanji, and a yamatoized kango can end up being written only in hiragana. According to the statistics provided by the Shinsen Kokugo Jiten dictionary (8th edition, 2002), wago represent 33.8% of the entries of the dictionary, kango 49.1%, gairaigo 8.8%, and hybrid words 8.4%. The words of Chinese origin are thus the most numerous in the lexicon. In textual frequency (corpus of the written language drawn from the press) the proportions are roughly similar with respect to type frequency (KKK, 1964). On the other hand, wago are most frequent in speech: 46.9% compared with 40% for the kango (Hayashi O., 1982). The proportion of wago goes up to 71.8% in token frequency. This is evidently explained by the fact that words of the basic lexicon, and those that fulfil a grammatical function (auxiliaries, particles, etc.), which are frequently repeated, almost all belong to the Yamato class. Moreover, some studies have shown that the proportions between the strata could vary according to the sex of the speakers. The survey by Tsuchiya (1965) reveals indeed that kango are employed more (p. 16 ) frequently by male than by female speakers, at least at the time of the investigation. It is frequently the case that the same referent can be referred to by a wago, a kango, or a gairaigo, for instance: (5)
Wago tegami # # Kango / shokan # # Gairaigo / retaa # ## letter, missive
Page 18 of 30
Introduction
meshi #
/ gohan # # / buyou # #
/ raisu # # # / dansu # # #
rice
odori # #
dance
However, the three lexemes in each set have different connotations, and sometimes also semantic specializations. The kango are generally felt to be more formal, more precise, and belonging to a higher register than the wago or the gairaigo. The gairaigo generally refer to Western realities. For example, dansu can only refer to a Western type of dance, contrary to odori and buyou, and raisu designates some rice presented or cooked in a Western way. But there are exceptions. For instance, the word kappu nuudoru {cup noodle} (originally a trade mark) indicates an instantaneous noodle dish cooked in an Asian manner. Here, the connotation brought in by the use of gairaigo is modernity. The gairaigo also tend to refer to concrete, material entities, whereas kango are preferred for the abstract (Loveday, 1996). In addition, gairaigo frequently appear as compound formatives. For example retaa is more often used in expressions such as rabu retaa {love letter} or retaa peepaa {letter paper} than in isolation.
1.6.1 Wago
In its diachronic sense, the term Yamato refers to the original, native Japanese language with no elements of Chinese or from any other foreign origin. The most operational definition of what a Yamato word is seems to be as follows: a Yamato morpheme is a morpheme which does not result from a loan posterior to the fifth century of our era.8 In the old language, the following properties were characteristic of Yamato words: structure of the basic prosodic unit = V or CV; prohibition of hiatus (onsetless vowels were allowed only word initially);
Page 19 of 30
Introduction
absence of words starting with a voiced obstruent (/b/, /d/, /g/, /z/) or with /r/; impossibility of having two voiced obstruents, or two /r/, within the same root; (p. 17 ) scarcity of the /e/ vowel, in particular at the beginning of words longer than two moras; existence of vowel harmony; simplex lexemes from two to three mora long.
Most of these characteristics remain today only as a residue. In modern Japanese, words of Yamato origin are characterized by the absence of / p/, the absence of /h/ in word internal position, the impossibility of finding geminated voiced obstruents and geminated /r/, and by the constrained distribution of voiceless consonants after the mora nasal /N/. One will also note the scarcity of palatalized consonants. Whenever the same referent can be referred to either by a lexeme of Yamato or Sino-Japanese origin, the connotations brought in by the Yamato word are generally associated with the register of intimacy, the expression of sensations and emotions. They are also considered more poetic than SinoJapanese or Western words, and constitute the core lexicon of Japanese traditional poetry (haiku,tanka).
1.6.2 Kango
Sino-Japanese words, or kango (##), are words which are written using one or more Chinese characters pronounced in a Sino-Japanese manner. Kango are words (go #), but they are above all meaningful written units associated with one or more Sino-Japanese readings. If the character corresponding to a word of Chinese origin is no longer used to write the word, it becomes difficult to regard the word in question as a kango. One can mention the case of the lexeme sei fault, reason, which, in spite of its Chinese origin, is never written in characters (##) in contemporary Japanese, or the word sesse to, assiduously (##(Nakada and Hayashi, 1982). Consequently, most Japanese speakers are surprised to learn that these words are actually kango. Many kango are jukugo (##), that is, Sino-Japanese compound words made up of two to four kanji. A majority of one-character (one kanji) Sino-Japanese lexemes only occur as bound morphs, that is, as components of a jukugo, and never occur in an autonomous way, like sho # write in tosho ## book or shokan ## letter. However, a few one-character kango (ichiji kango ##
Page 20 of 30
Introduction
##) also function as autonomous words, like hon # book, niku # meat, or ki # spirit. In the modern language, kango lexemes are often characterized by the following phonological properties: presence of many palatalized consonants; presence of mora nasals; presence of geminations (only in compound kango); presence of long vowels; (p. 18 ) absence of non-geminated /p/; absence of geminated voiced obstruents; morpheme (stem) length from one to two moras. Here are typical kango lexemes: gakkou ## school, nippon ## Japan, gyuuniku ## beef, shuukyou ## religion. Sino-Japanese morphemes are organized around a vowel, possibly preceded by a consonant, palatalized or not. This group may be followed by a mora nasal (noted /N/), by a vocalic length (noted /R/), by a front high vowel /i/, or by an extra mora containing /t/ or /k/ followed by the vowels /i/ or /u/. This structure can be synthesized with the following formula where the symbols between the braces indicate non obligatory elements: (6)
Examples: /hoN/ hon /koR/ kou /ai/ ai /botu/ botsu, / kiti/ kichi, /kyaku/ kyaku, /teki/ teki9
Thus one has: i # stomach, ya # house, ki # spirit, ryo # travel, un # fate, man # ten thousand, jun /zyuN/ # pure, sou /soR/ # grass, kyou / kyoR/ # to teach, nai # inside, botsu /botu/ # rejection, kyaku # guest, kichi /kiti/ # good fortune, reki # passing of time, and so on. Loans from Chinese were made through three successive waves from the end of Antiquity, over a vast period covering nearly one thousand years, and starting at least from the fourth century onwards. This is the reason why it is not uncommon for a given character to have two or even three different
Page 21 of 30
Introduction
Sino-Japanese readings (onyomi ###). According to Vance (1987:169), about 13% of the 1850 currently used kanji have more than one SinoJapanese pronunciation. In addition, the majority of kanji also have at least one native Japanese reading (kunyomi ###). The different types of SinoJapanese readings are: the go readings (or Wu readings, goon ##), which are linked to the introduction of Buddhism in Japan and correspond to loans made during the fifth and sixth centuries, probably via Korea. The exact geographic source is not always clear, but it seems to have been somewhere in Southern China, near the mouth of the Yangtze river. the kan readings (or Han readings, kanon ##), which are by far the most important. They correspond to loans dating back to the seventh and eighth (p. 19 ) centuries. Kanon are derived from the pronunciation of the Tang capital Changan (presently Xian). the t readings (or Tang readings, tin or ton ##, sometimes referred to as son ## or tson ###). They concern later borrowings, from different Chinese provinces, which explains why they are less homogeneous from the point of view of their pronunciation. To this list, one should add the so-called usage readings (kanyon ###), which correspond to alterations of kan or t readings, and which represent irregular Sino-Japanese evolutions from the original Chinese pronunciations (see Vance, 1987:167ff. for a presentation in English, and Nakada and Hayashi, 2000 in Japanese). One should also add a couple of loans dating back to a period earlier than the fifth century such as uma horse, e (# we) picture, or kinu silk, which have been perfectly adapted to the Yamato phonology, so that nothing in their phonological structure hints at the fact that they are indeed words of Chinese origin. Hence, they are often regarded as Yamato words. So a given character is likely to possess several different Sino-Japanese readings (onyomi ###). Some characters only have one Sino-Japanese reading, generally the kan reading, some have two, a kan and a go reading, and a small number of characters even have three, four, or even more readings, since there may be several kan,go,t, and usage readings attached to a single character. Most speakers are not capable of saying whether a given pronunciation is go,kan,t, or usage. It seems that they simply memorize the different Sino-Japanese readings of a given character, and the contexts in which each reading is employed. Here are some examples, which
Page 22 of 30
Introduction
illustrate some of the different cases one is likely to encounter, and which provide an idea of the complexity of the issue (Old Chinese reconstructions are from Td, 1996): (7)
# mirror # # north clearness hoku # to go
# # # ten various to thousand supply zou nou # nahu dou # dahu
Go reading
myou gyou mon # myau # gyau mei kou # kau an ban man
Kan kan hoku reading # kamu T reading Usage reading Old Ch.
(p. 20 )
zou na # zahu zatsu, zou tou # tahu, nan *np
*klm
*puk
*m
*h
*mun *dzp
There are other alternations typical of Sino-Japanese lexemes, which have a more synchronic and morpho-phonemic status, such as the CV/Q alternation, the i/u alternation, the h/p alternation, and so forth. Those will be addressed in the relevant chapters of this book. The Sino-Japanese lexicon is rich in possibilities of lexical creation even if, at the present time, those are not as exploited as they used to be. This is because, nowadays, gairaigo constitute another privileged source of word-coining. Note also that a fair number of the kango currently in use are actually Japanese lexical creations (rather like neo-classical compounds with Greek or Latin roots are in European languages). These are called wasei kango #### Chinese words coined in Japan. This practice of lexical creation has been attested since the Heian period. These new lexemes are generally pure neologisms (for example denwa ## telephone), but they may also represent the semantic calques of existing Yamato words. For example kaji ## fire is simply the Sino-Japanese reading of the Yamato expression hi no koto ###. During the Meiji era, literal translations of words belonging to Western languages by way of Chinese characters were extremely common, like byouin ## hospital, a calquing from Dutch ziekenhuis (illness + public house, cited by Loveday, 1996:71). These neologisms
Page 23 of 30
Introduction
containing Chinese characters have frequently made their way back to Modern Chinese or Korean, where they have received the corresponding Sino-Korean or Modern Chinese readings. In comparison to Yamato and Western lexemes, kango are considered to belong to a more formal and learned register. They correlate with intellect, distance, authority, formality, and are used in juridical, academic, or scientific texts, in preference to Yamato words when the alternative exists.
1.6.3 Gairaigo
What is a gairaigo? It is generally a word that has been borrowed in Japanese after the sixteenth century, and mainly during the twentieth century, from a language which does not use Chinese characters. For example tabako tobacco, cigarette (Portuguese {tabaco}), misa mass (Latin {missa} through Portuguese), zubon / zubon trousers (French {jupon}), meetoru metre (French {mtre}), biiru beer (Dutch {bier}), arubaito (student) job (German {Arbeit}), interi intellectual (Russian {intelligentsija}), bataa butter (English {butter}). It may also bealthough more rarelya word borrowed recently from a modern Asian language using Chinese characters like Chinese or Korean, but in Japanese the loan has kept a pronunciation which is close to that of the source language. That means that even if the word can be written in sinograms, those will not be read according to the conventional Sino-Japanese reading but with a pronunciation which attempts to be faithful to that of the (p. 21 ) modern source language, for instance maajan / maajan mahjong (from a Chinese dialect, this word was borrowed at the beginning of the twentieth century), chongaa old boy (Korean {chhonggak}), kochujan pepper paste (Korean {kochhujang}). Lastly, it is important to mention that some gairaigo are nothing more than lexical forms coined by the Japanese, and involving Western roots. They are made up either by combining morphemes existing in one or more foreign languages or by truncating a borrowed form. Japanese lexicographers call these wasei eigo #### (English word created in Japan) or wasei ygo #### (Western word created in Japan). They are usually written in katakana. Such words are extremely numerous, for example sarariiman {salaryman} a company worker, gouruden-wiiku {golden week} a succession of several holidays around the end of April or beginning of May, woukuman {walkman}, naitaa {nighter} night game (baseball), paso-kon (abbreviation of {personal computer}) personal computer, depaato (abbreviation of {department store}) department store.
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Introduction
It is also necessary to mention acronyms and Latin-alphabet-based creations, which also constitute a source of derivation and lexical coinage. The basis for a number of acronyms are Yamato or Sino-Japanese morphemes, whose initial letter in the Latin alphabet is used for acronymization: Nippon Housou Kyoukai ###### -# NHK / enu-ecchi-kee NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), hentai ## -# H / etchi pervert, ofisu redii -# OL / ou eru female employee. The gairaigo often display phonotactic combinations that are not found in wago or kango (see section 3.14). They can also be very long, and contain many long vowels and geminate consonants. Gairaigo are used primarily to refer to new objects, or to concepts borrowed from foreign cultures. They are particularly frequent in the fields of fashion and cosmetics, sport, non traditional arts, gastronomy, technology, and sciences. There often exists a native Japanese or Sino-Japanese equivalent of a gairaigo. The use of a gairaigo can also be dictated by pragmatic or stylistics factors. The connotations associated with this vocabulary are: the West, modernity, innovation, and also in certain cases refinement and sophistication. It might be necessary to distinguish gairaigo, which are Japanized foreign loans, written in katakana, pronounced in a Japanese way, and likely to be integrated in a Japanese sentence like any Yamato or Sino-Japanese lexeme, from gaikokugo ###, which are borrowed wholesale from a foreign language. Gaikokugo are written in the alphabet and their pronunciation is not yet Japanized. Their lexical categorization also remains fuzzy. Such non-integrated loans are generally used in advertisements, without being integrated into a sentence. They are still at the margins of the language. It follows from this definition that in Japanese, a gairaigo, literally a word coming from the outside, is not necessarily a foreign wordmany gairaigo are Japanese lexical creations, or Japenglishand that the major group of lexemes of foreign origin, namely the kango, do not belong to the category of gairaigo.
(p. 22 )
1.6.4 Other Types

Japanese also contains a number of words of Sanskrit origin, most of which pertain to the Buddhist vocabulary. These words were often borrowed via Chinese: for example kawara {kapla} tile, daruma {(bodhi-) dharma}, or danna {dna} master, husband.
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Introduction
Words of Ainu origin, for example sake or shake {sakipe # sakuipe} salmon (literally summer food), kaba, kanba {kaniha} birch, rakko, rakko {rakko} sea otter, have dubious status. Certain lexicologists classify them among Yamato words, others among the gairaigo. The difference generally comes from the epoch at which the loan was made: the older it is, the more likely the word will be regarded as a wago. It is necessary finally to mention a number of prehistoric loans from Korean, such as kushi {kusil} a comb, a spit or tera {tSl} temple. These words are generally considered to be Yamato words. From the morpho-phonological point of view, they do not display any particular characteristic which distinguishes them from Yamato words.
1.6.5 The Limits of Stratum Categorization

The formal boundaries between wago,kango, and gairaigo tend to attenuate as time goes by, through a process of lexicon homogenization. Thus the characteristics that were originally specific to kango, such as palatalization, the presence of the mora nasal /N/, gemination, the presence of the /r/ consonant or of a voiced obstruent word-initially, ended up extending to words of the Yamato stratum. The presence of these elements thus no longer constitutes, in itself, a proof that a word is of Chinese origin, even if it remains generally possible to determine the origin of a lexeme just by its phonological structure. On the other hand, most gairaigo, especially most recent ones, generally have a phonological structure which makes them immediately identifiable as such. But the oldest gairaigo or the ones which are in very frequent or daily use are more Japanized than those of more recent introduction or those less frequently employed. The classes are thus not discontinuous. They are organized rather like a continuum: certain words belonging etymologically to one of the classes can move to another one, or borrow in a more or less occasional way some of its morpho-phonological features. Certain words do not have the phonological, orthographical, or semantic profile of their true etymology, and they belong de facto to some other class than to the one that history should have confined them. (p. 23 ) For instance, kappa raincoat is an old loan from Portuguese, which is treated as a wago since it undergoes rendaku (sequential voicing) in the compound words ama-gappa raincoat or biniiru-gappa rainwear made of plastic (Takayama T., 2005). Niku meat is originally a Sino-Japanese word, but it takes a Yamato polite prefix o-, instead of go- normally used as the polite prefix of Sino-Japanese words. The reading yo / yon for the numeral # four is etymologically a Yamato word, but it
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Introduction
is chosen instead of the Sino-Japanese reading shi four in many numeral compounds using Sino-Japanese components (for instance yo-nin rather than *shi-nin ## four persons), so that it behaves like a Sino-Japanese word. Finally, let us mention the word kouhii #### coffee, a Dutch loan {koffie}, which is sometimes written in kanji (##) instead of katakana. The effective placing of a lexeme in such or such a class can also vary according to the speaker. Thus there do not exist absolute criteria to determine which class a lexeme belongs to. In many cases, whether an item belongs to a given stratum or not cannot be determined on the basis of surface distribution patterns (Ota, 2004). For instance, there is nothing in the surface phonology of the Yamato word tonbo dragonfly which suggests that it does not belong to the same stratum as tenba flying horse, which is a Sino-Japanese word, or konbo combo, a Western borrowing. The script is often one of the crucial elements for native speakers, alongside the phonological characteristics of the word. It and Mester (1995a, 1999) have proposed a concentric model, or core periphery organization of the lexicon, whose internal structuring is governed by the interaction of constraints. The lexicon is viewed as an abstract space with a core and a periphery. At the periphery stand the lexical items which are least assimilated (gairaigo and gaikokugo), in the centre, the native lexemes (Yamato). Sino-Japanese lexemes appear in intermediate position. In this model, the maximum set of lexical constraints holds in the core lexical domain, occupied by lexical items traditionally labelled as Yamato. It and Mester (1995b) propose a slightly different implementation of this view. They postulate that all lexical items obey the same markedness constraints but that there exist different versions of stratum-specific faithfulness constraints. The constraints which demands faithfulness for Yamato words are ranked lower than those demanding faithfulness for kango, which in turn are lower than those demanding faithfulness to gairaigo. So as the peripheral zone of the lexicon is approached, many of the constraints cease to hold (are turned off) or are weakened in various ways. However, such a concentric conception of the lexicon organization does not solve all the problems, whatever the type of implementation which is adopted (cophonology approach or the indexed faithfulness approach). As It and Mester observe, it is not possible to impose a total ordering on vocabulary strata because the domain of application of constraints is not continuous, since a constraint might hold for two strata which are separated by another (p. 24 ) stratum. There exist certain constraints which apply to more peripheral members and not to those located at the
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Introduction
centre, for instance the constraint governing the length of Sino-Japanese words: they are one or two mora long, whereas Yamato words, on the one hand, and Western loans, on the other hand, can be longer than two moras. One of the issue currently debated in recent papers dealing with lexical classes in OT works is whether one of them should be considered as more marked than the others, or unmarked (in the OT sense, which is also, mutatis mutandis, the structuralist sense). For instance, It and Mester (1995a, b) argue that wago are the most unmarked items, following the traditionally implicit assumption of Japanese linguistics, while Kawahara et al. (2003), on the contrary, claim that it is the Sino-Japanese stratum which is the most unmarked. Yet, it seems that none of the strata should be regarded as more marked or unmarked with respect to others. Each stratum should be seen as a coherent class, independently and absolutely defined, and associated with a set of associated formal and pragmatic (usage) properties such as the ones mentioned in this chapter. The real question is whether a given lexical item is marked with regard to the features that prototypically characterize the stratum it belongs to etymologically. For instance, as a kango,haka (in hakase ## doctor) is marked because it is bimoraic and does not end with i or u, tanpopo dandelion is marked as a Yamato lexeme because it contains an unvoiced stop after the mora nasal, and so on.
Notes:
(1) For instance, it is somewhat surprising that a 520-page book entitled The Handbook of Japanese Linguistics, recently published by Blackwell, includes only about 10% of Japanese titles in its abundant list of references. (2) As we will see in Chapter 6, syllabary is not a proper term, since kana denote moras rather than syllables. However, for the sake of convenience, I will use the term syllabary to refer to katakana and hiragana thoughout this book. (3) The basic and most important prosodic unit of Japanese is the mora. The mora corresponds to one phonological beat. For instance, sequences such as okinawa [okinawa] Okinawa, toukyou [tokjo] Tky, konpon [kompoN] basis, and gakkari [akkai] disappointed all count as four beats, i.e. four moras, according to native speakers intuitions. See Chapter 6 for an indepth presentation of the prosodic components of Japanese, and a discussion on the structure and nature of the mora.
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Introduction
(4) The terms fifty sounds refers to the theoretical number of letters given the number of rows and lines (5 x 10). It was coined before the invention of the kana # /N/, which was added later on. The table actually never contained more than 47 or 48 items. (5) An average adult Japanese speaker is exposed to about 4000 characters in his or her daily life. It has to be noted however that he or she does not necessarily know all the meanings or readings of a given character. Word-processing software contains between 6000 and 7000 characters, in conformity with the set of lists approved by the computer industry, which has agreed on a standard encoding for Japanese, the JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard). The most complete character dictionary in Japan, the Daikanwa Jiten ##### (published by Taishkan) contains about 50,000 characters. (6) A number of recent Japanese researchers sometimes use the term onomatope ##### {onomatope} (from French) as a cover term for the mimetic class of words. However, since onomatope originally refers only to words which are supposed to imitate a sound of the extra-linguistic world, the terms mimetic or ideophone seem more appropriate in the case of Japanese, because a large number of Japanese mimetic words are not sound imitation but rather express feelings, sensations, attitudes, visual states, and so on in an iconic manner. (7) However, a number of mimetic words based on Chinese or Western lexemes exist, for instance gou-gou ## with a rumbling sound (ch.), chikutaku {tic tac}, or rabu-rabu {love love} in love. (8) Of course, there exist Yamato words which have been created after the fifth century, and even very recently. They are nearly always the result of compounding, for instance odakagata oxytonic, or kakitome registered mail. (9) The status of final i and u in Sino-Japanese bimoraic morphemes will be addressed in section 2.4.
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Introduction
Page 30 of 30
Introduction

Laurence Labrune
Vowels
Laurence Labrune
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.003.0002

Chapter 2 presents the five vowels /a, i, u, e, o/ and their corresponding long vowels in Tky Japanese, with a look at other modern dialectal systems and the ancient Kyto language. The special status of the high vowels /i/ and /u/, which undergo frequent elisions or insertions, and are the locus of devoicing, a phenomenon of major relevance in the phonology of Japanese, is discussed in detail. This chapter also provides a detailed description of prosodic lengthening and shortening, and proposes a discussion and analysis on the status of the so-called diphthongs.
Keywords: prosodic shortening, prosodic lengthening, devoicing, high vowels, elision, insertion, Japanese vowels
2.1 The Vowels of Standard Japanese: Outline of the System And General Characteristics
Standard Japanese has the following five vowels:
i u e o [i] front high unrounded vowel back high unrounded vowel front mid unrounded vowel back mid rounded vowel
[] [e] [o]
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Vowels
[a]
low central vowel
The distinction between short and long vowels is relevant: [i] vs. [i], [e] vs. [e], [] vs. [], [o] vs. [o], [a] vs. [a] (see section 2.7). There is no significant quality difference between the short and long members of a pair. Generally, the articulation of Japanese vowels is rather clear, but not very tense. Japanese /i/, /e/, and /o/ are slightly less tense than the corresponding cardinal vowels. /o/ is the most rounded and most posterior of all Japanese vowels. /u/ is generally rather unrounded, especially in Tky Japanese. Its phonetic quality varies between [], [], [], and []. However, roundedness is at least phonologically present, since the fricative /h/ is always bilabial ([]) before /u/, while it is not before /a/, /o/, /i/, and /e/. This would be unexplainable if /u/ did not contain a certain degree of phonological labiality, that is, of roundedness. One encounters a centralized allophone [] after / s/, /t/, /z/, and after the palatalized consonants (Cy), for example in the word gyuunyuu milk [gjnj]. The low vowel /a/ is generally central, sometimes even slightly posterior ([a]) after velar consonants but lip-rounding is not very marked.1 The five vowels of this system can be classified, from the most open to closest, in the following order: a # o# e # u # i (Mabuchi, 1971) or, from longest to shortest: a # e # o # i # u (Shimizu Han, 1962). According to Shimizu Han (1962), /a/ is almost 1.5 times longer than /u/. We will see further in section 2.4 that /i/ (p. 26 ) and /u/ display a number of remarkable properties due to their closeness and brevity. From the point of view of general linguistics, Japanese thus displays a rather classical triangular vowel system with five elements, the commonest system among the languages of the world (Maddieson, 1984), except for the presence of the unrounded back high vowel []. (1) Vowel system of Japanese
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Vowels
The three distinctive features [high], [low], and [front] are sufficient to characterize this system:
i u e o a high low front + + + + +
2.2 Old And Dialectal Vowel Systems

According to Hashimoto Sh. (1928), Archaic Japaneseuntil the beginning of the ninth century approximatelyhad an eight-vowel system whose elements can be denoted, for want of anything better, as i1, i2, u, e1, e2, o1, o2, a. The transcription i, , u, e, , o, , a is also commonly used in Japanese historical linguistics. The vowels , , and are called otsu, or type A, vowels (otsu boin ###) in opposition to the k, type B, vowels (k boin ###). The exact number as well as the phonetic quality of these vowels constitute one of the most debated issues of Japanese historical phonology (in addition to works by Hashimoto Shinkichi, see also Arisaka, 1955, no, 1980, Morishige, 1975, Matsumoto, 1975, Hattori, 1976, among others, and Yasuda, 1982, for a review of the various assumptions). At the turn of the seventeenth century, the Japanese language as described by the Iberian missionaries was characterized by the existence of a distinction between a close-mid o and an open-mid o, both long, /o/ and //, transcribed as and in the roman alphabet texts of the time. These two vowels are termed respectively gon (##) and kaion (##). The former was pronounced more or less like present-day long o [o] and corresponded to the pronunciation of (p. 27 ) sequences transcribed as (C)ou, (C)eu (ou # ##kou ###sou ###eu ###keu ###seu ##, and so on), while the latter [] corresponded to the realization of sequences originally comprising the written group (C)au (au ###kau ##, etc.), all very frequent in kango. A number of modern dialects have maintained this opposition, which has disappeared in Standard Japanese where both vowels are now realized with a long o ( [o]). Three-vowel systems (for instance /i, u, a/ in the Ryky dialect of Yonaguni, Okinawa prefecture), four-vowel systems (/i, u, o, a/, Miyakejima dialect, Tky prefecture, or /i, , u, a/, Amami dialect, Kagoshima prefecture), sixvowel systems (/i, u, e, o, , a, Sendai), seven-vowel systems (/i, u, e, o, , , a/, North of Honsh and Niigata area), and up to eight-vowel systems (/
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Vowels
i, y, u, e, , o, , a/, in which //, /y/, and // are phonetically long, Nbi dialect, Aichi prefecture) have been reported. These systems are generally regarded as representative of the relatively recent innovations starting from the five-vowel triangular system /i, u, e, o, a/ presented above, rather than as direct descendants of the archaic system with eight vowels. Additional phonemes in the dialectal systems having more than five vowels generally result from the coalescence of two simple vowels: for example, in Aichi Japanese, /y/ ([y]) results historically from /ui/, // [] from /oi/, and // ({]) from /ai/.
2.3 Distributional Characteristics of /e/

The vowel /e/ stands out from the other Japanese vowels by its special distribution in Yamato and mimetic words. In morphemes longer than one mora, it seldom occurs in the initial, and it never appears twice in a root. Thus forms such as *meni or *kaseme are ill-formed as mono-morphemic Yamato words. This suggests that /e/ was probably absent in the protosystem. Besides, a number of modern words ending in /e/ display an alternating, non-independent form in /a/, for instance ame rain occurs as ama- in ama-do (rain + door) shutter, sake alcohol, as saka- in sakagura (alcohol, sake + cellar) sake cellar. The same type of alternation occurs, but to a lesser extent, between /i/ and /o/: ki tree but ko-kage shade of the trees. Such alternations are no longer productive in the modern language. /e/ is also the least frequent of all the five Japanese vowels (see section 2.9). In mimetic words, /e/ generally brings a negative connotation, as in herahera in a meaningless manner or beta-beta sticky. Another characteristic of /e/ is that it cannot be palatalized, i.e. preceded by the semi-consonant y (see section 3.11) in the Yamato and Sino-Japanese strata. The moras kye,mye,hye, etc. do not exist and they are also rare in gairaigo. The long version of /e/ also deserves a number of remarks, which will be made further in section 2.7.1. We will also see in section 2.6. that /e/ is, of all the Japanese vowels, the least likely to undergo devoicing.
(p. 28 )
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Vowels
2.4 Phonological Status of /i/ And /u/

The high vowels /i/ and /u/ are characterized by a number of remarkable properties. First, they have devoiced allophones in certain contexts, for example hiku [Cik] to draw, desu [des], or even sometimes [des] or [des] (Copula). This is a phenomenon of major importance for the phonetics and phonology of Japanese, which also concerns the other vowels but to a lesser extent. It will be discussed in more detail in section 2.6. In addition, the presence of the vowels /i/ and /u/ modifies in a significant way the phonetic realization of the consonants /t/, /d/, /h/, /s/ and /z/ which occur before them. This leads to the neutralization of a number of phonological oppositions which will be considered in Chapter 3 devoted to the description of the consonant system. It is necessary also to mention the very frequent cases of neutralization between /i/ and /u/ after /s/ and /z/ (sh and j) in Tky Japanese, even though they are seldom reflected in the spelling: for example shujutsu /syuzyutu/ surgical operation is often realized as shijitsu /sizitu/, shinjuku as shinjiku Shinjuku (a district of Tky), geshuku as geshiku pension, hotel. This phenomenon, called chokuonka (?##?#), seems to occur particularly frequently before the moras ku,tsu, and ju. It also appears in Western loans in a larger variety of contexts: rejume /rezyume/ {rsum} may become rejime. This confusion dates back at least one century, since it is already mentioned by Aston (1904). Lastly, /u/ and /i/ function as the epenthetic vowels par excellence. They are also the most likely to undergo deletion under certain conditions. These two aspects, which also concern, though to a lesser degree, the other vocalic segments, will be the topic of the following section.
2.5 Vowel Insertions And Deletions

Insertion and deletion of vowels are extremely frequent in Japanese, but the data are various and complex. We shall consider here the issue of vowel epenthesis occurring in Western loans, for example resutoran {restaurant}, as well as the alternations between CV and /Q/ triggered by vowel deletion in some Sino-Japanese morphemes containing an etymologically epenthetic vowel, as in ## (p. 29 ) gakusei student / ## gakki school term, two Sino-Japanese words which both start with the morpheme gak(u) study. The lexemes belonging to the Western stratum contain many epenthetic vowels. The goal of such epentheses is obviously to get surface forms which
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conform to the prosodic structure of Japanese, and in particular to avoid word final consonants and illicit consonant clusters. In the first loans from European languages, the quality of an epenthetic vowel was often obtained by copying that of a surrounding vowel: for example garasu # {glas} (Dutch) glass, kirishitan # {cristo} (Portuguese) Christian, gorofukuren # {grof grein} (Dutch) camlet, paatere (accent unknown) # {pater} (Latin) priest. In Modern Japanese, it is mainly /u/ which is used, but the vowel / i/ is also encountered after sh and ch and occasionally after k, as well as / o/ after t and d: huransu France {France}, sukasshu squash {squash}, sutoraiki strike {strike}, sutoraiku strike (in base ball) {strike}, shichuu stew {stew}, or tekisuto textbook {text}. At the level of phonetic realization, some of these vowels can undergo drastic reduction, and even become almost inaudible, including, quite unexpectedly, in contexts which are not normally devoicing contexts. This is the case, for instance, of /u/ following /r/ in amusuterudamu {Amsterdam}. One of the problems raised by these vowels to phonological theory is the following: although phonetically present, they are sometimesbut not always (hence the problem)invisible at the phonological level (Kubozono, 1996, 2001b, 2006b). For example, whereas four-mora long Western loans ending with a -CVCV sequence are normally atonic (e.g. arizona {Arizona}), those ending with an epenthetic /u/ behave differently, displaying the tonic pattern, with penultimate or initial accent. Thus words having a (C)VCVCVCV pattern like sutoresu {stress} or adoresu {address}, with final epenthetic u, are tonic, as are words with a (C)VCVCVC pattern ending with the mora nasal, such as guratan {gratin} and rimujin {limousine}. It looks like the final vowel of sutoresu and adoresu was absent at the phonological level, and that these words had a (C)VCVCVC structure, like guratan and rimujin. In Chapter 6, we shall see that the moras containing such epenthetic vowels must be considered as belonging to the set of what I call deficient moras. It also happens that an accent which is expected to fall on a vowel of epenthetic origin is shifted one mora leftward: we thus have amusuterudamu {Amsterdam} instead of *amusuterudamu, which would be expected by application of the antepenultimate accent rule (see section 7.2.4), or andesu-kai club of the Andes instead of *andesu-kai, which is the form in conformity with the general rule of compound accentuation. The exact characterization of these vowels thus poses very serious problems to current phonological theories, which still await a proper solution.
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In the Sino-Japanese stratum, non-etymological /i/ and /u/ occur after /t/ and /k/, at the end of bimoraic morphemes, as stated before in section 1.6.2, and as the examples below illustrate.2 (2) Non-etymological /i/ and /u/ in Sino-Japanese morphemes
(p. 30 ) Old Chinese Japanese
# *kiet # *but # *tok # *uk
/ kiti/, / kitu/ / butu/ / tiku/ / iki/, / yoku/
kichi, kitsu butsu chiku iki, yoku
good fortune Buddha bamboo territory
In almost all cases, the choice of the vowel depends on the context (It and Mester, 1996; Tateishi, 1990). After /t/, /u/ is normally used (for example # / butu/ butsu Buddha, # /setu/ setsu to touch, # /katu/ katsu energy). It is the same after /k/ (# /tiku/ chiku bamboo, # gaku study, # huku good fortune), except when the Sino-Japanese morpheme in question contains the front vowel /e/ in its first mora, in which case /i/ is selected after k: # teki enemy, # reki passing of time. The only context in which non-predictable variation between /i/ and /u/ occurs is that of Sino-Japanese morphemes which may contain an /i/ in the first mora: kichi or kitsu (/kiti/ or /kitu/) for # good fortune, iki or yoku for # territory. These differences between the two forms of a pair are generally explained by the fact that the two phonetic forms were borrowed at different historical periods. In the modern language, such final i and u do not appear before a voiceless consonant when the morpheme is used in compounding. The preceding consonant k or t remains as the first part of a geminate (/Q/). In the case of / k/, the phenomenon occurs only before another /k/ (3a) whereas it may occur before all voiceless consonants in the case of /t/ (3b). (3) CV / Q alternation in Sino-Japanese a.
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##
gaku + kai gaku + sei
# gakkai # gakusei / *gassei # issatsu / iQsatu/ # ikkai /iQkai/
congress
##
student
b.
##
ichi / iti/ + satsu / satu/ ichi / iti/ + kai / kai/ ichi / iti/ + tou / toR/ ichi / iti/ + hon / hoN/
one book
##
once
##
# ittou / iQtoR/ # ippon3 /iQpoN/
first class
##
one long object
(p. 31 )
The first issue to consider is whether these non-etymological vowels must, in synchrony, be considered as epenthetic or not. The traditional position of Japanese linguists and philologists is that they should not: /i/ and /u/ are regarded as belonging to the underlying lexical form of the Sino-Japanese morpheme. However, It and Mester (1996) defend an opposite and radical point of view. They argue that the final V which appears after t and k in bimoraic Sino-Japanese stems should be regarded as epenthetic even in contemporary Japanese. Their principal argument rests on the observation that the quality of the second vowel of the Sino-Japanese morphemes is almost always predictable. However, not only does this line of analysis fail to explain alternations of the kichi / kitsu type, which is totally non-predictable, but it also neglects the fact
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that a great number of these morphemes carry a final accent at the lexical level, for example jitsu # truth (see also section 7.2.3 about this type of word), a fact which is difficult to account for theoretically, since one hardly sees how a segment which is absent at the underlying level could receive an accent, especially in consideration of the fact that epenthetic vowels are known to resist accent attribution, in Japanese as well as in other languages. Kubozono (2001b) discusses another argument which could adduce evidence for the absence of these vowels at the phonological level. He considers that the morphemes at stake sometimes behave in an exceptional way, as if they had a CVC structure (their final vowel would thus be, according to Kubozono, invisible) in compound words, because they involve accent shift to the antepenultimate mora, that is, on the last mora of the first component, instead of following the rule which stipulates, according to Kubozonos theoretical interpretation (see section 7.3.1), that a non-final lexical accent is preserved in the second component of a compound. For example the compound yoyaku + seki (reservation + seat) is accented as yoyakuseki ### reserved seat, with accent shift, rather than *yoyaku-seki in which the accent would be kept on the initial mora of the second member. However, it seems simpler and more straightforward to treat the vowelfinal allomorphs as basic, since, as pointed out by Vance (1987), it is not automatically recoverable from the Q-final allomorph. For instance, the form /riQ/ can correspond to /ritu/ # to stand, /riki/ # strength, or /riku/ # land. In addition, as pointed out by Tanaka and Yamane (2000), apart from the specific case mentioned by Kubozono (2001b) and cited above, vowels of epenthetic origin in Sino-Japanese morphemes behave in all other cases like underlying vowels rather than like epenthetic ones. This issue nevertheless requires further consideration, but it appears preferable for the moment to consider that, in Modern Japanese, final /i/ and /u/ in words such as kichi # / kitsu # or gaku # belong to the underlying representation of bimoric SinoJapanese morphemes of the shape CVCV, and that they may be deleted under certain conditions (see also McCawley 1968:110ff., Vance 1987:158ff., Kurisu 2000 and (p. 32 ) Nasu1996, among others for discussions and theoretical treatments of this phenomenon in addition to the references cited above). This by no means prevents us from recognizing the special status of the segments /i/ and /u/ themselves, or of the prosodic units (moras) that contain them, as I shall propose in Chapter 6. Besides, the vowels /i/ and /u/, be they epenthetic or not, display several other peculiarities in Japanese. Another problematic issue is that of the non-systematic application of the CV Q process. Otaka (2009) argues that Sino-Japanese morphemes of
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the shape CVCV should be categorized in three classes with respect to the CV / Q alternation: (a) the morphemes which always generate a geminate consonant regardless of the onset consonant of the second morpheme, unless it is voiced, for instance ichi /iti/ # one, jitsu /zitu/ # real, juu /zyuu/ # ten; (b) the morphemes that generate a geminate consonant when the onset consonant of the second mora is identical to the onset consonant of the first mora of the second morpheme and they are both voiceless, for instance soku /soku/ # instant, seki /seki/ # red; (c) the morphemes that do not generate a geminate consonant, regardless of the phonological environment, such as shuku /syuku/ # inn, shichi /siti/ # seven. Vance (1987:159) observes that the CV / Q alternation does not display the same degree of regularity. While the tsu -# Q and ku -# Q processes are regular or almost automatic, chi -# Q is inconsistent and ki -# Q clearly irregular. Otaka (2009) also invokes frequency effects to account for the ku / Q alternation as observed for instance with kaku # each. Kaku # + koku # country, which is extremely frequent, is always geminated (kakkoku or kakkoku ## each country) while kaku # + ko # door, which is seldom used, is less often so (kakko or kakuko ## each home both coexist). There also exists at least one minimal pair where the presence or absence of gemination may be distinctive: roku # six + hou # law with a geminate (roppou / roppou ##) means the Compendium of Law while rokuhou ##, without gemination means six kinds of laws. Note that roppou and rokuhou are both made up of the same morphemes. In addition to /u/ and /i/ deletions just discussed, which are listed in dictionaries and completely lexicalized, there exist vocalic deletions rarely mentioned but which are just as frequent and interesting. A word such as gaku + sei # gakusei ## student, referred to above, is frequently realized with an elision of /u/, i.e. [gakse] rather than [gakse]. The vowel deletion in gakusei [gakse] isquite rightlyregarded as the result of vowel devoicing, whereas that of gakkai (gaku + kai) congress is not. Admittedly, the fall of /u/ seems more systematic in gakkai than it is in gakuseieven if that remains to be demonstrated in spontaneous speech for a dialect like Tky Japanese in which vowel devoicing is particularly frequent. The point is, however, how gaksei should be analysed with respect to gakkai. Are we dealing, in both cases, with the same (p. 33 ) phenomenon, the only difference being that the vocalic deletion in gakkai is lexicalized, recognized by dictionaries, and reflected in the kana spelling, whereas that of gaksei is not? Or does one have to consider that two distinct processes are operating? The answer to this question is likely to have important consequences for the
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conception and definition of the basic rhythmic unit of Japanese. Indeed, a form such as gaksei contains a phonetically closed syllable, gak, with a coda which is NOT the first part of a geminate, a structure that would be quite novel in Japanese. Moreover, note that in gaksei, the deletion of the vowel cannot be transcribed in Japanese writing. Indeed, in their actual state, the kana offer no possibility of writing a consonant that is not followed by a vowel, with the exception of the mora nasal and the first part of a geminate. According to M. Beckman (1996), the deletion of /i/ in shokikan ### secretary (/syoki/ + /kan/) does not yield a homophone for shokkan # # tactile organ (/syoku/ + /kan/), because the first /k/ of shokikan is still released. However, it remains to be proved that such a difference exists, and that, if it does, it is indeed perceptible at the auditory level. But in any case, these two words being accentually different, they could not be completely homophonous. The problem is particularly acute because the deletion of a high vowel is not so systematic and the factors which condition it are not completely identified. Doublets like tekikaku / tekkaku ## exact, kakukai / kakkai ## the sum world, sankakukei / sankakkei ### triangle, sakkyokuka / sakkyokka ### music composer, or shougakukin / shougakkin ## # scholarship, grant, seem to be quite frequent. Moreover, intra and interspeaker variation is extremely widespread. The degree of lexicalization of the compound and its morphological cohesion are also certainly among the determining factors, but they are probably not the only ones. In many respects, this phenomenon is reminiscent of mute e (schwa) in French phonology. Particularly interesting also is the fact that, as noted by many scholars, morphological structure is relevant to account for the surface form when the Sino-Japanese compound contains more than two characters (or stems). As It and Mester (1996), building on Vance (1987), McCawley (1968), Martin (1952), and Kubozono (1993b) put it, contraction (i.e. CV reduction to /Q/) seems to occur at the end of a stem, provided that it is not the end of a word, or, as Vance (1987:161) states, the Q-final allomorph does not appear before the major constituent break in Sino-Japanese words of three or more morphemes. For instance, the character betsu # special, undergoes gemination in besseki ## assigned seat (betsu # + seki #) but not in tokubetsu-seki / tokubetsu-seki ### (tokubetsu ## special + seki #) because the structure of the latter is (XX)(X). One can further observe
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Vowels
that the form *tokubesseki ###, if it was to (p. 34 ) be created, could be interpreted as a specially assigned seat, with a (X)(XX) structure. Another point to be taken into consideration is the fact that the vowel deletions which generate geminations also occur in the Yamato stratum when the speech rate is fast, and that they also concern vowels other than / u/ and /i/. For example kaki-komu to swallow ones meal, or doko ka somewhere are frequently realized kakkomu and dokka. In fact, vowels which occur between two /k/ seem more particularly concerned by such wild deletions, whereas those located in a /tVC/ environment undergo deletion only in highly lexicalized Sino-Japanese morphemes like /iti/ + / kai/ # /iQkai/ ikkai ## once or /iti/ + /sai/ # /iQsai/ issai ## one year old. Actually, some of these cases can also be accounted for by vowel devoicing, a phenomenon which will be presented in the following section. A general study of Japanese gemination based on oral, spontaneous, and authentic data, which would also take into consideration the problem of vowel devoicing, remains to be carried out.
2.6 Vowel Devoicing

Vowel devoicing, unvoicing, or devocalization (boin no museika ######) more particularly characterizes the dialects of Kant and Kysh. The IPA diacritic which transcribes devoicing is , for example [i], []. Devoicing is not a recent phenomenon in Japanese. Collado (1632) already remarks that certain Japanese /i/ and /u/ are sometimes inaudible. Devoicing affects mainly the high vowels /i/ and /u/ in the two following contexts: 1. when the vowel (be it accented or not) is placed between two voiceless consonants (this also includes before the first part of a geminate) (4a); 2. when the vowel is unaccented and placed after a voiceless consonant and before a pause (4b). Devoicing is almost compulsory in Tky Japanese, except when several devoiceable vowels occur in consecutive moras (see below). /a/ and /o/ also undergo devoicing but in a more occasional manner, and under more restrictive conditions. They must, in theory, be unaccented, occur between two voiceless consonants, and, in addition, the same vowel must occur again in the following mora (4c). The vowel /e/ seems to be the
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Vowels
least affected by devoicing (Maekawa, 1993; NHK, 1985; Akamatsu, 1997). However, Amanuma et al. (1989) mention the existence of realizations containing a devoiced /e/ (4d). (p. 35 ) (4) a.
hiku [hik], [ik] to pull
gakusha tsuki pikkoro
[gaka] [tski] [pikkoo]
scholar moon piccolo
b.
ka rasu a ki ke chi
[kaas] [aki] [keti]
crow, raven autumn stinginess
c.
kokoro hokori haka
[kokoo] [hokoi] [hka] [sekkak] [keo]
heart pride tomb on purpose make up
d.
sekkaku keshou
Figures 2.1 and 2.2 present the oscillograms and spectrograms for the word aki autumn, first in a devoicing context (aki kara since the autumn, Figure 2.1) with a devoiced /i/, then in a non-devoicing context (aki demo even
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Vowels
Figure 2.1. Spectrogram and oscillogram of aki kara (with devoiced i) (0.430s)
(p. 36 )
Figure 2.2. Spectrogram and oscillogram of aki demo (no devoicing of i) (0.410s) in autumn, Figure 2.2). The instrumental analysis shows that the devoiced vowel is characterized by the absence of the first formant and of the socalled voice bar that corresponds to the vocal folds vibration in aki kara, contrary to aki demo. Devoicing can lead to total disappearance (deletion) of the vocalic element on the surface (Vance, 1987). This is particularly obvious when the high vowels /i/ and /u/ occur after a fricative, especially in word-final position. For instance shita /sita/ [ta] under, desu [des] Copula, -masu [mas]
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Vowels
(Politeness Auxiliary). However, even in such drastic examples, the mora containing the orphan consonant preserves its prosodic weight and still counts as one rhythmic unit. This is one of the reasons why the vowel cannot be considered to be deleted at the phonological level. Another reason is that the quality of the reduced vowel can be recovered from the articulation of the consonant which precedes it (see below). As Faber and Vance (2000) observe, Japanese voiceless vowels maintain this supralaryngeal integrity regardless of their surface duration, both in influencing the articulatory and acoustic characteristics of adjacent phonological units and in mediating longer-distance effects of one segment on another. When an accented vowel is devoiced, the accent frequently shifts to an adjacent mora, especially in the conservative Tky speech. However, the factors determining the choice of the new accent locationwhen a possibility of choice existsremain unclear. Note that such accent shifts are becoming less frequent because it is now common to maintain an accent on a devoiced vowel. This new trend seems to go back to the second half of the twentieth century, since it is already reported by Akinaga (1967). (5) Accent shift due to devoicing
(p. 37 )
ki te mushiken
ki te mushi ke n sankakukei
to come and
examfree triangle
sankakukei
Tanaka (2001) assumes that, in cases where several adjacent vowels are likely to receive the accent after it has been displaced, the principle is that the high pitch remains within the same foot, as the following examples illustrate (brackets indicate feet boundaries). (6)
(bi) (jutsu) (kan) # (bi) (jutsu) (kan) / *(bi) (jutsu) (kan) museum
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Vowels
(shita) (kuchi) (biru)
(shita) (kuchi) (biru) / *(shita) (kuchi) (biru)
lower lip
This is an interesting assumption, and it would be desirable to gather additional data in order to confirm its validity, since counterexamples, in which the accent moves outside the foot, or does not move at all, are rather easy to find. For instance, Yokotani (1997) takes up the following examples: (tei)(kuu)-(hi)(kou)(ki) ##### low-altitude plane in which the accent may move to the right (tei)(kuu)-(hi)(kou)(ki) (the foot parsing is mine), and (bou)(shi)-(kake) a hat rack in which the accent cannot move. It should be remembered that feet organization is not always evident. It is the case of the mushiken (or mushiken with devoicing of i) example, quoted above, where one hesitates between a structure (mushi)(ken), which builds a foot every two moras, whatever the morphological structure of the word, and a structure (mu)(shi)(ken), which respects the morpho-lexical structure of the word made up of three Chinese characters, ###, and where the unit corresponding to a character corresponds to one foot, whatever its length in moras. In the first case (mushi)(ken) the word appears as an exception, since the accent moves to another foot. In the second case (mu)(shi)(ken),shi is a monomoraic foot so there is no other mora available within the same foot, but the choice of the right mora in preference to the left one for accent shift remains unexplained. Although the phonetic aspects of Japanese vowel devoicing have been extensively studied, the factors which condition it remain difficult to capture. This phenomenon also has important consequences for phonology and morphology. It causes, among others, the creation of heavy consonant clusters at the (p. 38 ) surface level, as well as accent displacements. This is what makes the analysis of vowel devoicing particularly complex and delicate. Moreover, it is worth noting that, as far as the basic description of the facts is concerned, few works agree. Many scholars point out that devoicing cannot occur simultaneously in two adjacent moras, but exceptions exist. For instance bakuchiku firecracker, can yield [bakik] or [bakik] but never *[bakik] (Akamatsu, 1997, the transcription is mine). One can also mention the extreme example tsukutsuku-boushi [kkboi] (a variety of) cicada, which may contain a succession of four devoiced vowels. One also frequently reads in the literature that
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Vowels
devoicing cannot affect the initial vowel of a word when there is no consonant (i.e. a vowel in the #_ position), but here also exceptions can be found, for example ikiru [i#kir] to live (Imada, 1981:82). In addition to those already mentioned, factors likely to favour vowel devoicing, and which might be relevant in cases where several consecutive devoiceable vowels occur, are: speech tempo; absence of accent on the devoiceable vowel; position in the word (vowels occurring in the initial mora seem more easily devoiced, except when they are onsetless); presence of / s/ before the vowel; presence of [k] especially, but also of [t], [s], and [], after the vowel; presence of [a] in the following mora (Yoshida N., 2002). Interestingly, these factors do not necessarily cumulate. A vowel placed after [s] easily gets devoiced, just as a vowel placed before [s] does, but a vowel placed between two [s]s remains generally voiced, even though its loss would create a succession of two ss similar to a geminate at the surface level, a sequence which is acceptable in Japanese. On the other hand, all things being equal, accented vowels occurring in a word-internal mora, those preceding a morphemic boundary (Kondo, 1997; Vance, 1992, quoted by Tsuchida, 2001), those followed by /h/ (under its allophonic forms [], [], or [h]), are more resistant to devoicing. Lastly, as mentioned just above, devoicing of vowels surrounded by two /s/s is rare (Yoshida N., 2002). The interaction of these various parameters is particularly delicate to model. Tsuchida (2001) presents an attempt to analyse vowel devoicing within the framework of Optimality Theory, but she only takes into account a small number of the factors just mentioned. High vowel devoicing is a rather common phenomenon across languages (see for example the case of Canadian French). It is basically due to the fact that /i/ and /u/ are less sonorous and generally shorter than the other vowels, and also, as Kamiyama Takeki (p.c.) points out, to aerodynamic and articulatory factors (narrower constriction causing a higher intra-oral pressure, thus a lower trans-glottal pressure, a lower trans-glottal airflow resulting in vocal fold vibration harder to realize). Moreover, the devoicing of /i/ and /u/ is no doubt favoured in Japanese by the fact that a number of consonants possess specific allophones before high vowels. These allophones are maintained even when the vowel is (p. 39 ) totally deleted, so that it is generally possible to recover the quality of the vowel on the basis of the consonantal allophone which precedes it even if the vowel is deleted (for a study of how allophones are processed and recognized, see Ogasawara and Warner, 2009). Thus in the reduced form [ki] tsuki moon, the presence of
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Vowels
the affricate allophone [ts] of the /t/ consonant is revealing of the underlying presence of /u/, the only vowel which triggers the affricate realization of the phoneme /t/. The study by Beckman and Shoji (1984) shows that the deleted vowels /i/ and /u/ can colour the spectrum of the fricative [] in the moras shi /si/ and shu /syu/, thus allowing the vowels to be recovered. The same effect probably occurs after other consonants, and especially after the affricate ch [t]. Because of this, it seems reasonable to assume that the vowel is not phonologically deleted. Finally, recall that vowel devoicing, because it may involve complete disappearance of the vocalic segment at the surface level, entertains close and complex relations with the phenomenon of consonant gemination, as seen in section 2.5. More generally, in colloquial Japanese, devoicing also creates phonotactic sequences that are deemed to be illicit because they contain a sequence of two consonants C1C2 (where C1 is neither nasal nor homorganic with C2), including word-initially. Let us mention again examples such as desu [des] CVC and shita [ta] CCV. Kondo (2000) rightly observes that, because of the generalization of vowel devoicing, Japanese syllable structure may have become more flexible and is now in the process of changing. Kondo (2003) also argues that consecutive devoicing is prevented because it would create sequences of more than two consonants, which would upset speech rhythm. The status and phonological representation of devoiced vowels will be addressed again in Chapter 6 which deals with prosodic constituents. It will be argued that prosodic units which comprise a devoiced vowel can be regarded as structurally defective.
2.7 Vowel Length

Vowel length is distinctive in Japanese. Compare: ku district / kuu void, obasan aunt / obaasan grandmother, hiru leech / hiiru heel, tokai city / toukai destruction, kegen dubious / keigen4 (realized as [kege]) reduction. A long vowel is supposed to last twice as long as a short vowel. However, instrumental analyses show that the ratio between a long and a short vowel is closer to 1:2.5 or even 1:3 (Shimizu Han 1962: 65). As Akamatsu (1997) observes, the point is that native speakers intend (or are convinced) to pronounce a succession of two isochronous identical vowels when they articulate a long vowel, and that native listeners perceive them as such.
(p. 40 ) Page 18 of 42
Vowels
On the phonological level, a long vowel equals two rhythmic units, i.e. two moras, whereas a short vowel is worth only one. The prosodic weight of the sequence kou [ko] is thus phonemically equivalent to that of the sequences kon or koto, that is, twice that of ko. Except for the particular case of the long /e/ in some of its possible dialectal realizations (as [ei]), there does not exist any significant quality difference between a short and a long vowel. Unlike other languages where length is correlated with quality differences, only duration is distinctive in Japanese.
2.7.1 The case of long e

The case of long e calls for some observations. The long e which is heard in Sino-Japanese words like sensei [sense] professor or reigi [egi] courtesy goes back to a sequence e + i realized as [e] in normal speech. In a more formal, conservative register, for example in the speech of certain actors or singers, the pronunciation [ei] is frequent. It is also usual in certain dialects, in particular in the Kysh area. One should note that long e is written as ei in hiragana (##). This is probably why, under the hypercorrective influence of the writing, the pronunciation of long e as [ei] is now spreading among some speakers of the standard language. It seems reasonable to consider the phonetic realization [e] as the output of an intrinsically long vowel (see section 2.7.3, for the precise definition of what is an intrinsically long vowel), and [ei] as a sequence of two distinct vowels, /ei/ (see section 2.8 below). In some words of the native Yamato lexicon, for example oneesan older sister, as well as in recent loans like meekaa maker {maker}, long e always remains [e]. In such words, the vowel is a true long vowel (intrinsic long vowel) in the sense defined below. The same applies in principle to long es occurring in Yamato words, which result historically from the loss of an intervocalic consonant, even though such long es are transcribed as ei in kana, for example ei ## from ehi ray (fish), karei ######from karehi plaice, mei ## (#) from mehi niece. However, one will also frequently encounter the pronunciations [ei], [kaei], and [mei]. Orthoepic recommendations concerning this type of words are vague and even sometimes contradictory. In cases where there exists a morphological boundary between e and i, the sequence is pronounced as [ei] in theory, not [e]. Meiro [meo] # # labyrinth is segmentally distinct from meiro [meio] (me+iro) ## eye
(p. 41 ) Page 19 of 42
Vowels
colour. However, Amanuma et al. (1989) mention a number of exceptions, like keito wool thread (ke+ito) ##, realized as [keito] or [keto], keiro hair colour, (ke+iro) ## realized as [keo] or [keio]. I have also heard [keer] to admit for uke-ireru (uke+ireru). Lastly, note that a long e, realized as [e] (or []) can appear in colloquial male language in place of ai, ae, and oi. One will thus hear nee for nai there is not, omee for omae you, or sugee for sugoi terrible.
2.7.2 Origin And Distribution of Long Vowels Depending On the Lexical Strata
The distribution and frequency of the long vowels vary considerably depending on the lexical strata. Whereas each of the five long vowels occurs abundantly in Western loans, for example paatii {party} party, kouto {coat} coat, beesu {base} base, konpyuutaa {computer} computer, only uu,ou, and ee (ei) exist in Sino-Japanese, with the exception of a couple of rare cases of a long i resulting from an irregular evolution (examples (7c) below). The case of long a [a] in Yamato words requires specific comment in spite of its scarcity. Long as surface as the result of prosodic lengthening (a process that we will examine in section 2.7.5) or at morpheme boundaries as in the word baai ## case. Baai is originally a Yamato compound which is generally realized as [bawai], or even [bajai], with an epenthetic glide. A long a can also result from the opposite process, that is the disappearance of the semi-consonant /w/ in an original awa sequence, as in mawaru # maaru to turn (see section 3.12) but this type of change is not reflected in the orthography and is considered to belong to a colloquial register.5 According to Takayama T. (2003), bawai, which comes from baai, must be analysed as a hypercorrection, on the model of maaru # mawaru. Hamada (1986), who provides a very complete picture of the historical development of long vowels in Japanese, also mentions a number of cases in which aa or aCa sequences have evolved into a long o (for example mou # *(i)maa # ima already or houki / houki # hawaki # hahaki broom), which would confirm the (p. 42 ) existence of a constraint prohibiting long as in Japanese. Actually, there seems to be no example of a long a historically resulting from consonant loss in Yamato words. In the Sino-Japanese stratum, lengthening generally represents the evolution of an Old Chinese final nasal (7a) or plosive (7b), which have turned
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Vowels
into diphthongal sequences at the stage of Middle Japanese: -au,-eu,-iu, and -ou. In this stratum, long as do not exist and long is are rare. But lengthening in Sino-Japanese morphemes may sometimes proceed from a specifically Japanese development which targets a single short vowel or a vowel followed by an element on the nature of which reconstructions are dubious (7c). Such cases always resort to readings known as kan'yon ### usage readings (see section 1.6.2). (7) Long vowels in Sino-Japanese words (reconstructions of the Old Chinese forms are from Td, 1996, and Karlgren, 1957, as cited by Kano, 1998)
Modern Jp. (# Old Jp.) Old Chinese
(Td) (Karlgren)
a.
# # #
kuu sou mei
(# kuu) (# sau) (# mei) (# hahu # papu) (# hyau # pyaku) (# sihu # sipu) (# heu) (# suu)
*ku *sia *mie
*kung *siang *ming
void thought name
b.
hou
*p#up
*piwp
law
hyou
*pk
*pk
beat
shuu
*dip
*dzip
study, learn surface
hyou
*p#g
*piog
c.
suu
*sug
*sliu
number
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Vowels
# #
huu shii
(# huu) (# shi) in # # shiiji (# shi) in # # shiika (# ro) in # # hirou
*p#uag *sied
*piwo *sid
man four (in the expression four seasons) poetry (in the expression Chinese and Japanese poetry) reception
shii
*thig
*ig
rou
*glag
*glg
In Yamato words long vowels are less common. Archaic Japanese had neither long vowels nor diphthongs. The long vowels which occur at the phonetic level in Modern Yamato words result from the following three processes: (i) the loss of an intervocalic consonant (this phenomenon is known as onbin ##, see also section 5.4), yielding a succession of two consecutive vowels which have then turned into a long vowel (8a); (ii) the fortuitous juxtaposition of two vowels (p. 43 ) across a compound word boundary (8b); (iii) prosodic lengthening, the mechanism by which an etymologically short vowel is lengthened in certain cases (8c). (8) Long vowels in Yamato words a. Long vowel resulting from consonant loss (with possible coalescence)
## ## shirohito # shirouto kinohu # kinou
amateur yesterday
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Vowels
# ##
ahugi # augi # ougi wakahito # wakauto # wakoudo sumahi # sumou kiuri # kyuuri karihito # kariudo # karyuudo kehu # keu # kyou kamibe # kaube # koube ikamu # ikau # ikou arigataku # arigatau # arigatou ohoki # ooki(i) / ouki(i) towo # too / tou mochiwiru # mochiiru nihigata # niigata yasashiki # yasashii suhu # suu
fan youngster
## ## ##
sum cucumber hunter
## ##
today Kbe
### #####
let us go! thank you
##(#)
big
# ### ## ### ##
ten to use Niigata gentle to smoke, to inhale

Vowels
Page 23 of 42
###
kikite # kiite
b. Sequence of two identical vowels at compound word internal boundary

# mizu+umi # mizuumi sato+oya # satooya
to hear and
lake (water + sea) foster parent (village + parent) winged ant (wing + ant)
##
##
ha+ari # haari
c. Long vowels resulting from prosodic lengthening (see also section 2.7.5)
#### oneesan hi i huu mii Ma a-chan ka a-dou (kaa-dou) ######## ##### ##
older sister one, two, three little Masaki (diminutive) Tuesday and Saturday
Some of the long vowels in the Yamato and Sino-Japanese examples above represent special developments due to the coalescence (or fusion) of two vowels of different quality which triggered compensatory lengthening between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Some of these evolutions, for example karihito # kariudo / karyuudo, do not seem strongly motivated from an articulatory standpoint, while others are more commonplace from the cross-linguistic (p. 44 ) point of view. The most frequent and systematic coalescences are summed up in (9), with approximate dates: (9) Long vowels resulting from compensatory lengthening
eu [e] # you [jo] # ou [o] (c. 1200 1300) (c. 1200 1300)
Vowels
ou
[o]
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iu
[i]
# yuu [j] # ou [o] # ee [e]
(c. 1400 1500) (c. 1700 1800) (c. 1900)
au
[a]
ei
[ei]
Note, in the examples above, that palatalization developed when the first part of the diphthong was one of the front vowels /i/ or /e/ followed by /u/. Palatalization has also occurred in a number of older Western loans, for instance youroppa Europe, from Portuguese {Europa}, where the sequence eu [e] has undergone the regular transformation you [jo]. The phonetic evolution of this word shows in addition that the change eu # you, initiated at the stage of Old Japanese, extended over several centuries, and at least until 1500, when the first Westerners from Portugalwho introduced the word Europareached Japan. The modern writing in hiragana has maintained some of these old diphthongs (in particular ou and ei) in the current kana script, while the others have vanished without leaving any orthographic trace in the contemporary language. Moreover, as already mentioned, the evolution ei # ee, the most recent one, is not yet realized by all speakers and not reflected in the writing.
2.7.3 Phonological Status And Representation of Long Vowels: Intrinsically Long Vowels Vs. Double Vowels
For the linguist Kindaichi Haruhiko, as for a majority of Japanese phonologists, the second part of a long vowel in words such as imouto younger sister or kuukou airport is identified as a special segment denoted as /~/ or /R/ (sometimes also /H/) in phonemic transcription, and as [] in phonetic transcriptions (see section 5.3), rather than as a succession of two identical short vowels. Imouto younger sister will thus be transcribed phonemically /imoRto/ and phonetically [imo#to], kuukou airport /kuRkoR/ and [kko]. Within the auto-segmental framework, an intrinsically long vowel of this sort is conceived as one single segmental
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Vowels
unit associated with two prosodic positions. As we shall see in Chapter 6, where a detailed presentation of the prosodic components of Japanese and arguments for the structural organization of the mora will be provided, the basic Japanese rhythmic unit is conceived in this book as a maximally binary structure corresponding to a mora. So a word such as kou [ko] this manner corresponds to two rhythmic units (two moras), as shown in (10). (p. 45 ) (10) Intrinsically long vowel: ## kou [ko]
However, some of the phonetically long vowels of Japanese must be analysed phonemically as a succession of two distinct segments with identical phonetic quality (double vowels) rather than as a single vocalic segment associated with two prosodic positions. The relevant representation appears in (11). Such vowels do not structurally differ from the sequences of two different vowels presented further in section 2.8. Simply, the two vowels in question are of identical quality. (11) Succession of two identical vowels (double vowels): ## koo /koo/ realized as [ko] or [koo]
Such representations allow us to better capture the phonological difference existing between pairs such as the following which are familiar textbook examples: (12) a.
# # # satouya (satya) [satoja] *[satooja] sugar shop
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Vowels
# # satooya
[satoja] or [satooja]
foster parent
b.
# # suuri (sri) # # #suuri (suuri)
[si] *[si]
mathematical theory
[si] or [si]
vinegar seller
The difference between the two items of a pair constitutes an issue much debated in the domain of Japanese phonology (Kindaichi 1950; Hattori, 1955, 1961; Hamada, 1951, etc.). In (12a), the first word comprises something which can be analysed as an intrinsically long vowel, the second one a succession of two identical vowels. Although such sequences are generally realized in an identical way in normal speech, a phonetic difference between the two members of each pair may appear in slow or formal speech, that is, it is possible to have a hiatus, materialized in the form of a pause or a light glottal stop [], between the first and the second element of a double vowel, but not between the two parts of an (p. 46 ) intrinsically long vowel.6 The representations in (10) and (11) account for this difference in a natural manner: in (11), there are two distinct segments, but only one in (10). The sequence uu in suuri vinegar seller, whose phonetically long vowel results from the succession of two short us, separated by a morphological boundary (su vinegar + uri salesman), belongs to the second type as illustrated in (11), that of two-vowel sequences, whereas suuri mathematical principle (suu mathematics + ri principle), which has only one (phonetically and phonemically) long vowel, pertains to the type represented in (10). The phonological representations of these two words will thus be as follows: (13) suuri /suRri/ mathematical principle (a) vs. suuri /suuri/ vinegar seller (b)
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Vowels
The following pairs are also to be structurally distinguished: (14)

## koou [koo] or [koo] kouo [koo] or [koo]
acting in concert likes and dislikes
##
They correspond to the representations in (15): (15) koou /kooR/ acting in concert vs. kouo /koRo/ likes and dislikes
(p. 47 )
The vowels ou and uu of Sino-Japanese words seen above in (7), the majority of the vowels in (8a) which result from vowel coalescence (sometimes caused by the loss of an intervocalic consonant) with subsequent compensatory lengthening and in some cases modification of the vocalic quality, as well as the vowels which result from prosodic lengthening (8c), are to be analysed as intrinsically long vowels, except in cases where the vowel plays a flexional role as the final i in yasashii (gentle), the final u in suu (to smoke), and the second i in kiite (to hear and, cited in 8a). On the other hand, the vowels shown in (8b) correspond to double vowels, i.e. to a sequence of two identical vowel nuclei, in which a hiatus is possible. When a long vowel results from the loss of a consonant surrounded by two identical vocalic segments, like kohori # koori ice or ohoki # ooki big,
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things are more ambiguous, as the kana spelling reflects. In such words, long o is written as oo ## and not ou ##. The problem is comparable to that of the long e written as ei, already discussed. It would be rash to assume that all speakers of Japanese have exactly the same phonological representations for the long vowels which occur in these types of words. It is probable that for certain speakers, the [o] of koori # ice from kohori (a Yamato lexeme) and that of kouri ## axiom (a Sino-Japanese lexeme) have the same phonological representation today, with an intrinsically long vowel, while they have a different representation for other speakers, koori having a double vowel under the influence of the spelling. It is necessary to keep in mind that in non-Western words, all the intrinsically long vowels of the modern language derive from double vowels (following the evolutionary pattern VCV # VV # V as in ahugi # augi # ougi fan, or VC # VV # V in certain Sino-Japanese words, for instance tong # tou # East), except for the case of prosodic lengthenings. The natural fate of a double vowel is thus to turn into an intrinsically long vowel, and the moment of this transformation naturally varies according to words or individual speakers. The distinction between an intrinsically long vowel and a double vowel is further justified by the fact that the latter has a property of which the former is deprived: in double vowels, the second element can carry an accent, for example, mizuumi lake, tookereba if it is far, ooi many, whereas intrinsically long vowels can only bear an accent on the first part of the vowel.
2.7.4 Prosodic Shortening

A long vowel is frequently reduced to a simple vowel, as in the following examples: koukou # kouko Japanese pickles, hontou # honto true, konpyuutaa # konpyuuta computer {computer}, akanbou # akanbo baby, daijoubu # daijobu all right, sensei # sense teacher, master. According to Sukegawa et al. (1999), about one third of all long vowels undergo this type of (p. 48 ) reduction in spontaneous speech. The phenomenon, known as prosodic shortening, occurs primarily in Western loans, and to a lesser extent in Sino-Japanese words. It is especially common in a non-formal register, and concerns mainly medial or final vowels in moras which follow another long vowel or a mora nasal as in kouko salted white radish or honto true, respectively derived from koukou and hontou (KKK, 2004). This is the reason why, according to Takeuchi (1999:46), words such as ryokou voyage, or burezaa jacket, do not undergo prosodic shortening, whereas hontou # honto true or konpyuutaa # konpyuuta
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{computer} are among the words most frequently shortened. The study by Sukegawa et al. (1999) also establishes that vowel shortening is rare in wordinitial position, including words which can be regarded as monosyllabic, for example mou (mou) already. Vowel quality also plays a role with regard to prosodic shortening, but its relevance can mainly be observed in Western loans, since this is the only stratum which allows all five long vowels of the Japanese system to occur freely and frequently in any word position. In Western abbreviations, final prosodic shortening more frequently targets the [high] final vowels /a/, /e/, and /o/ than the [+high] vowels /i/ and /u/, as shown by Figure 2.3 (Labrune, 2007). In 80% of the cases at hand (20 words out of 25), final length tends to be maintained after /i/ and /u/ word-finally, whereas it is deleted in more than 60% of the cases after /e/, /o/, and /a/ (58 words out of 88). For instance, kanningu peepaa {cunning paper} cheat sheet becomes kan-pe / kanpe , with final shortening, rather than *kanpee, while bataa piinatsu {butter peanuts} is clipped as bata-pii, rather than *bata-pi.
Figure 2.3. Final vowel shortening in Western clippings

(p. 49 )
2.7.5 Prosodic Lengthening
A number of micro-paradigms of the Yamato stratum have long vowels which do not result from the historical evolutions of the type VCV # VV and/ or VV # V as described above. Such long vowels are prosodically derived from a short vowel by secondary lengthening. The paradigms in question generally have emotional, impressionistic, or emphatic connotations. They can be divided in three subtypes. The first type includes family terms based on vocatives, hypocoristics, baby talk, and manner deictics (for instance okaasan mama, yuu-chan little Yuko, kou this manner); the second type contains interjections and mimetic adverbs or interrogatives (zuutto
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continuously, naani what); the third group consists of bases which are all one-mora long, and generally belong to nominal or numerical series (nii two, kaa Tuesday). They are described below in detail for the sake of completeness, but the reader who is not a specialist in Japanese can skip this section and come back to it at a later stage. Type 1 A. Kinship terms vocatives: kaa-san mum, too-san dad, jii-san grandpa, baa-san grandma, niisan older brother, nee-san older sister, respectively built on the roots *ka,*to,*ji,*ba (which are found in the reduplicated forms kaka mum, toto dad, jiji grandfather, baba grandmother), as well as on ani older brother and ane older sister. Let us also mention imouto younger sister, otouto younger brother, shuuto / shuutome father-/ mother-in-law in which the presence of a long vowel seems to result from regular evolution of the older forms *imohito, *otohito, *shihito (*imohito # *imouto # imo:to, *otohito # *otouto # oto:to, *shihito # *shiuto # shuuto), and thus pertains, at first sight, to the evolution V1hV2 # V1V2 # V rather than to prosodic lengthening. However, as noted by Hamada (1951), if things had really occurred that way, one would expect the t of hito to be voiced, that is, one would have had *imobito # *imoudo, *otobito # *otoudo, *shibito # *shuudo, as is the case in other derived terms containing the element hito, for example akindo,shiryuudo (akihito # akindo trader, shirihito # shiryuudo acquaintance). However, since voicing has not occurred in the imouto type set of words, they must have followed some other evolution pattern. These facts suggest that analogy may have played a role within this paradigm of kinship terms, and that the long vowel of imouto,otouto and shuuto represents the same type of element as that of tousan, kaasan, etc., rather than the direct result of a straightforward phonetic evolution from *imohito, *otohito, *shihito. The word hii-mago (or hii-mago) great-grandson /-daughter, in which the vowel of the morpheme hi is etymologically short is also noteworthy. Lengthening in hii would thus be explained by the fact that the morpheme hi refers to a kinship term (Wenck, 1966: footnote 26).
(p. 50 )
Finally, note that the forms jijii grandpa and babaa grandma, with final lengthening, are vulgar and depreciative (Kubozono, 2000).
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B. Hypocoristic of personal names (Poser, 1990): in hypocoristic derivatives such as Yuu-chan (based on the first name Yumi), or Maa-chan (for Masaki), secondary lengthening of the originally short vowel of the base occurs in a very regular manner. C. Baby talk: one encounters in one variety of obsolete baby talk7 (reported by Hamada, 1951) forms such as beebee / beebe / bebe clothing (origin unknown), haahaa / haaha tooth (from ha tooth), hiihii / hiihi fire (from hi fire). They are all characterized by reduplication and the presence of one or two long vowels derived from the corresponding short vowel. D. Manner deictics: this paradigm contains the following four forms: kou like that (1st degree, near to the speaker), sou like that (2nd degree, near to the listener), aa like that (3rd degree, far from the speaker and listener), dou how, in which manner?. According to Hamada (1951) and a majority of dictionaries, the manner deictic kou has been derived from kaku ## (ka 3rd degree deictic + ku adverbial ending), according to the following evolution: kaku # kau # kou. This form kou would then have been reinterpreted as derived from ko, the 1st degree deictic morpheme which one finds in kore this, koko here. Later, under the pressure of analogy, the forms sou,aa, and dou,8 would have developed, by means of prosodic lengthening out of the bases so,a,do. Note that the bases ko,so-,a-, and do- are all monomoraic, a characteristic which no doubt also played a role in the development of the lengthened series, since, as we will see below, one type of prosodic lengthening precisely affects monomoraic morphemes. The four series of forms which have just been described do not concern isolated, single lexemes but rather paradigms whose paradigmatic coherence is precisely marked by the presence of a long vowel derived from a short one. We are thus dealing with a rather systematic usage of vocalic lengthening, which may be analysed as an instance of template morphology.
(p. 51 )
Type 2 The second type pertains to expressive and emphatic lengthening occurring in interjections and mimetics, and in a number of interrogative words. The corresponding forms with short vowels almost always exist. We thus find:
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A. Interjections: for example oui [#oi] hey!, eetto well, nee listen!. B. Onomatopoeia and ideophones: zaazaa water pouring heavily, gee (expression of dislike), huutto (puffing sound or action). C. Adverbs and interrogatives with emphatic connotation: zuutto continuously, youku often, well, naani what?. The long vowels which are phonetically realized in these types of words are only seldom denoted in the conventional orthography. Type 3 Lastly, there exists a type of prosodic lengthening of one-mora-long bases, most of which pertain to enumerative series or lists: days of the week, SinoJapanese or Yamato numbers, animals of the Chinese zodiac, as well as reduplicate verbal radicals. It is to be noted that all these forms are accented on the initial mora. A. Days of the week: the expression for Tuesday and Saturday, a compound made of the first two monomoraic morphemes of ka-youbi Tuesday and do-youbi Saturday is realized kaa dou (or kaa-dou). Only Tuesday and Saturday are concerned with prosodic lengthening, since they are the only weekday bases which are monomoraic. B. Sino-Japanese numbers in enumeration: Sino-Japanese numbers present the following forms when they are recited (underlined forms mark secondary lengthenings): ichi 1, nii 2, san 3, shii 4, gou 5, roku 6, shichi 7, hachi 8, kyuu 9, juu 10. (Compare with ichi 1, ni 2, san 3, shi 4, go 5, roku 6, shichi 7, hachi 8, kyuu 9, juu 10, the basic forms which are found elsewhere than in enumeration). The series 45621 will be thus pronounced shii-gouroku-nii-ichi. The lengthening in 2, 4, and 5 is never denoted in the kana writing. On the other hand, that of 9 and 10 is etymological, and does not constitute a case of prosodic lengthening.
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(p. 52 )
C. Yamato numbers:
the same type of phenomenon occurs with the following numbers of Yamato origin (Komatsu, 1981:115): hii 1, huu 2, mii 3, you 4, ii 5, muu 6, naa 7, yaa 8.9 Compare with the full forms of the more widespread series: hitotsu 1, hutatsu 2, mittsu 3, yottsu 4, itsutsu 5, muttsu 6, nanatsu 7, yattsu 8. D. Abbreviated zodiac signs: ne rat, u rabbit, mi snake, and i pig, wild boar are pronounced respectively nee, uu, mii, and ii in the enumeration of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs (nee ushi tora uu tatsu mii uma hitsuji saru tori inu ii, Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig). E. Reduplicated verb bases: the vowel of a monomoraic verb base lengthens when it undergoes reduplication in order to form an adverbial expression indicating simultaneity (Kageyama, 1976/1977; Martin, 1987; It, 1990): miru to look # mii mii while looking, suru to make # shii shii while making. Such lengthening never occurs with bimoraic verbal bases. There also exists a small number of other isolated cases of prosodic lengthening, such as the word see # (written # se in kana)10 height (of a person). Lengthening further occurs sometimes in familiar speech following the dropping of an enclitic particle after a monomoraic word, for example hi (wo) totte kure bring me fire!, which is actually realized as [hitotteke] or [itotteke] (Hayata, 1980). Kubozono (2000) also reports some other marginal cases in slang or in the secret language zj-go, used by jazz and rock musicians. In Kansai dialects, prosodic lengthening of monomoraic forms is systematic: thus we have [hi] (with a low-high accent) fire (standard hi), [i] (with a high-high accent) blood (standard chi), etc. even when the word is followed by a particle, in which case lengthening is merely optional. It is noteworthy that in all the above-mentioned series, any of the five vowels of Japanese can undergo lengthening, including the vowel a, of which no other occurrence as a true long vowel can be found in a Yamato or SinoJapanese morpheme (except the cases discussed in section 2.7.2).
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2.8 Sequences of Two Different Vowels: the Problem of diphthongs

(p. 53 )
Sequences of two different vowels are very frequent in Modern Japanese.11 All the possible combinations between the five vocalic elements are attested, namely iu, ie, io, ia, ui, ue, uo, ua, ei, eu, eo, ea, oi, ou, oe, oa, ai, au, ae, ao. Each vowel in these sequences represents one mora, and is distinctly articulated. However, as noted by Takayama T. (2003), apart from the V1V2 sequences in which a morpheme boundary separates the two vowels, existing combinations in modern Yamato or Sino-Japanese words are limited to a/i/u/o + i/e/o, namely ai,oi,ui,ie,ae,oe,ue,io,ao,uo (ei occurs but it generally corresponds to a long e, see section 2.7.1). The groups Vu and Va are unattested, for various reasons. The Vu sequences have all evolved into long vowels, palatalized or not: iu # yu:, eu # yo:, au # o:, ou # o: (see section 2.7.2), except at morpheme boundary. We thus find ka-u to buy, omo-u to think, and so on. On the other hand, the Va sequences never existed in Yamato or Sino-Japanese monomorphemes, except for a few cases of prosodic lengthening. It is interesting to note, following Takayama T. (2003), that even in Western loanwords or at morpheme boundary, where Va is likely to occur, a transition glide is frequently inserted: thus shiai [ja] match, takuan [takaN] salted radish, itaria [itaia] Italy. This suggests that Va sequences (ia,ea,oa,ua as well as aa) are problematic (on aa / a: see also section 2.7.2). Sequences of three or four vowels, or even more, are easy to find: for example in the place name aioi ##, the adjective aoi blue, the noun ie-ie houses. We could thus build a sentence made up uniquely of vowels such as aioi e aa iuu aoi uo o ou (#############) to follow such a blue fish towards Aioi. The term diphthong (nijboin #### or jboin ###) is frequently used in the phonetic descriptions of Japanese. However, the definition of what the various scholars mean by diphthong is not always precise. Amanuma et al. (1989:9398) operates a distinction between renboin ### vowels in succession and jboin ### diphthong, and considers that certain V + i sequences can be qualified as diphthongs (jboin) in the traditional sense of the word. However, the evidence for such a distinction seems rather morphological in nature since Vi is regarded as a diphthong when there is no morphological boundary between V and i, as in the word kai shell. Kawakami (1977) considers (p. 54 ) the sequences ai,ui,oi,ae,ao, and oe as diphthongs (nijboin) while specifying that one cannot always speak of a
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true diphthong when a clear morphemic boundary separates the two vowels. According to Sait (1997:85), the sequences ai,ui,ae,au easily turn into the diphthongs ai,ui,ae, au except when they are separated by a semantic boundary (haisha, ha+isha dentist), and except in bimoraic Yamato words: oi nephew, ei ray (fish), ou to follow. However, in an experiment I undertook in 2001 with the help of Jo Hakutar, the forms haisha ### (haisha) dentist and haisha ## (hai-sha) loser appeared to have the same phonetic realization, although a morpho-semantic boundary between a and i exists in the first word but not in the latter. The question of whether the existence of a morpheme boundary between the two vowels of a sequence is relevant is also evoked by Hashimoto M. (1977:27). According to him, the pairs kai # a meeting (one morpheme) and kai ## lower rank (two morphemes ka+i), or kui # regret (one morpheme) and kui ## meaning of a phrase (two morphemes ku+i) are perceived as different in certain dialects. However, this does not prove that there is a truly phonetic or even phonological difference between them. It is quite possible that speakers perceptions are heavily influenced by writing or morphological structure. Moreover, accent might also be involved, since there exist dialects which can operate an accentual distinction between CVi pairs, for instance between the pairs kai shell and kai a paddle (Izu dialect, Uwano, 2003). More experimental studies are thus necessary in order to clarify this point. It is nonetheless a major issue because it is closely related to the problem of the interaction between mora and syllable in Japanese. Indeed, if there were any evidence that two phonetically and phonemically different sorts of V1V2 sequences exist in Standard Japanese (for example a difference between kai # and kai ##, as already mentioned), one could then argue that the first type is monosyllabic while the second is dissyllabic. This would imply that both the mora and the syllable are distinct and relevant units in Japanese, an assumption which is challenged in this book, as we shall see in Chapter 6. I consider that it is mistaken to regard V1V2 sequences as diphthongs since I know of no phonetic or phonological evidence which would prove that they are. They are simply a succession of two distinct vocalic nuclei, each with its own prosodic weight representing one mora. A number of arguments can be brought forward in order to justify this analysis. First, the quality of the vowels involved in such sequences is not notably different from what it is when they are realized in isolation. There is no significant gradual change of the quality of the first vowel towards the second one, no crescendo nor decrescendo between V1 and V2, contrary to what generally occurs with
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diphthongs in other languages. Second, in slow or careful speech, a pause sometimes even a glottal stopis frequently inserted between the two vowels, something which would be impossible in the (p. 55 ) case of true diphthongs like those of English or Chinese, for example. The group [ai] in the English word sky cannot be articulated in two syllables, i.e. ska.i, whereas the Japanese words ue above, ai love, uo fish respectively [.e], [a.i], and [.o] are normally uttered in two beats. Moreover, in such groups, the second vowel can carry an accent, for example kai-nushi owner (of a pet), even though it is true that a tendency to de-accent vowels which are not preceded by an onset consonant can be observed,12 as the possible realization of kainushi as kainushi attests. Lastly, in Japanese, no sequence of two vowels results from the diphthongization of a monophthong. There is no example of an evolution V(:) # V1V2 like the ones so frequently encountered in Romance or Germanic phonology, for instance Latin bene [bene] # French bien [bj]; old English nama [nm] # modern English name [nIm]), and so forth. It is clear that the recognition of true diphthongs in Japanese is determined by ones conception and definition of the prosodic units of the language. If one assumes a priori that syllables exist in Japanese and that syllabic weight distinctions are relevant, one is rather easily (too easily?) led to talk about diphthongs, even though there does not exist any real evidence for their existence. But the assumption that diphthongs are distinct phonological entities should in turn imply a re-examination of all the vocalic Japanese sequences because these are not limited to Vi sequences, the elements most frequently regarded as diphthongs: one finds for example ae in hae fly, oe in koe voice, au in mausu (computer) mouse, ao in kao face. It thus becomes necessary to inquire whether these vowel sequences belong to the same prosodic unit (to the same syllable, if one believes in the existence of the syllable in Japanese) or not. However, very few authors are cautious enough to consider such cases and to set forth a thorough analysis of them within the syllabic framework. I am not aware of any strong internal or external evidence for operating a structural distinction between hai ash and hae fly, or between kai shell and kao face. Curiously enough, there actually exists in Japanese one case for which the label diphthong could be correctly used. I have in mind the sequences transcribed as ya, yu, yo (with short or long vowels) occurring after a consonant in words like hyaku # hundred, ryokou ## trip, or nyuusu #### {news} information, known as yon (##) in the traditional terminology. However, these elements are generally not categorized as
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diphthongs by Japanese (p. 56 ) scholars, even by phoneticians, whereas ai,ui,oi etc. generally are. Yet, ya,yu,yo present all the properties of phonetic diphthongs as generally defined: the palatal semi-consonant which occurs in first position can colour the quality of the following vowel (for example /u/ frequently becomes []); the CyV groups count as only one mora, not two; diaeresis is impossible; finally, strict phonotactic rules exist, which limit the possibilities of combinations between y and the following vowel. Only ya,yu, and yo are possible. The yi group is unattested, and ye is rare (see section 3.11). From the point of view of their phonetic realization, these ya, yu, and yo groups could thus belong to the category of diphthongs in the classical sense of the word. Yet, as we shall see in 3.11, there is benefit in treating them as palatalizations of the preceding consonant at the phonological level. The difference simply consists in considering that the segment y is associated with the consonant (onset), not with the vowel (nucleus). The adequate phonological representation of such Japanese entities thus corresponds to a palatalized consonant as represented in (16), rather than to a rising diphthong as in (17). (16) Palatalized consonant (does exist in Japanese)
(17) Rising diphthong (does not exist in Japanese)
In conclusion, there is no real need to talk about phonological diphthongs in Japanese. In Chapter 6, a theory of the Japanese prosodic unit (the mora) will be further developed, which considers that there exist only two structural positions in a rhythmic unit: an onset (C) and a nucleus (V). Only the C position can be the locus of palatalization. It results from this configuration
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that, in a phonetic sequence VV, each of the two vowels must be regarded as pertaining to two different rhythmic units.
(p. 57 )
2.9 Relative Frequency of Vowels
The vowels of Japanese do not all have the same frequency in the language. It is thus interesting to examine some quantitative information relative to this question. I shall first present some statistical data for the archaic language, then some for the modern language. Both concern token frequency. For Archaic Yamato Japanese (Nara), which possessed eight vowels, the data are provided in Figure 2.4 (based on no, 1980). It can be seen that /a/ exhibits the highest frequency before /i/, /u/, //, and /o/. The vowel /e/ has a relatively low
Figure 2.4. Token frequency of vowels in Archaic Japanese (based on the data by no, 1980)
Figure 2.5. Token frequency of vowels in Modern Japanese (based on Campbell, 1999) frequency, while // and // are extremely rare. By adding the values of each member of the pairs which have merged after the archaic period,
(p. 58 )
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we get the following classification: /a/ is still at the top, but /o/ now comes second, before /i/ and /u/: a # o ( + o) # i ( + i) # u # e ( + e). As for modern Japanese, the data provided in Figure 2.5 are adapted from Campbell (1999). In contrast with Archaic Japanese, /o/ ranks first, almost equally with /a/, before /i/ then /u/; as in the archaic language, /e/ is still the least frequent of all.
Notes:
(1) Note that the lips are not much used in the articulation of Japanese, be it for vowels or consonants. On this issue, see section 3.12. (2) Some rare cases in which a surrounding vowel has been copied, rather than /i/ or /u/ inserted, exist in a couple of very old Sino-Japanese loans, for example hakase ## doctor (also hakushi). The character #, read here haka, is normally pronounced haku. (3) On the h / p alternation after /Q/, see section 3.7.1. (4) Recall that vowel length is transcribed by doubling the vowel in the cases of a,i, and u (aa,ii,uu), and by use of the letter u in the case of o (ou), and by i in the case of e (ei), except in some special cases like tooru to go through, oneesan older sister, etc. where the transcription remains faithful to the kana spelling (### and #####). (5) These examples seem to illustrate the existence of a conflict between two contradictory tendencies in Japanese: the first tendency militates for the deletion of w before a, and can be regarded as the result of a diachronic process of /w/ weakening, which first affected w before i and o, and is nowadays achieved. The w weakening is presently affecting /w/ before a (see section 3.12); the second tendency banishes long as in Yamato and SinoJapanese words. When the first tendency is stronger, w disappears, when it is the second, w is maintained. (6) In contrast with Kindaichi, Hattori (1955, 1960, 1961) assumes the presence of a zero consonant // to distinguish long vowels resulting from the succession of two vowels separated by a morphological boundary (in our terminology, double vowels) from those which constitute intrinsically long vowels. According to him, the latter represents a succession of two vowels with no consonant inbetween. Hattori adopts the notation /VV/ for the former, and /VV/ for the latter, for example /suuri/ mathematical
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theory and /suuri/ vinegar seller. The zero consonant of Hattori can be reinterpreted as an empty onset. (7) Japanese baby words are characterized by the following prosodic patterns, all with initial accent on the first mora of the stem: MmM (HL in syllabic terms), for instance onbu piggyback, nenne sleep, anyo walk. MmMm (HH in syllabic terms), as in oppai breast, haihai crawl, ponpon belly. Finally, a few forms are made by reduplication of a monomoraic stem and oprefixation, for instance o-tete hand, o-meme eye. (8) According to Yanagida (1991), aa is first attested in texts of the end of the Edo period (nineteenth century), after kou and sou, while the first attestation of dou is older, dating back to 1527. (9) 9 is pronounced kono in recitation. It is the only numeral which does not have a form with a long vowel. The long vowel in too 10 is etymological, and does not result from prosodic lengthening (towo # too). Moreover, in this series, 4, 5, and 7 also have the alternant forms yon,itsu, and nana. (10) This word also admits the phonetic form [se] or [sei], written sei ## in kana, for instance in the expression sei-kurabe height comparison. (11) The situation was very different in Nara Japanese, since the rhythmic units (syllables or moras) were all of the form V or CV. Onsetless vowels were not allowed except morphemeinitially. (12) However, note that this type of deaccentuation concerns first and foremost the high vowels /i/ and /u/, and that it also appears under certain conditions when these vowels are preceded by a consonant (Tanaka, 1998).
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Laurence Labrune
Consonants
Laurence Labrune
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.003.0003

This chapter examines in turn each consonant of the Japanese system, presenting its main allophones and phonotactic characteristics. Special attention is dedicated to the phonology of the consonant /h/ which has developed out of*/p/, and to the issue of the velar nasal, through an enlightening comparison of two competing approaches of the problem, that of Kindaichi Haruhiko (1942) and that of Junko It and Armin Mester (1997). This chapter also offers new insights on the phonology of the Japanese /r/ and on newly introduced consonants.
Keywords: allophones, phonotactic characteristics, velar nasal, Kindaichi Haruhiko, Junko It, Armin Mester, new consonants
3.1 General Characteristics of the Consonant System

Two major features characterize the consonant system of modern Japanese. First, the number and phonotactic possibilities of the consonants differ considerably according to the lexical strata. Second, many of the consonants display a high number of allophones. While none of these characteristics is, by itself, specific to Japanese, it seems that in this language, the extent of the phenomenon is without common measure with what one currently observes in most other languages. Under these conditions, it is somewhat difficult to present a synoptic table of the system of the Japanese consonants. In Table 3.1 that I propose here,
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brackets indicate consonants whose phonemic status is debatable, while braces mark consonants which occur only in the most recent Western loans. The two moraic contoids /N/ (the mora nasal) and /Q/ (the first part of an obstruent geminate), which are generally referred to as special phonemes or special segments in the Japanese tradition, may be added to this list as two additional consonant phonemes. Since their phonology is particular because of their moraic status, they will be dealt with in detail in Chapter 5. Consonant allophony occurs mainly before the high vowels /i/ and /u/. It involves particularly the consonants /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, and /h/. This propensity to allophony is also characteristic of the special moraic segments /N/ and / Q/, and, to a lesser extent, of /r/ and /k/. Such allophonies are the source of a number of neutralization processes and also the origin of several phonemic splits, as we will Table 3.1. Consonantal phonemes of Japanese
Labials Alveolars Palatals Velars Glottal
Plosives Fricatives Affricates Nasals Glides Liquid
pb { } m
td sz {} n y [j] r (, ) ()
kg h () w
see in the next pages. The possibility for such rather important variations in the articulatory realizations of the Japanese consonants is probably due to the relatively modest size of the inventory.
(p. 60 )
Assimilations of a consonant to the following vowel, that is, if one thinks in terms of prosodic constituents, assimilations of an onset to the nucleus (for example the fact that /t/ undergoes affrication before /u/: []), is a manifestation of the very tight link which stands between a consonant and the following vowel in Japanese. One can subscribe entirely to the formulation by Daniels (1958:58, quoted by Coleman, 1998:268), according to whom Japanese consonants are said to be prefixed to vowels rather than to precede them becausein Japanese it is necessary to put the speech organs into the position of the vowelbefore producing the consonant. This type of co-articulation is of course attested in all languages, but it would seem that Japanese is rather extreme in this respect.
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Consonants
In the following pages, we will successively review all the consonants of Japanese, in the following order: plosives (p, b, t, d, k, g), fricatives and affricates (s, z, , , t, ts, h), nasals (m, n, ), glides (y, w), the liquid (), and finally consonants which have recently been introduced into the language due to the influence of loanwords.
3.2 /P/ And /b/

The bilabial plosives /p/ and /b/ are realized as [p] and [b]. The voiced plosive /b/ calls for no special comment, except for those which apply more globally to voiced obstruents, to which Chapter 4 is devoted. Let us merely observe that in Modern Japanese, /b/ functions morphophonologically as the voiced counterpart of /h/, for example under the application of rendaku (see section 4.2). H thus becomes b, as in yama + hato # yama-bato wild pigeon. The voiceless bilabial plosive /p/, on the other hand, is remarkable in a number of respects. It is currently the least frequent of all Japanese consonants (see the data in section 3.15). It also displays a limited distribution in words of the Yamato and Sino-Japanese strata. In non-mimetic and non-expressive Yamato words, /p/ generally occurs only as an alternant of /h/ or /b/, and almost solely under the geminate form [pp]. Singleton p is found only after the mora nasal /N/ in a limited number of examples. The geminate pp occurs almost exclusively at morphemic boundaries in Yamato lexemes: mapputatsu (ma- + hutatsu) (to separate) in two parts, hipparu (hiki + haru) to draw, kodomoppoi (kodomo + -poi) childish, hitorippochi (hitori + -bochi/pochi) all alone, hoppe (probably *ho, cheek + expressive suffix -pe) cheek, tanpopo dandelion (the etymology of (p. 61 ) this word is dubious, perhaps from tanpo swell, bundle + -po, a suffix of obscure value). Thus /p/ never appears at the beginning of independent words. It is necessary to consider separately the case of mimetics and of familiar expressive words, including words of Chinese origin which are no longer perceived as such, where /p/ can appear word-initially. For example pukapuka / puka-puka floating, ponpon belly (child language), pochi (a common dog name), pakuru to filch, peten head or fraud (reverse form of Sino-Japanese teppen). It is generally considered that, in the native words of this type, the ancient bilabial plosive which has otherwise evolved into /h/ (see section 3.7) has been maintained in the initial because of its expressive value.
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Consonants
In mimetic roots, except for some rare exceptions, /p/ always occurs as a geminate stem internally. It functions very regularly as the reinforced form of /h/, for example in yappari indeed, from yahari, or even as that of /b/ in certain cases: saba-saba # sappari (describes a straightforward personality) (Hamano, 1998:195ff.). In Sino-Japanese words, /p/ exists only as an alternant of /h/ after /Q/ and / N/, as in the already mentioned examples (see also section 3.7): shuppatsu ## (shutsu + hatsu) departure, or kenpou ## constitution (ken + hou). However, /h/ does not automatically turn into /p/ when the compound contains more than two morphemes, in other words, when it consists of more than four moras (McCawley, 1968; Kubozono, 2005; It and Mester, 1996). We shall revert to this issue in section 3.7. Furthermore, the contrast between p and pp is never relevant in Yamato, Sino-Japanese, and mimetic words, since it is impossible to find minimal pairs based on the [pp] / [p] opposition. In Western loans, on the other hand, no distributional constraint bears on / p/. It appears freely in the initial or medial positions as a singleton, or as a geminate word medially, for instance in poteto {potato}, kyapashitii {capacity}, hippii {hippie}. In English loans, geminate /p/ is generally the reflex of a double p in the orthography, as in hippie. It is interesting to note that in the first loans from European languages, p was systematically adapted as a geminate inside words: for example kappa , from the Portuguese {capa} rainwear, or youroppa from Portuguese {Europa} Europe. The appearance (or rather, the reappearance, see section 3.7) of a simple /p/ in Modern Japanese would thus be posterior to the sixteenth century, the date at which these words were introduced into the language. So it turns out that it is only in gairaigo and in mimetics that [p] and [h] are fully contrastive, since [p] does not normally occur as an intervocalic singleton in Yamato and in Sino-Japanese, and, as we shall see in section 3.7, [h] appears (p. 62 ) intervocalically only in predictable environments. Even in mimetics, it would seem that h and p can be considered in most cases as stylistic variants of the same consonant; for instance huu-huu and puupuu both express the action of blowing strongly through pursed lips, with the difference that lips are more narrowly pursed in puu-puu than in huu-huu. However, in some cases, there exists a clear difference in meaning between two mimetics differing only by the presence of h or p; compare for instance
Page 4 of 55
Consonants
huka-huka fluffy and puka-puka lightly floating in the air / exhaling a lot of smoke. As we shall see in section 3.7, the special distribution pattern of p and its scarcity in the modern language result in fact from the evolution of an archaic */p/ into the fricative /h/. However, it seems that a number of */p/s of the archaic language have not undergone this process of spirantization. This is the case, in particular, of the geminate /p/, with expressive connotation, which one encounters in forms like appare admirable or moppara (or moppara) exclusively, derived from *apare and *mopara. We will return to the status of /p/ and /b/ in section 3.7 devoted to /h/.
3.3 /t/ And /d/

The alveolar plosive /t/ has three allophones: the apico-alveolar (or apicodental) [t] before a,e, and o; two affricate consonants: [] before i and y and [] before u. (1) Realizations of /t/
The combinations *[ti] and *[t] do not exist in modern Yamato and Sino-Japanese words.1 However, the non affricate realization [t] may be found before i and u in some relatively recent loanwords such as tii baggu [tibagg] {tea bag}, or fasshon tatuu [tat] {fashion tattoo}, but only in the speech of certain speakers. In older Western loans, for example chiimu {team} or tsuaa {tour}, only the affricate realization is attested. The consonant /d/ displays even more varied realizations: [d] before a,e, and o in any position, and, inside words, [] before i and y, and [z] or [dz] before u. Word-initially, it is frequently realized as [d] before i and y, and as [dz] before u. (2) Realizations of /d/ a. In word-internal position: 2.
(p. 63 )
b. In word-initial position:
Page 5 of 55
Consonants
4.
The combinations *[di] and *[d] do not exist in Yamato and SinoJapanese words. But in recent loanwords, a majority of speakers have the pronunciations [di] and [d] to render the foreign combinations di and du, for example in dinaa [dina:] {dinner}, duu itto yuaserufu [d:ittojase] {do it yourself}. It would seem that, all things being equal, the realizations [di] and [d] are more widespread in these types of recent loans than their voiceless counterparts [ti] and [t]. This difference no doubt results from the existence of a neutralization concerning /z/ and / d/ before /i/, since /zi/ and /di/ have the same phonetic realization, [i] or [di]. The same applies to /zu/ and /du/, both realized as [z] or [dz] (see also sections 3.5 and 3.6 below). On the other hand, /t/ remains always phonetically distinct from /s/, whatever the following vowel. The phonological status of /d/ will also be discussed in the chapter devoted to the phonology of voicing.
3.4 /k/ And /g/

The Plosive Consonants /k/ And /g/ are Always Clearly Velar Before e,a, And o, Even More So Than the Corresponding Sounds of English Or French for Instance, Which often Seem Like Palatalized Consonants To Japanese Ears, Especially Before a. This is Illustrated By the Fact That Certain French Or English Words Like (p. 64 ) {cabaret}, {career}, Or {caramel} Have Been Adapted As kyabaree, kyaria, And kyarameru In Japanese, With A Palatalized k. Some Speakers Realize /g/ As A Plosive [] Word-initially But As A Nasal [] In Intervocalic Position Under Certain Conditions. Other Speakers Pronounce It As A Plosive In All Contexts, Or Possibly Sometimes As A Spirant ([]) Inside Words In Familiar Register Or Fast Tempo (for Example [kaami] kagami mirror). the Status of the Dorso-velar Nasal [] Poses A Number of Problems Which Will Be Addressed In Detail In section 3.10.
3.5 /s/ And /z/

The fricative /s/ has two main allophones: [s] before u,e,o, and a, and a predorso-palatal [] (or dorso-palatal []) before i and y.
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Consonants
(3) Realizations of /s/
The realization of /s/ as [] or [] before i and y causes a neutralization with / h/, since /h/ is also often realized as [] or [] in the same context. We will reconsider this question in section 3.7. The /z/ consonant has two or even three realizations: [z] before u,e,o, and a inside words; [] or [d] before i and y, and finally, for certain speakers, [dz] before u,e,o,a word-initially or after the mora nasal /N/. Before u, the affricate consonant [dz] sometimes occurs even in word-internal position. (4) Realizations of /z/ a. In word internal position, except after /N/: 2.
4.
b. In word-initial position or after the mora nasal /N/:
(p. 65 )
The opposition between /d/ and /z/ is neutralized nowadays before u and i, as well as before y in Standard Japanese in the Yamato and Sino-Japanese strata, although there exist four different kana symbols to write /du/, /zu/, / di/, and /zi/. This is the vestige of an opposition which used to be relevant between the four moras [d], [z], [di], and [i]. This neutralization is known as yotsugana no kond (#######, lit. four kana merging) in Japanese linguistics. (5) Four kana merging: neutralization of /d/ and /z/ before /i/ and /u/ in the standard language
kana Kunrei / (Hepburn) romanization Phonetic realization Phonological transcription
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Consonants
# # # #
du / (zu) zu / (zu) di / (ji) zi / (ji)
[z] or [dz] [i] or [di]
/ zu/
/ zi/
The four kana merging seems to have developed around the sixteenth century, the moment when it begins to be reflected in the writing. It is nowadays more or less advanced depending on the dialects. The standard dialect, in which there is commonly confusion between /du/ and /zu/ on the one hand, and /di/ and /zi/ on the other hand, is called a two-kana dialect. Several dialects of Kysh and Shikoku (prefectures of Kagoshima, Miyazaki, and Kchi) maintain a four-way distinction between /du/, /zu/, /di/, and /zi/ (realized as [dz], [z], [di], and [i]), while other dialects, such as the famous zz-ben of Northern Honsh, confuse /du/, /zu/, /di/, and /zi/ under one single realization, either [ndz] or [ndz] (with central vowels, and prenasalization of the voiced obstruents). In these areas, the neutralization also affects the corresponding voiceless consonants, namely /su/ and /si/ realized as [s] or [s], while /tu/ and /ti/ are realized as [ts] or [ts]. In a number of very recent loans, a realization as [d] distinct from that of [z] is appearing, as illustrated in the already cited example duu itto yuaserufu [d:ittojase] {do it yourself}. On the other hand, it is important to note that *[si] and *[zi] are not found in any of the strata, not even in very recent loans where [si] or [zi] of the source language are adapted under the written forms ## or ##. The oral realizations of these sequences are by no means faithful to the writing, since ## is (p. 66 ) pronounced as [i] or [i] and ##as [i] or [di]. It would be interesting to determine the exact reasons explaining why certain impossible combinations in the language at a certain time of its history come to be easily accepted, like [d], whereas others, like [si], resist faithful adaptation. Of course, the [] or [] realization of /s/ before /i/ can be seen as an instance of regressive palatal assimilation, but some Japanese scholars, for instance Hamada (1964) estimate that this could well be the vestige of the earlier phonetic value of /s/, which might have been realized as a hushing fricative
Page 8 of 55
Consonants
before all vowels and not only before /i/. There is no doubt that /s/ was hushed before /i/ and /e/ until the seventeenth century, as reflected in the Jesuits romanization of xe for # (as in Portuguese) for instance in # # reproach romanized as xeme (seme in Modern Japanese). Hoffmann mentions that # is pronounced as se,she, or even tse in his 1868 grammar. The [e] realization can still be heard in a number of dialects, and even marginally in the affected pronunciation of certain Tky words such as in [miete] instead of [misete] show me (seductive, or baby-talk register). Opinions of Japanese philologists as to what /s/ might have sounded like even earlier diverge. Mabuchi (1959) proposes that /s/ might have been [], Kamei (1970) and Arisaka (1936, 1955) opt for [ts], and Kobayashi (1981) for [t]. As a voiced obstruent, /z/ displays all the properties specific to this type of Japanese consonant, to which I will revert in Chapter 4. However, note that contrary to /d/, /b/, and /g/, it is not at all certain that /z/ was prenasalized at an older stage of the language.
3.6 The Phonological Status of Hushing And Affricate Consonants

3.6.1 Sh [], j [], and Ch [t]
Although sh,j, and ch are sometimes transcribed by means of the IPA symbols [], [], and [t], the closest IPA transcription of these sounds is [], [], and [t] (or [], [], and [t] before i and y), since they are actually alveolo-palatals or pre-dorso-palatals. Note in addition that they are articulated with no marked lip-rounding, and a flattened tongue blade. We have already seen that before i and y, [] and [] were allophones of /s/ and /z/, and [t], an allophone of /t/. The sounds [], [], and [t] are frequent, particularly in Sino-Japanese words and in recent loans, before all five vowels, as the following examples illustrate. (p. 67 ) (6) 1. :
kisha shu uri [kia] train [i] repair
Page 9 of 55
Consonants
bi shobisho
[biobio]
wet
2.
:
jari ju u joudan
[ai] [], [d] [odaN], [dodaN] [ota] [kont] [totto]
gravel ten joke
3.
t :
ocha konchuu cho tto
tea insect a little
At first glance, it looks as if these consonants constitute true phonemes of their own, which could stand in opposition with /s/, /z/, and /t/. However, following the Japanese linguistic tradition, it is preferable to consider that they correspond phonologically to simple consonants followed by the palatal element y: sh [] = /sy/, j [] = /zy/ or /dy/, ch [t] = /ty/. This is actually the analysis suggested by the Japanese writing system, which uses the kana # (shi), # (ji) or # (chi), # (ji), each followed by # ya, # yu, or# yo in reduced size in order to transcribe these units (see section 1.5). Note in passing that the official romanization system (Kunrei, ###), which transcribes si, zi, ti, di, sya, zya, tya, dya, etc. and not shi, ji, chi, ji, sha, ja, cha, ja, as in the Hepburn system, has been directly inspired by the spirit of the Japanese kana. It is also much closer to the postulated phonological representation. One of the arguments in favour of this analysis comes from the observation that in Yamato and Sino-Japanese, the sequences *she */sye/,2 *je */zye/ and *che */tye/ do not exist. This must be considered in relation to the fact that no palatalized consonant can occur before the vowel e. The combinations *kye, *gye, *nye, *hye, *mye, *rye, etc. are unattested, just as *ye is also, except in some recent loans. If one supposes the independent existence of the consonants sh //, j //, and ch /t/, the absence of the
Page 10 of 55
Consonants
combinations she /e/, je /e/, and che /te/ in a large part of the lexicon receives no explanation. But if one supposes that she,je, and che represent palatalizations of /s/, /z/, and /t/ before e, these gaps are simply the consequence of the fact that palatalization is impossible before the vowel e, whatever the nature of the preceding segment (on ye, see also section 3.11). Besides, even in Western loans in which she,je, or che would be expected, they are sometimes realized as se,ze, or chie: for instance shepaado # sepaado sheepdog {shepherd}, jeneraru # zeneraru {general}, cheen # chien {chain}. In addition, it is necessary to observe that [] and [] are also very rare in Yamato words before a,u, and o. Before a, there also exists an occasional free alternation between [s] and [], or [z] and [] in the Yamato and Sino-Japanese strata. For example, sake / shake salmon, saboten / shaboten cactus, zari / jari gravel, can be analysed as cases of alternation between a vowel preceded by a simple consonant (CV) and a vowel preceded by a palatalized consonant (CyV).
(p. 68 )
According to this analysis, the consonants //, //, and // (alias //, // and / t/ in certain transcriptions) can be removed from the phonemic inventory.
3.6.2 ts [ts]
The question of the affricate consonant [ts] must be set in different terms from that of //, //, and //. At first glance, this consonant is also a conditioned allophone of /t/ before u. However, a few occurrences of [ts] before vowels other than /u/ can be found. Although almost all these cases occur in recently borrowed loans like tsetse-bae tsetse fly, tsoisu {Zeus}, tsaratsusutora {Zarathustra}, it is necessary to mention the existence of certain Yamato forms with [ts] such as otottsan [otottsa], a variant of otousan dad. It is because of this type of example that /ts/ (sometimes noted as /c/) is included as a phoneme in the consonant charts proposed by linguists such as Hattori Shir or Kindaichi Haruhiko, who nevertheless do not regard //, //, and / / (sh, j, and ch) as phonemic. Moreover, ts [ts] and its corresponding palatalized version ch [] stand in a curious relationship with /s/. These two sounds frequently work like a strengthened version of /s/ after gemination,3 i.e. when preceded by /Q/ (see section 5.2), particularly in emotional or expressive forms, or in baby talk (Hamada 1954:74): (7)
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Consonants
otousan chiisai de+shiri
# # #
otottsan chicchai de cchiri,decchiri mattsugu sho cchuu
dad small chubby buttocks straight often
massugu shoushuu
# #
Let us also mention the forms -chan, -chama, which are expressive and babytalk-like alternants of -san,-sama (personal suffix, Mr, Miss, Mrs).
(p. 69 )
3.7 /h/
The fricative /h/ has the following realizations: [h] before a,e, and o, [] or [] before i and y for many speakers (especially in Tky speech), and [] before u: (8) Realizations of /h/
For certain speakers, the opposition between /h/ and /s/ is neutralized before i: hi /hi/ and shi /si/ are pronounced identically. The opposition is neutralized to the benefit of /h/ in the Kansai area (/hi/, /si/ = [hi]), to the benefit of /s/ in the Kant area (/hi/, /si/ = [i] or [i]), as shown below. These mergers were already attested at the beginning of the eighteenth century. (9)
Kansai [hima] Kant shima / sima/ hima / hima/ [ima] / [ima] [ima] / [ima] island
[hima]
(free) time
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Consonants
The change in place of articulation of /s/ to [] before /i/ can be regarded as an assimilation, since /i/ is a palatal vowel. But there is also a possibility that the coronal fricative /s/ has actually preserved its original place of articulation before /i/ in the modern language, since /s/ might have been a hushing, palato-alveolar segment before all vowels at an earlier date, as we have seen in section 3.5. [h] is very rare intervocalically in Yamato monomorphemes, where it has usually turned to [pp], [w], or disappeared, as will be seen in more detail in section 3.7.2. It occurs for instance in haha mum, hoho cheek, ahureru to overflow. The voiceless bilabial fricative , one of the allophones of /h/ before u, has been recently phonemized in newly introduced loans, so that it now occurs contrastively before vowels other than /u/, for example famirii [amii] {family}. So pairs such as hitto [hitto] {hit}, and fitto [itto] {fit} which stand in opposition in this stratum can now be found. In older loans dating back to the beginning or the middle of the twentieth century, [h] appears regularly as the adaptation of {f} in Western loans before vowels other than []: telehon [teeho] {telephone} (see also section 3.14).
3.7.1 Phonological Correspondence Between h,b, And p

A number of alternations involving h,p, and b deserve special consideration.
(p. 70 )
Geminated /h/ is rendered as [pp], not *[hh]. Consider for example the emphatic or expressive forms in (10a), as well as the Sino-Japanese compounds in (10b) which involve the CV # /Q/ process already discussed in section 2.5: (10) /hh/ # [pp] a. Emphatic or expressive forms
yahari4 suki + hara su + hadaka # # yappari sukippara suppadaka actually empty stomach naked
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Consonants
b. Sino-Japanese compounds
shutsu + hatsu ichi + hon (compare with ichi + kai # shuppatsu i ppon ik-kai
departure
one long object one time)
As we will see below, this can be accounted for diachronically, since modern h derives from *p. It is only in some recent loans, for example gohho {(van) Gogh}, bahha {Bach}, and in a limited number of Sino-Japanese or mixed compounds, for example juhhari ## ten stitches (Sino-Japanese + Yamato, Lawrence, 1999), zehhuchou ### (to feel) awful (Sino-Japanese), that occurrences of [hh] or [] can be found. In Sino-Japanese words, h turns into p after the mora obstruent /Q/ and the mora nasal /N/ (see also the examples in 14). For instance, the Sino-Japanese morpheme # hair is pronounced hatsu or patsu depending on the phonetic environment. (11) h p / /Q/ _ or /N/ _
hatsu hair # (Sino-Japanese) # # / haku/ +/ hatu/ / kiN/ +/ hatu/ / ketu/ hakuhatsu white hair
# #
kinpatsu
blond (golden) hair tied hair
# #
keppatsu
Page 14 of 55
Consonants
+/ hatu/
The same alternation can occasionally occur in Yamato words, for instance nan(i) what + hito person becomes nan-pito what person (obsolete, nan-bito is more common) and suki- empty + hara belly becomes sukippara empty stomach. [h] can nonetheless follow the mora nasal /N/ in some cases. For instance, the Sino-Japanese morpheme # meaning brush, pencil occurs as pitsu in enpitsu pencil but as hitsu in mannenhitsu fountain pen. In both cases, the preceding morpheme ends in /N/. McCawley (1968:78) states that in native and Sino-Japanese, the distribution between [p] and [h / ] can be predicted on the basis of the syntactic information. He claims that [p] occurs after the mora nasal when the Nh combination is in the innermost layer of compounding, as the following examples with hitsu pencil, hun powder, and hatsu emit illustrate: (12)
(p. 71 )
## enpitsu /eN/ +/ hitu/
((en) (pitsu))
pencil
### mannenhitsu /maN/ +/ neN/ +/ hitu/
(((man) (nen)) (hitsu))
fountain pen ### denpunshitsu /den/ +/ (((den) (pun)) (shitsu))
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Consonants
hun/ +/ situ/ starchy matter ### shinhatsumei /siN/ +/ hatsu/ +/ mei/ ((shin) ((hatsu) (mei)))
new invention
This is what has led McCawley (1968:7778) to posit /p/ rather than /h/ in the underlying inventory of the native and Sino-Japanese strata, with a rule converting /p/ into [h] word-initially and under the morphological conditions stated above, even though a few exceptions exist, especially in numeral compounds. While it is true that McCawleys analysis provides a satisfactory and simple account of most of the facts pertaining to the h / p alternation, it is not followed by most native Japanese scholars, who, as Shibatani (1990) observes, find it very counter-intuitive. Note that there are still some cases which must be handled as exceptions. McCawley cites a dozen words or so which are not transparent compounds but still contain an intervocalic h, such as ahiru duck, haha mother (see also section 3.2.). As mentioned in section 3.2. one can also find some word-initial or intervocalic ps such as peten head, tanpopo dandelion, or pakuru to filch in words of Yamato or Sino-Japanese origin (most are slang or familiar words). Another interesting example is the Sino-Japanese word chapatsu ## hair dyed brown, whose second morpheme is # hair, already cited in example (11) above. In chapatsu,p is neither geminated nor preceded by /N/. This word seems to be an analogical formation recently coined out of kinpatsu blond hair to refer to brown dyed hair, a new hairstyle colour which became fashionable in Japan in the 1990s.
(p. 72 ) Page 16 of 55
Consonants
A possible synchronic explanation of the fact that /h/ is rendered by /p/ after the special segments /Q/ and /N/ is the following: /N/ and /Q/ have no place of articulation of their own underlyingly. In order to receive full surface phonetic content before a consonant, these two elements require that the following segment should have a fully specified place of articulation, to which they will be able to link. However, the laryngeal consonant /h/ does not fulfil this condition, since it can be regarded as placeless at the phonological and phonetic level (Ladefoged, 1982, 1990)5. This is arguably why the labial / p/ has been maintained after /Q/ and /N/. Another explanation would be that fricatives do not undergo gemination as easily as other consonants, in particular stops. A fricative occurring in a position or context in which gemination is likely to occur sometimes undergoes a change in manner of articulation, by a process which can be regarded as strengthening. The fricative takes the feature [continuous], that is, it turns into a stop. As previously mentioned (see footnote 3, this chapter) the other voiceless fricative of Japanese, the alveolar /s/, displays the same tendency to occlusion in the event of gemination. In Modern Japanese, /h/ also works as the voiceless counterpart of /b/ morpho-phonologically, despite the fact that this role should be assigned to /p/ at the strictly phonetic, articulatory level. This is first manifest in the writing, since the kana denoting ba,bi,bu, be, and bo are derived from those denoting ha, hi, hu, he, and ho by addition of the diacritics used to indicate obstruent voicing (the nigoriten, or dakuten ##, example 13), in the same way as the moras starting with d,z, and g are derived from those starting with t,s, and k (see section 1.5). (p. 73 ) The CV combinations starting with the voiceless bilabial stop p also take as a basis the kana starting with h, but they use a special symbol, the handakuten (###), a small circle, which has appeared relatively recently in the history of the Japanese writing system, around the sixteenth century according to Okumura (1972). (13) Kana writing of p and b
h: b ha hi hu he ho # # # # # : ba bi bu be bo # # # # #
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Consonants
h: p
ha hi hu he ho # # # # #
pa pi pu pe po # # # # #
The phonological relationship between h and b is also manifest in the rendaku (## sequential voicing, see Chapter 4). The stop /b/ functions like the voiced alternant of /h/, for example in tabi + hito # tabi-bito traveller (travel + person). The special link between h,b, and p is further evidenced by a number of cases of alternation between these three consonants. Such alternations are mainly observed in the mimetic vocabulary and in numeral compounds of the form Numeral + Specifier. They are conditioned either by the phonetic environment (thus /h/ becomes /p/ or /b/ after /N/), by application of the rendaku rule or of post-nasal voicing (see Chapter 4), or by register considerations in the case of mimetics. In some Yamato compounds, [pp] also works like a marker of compounding, and thus fulfils a role somewhat similar to rendaku. Compare for instance the three free alternant forms sukihara / sukibara / sukippara empty stomach in the examples below.6 (14) Alternation between /h/, /p/ and /b/ a. Mimetic words
ha rahara(to) pa rapara(to) barabara (ni)
b. Sino-Japanese compounds
-hon #: ippon # #
fluttering, scattering (with various stylistic nuances) nihon # # sanbon # #
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Consonants
(specifier of long objects): hu #:
1 long object hu-sai # #
2 long objects ninpu # # labourer
3 long objects joubu # # robust
man
(p. 74 )
married couple
c. Yamato compounds
ha # mushiba # # deppa/ deba # (#) # buck teeth sukippara # ## #
tooth sukihara # # #
decayed tooth sukibara # # #
empty stomach (suki- empty + hara belly, stomach)
The h / p / b alternation in numeral compounds is rather irregular. Some specifiers starting with /h/ occur with [b] after the numeral san 3 and the interrogative nani / nan how many but keep [h] after yon 4, for instance hai cups or hiki small animal, while others have [p] after 3, 4, and how many, for instance hun minute, hou direction, and so on (see (15)). All of them have [p] after ichi 1, roku 6, hachi 8, juu 10, by application of the CV # /Q/ rule presented in Chapter 2.5.
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Consonants
So there are two sets of /h/ starting specifiers. Those which have allomorphs in [h], [b], and [p] and those which have allomorphs in [h] and [p] only, as the following examples show. According to Otaka (2009), the second type is more numerous than the first, but specifiers of the first type are of more frequent use. (15)
h/p/ b hai # cup x cup(s) 1 ichi 2 ni 3 san 4 yon 5 go 6 roku i p-pai ni -hai sa n-bai yo n-hai go-hai ro ppai / rokuhai nanahai ha ppai / hachihai kyu u-hai h/p/ *b
hun # minute x minute(s) i ppun ni hun sa n-pun yo n-pun go hun ro ppun
7 nana 8 hachi
nanahun ha ppun / hachihun kyu u-hun
9 kyuu
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Consonants
10 juu
ju ppai / jip-pai na n-bai
ju ppun / jippun na n-pun
how many nan(i)

(p. 75 )
3.7.2 Diachronic Development of /h/

The articulatory variety of /h/ in the modern language actually reflects the complex and lively history of this consonant in Japanese. The series of evolutions it has undergone is known as ha-gy tenkoon (#####) in Japanese linguistics, literally phonetic change of the sounds of the h-row. In Yamato and Sino-Japanese words, h is generally considered as going back to a labial plosive *p (Ueda, 1898; Hashimoto Sh., 1928; Martin, 1987). Archaic Japanese (or pre-archaic Japanese according to some scholars) would thus have had no laryngeal fricative, which explains why, in the oldest loans from Chinese, an original /h/ is regularly adapted as the velar /k/ in Japanese, while /p/ is adapted by means of the sound transcribed by the kana currently denoting the moras starting with the /h/ consonant (ha-gy ##). These facts point to the conclusion that the initial consonant of this graphemic series was not [h] but some other sound, most probably [p]. Some examples are given in the chart below. For the sake of comparison, I also provide the corresponding Sino-Korean forms, which very regularly maintain the original initial of the Chinese lexemes. (16) *h and *p in Old Chinese, and their reflexes in SinoJapanese and Sino-Korean
Old Chinese Modern SinoJapanese ketsu kan kou, kyou Modern SinoKorean hjl han hja
ch *h : jp k # # # blood China perfume *huet *han *ha
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Consonants
ch *p : jp h # # # root wave cloth *pn *puar *pag hon ha hu, ho pon pa po
Loans made by Ainu from Japanese are also revealing of the original value of modern /h/. For example, the Ainu word potoki Buddha, a very old loan from Japanese, corresponds to the Modern Japanese form hotoke / hotoke . Since Ainu does possess a glottal fricative [h] in its system, the logical interpretation is that the Japanese word in question began with *p, not with *h, at the time of borrowing. In addition, in several modern Ryky dialects, / p/ corresponds very regularly to Japanese /h/: jp hi / rk pi fire, jp hatake / rk pataki field. It is most probable that */p/ had evolved into a bilabial fricative as early as the Nara period (eighth century, Hashimoto Sh., 1928; Hamada, 1954), except in mimetic words. The bilabial realization has been maintained up to now before /u/ in Standard Japanese and even before all the vowels in certain dialects of the Thoku area and in the prefectures of Nagano, Shimane, and Nagasaki. Around the tenth century, is thought to have turned into w intervocalically (18a), until its complete disappearance, except before /a/ where it gave rise to [w]. Word-initially, it is maintained (18b) and remains labial at least till the seventeenth century. This is attested by the notations of Portuguese and Spanish missionaries, who transcribe fodo degree, fafa or faua mother, feike monogatari Tale of the Heike (today hodo, haha, heike). A riddle of the Muromachi period provides us with another invaluable indication (Komatsu, 1981, also cited in Martin, 1987). To the question What is it that meets twice for mum, but not even once for dad? (### ###############), the expected answer was kuchibiru the lips. We thus know that mum (Modern Japanese haha) was pronounced with a bilabial, presumably as [aa] or [awa] at that time, and that in turn it was undoubtedly *[papa] at an even earlier time.
(p. 76 )
This consonant pursues its transformation, evolving into a segment with a laryngeal place of articulation, i.e. [h], except before /u/ where it is still nowadays a bilabial.7 Recall also that before /i/, one often encounters a
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Consonants
(pre-)dorso-palatal [] or []. Such a palatal realization of /h/ already existed at least at the beginning of the eighteenth century. This series of evolutions is recapitulated in (17) (following the proposal by my colleague Takayama Tomoaki, in Labrune and Takayama, 2004): (17) Diachronic evolution of h
Other hypotheses have been proposed. Let us mention in particular that of Hayashi Ch. (1992), who considers that archaic */p/ was maintained as [p] until the ninth century at least, and that the *p # # w evolution occurred subsequently, and at once. Another approach is that of Hamano (2000), who assumes that the evolution of */p/ towards /w/ in intervocalic position has gone through the following stages: *p # *b # * # *w.
(p. 77 )
h/:
Here is a series of examples illustrating the evolution of */p/ towards / (18) a. Intervocalically (V __ V)
*[kapa] # [kaa] # [kawa] *[sipo] # [sio] # [siwo] # [io] *[ipe] # [ie] # [iwe] # [ije]8 # [ie]
/ kawa/ / sio/
kawa
river
shio
salt
/ ie/
ie
house
b. Word-initially (# __)
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Consonants
*[pa] # [a] # [ha] *[pikai] # [ikai] # [hikai] (/ [ikai]) *[pne] # [ne]
/haru/
ha ru hikari
spring
/ hikari/
light
/hune/
hu ne
boat
The semi-consonant w having supposedly disappeared before e,o, and then i between the tenth and thirteenth centuries, many sequences of two consecutive vowels VV in the modern language correspond in fact to a former VwV sequence, which in turn represents evolutions from VpV forms (see section 3.12). This series of changes explains why the glottal fricative h has almost disappeared from the Yamato lexicon intervocalically. It exists only in words resulting from a reduplication such as haha mother, hoho cheek, hatahata (hata-hata, hata-hata) sandfish, hara-hara flutteringly,9 and in transparent compounds such as asa-hi morning sun, shira-hata white flag, and shira-ho white sail. These two types of words have maintained an internal h in order to ensure morphological transparency and paradigmatic identity of the morpheme, and to preserve the reduplicative character of the compound in the first case. Intervocalic [h] is also found in a couple of other exceptional cases such as ahureru to overflow (presumably a back formation from abureru) or ahou idiot (Kansai dialect).
3.8 /m/
The bilabial nasal /m/ is realized as [m] in all positions. A rather peculiar segment realized as a moraic m (IPA [m]) is sometimes heard in the speech of older speakers, or in certain forms of the traditional Japanese theatre. This nasal is found in words starting with um-, like ume plum tree, uma horse, umareru to be born, which are phonetically realized as [mme], [mma], [mmae], or even, if we follow Vance (1987:39), as [m^ma] for uma. This seems to be the vestige of an archaic
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Consonants
pronunciation, which must have (p. 78 ) been much more widespread formerly since it is well attested in documents of the Heian period.
3.9 /n/
The nasal consonant /n/ is apico-dental or apico-alveolar. A majority of Japanese phoneticians mention a palatal realization [] before the vowel i and the glide y, but it seems to me that palatalization is not very marked. The sequence nV frequently undergoes vowel deletion and subsequent transformation of /n/ into /N/ (the moraic nasal) in familiar speech: kodomo no toki # kodomontoki,kodomontoki during childhood, juugonichi # juugonchi the fifteenth (day) (Akinaga, 2008).
3.10 The Status of the Velar Nasal []

The phonological status of the dorso-velar nasal consonant [] (bidakuon ## # or ga-gy bion ####) in Tky Japanese has been a much debated issue. The question is: is [] a mere alternant of /g/ or is it phonemically different from /g/? Let us first observe that this sound does not possess its own symbol in the two kana syllabaries. It is transcribed with the g kana series: #, # = [ga] or [a], #, # = [gi] or [i], #, # = [gu] or [], #, # = [ge] or [e], #, # = [go] or [o].10 Second, the sound [] is regarded as a disappearing segment even in the dialects in which it is attested, as we will see in more detail below (Kindaichi, 1942; Inoue, 1971; Hibiya, 1999), although it continues to be, even now, held as a distinctive mark of beautiful Japanese. But is absent in the speech of many speakers, where it is replaced by [g] or []. So, in many Japanese dialects, the [g] / [] alternation is simply not relevant (see the Japan Linguistic Atlas for information concerning the dialectal distribution and phonetic realizations of /g/11). The study by Hibiya (1999) clearly demonstrates that there is a clear pattern of age stratification in the use of [], which drops off as age diminishes. Note however that the velar nasal [] is thought to have appeared relatively recently in Japanese, probably around the eighteenth century. It is generally assumed to be the result of a phonemic split out of the /g/ consonant, which has spread from central Japan (including the Tky and Kyto areas), to outer regions (Inoue, 1971).
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Consonants
Next, in the speech of speakers who realize [], the distribution of this sound is peculiar: [] does not appear at the beginning of independent morphemes (19a). It is found only word-internally (19b). (19) a.
(p. 79 )
goma geta
[goma] *[oma] [geta] *[eta]
sesame
b.
kagami nigeru
geta (Japanese clogs) mirror to flee
[kaami] *[kagami] [nie] *[nige]
These examples could suggest that [g] and [] stand in complementary distribution in the speech of speakers who possess the two sounds, the velar stop appearing in word-initial position, the velar nasal in word-medial position. It would then be tempting to regard [] as a simple alternant of /g/ (as an idiolectal, sociolectal, or regional variant), with the following allophonic rule: (20)
However, once again, things are not so simple. A number of small facts make the issue somewhat more complicated. First, there exist some cases of semantically relevant contrasts between [g] and [], as in the oft-cited pairs doku-a (doku-a) ## poison fang vs. doku-ga (doku-ga) ## Oriental tussock moth, daigo ## fifth vs. daio # # ghee, juugo ## fifteen vs. juuo ## home front. But such examples of minimal pairs remain rare, and, for certain linguists, they do not justify the existence of an additional phoneme in the system of Japanese.
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Consonants
Second, the conjunction ga (but) can be realized as [a] even at the beginning of a sentence. One may also hear the sound [] at the beginning of the words gurai approximately, or gotoshi identical (NHK, 1998) when they appear utterance-initially as independent morphemes, even though they rarely do so. Lastly, the [] / [] alternation is not systematic. A non-initial /g/ is never realized as [] in mimetic or expressive reduplicated words (21), at the beginning of the morpheme go (or go) five (22), after the polite prefix o(23), and in recent loans (24.a) except if a velar nasal already exists in the source form (24.b): (p. 80 ) (21) Reduplicated mimetic and expressive words
gunyagunya gejigeji (geji-geji) [gnjagnja] *[gnjanja] [geigei] *[geiei] flabby
millipede
However, reduplications expressing plurality or intensity undergo velar nasalization, such as kuni-guni [knini] countries. But variation does exist, and descriptions are often contradictory. For example the adjective gyougyoushii ostentatious, which consists of the reduplication of a SinoJapanese morpheme followed by the Yamato suffix -shii, should be realized as [gjogjoii], not *[gjojoii] according to Kamei (1956). Yet NHK (1998) indicates the pronunciation [gjojoii]. (22) Morpheme go five
ju ugo [go] *[o] fifteen
Note that in the fully lexicalized word juugo-ya [oja] full moon night (night of the fifteenth day), where the morpheme go has lost its numeral meaning, the nasal, rather than the stop, appears. (23) Polite prefix oo+ genki o+ [ogeki] *[oeki] health
[ogai]
*[oai]
(your) health
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Consonants
guai
(24) Recent loans a. Containing [g] in the source word

ra gubii ha ngaa [agbi]
*[abi]
rugby
b. Containing [] in the source word

[haga]
or [haa]
{hanger}
The word igirisu [iiis] England, from the Portuguese {Ingls} probably belongs to the case depicted in (24b). As for compounds belonging to types other than those which have just been mentioned, the situation is somewhat murky. Three cases exist: certain words regularly display [], for example hiyori + geta # hiyori-eta [hijoieta] geta for dry days; others always maintain [g], as shiro + goma # shiro-goma [iogoma] white sesame; a third group licenses the two realizations [g] or [], for example keshi + gomu [keiom] or [keigom] eraser. Curiously enough, in compound words whose second member starts with /g/ and which fulfil the conditions for rendaku application (see Chapter 4), /g/ may not undergo nasalization; for example kuro + goma (black + sesame) becomes kuro-goma [kogoma] rather than *[kooma] black sesame (Kamei, 1956). Hibiya (1999) states that when the second element of a compound is a single Sino-Japanese bound root starting with /g/, the root initial /g/ is realized as [], as (p. 81 ) in hogo ## protection [hoo]. It is important to note that descriptions such as dictionaries or articles do not necessarily concord with each other. The reader should consult Vance (1987) who provides a very rich list of examples and a review of the Japanese literature concerning the velar nasal issue. Vance (1987) also remarks that in three-character SinoJapanese compounds of the shape (X)+(YZ), /g/ seems not to be nasalized at the beginning of Y as in the example /dai+gen.soku/ dai-gensoku major principle (with []). On the other hand, in words of the shape (XY)+(Z), we seem to get [] after the major division, for instance /zi.dai+ geki/ jidai-eki period drama. According to Akamatsu (1997:130), the fluctuation between [] and [] can be accounted for by two main causes: demographic movements and
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Consonants
speakers age. According to this scholar, the generalization of the [] realization in internal position results from the influence of non-standard regional pronunciations in which [] does not exist, due to the migrations after the end of World War II. It would have then spread among younger speakers. As already mentioned, [] occurs less in the speech of the younger generation. Yuzawa and Matsuzaki (2004:20) show that [] has practically disappeared in the speech of Tky speakers under forty, whereas it occurs in the speech of nearly all speakers over eighty. According to Hibiya (1999), analyses of real-time data have all indicated that native speakers of the Tky Yamanote dialect had word-internal [] until at least the late nineteenth century, and so the decline of [] must have started in the early twentieth century. It is heading towards completion in the younger generation of today. Since the status of the velar nasal constitutes one of the most debated issues in the phonology of Japanese, it seems interesting to present in more detail two extremely different and complementary approaches, each quite representative of its time and tradition: the treatment proposed by It Junko and Armin Mester, published in 1997, which belongs to the most recent Western theoretical prospect, and that by Kindaichi Haruhiko, published in Japan in 1942, which draws meticulous attention to the data and variation in a sociological dimension, and which is very characteristic of the Japanese linguistic tradition.
3.10.1 It And Mesters Treatment (1997)

In their 1997 paper, the linguists It Junko and Armin Mester proposed a novel analysis of the phonology of in Japanese. They observe that the two following cases are observed in compounds whose second member begins with g: (i) possible variation between [g] and [] at the compound juncture; (ii) no variation, only [] is possible. The first type is that of words whose second component starts with an underlying /g/ in isolation (examples (25)), the second type concerns words which start with an underlying /k/ and have undergone (p. 82 ) rendaku voicing (examples (26)).12 As we shall see in the next chapter, rendaku is a morpho-phonological process of Japanese which requires the initial consonant of the second member of a compound to become voiced under certain conditions. (25) /g/ [] or [g] in compounding
niwa +
Page 29 of 55
niwageta
garden clogs
Consonants
geta
/ niwaeta # shimagara / shimaara striped pattern
shima + gara
(26) /k/ [], *[g] in compounding

yuki + kuni ori + kami # yukiuni *yukiguni
snow country
oriami
*origami
origami
The difference shown in the above examples between an underlying /g/ and a /g/ induced by the rendaku of an underlying /k/ is quite puzzling. It and Mester (1997) proposed a particularly elegant analysis of these facts. Their proposal accounts for, on the one hand, the asymmetry between niwa-geta / niwa-eta in (25) and yuki-uni / *yuki-guni in (26), but also, on the other hand, for the impossibility of velar nasalization occurring in reduplicated mimetic words as shown above in (18), as well as for the existence of minimal pairs such as doku-ga and doku-a. The analysis by It and Mester (1997) is cast within the framework of Optimality Theory. Four main constraints are used: (27)
*[ is prohibited initially in a prosodic word. Voiced dorsal obstruents are prohibited.
*g
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Consonants
IdentLS
LexicalSurface correspondents are identically specified for [nasal]. The bound form of a stem is segmentally identical with its corresponding free form.
IdentSS
To account for the rendaku-induced []s, as in yuki-uni for example, it is necessary, in addition, to refer to the SeqVoi constraint (sequential voicing, i.e. rendaku), which stipulates that the second component of a compound starts with a voiced consonant. This constraint is the highest in the hierarchy together with *[. The relative hierarchy between these two constraints remains unspecified. The analysis supposes that the two constraints *g and IdentSS are unranked, or freely ranked, with respect to each other, thus providing an account of the observed variation. Free-ranking of these two constraints entails the derivation of two possible outputs in cases where the second component starts with [g] in isolation. Recourse to two different hierarchies, or to one hierarchy with two constraints left unranked with respect to each other, constitutes a traditional treatment of variation in Optimality Theory. The hierarchy (adapted) is as follows: (28)
(p. 83 )
The choice between hierarchies (a) and (b) is left open by the grammar. Compare now the tableaux for niwa + geta niwa-eta and yuki + kuni yuki-uni, both with the nasal, with respect to the two hierarchies (accent will not be indicated in the tableaux). (29) niwa + geta garden clogs
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Consonants
(p. 84 )
(30) yuki + kuni snow country
[g] is allowed in internal position in niwa-geta (29a) because it satisfies the IdentSS constraint which is ranked higher than *g. In other words, niwa-geta is possible because /g/ is identical to the autonomous surface form geta, whereas *yuki-guni in (30a or b) is not because /g/ does not appear in the autonomous surface form kuni. In (29b), niwa-eta is the best candidate because it does not violate *g, which outranks IdentSS in the alternative hierarchy. In this model, the possible variation between niwa-geta and niwa-eta thus results from the free-ranking of *g and IdentSS. However, in yuki + kuni (30), the two different ranking scenarios do not make any difference to the output. With either ranking, the same candidate yuki-uni is selected. Candidate *yuki-guni cannot emerge as the winner since the /g/ consonant does not reflect a segment present in the autonomous form of the lexeme kuni (violation of IdentSS). Consequently, under both hierarchies, the winner is yuki-uni.
Consonants
Page 32 of 55
Lastly, to account for the case of reduplicated mimetic stems, in which /g/ occurring at the beginning of the second part is never nasalized, It and Mester adopt McCarthy and Prince (1995)s analysis, calling upon a wellknown constraint in Optimality Theory, the constraint IdentBase-Reduplicant, which they place above *g. IdentBase-Reduplicant requires identity between the base and the reduplicant, so a surface form like *gara-ara is not optimal. Neither is *ara-ara because, according to the proposed hierarchy, prohibition to have a velar nasal at the initial of a word is ranked very high. Under these conditions, gara-gara is the optimal candidate.
(p. 85 )
The analysis by It and Mester is appealing in many respects. It has strong explanatory capacity, and makes it possible to achieve a unified treatment of seemingly disparate facts, in particular with regard to the obligatoriness of resulting from the rendaku of [k]. In addition, the general principles which govern their analysis seem independent of the formal framework they use, which still reinforces the interest of their approach, and is likely to give it lasting value, irrespective of the evolutions of the theory. The g / alternation basically comes down to a paradigmatic uniformity issue. However, this analysis is not without its defects, in particular concerning the data. The main criticism which one can formulate has to do with the empirical basis of the study. It explicitly presents the patterns of optional or obligatory alternations as systematic, implying that the data are firmly established and indisputable. However, this is far from being so because exceptions are easy to find. For example, according to authors as normative as Amanuma et al. (1989) or NHK (1998), who deal precisely with the variety of Japanese adopted by It and Mester, certain compound words whose second component starts with /g/ in the free base form, such as hiyori + geta geta for dry days or shiro + goma white sesame, have only one possible realization, the first with the nasal [hijoieta], the second with the stop [iogoma]. In addition, words containing a rendaku frequently present variation between g and for speakers who do possess the velar nasal, but the conditions which determine the variation remain unclear (Kamei, 1956; Kindaichi, 1942). It would also have been relevant to refer to the results of Kindaichis survey, which we will present below, since it is precisely the interand intra-speakers variations investigated by Kindaichi that It and Mester are interested in. In sum, the data do not seem representative enough of the Japanese language at the end of the twentieth century, and it does not either seem to be the variety described in previous studies, for example Kindaichis.
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Consonants
Interestingly, the study is supposed to concern the variety of language spoken by the older residents of the Yamanote area of Tky, which forms the basis for the modern standard language and is reflected in standard pronunciation dictionaries. This is precisely the variety of language, taken from that very same Yamanote area, which Kindaichi Haruhiko investigated in his 1942 study.13
(p. 86 )
3.10.2 Kindaichis Treatment (1942)
During the winter of 1941, the linguist Kindaichi Haruhiko conducted a sociolinguistic survey in a junior high school of the Suginami district of Tky, located in the Yamanote area, which forms the basis of Standard Japanese. The survey consisted of the reading out loud of a list of 13 words, comprising an internal velar likely to be realized as [g] or [], by seventy 15- and 16year-old students, born and raised in the capital. Firstly, the results of this investigation provide evidence for the extreme variety of the realizations among the speakers. Three different groups can be distinguished: speakers who realize all the /g/s as [g] (21 speakers), speakers who realize them as [] except in the word juugo fifteen (20 speakers), and speakers who present one or the other realization (29 speakers). Secondly, the survey establishes that the use of [g] or [] also depends on the words: some lexemes are more frequently realized with [g] or [] than others. Thus kaigun the navy presents the [g] realization in 70% of cases, while ama-gasa (or ama-gasa) umbrella exhibits the nasal [] in more than 67% of the examples. But all the words tested do not present a clear and constant tendency. There is only one word for which all seventy speakers provide a uniform pronunciation: juugo fifteen with [g]. Also, as Kindaichi observes, kaigun the navy and chuugi fidelity, the two words most frequently realized with [g] are Sino-Japanese lexemes. This suggests that this class of word is less prone to velar nasalization. It will be noted that ama-gasa / ama-gasa umbrella and ha-gaki postcard, which have the highest rate of [] realization, are Yamato compound lexemes which contain rendaku. However, one should nevertheless note that more than 30% of the speakers, including speakers who do have [] in some other lexemes, do not nasalize the rendaku compounds ama-gasa (ama-gasa) and ha-gaki at the time of the investigation in 1941. Moreover, Kindaichi observes that gi and gu are less often nasalized than ga,ge, and go. He also raises the possibility that the [g] realization occurs more frequently in the second mora than in
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Consonants
the third mora of a word. Lastly, his work supports the thesis that women tend to be less conservative than men socio-phonetically, since they utter fewer []s than men. We are thus clearly dealing with a variation phenomenon whose conditioning, both internal and external, is complex. In addition to the strong inter-speaker diversity, quite remarkable within such a homogeneous group as far as age and (p. 87 ) sociocultural background are concerned, the survey brings forth several other internal factors likely to favour the appearance of the velar nazalisation: the lexical stratum of a given word, its length, its degree of autonomy, the degree of lexicalization in the case of compounds, the morphological status of the velar as a word boundary, the nature of the vowel which follows the velar, as well as the position of the mora containing the velar in the word. Noting, at the time of the investigation, that almost all the subjects over thirty have [] in internal position, while this allophone was less widespread in the younger subjects realizations, Kindaichi predicted the progressive disappearance of [] to the benefit of [g] in all contexts. Posterior works, in particular the linguistic survey whose results are described by Inoue (1993), have regularly confirmed this prediction ever since. The progressive disappearance of [] not only in Tky but also in other areas of Japan where this sound used to be widespread is under way. Kindaichi also saw a structural reason for the disappearance of []. According to him, the existence of a velar nasal intervocalically in Japanese is a vestige of the time when all the word-internal voiced stops were prenasalized. Thus formerly one had [mb], [nd], and [g] where the modern language generally has [b], [d], and [] ~ [g] (see also Chapter 4). When prenasalized consonants began to undergo reduction to one single segment, [mb] and [nd] passed to /b/ and /d/. Things went differently for [g] because that sound started to phonologize into // in a number of dialects. The reason is that since the velar nasal // did not exist as a phoneme in the system, such phonologization of [] to // made it possible to maintain or to create the following new oppositions: m/b, n/d, and /g, where filled a gap. The reason why this did not happen in the case of [mb] and [nd], which did not become /m/ and /n/ but rather /b/ and /d/, is because labial and alveolar nasals already existed as established phonemes. The reduction of [mb] and [nd] to /m/ and /n/ would thus have involved the loss of many oppositions; for example *kambe wall becoming *kame would have merged with kame tortoise, while kabe was not in competition with any existing form. On the
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Consonants
other hand, the evolution of kage shade to kae was not likely to create confusion since did not exist as a contrastive unit. During the twentieth century, according to Kindaichi (1942), the tendency is that of [] evolving back to /g/, on the model of the evolutions [mb] /b/ and [nd] /d/. The disappearance of [] would thus constitute the final stage of a diachronic process of major importance in the history of the Japanese language, the evolution of which can be traced over several centuries: that of the denasalization of the prenasalized voiced obstruents, a topic which will be addressed again in the next chapter.
(p. 88 )
3.11 /y/ (and Palatalization)
The dorso-palatal glide /y/ (IPA [j]) functionally stands as a consonant in the moraic units ya, yu, yo. It can also appear after another consonant in the form of a palatalization. Every Japanese consonant excluding the glides y and w has a palatalized counterpart known as yon ##. However, it is especially after the consonants /k/, /g/, /t/, /s/, /z/, and /h/, and in Sino-Japanese words that palatalizations are most frequent. After /r/, palatalization is generally rare, and impossible in the mimetic stratum (see section 3.13 below). As seen in section 2.8, the presence of y does not change the prosodic weight of a given rhythmic unit: kyu counts as one mora, just as ku,yu, or u do. The palatal element must be considered as attached to the first position of the prosodeme (onset), as represented in (31): (31) Palatalized consonant
Palatalization is always noted y in phonological and Kunrei transcription. The Hepburn romanization is less consistent because it renders the palatalized combinations /sy/, /ty/, /zy/ as sh,ch, and j, as already indicated. The element y only occurs before the vowels /a/, /u/, /o/. The combination of y with /i/ is impossible in all lexical strata: *yi, *kyi, *myi, etc. do not exist. It seems that this has always been so in Japanese.
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Consonants
The glide y is also absent before /e/, except in some very recent loans or in certain dialects, in particular in the Kysh island. Recall though that she /sye/ [e] occurs in certain speakers speech instead of se [se] but in a non-distinctive way: for example she /sye/ [e] back (standard se, see footnote 2, this chapter). But /ye/ did exist in the archaic language. Phonetically, /e/ and /ye/ were distinguished until the middle of the ninth century approximately before merging to /ye/ in a majority of dialects, as observed by the European missionaries of the sixteenth century: yedo (for edo, the ancient name of Tky), ye, modern e image. It is only from the seventeenth century on that the [je] pronunciation of ye started changing into [e]. The two impossible combinations */yi/ and */ye/ concern vowels which have a palatal articulation in common with the dorso-palatal glide /y/. The same type of (p. 89 ) restriction applies to /w/, the dorso-velar glide, which does not appear before the back (or velar) vowels /u/ and /o/. Consonantal palatalization is not original in Japanese. It is generally considered to have appeared in the language under the influence of Chinese loans. Indeed, palatalizations are particularly frequent in Sino-Japanese morphemes. They occasionally occur in Yamato words like kyou today, but this is always the result of a secondary development, already mentioned in section 2.7.2. In the familiar register, palatalizations are also frequent and generally not recorded in writing. We find sore ha # sorya this + Topic marker, itte ha # itcha (/ittya/) going + Topic marker (in these two examples, remember that the topic marker ha is actually pronounced wa), to iu (actually realized as to yuu) # chuu (/tyuu/) so called (all of Yamato origin). The appearance of the palatal element is explained by the presence of the front vowel /e/ in the first two examples, and by that of /i/ or /y/ in the last one. Palatalizations are also widespread in mimetics (see below), as in hunya-hunya flabby, as well as in recent Western loans. Note also the frequent insertion of y after /k/ or /g/ in Western words like kyapashitii {capacity}, or kyarameru {caramel}, that reflects the place of articulation of the velar stops /k/ and /g/ in English and other European languages, which are more phonetically fronted than the Japanese equivalents. There exist some CyV / CV (almost) free alternations, such as kyuu ~ ku nine, shake /syake/ ~ sake /sake/ salmon. The alternations shu ~ shi and ju ~ ji (/syu/ ~ /si/, /zyu/ ~ /zi/), as in Shinjuku / Shinjiku (place name), already discussed in section 2.4, are very frequent (this phenomenon is
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Consonants
termed chokuonka ?##?#). Lexicalized alternations of the sort yV / i, such as yuku / iku to go, yuu / iu to say, yoi / ii good, can also be found. In a number of cases, palatalization is secondary and works like a phonaestheme associated with the connotations of childishness, instability, uncoordinated movement, diversity, lack of elegance, excessive energy. This is particularly so in mimetic words (Hamano, 1998, originally published in 1986). Thus beside pota-pota, which suggests an idea of dropping, one finds pocha-pocha (/potya-potya/), which refers to splashing. This type of palatalization normally occurs on the rightmost coronal consonant of a bimoraic mimetic root (32a). If the rightmost consonant is not a coronal, then the initial consonant will undergo palatalization, whatever its place of articulation (32b). Although Alderete and Kochetov (2009) show that, because of the paucity of relevant examples, there is no real empirical basis supporting the assumption that palatalization affects the leftmost of two non-coronals (pyoko-pyoko / *pokyo-pokyo in 32b) or the rightmost of two coronals (dosha-dosha / *dyosa-dyosa 32a), the overall argument put forward by Hamano (1998) and subsequently by Mester and It (p. 90 ) (1989) remains valid and in conformity with native speakers intuitions.14 The only exception to this rule is /r/ (32c), which cannot palatalize when it occurs in the second mora of the root, an issue which will be further discussed in section 3.13. (32) a. C2 of mimetic root = coronal
ka sakasa ka syakasya *kyasakyasa dry objects scratching each other
do sadosa
do syadosya
*dyosadyosa
b. C2 of mimetic root = non-coronal

po kopoko za buzabu pyo kopyoko zya buzyabu *pokyopokyo *zabyuzabyu
something falling heavily hopping around splashing
c. C2 of mimetic root = /r/
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Consonants
no ronoro
nyo ronyoro
*noryonoryo
wriggly and curving movement looking around restlessly
ko rokoro
kyo rokyoro
*koryokoryo
Such palatalizations of an expressive nature occur also sporadically elsewhere: thus, the personal suffix -san becomes -chan (/tyaN/) after childrens names and diminutives (note also in this example the passage of / s/ to /t/, which can be interpreted as consonant strengthening, see section 3.6). Overall palatalization is also characteristic of baby talk.
3.12 /w/
The labiovelar glide /w/ is slightly less rounded than its English counterpart (for instance in way). Its phonetic realization is between that of the symbols [] and [w] of the IPA. It can be regarded as the semi-vocalic version of the vowel /u/ [] from the articulatory point of view, but functionally, it behaves as a consonant. In the modern language, /w/ occurs only before /a/. The combinations /wi/, / we/, and /wo/15 have all existed at earlier stages of the language but have disappeared in Modern Standard Japanese. However, they are making a timid come-back in Western loans. On the other hand, */wu/ never existed. [o] o and [wo] wo merged around the year 1000 to wo, a pronunciation which was still heard by the first European missionaries in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. They wrote uo or vo for # (read o in Modern Japanese). The group [wi] wi (p. 91 ) reduced to [i] i around the thirteenth century. As for [we] we, it first merged with ye around the thirteenth century. Thereafter ye evolved to modern [e] (see the preceding section). The first Western romanizations of the Muromachi period write coye for the modern form koe voice, which in turn comes from an earlier form kowe. The existence of w in this word is also visible in the allomorphic form kowa- for koe, which appears in a number of compounds such as kowa-iro quality of voice (on the alternation e/a in compounds, see section 2.3). The reasons for these changes, which involved a significant decrease in the sound possibilities of the language, can first be found in the low functional load of the oppositions at hand, i.e. the small number of minimal pairs
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Consonants
involving an opposition between V and wV. Since the moras consisting solely of a vowel occurred only at the beginning of independent simplex words in Archaic Yamato Japanese, this was the only position in which the loss of the glide was likely to create a new homophony. In Sino-Japanese words, the sequences ye,we,wi, and wo were too rare to cause any problematic opposition losses. The disappearance of ye, we, wi, and wo also illustrates a strong trend in the phonology of Japanese (see the charts in section 3.15 for statistical data): maximal contrast is favoured between the two constituents of the basic prosodeme (the mora), so that the statistically most frequent CV combinations mostly involve a voiceless stop + vowel, or a nasal + vowel (a noteworthy exception is the combination r + V, which will be addressed in the following section). So it is hardly a surprise that the combinations between a semi-consonant and a vowel articulatorily close to it (w + u / o and y + i / e, as well as w + e) were the first to disappear. Moras of the CwV shape (called gyon ### in the traditional terminology) existed up until recently in certain Sino-Japanese words, for example okwashi ### cake, gwaikoku ## foreign country. They reflect the presence of a labial glide in the Chinese original forms. Old Chinese accepted /w/ after a large variety of consonants, but, apart from a small number of exceptions attested in documents of the Heian period, it is only after the velar consonants /k/ and /g/ that /w/ could be found in Japanese. Although the combinations /kwa/, /gwa/, /kwe/, /gwe/, /kwi/, and /gwi/ all existed, only /kwa/ and /gwa/ have been maintained until the middle or end of the nineteenth century, and still exist nowadays in certain dialects, mainly in the Thoku or Kysh areas. The tendency towards w-lenition seems to continue in the modern language: /w/ is often deleted before /a/ in very familiar speech. Thus one will often hear maaru instead of mawaru to turn (see also the remark in footnote 5, Chapter 2), bia for biwa medlar tree, akannai for wakaranai not to understand, korya for kore wa this, or atashi for watashi I (but there exists a pragmatic difference between the two forms of this pronoun; watashi is rather neutral whereas atashi has a girly connotation). More generally, this phenomenon seems to pertain to an overall weakening process of the labial (p. 92 ) articulations in Japanese. Recall that */p/ has evolved to /h/ or to zero, that /w/ has disappeared before /i/, /o/, and /e/, that the labiovelar /kw/ and /gw/ have reduced to /k/ and /g/, and that /u/ is only very slightly rounded. Even the nasal /m/ is no exception to this: in the familiar language, it sometimes undergoes total deletion in fast tempo speech, for example suimasen for sumimasen excuse me. One
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might wonder whether the causes for this tendency to delabialization are not cultural rather than properly linguistic. The progressive disappearance or near disappearance of labials in the phonological system might be related to a search for a certain immobility or facial impassibility. Hagge and Haudricourt (1978) refer to a cause of a similar nature to explain the absence of labials in the Iroquoian adult language. Note, in addition, that lip protrusion or exaggerated labialization in the articulation is culturally codified as an expression of anger in Japanese. Conversely, delabialization is connoted as a mark of calm and self-control, which are martial qualities eminently praised in the traditional culture.
3.13 /r/
The prototypic realization of the only Japanese liquid /r/ is [], the apicoalveolar flap. According to Matsuno (1971), [] should be considered the neutral realization of the rhotic in the language because its articulation is central compared to other variants. However, /r/ displays a large number of social, geographical, or combinatorial variants. Outside [], the following phonetic (social or regional) realizations are attested: [l], [], [r], [r], [d], [], []. The apico-alveolar lateral [l] is a common variant, frequent before palatalized vowels (rya,ryu,ryo) and in young womens speech (Ohnishi 1987; Tsuzuki and Lee 1992). Retroflex [] is also encountered under the same conditions. The short and long apical trills, [r] and [r] are socially marked variants, characteristic of colloquial or even vulgar Tky male Japanese. For instance, street thugs and yakuzas (gangsters) are easily recognized by their strongly trilled r, at least in the movies, where it is one of their conventional attributes. The higher the number of trills, the more socially marked as vulgar the speech will be. The voiced alveolar stop [d] is a combinatorial variant which is frequent word-initially in certain dialects, or in childrens speech. It can also occur word-internally. The retroflex [] might be encountered initially before /u/, or intervocalically in sequences such as /ere/, /ara/, /uru/, /oro/ (Tsuzuki and Lee, 1992). The voiced lateral fricative [] is a combinatorial variant occurring before the high vowels / i/ and /u/. It is also the most common realization of /r/ in some Rykyan dialects. Phonetically, /r/ is also by far the shortest of all Japanese consonants (Sagisaka and Tohkura; 1984, Kurematsu, 1997). In addition to its phonetic diversity, Japanese /r/ stands out as a segment exhibiting many idiosyncratic peculiarities, which make it unique
(p. 93 ) Page 41 of 55
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in the phonological system of the language. In Archaic and Old Japanese, / r/ does not appear at the beginning of independent Yamato morphemes. Nevertheless, although absent at the beginning of Yamato lexical words, / r/ is paradoxically the most frequent (or second most frequent depending on the counting method) of all consonants inside Yamato words (including mimetics), in Old Japanese, and in Modern Japanese alike (see Labrune, 1993, and Labrune, forthcoming, for a detailed presentation of various statistical data, and Figures 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4 at the end of this chapter). In Old Japanese, two /r/s never co-occur within a single word, that is, there can be only one /r/ per word. This co-occurrence restriction is especially remarkable in verb stems. Whereas -ru is the most frequent verbal inflectional ending in Old Japanese (Yoshida K., 1976:87, 101), it is not attested after roots which already contain an /r/ (Kuginuki, 1982). Thus, while kaheru,inoru,musaboru and so on are well-formed and attested Old Japanese verbs, forms with more than one /r/ such as *kiroru, *aramaru, or *somoriru are impossible, and are indeed unattested, but for one exception (hiroru to spread, to widen).16 The same type of co-occurrence restriction is also operative in Old Japanese nouns and other parts of speech. Moreover, the distribution of /r/ within words is peculiar, since /r/s are more likely to occur late in words. Kuginuki (1982) establishes that out of 614 words of the archaic language containing a rhotic, 543 occurrences (88.4%) of those /r/s appear in the last mora of the word. In other words, the closer to the end of the word, the higher the probability for finding /r/. For Kuginuki (1982), such a distributional pattern makes sense if one supposes that /r/ developed relatively late in the history of Japanese. His hypothesis is that / r/ was originally added to the phonemic inventory in order to increase the length of words, which were mostly one or two mora long in pre-archaic Japanese. Japanese being a suffixing language, these newly added r-moras are expectedly most frequent at the end of words. Another remarkable feature of /r/ in Old Japanese is that it stands in complementary distribution with the zero consonant since moras made of a single vowel never appear word-internally, and r does not word-initially. In a well-known paper dealing with palatal prosody in Japanese mimetics in relation to feature predictability and underspecification in Modern Japanese (p. 94 ) (see examples (32) above), Mester and It (1989) claim that /r/ is the unmarked sonorant of Japanese and that it is underspecified for the feature [Coronal].
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Building on Kuginukis insight and on Mester and It (1989)s proposal that /r/ is actually the unmarked sonorant of the system, I have argued in Labrune (1993, forthcoming) that /r/ primarily developed in Proto-Japanese as a default, epenthetic consonant in the intervocalic position by virtue of an Emergence of the Unmarked mechanism (McCarthy and Prince, 1994) and that the conditions of its development bear on its present-day characteristics. The evidence suggesting that the phonological behaviour of /r/ is that of a phonologically inert, transparent consonant that lacks phonological content is the following. First, as already discussed in section 3.11, /r/ fails to undergo palatalization, an important phonological process which occurs in a systematic fashion in the mimetic stratum according to Hamano (1998). Recall that /r/ behaves in an exceptional manner in mimetics because it cannot be palatalized when it occurs in the second mora, so that noronoro (32c) does not yield *noryonoryo but nyoronyoro. Moreover, the presence of /r/ in the root does not block the palatalization of a non-coronal in the first mora. So /r/ actually behaves like a non-coronal with regard to the palatalization process depicted in (32). Note that palatalized /r/s can be encountered in lexical strata other than mimetics, so that /ryV/ is not an impossible sequence in Japanese. However, the difference between mimetic palatalization and non-mimetic palatalization results from the fact that in mimetics palatalization acts as a feature-sized morpheme (Mester and It, 1989) which can be productively attached to a root under the conditions stated above. The second process to which /r/ is transparent in Japanese mimetics, and also in other strata of the lexicon, is gemination. For instance, in -ri suffixed mimetic adverbs (Kuroda, 1967; Mester and It, 1989 citing a personal communication by Poser), when the second consonant of a C1VC2V root is voiceless, suffixation of the adverbial ending -ri may cause C2 to undergo total gemination in cases where it is a voiceless obstruent (33a), or partial gemination (i.e. prenasalization) in cases where it is a voiced obstruent or a sonorant (33b). However, in cases where the consonant in question is /r/, neither gemination nor prenasalization can normally occur (33c). (33) a. C2 = [voiced] gemination
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Consonants
Base bata
-ri adverbial battari with a bang exactly entirely
kaki goso
(p. 95 )
kakkiri gossori
b. C2 = [+voiced] prenasalization
gena shimi boya yawa koga gennari shinmiri bonyari yanwari kongari
to satiety intimately absentmindedly gently to be nicely roasted brown sleepless ?*konrori without effort
maji
manjiri korori ?*korrori
c. C2 = /r/ nothing happens

koro
Fully geminated /r/s are also unattested outside the mimetic lexicon in the Yamato and Sino-Japanese strata, and they are only marginally reported in Western borrowings and in some recent mimetic derivatives (Schourup and Tamori, 1992:137). As for the moraic nasal /N/ + /r/ sequence, it does occur in Sino-Japanese and Western borrowings, and in a few mimetic forms. However, in such cases, it represents a recent development and is to be phonologically analysed as a combination of two distinct segments rather than the result of a prenasalization process in the strict sense. According to Mester and It (1989), total gemination of /r/ is impossible because it violates the Nasal Coda Condition requiring all voiced sonorant codas to be nasal. Even if one does not adhere to a syllabic
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Consonants
analysis of Japanese but to a moraic one according to which /N/ stands as an autonomous prosodeme (mora) as we do in this book, the basic interpretation by It and Mester remains valid: /N/ needs to acquire its place articulation features from the following consonant. So partial gemination (= /N/ insertion) is impossible because /r/ is underspecified, and thus has no distinguishable parts available for separate linkage. Schourup and Tamori (1992) have criticized this analysis, arguing that the non-occurrence of palatalization with /r/ in mimetics is best explained by articulatory difficulty. However, one can object that articulatory factors alone cannot account for the many other properties of /r/ in Japanese. Thirdly, /r/ is the most unstable of all Japanese consonants, both diachronically and synchronically. Throughout the history of Japanese, rV moras have frequently undergone syncope (de aru # da (copula), karite # kate, kate provisions; see also Kishida (1984) for additional examples) or unexpected addition (paragoge, kabu # kabura turnip, shippo / shippori (accent unknown) tail [dialectal]; see also Labrune (1998b)). As a recent trend of Tky Japanese, it has also been observed that rV sequences frequently turn into /N/ or /Q/, for instance wakaranai # wakannai not to understand, sou suru to # sousutto doing this (Akinaga, 2008). Moreover, unlike most other consonants, /r/ is never the cause of an assimilation process in Japanese, that is, there are no cases where a (p. 96 ) consonant would assimilate to /r/, whereas /r/ frequently assimilates to a surrounding segment (Labrune, forthcoming). The liquid also plays a central role in the morphology. It is crucially involved in the verbal flexion, where it can be regarded as epenthetic (de Chene, 1985; Labrune, 1996), as the following data illustrate: (34) Verbal inflexion
Consonant final base to write basic form negative ka k-u kakanai Vowel final base to see mi -ru mi nai
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Consonants
hypothetic nominal
ka keba kak-i (kaki) kaki-masu kakareru ka k-e
mi -reba mi
polite passive imperative
mi-masu mi-rareru mi -ro
Observe that, before vowel-initial endings (-u,-anai,-eba, etc.), no consonant surfaces when the base ends in a consonant, contrary to what happens after a vowel-ending base. According to de Chene (1985) and Mester and It (1989), consonant-stem suffixes display the basic form of the suffixes, and initial /r/ in vocalic-stem suffixes is epenthetic. What is significant here is that the surfacing consonant is precisely /r/. The verbal morphology of Old Japanese provides further arguments for analysing /r/ as an epenthetic consonant (Labrune, 1996). Furthermore, /r/ is also extremely frequent at the beginning of several other nominal, adjectival, and verbal suffixes in the pre-modern language, such as -ra (plural, directional), -ra / -ro (adverbial), -raka (adjectival ending), -raku (nominalizer), -ru (passive, potential), -ri (adverbial), -ri (aspectual auxiliary), -re (deictic suffix), -reru (passive, potential, honorific auxiliary), -ro (imperative suffix), and -ro (a particle of obscure function in Archaic Japanese). Most of these r-beginning morphemes are attested in the archaic language, and are still widely used in Contemporary Japanese. The behaviour of /r/ in the phonetics, phonology, and morpho-phonology of Japanese is thus characteristic of what any theory of phonology, whether structuralist, generativist, or OT-ist, would recognize as an unmarked, default segment.
3.14 New Consonants

A number of new phonic possibilities have recently developed in the Japanese language due to the influence of borrowing. Two different types of new (p. 97 ) consonants can be distinguished: those which result from the phonologization of sounds already existing in the language but with
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no phonemic status, like f [] or v [], and those which represent new phonotactic combinations, that is, a sound which is already granted phonemic status in the native or Sino-Japanese system has come to acquire new combinatorial possibilities. For instance /y/ y, /w/ w, /ty/ ch, /zy/ j, /sy/ sh now combine with e, /d/ d now occurs before i or u as [d], /w/ w occurs after other consonants (kwa,gwo), and ts before vowels other than u, as shown in the following chart. (35)
she, je, che: tsa, tsi, tse, tso: ti, di, tu, du: tyu, dyu: fa, fi, fe, fyu, fo: va, vi, vu, vyu, ve, vo: ye: wi, we, wo: [e] ## [e] ## [i] ## [e] ##
[a] ##
[e] ##
[o] ##
[ti] ##
[di] ##
[t] ##
[d] ##
[tj] ## [a] ##
[dj] ## [i] ## [e] ## [j] ## [o] ##
[a] ##
[i] ##
[] #
[j] ##
[e] ##
[o] ##
[je] ## [wi] ## [we] ## [wo] ##
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Consonants
kwa, kwi, kwe, kwo: gwa, gwi, gwe, gwo:
[kwa] ##
[kwi] ##
[kwe] ##
[kwo] ##
[gwa] ##
[gwi] ##
[gwe] ##
[gwo] ##
Concerning the three last series beginning with w-,kw-, and gw-, note that they are not always realized as one mora. One often hears the bimoraic sequences [i], [e] for wi and we, and [ka], [gi], etc. for kwa,gwi, etc. Most of the above combinations are only found in loanwords which have been borrowed in the past twenty or thirty years, and in the speech of speakers whose sociolinguistic profile is urban, educated, and feminine (Inoue, 2002). It is important to make a clear distinction between the katakana transcription, which may contain sequences such as those cited above (or even other sequences), and the actual pronunciation, which is often more conservative, and does not always faithfully reflect the kana spelling. Some people (mainly older speakers) write paatii ##### {party} but actually (p. 98 ) pronounce [pati] paachii or [pate] paatee, thus avoiding the new phonic combination [ti]. The following chart provides some examples of recently borrowed words containing new phonetic possibilities (underlined). (36)
f fa mirii ti ssyu tsiiru [amii] ## # ##
{family}
ti tsi
[ti] [tsir]
### ## ### # ## ## #
{tissue} {Ziel} (German goal) {shepherd (dog)}
she
shepaado
[epado]
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Consonants
kwo v
kwo otsu vinteeji
[kwots], [kots] [intei]
### # ## # ## #
{quartz} {vintage}
ye
yerusaremu [jesaem] ## # # # #
{Jerusalem}
The combinations fa, ti, tsi, she, kwo, and ye in the above examples actually represent a broadening of the phonotactic possibilities of already existing segments. These either exist as allophones of a given Japanese phoneme (for instance [] is an allophone of /h/, [] an allophone of /t/), or as true phonemes with limited distribution in the rest of the lexicon. This is the case for y, which only occurs before a,u, and o, and for w, which only occurs before a, in the Yamato and Sino-Japanese strata. In this case, it is the combination of y and w with vowels other than those admitted in Yamato or Sino-Japanese words which represents an innovation. It is interesting to note that some of these combinations have existed at an earlier stage of the Japanese language, or still exist in dialects, for instance kw,tsa,ye, she. The sound transcribed as # in kana (v in Hepburn) is never realized as a labio-dental voiced fricative. Its most common realization seems to be [b]. It is pronounced [] by some speakers, a sound which is an occasional variant of /b/ in the intervocalic position (Kamiyama T., p.c., and Sait, 1997) for certain speakers in Yamato and Sino-Japanese words. However, this Japanese [] seems to be much less fricative than the corresponding Castillan Spanish sound in lobo for instance. In sum, we can say that all the newly introduced sounds are not really new: they already exist in the Japanese language. The only innovation is that they are now granted a phonemic status. Other sounds still await a proper and non-ambiguous transposition. Let us mention for instance those consonants which function as a syllable coda in the source language. Both English fat and Italian fatto are adapted as ### #fatto, and there is no way to distinguish them in the Japanese adaptation
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Consonants
even in the kana writing. The English interdental fricatives [] and [] are not distinguished (p. 99 ) from [s] and [z]. The same is true of l and r. Bari and Bali are transcribed and pronounced in an identical manner: ## [bai]. The pairs si and shi,zi and ji, although they sometimes receive a different orthography in kana, respectively as ## and #, ## and #, are never phonetically distinguished in the adapted form of loanwords by Japanese speakers. This is the source of an important number of homophonies. Note that older loanwords containing sounds or sound combinations which were unknown in Japanese used to be adapted under patterns more in line with the native phonology, as the following examples illustrate: (37)
{telephone} # [teeho] terehon {visa} # biza {ticket} # chiketto [biza] [tiketto] # ### ## ### # rather than rather than rather than
*[teeo] *[iza] *[tiketto]
Today, these words would presumably be adapted, at least orthographically, as ##### terefon [teeoN], ### viza [iza], and ##### tiketto [tiketto]. We do actually find newly formed compounds containing the word telephone such as terefon shoppingu {telephone shopping} or terefon redii {telephone lady} with a f [] (Kamiyama Takeki, personal communication).
3.15 Relative Frequency of Consonants

The charts below provide data concerning the frequency of the consonants in texts, on the one hand, and in the lexicon, on the other hand, both in Ancient and Modern Japanese. For Archaic Yamato Japanese, the data concern textual (token) frequency. They are given in Figure 3.1 (based on no (1980), Man'ysh corpus). The
Figure 3.1. Textual frequency (in %) of Archaic Japanese consonants (adapted from no, 1980)
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Consonants
symbol F denotes the ancestor of /h/; denotes the zero consonant (onsetless vowel).
(p. 100 )
What we observe is that the alveolar nasal /n/ is the most frequent of all consonants. This remarkable textual frequency is undoubtedly due to the fact that several grammatical words among the most widely used contain a / n/ (ni,nari,no, etc.). Note that the four voiced obstruents /g/, /b/, /d/, and /z/ occupy the last four positions, preceded by the two semi-consonants /y/ and / w/. Figure 3.2 provides data about the lexical (type) frequency in word-initial position. We see that // (the zero consonant) is the most frequent of all, since actually nearly one fourth of all Japanese archaic words start with the zero consonant, that is, with a vowel. The bar graph in Figure 3.3 provides data for two-mora Yamato nouns of the modern language. It gives the lexical (type) frequency (in absolute value), and
Figure 3.2. Lexical frequency (in %) of Archaic Yamato Japanese consonants for the initial of words (based on the entries of the Nara Japanese Dictionary, Jidai Betsu Kokugo Daijiten, jdai-hen, 1967).
Figure 3.3. Lexical frequency in absolute value of consonants according to their position in bimoraic Yamato nouns in the modern language (KKK, 1984).
(p. 101 )
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Consonants
Figure 3.4. Textual frequency of Modern Japanese consonants (according to Imae, 1960, cited by Hayashi O., 1982). makes a distinction between initial and medial positions in two-mora nouns. The figures for the glide y are missing because the data provided by the source cannot be exploited. As we have already remarked in section 3.13, / r/ is the most frequent consonant word-medially. It is also interesting to observe that there exists a discrepancy in the distribution according to word position for /g/, /z/, /d/, /h/, /b/, /r/ and // (see the sections of the relevant consonants for comments). Finally, Figure 3.4 presents the textual (token) frequencies of the consonants in Modern Japanese. The counting of the source being based on the kana spelling (except for the particles ha # and wo #, which are not distinguished from wa # and o #), the figures for the zero-initial are misleading because they also include the second parts of long vowels: for example, one occurrence of // is counted in the sequence kou ##, which has been interpreted as kou. The frequency of // must thus be considered inferior. According to my own estimation, it actually ranges between 10% and 13%. Here, (j) denotes palatalization (for example y in tya,kyo), while y represents the initial segment in the moras ya,yu, and yo. The total does not reach 100% because the frequencies of the special segments /N/ and /Q/ are missing (see section 5.6). As already mentioned in section 3.12, and if we set aside the special cases of // and /r/ for the reasons discussed in section 3.13, Japanese tends to favour strong consonants (i.e. consonants which are most consonantal, that is voiceless obstruents and nasals) in the onset position of its prosodemes (moras). It thus follows the universal tendency of the worlds languages which tend to obey a principle of maximal sonority contrast between CV.
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Consonants
Notes:
(1) However, it is generally admitted that in Ancient Japanese (and probably also in Middle Japanese, that is, until the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries), / t/ was realized as a plosive before all vowels, including /u/ and /i/: [ta], [ti], [t], [te], [to]. The same goes for /d/. (2) A few sporadic occurrences of the she /sye/ combination are encountered in Yamato words, but they are all free variants of se, for instance misete / mishete show me!. This alternation must probably be interpreted as dialectal, or as an example of affective palatalization, see also p. 66. (3) This should be considered in parallel with the behaviour of the other Japanese fricative /h/, after /Q/. /h/ automatically becomes /p/ in cases of gemination in Yamato and Sino-Japanese words. Voiceless fricatives thus seem to resist gemination, and they tend to be transformed into occlusives when preceded by the gemination segment /Q/. One can thus posit a correspondence /Qs/ = [tss] ~ /Qh/ = [pp], which would be attributed to a fortition process. Note also that even in Western loanwords, /h/ and /s/ undergo gemination (as [hh] and [ss]) less often than the other consonants (Kawagoe and Arai, 2002). (4) The adverb yahari is a mimetic which contains an intervocalic [h] root internally and is, as such, exceptional. It is sometimes considered to be etymologically a compound of ya arrow and hari tense (###). (5) Thank you to Kamiyama Takeki for pointing out to me the Ladefoged references. (6) [pp] is not the only geminate which can mark compounding in parallel to rendaku. A few examples can also be found with other consonants, for instance korekkiri (kore + kiri) this and only this, decchiri (de + shiri) chubby buttocks. (7) It also seems that /h/ had remained a bilabial before /i/ until the nineteenth century in the Western dialects, according to the descriptions by Aston (1872) and Hoffmann (1868). (8) Concerning the evolution we # ye # e, see sections 3.11 and 3.12. (9) It is interesting to note that in the words haha mother and hoho cheek the intervocalic fricative has first followed the general evolution rule h # w,
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Consonants
as indicated by the Jesuit transcriptions faua for haha, and fou (# *howo) for hoho. However, a phonetic reversal has occurred and the modern forms have reverted to haha and hoho. (10) Pronunciation dictionaries sometimes transcribe the moras beginning with as ##########. (11) An electronic version of the maps of the Linguistic Atlas of Japan (Nihon Gengo Chizu) issued by the Kokuritsu Kokugo Kenkyjo (National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics) is available at: http://www6.ninjal.ac.jp/ laj%20map/04/01/. (12) For the sake of legibility and consistency, some notational and presentational adaptations are made in the presentation below. (13) The speakers targeted by Kindaichis survey in 1941 were aged fifteen or sixteen and were Yamanote residents. They must have reached an age over seventy in 1997, the date It and Mester published their paper, that is, they precisely fall into the category of speakers that It and Mesters study is supposed to concern. (14) For analyses of this secondary palatalization, which may be regarded as an autosegment, and some of its theoretical consequences, see Hamano (1998) and Mester and It (1989). (15) The object particle # is sometimes romanized as wo, but this is a purely orthographic convention, that does not reflect the presence of the glide /w/ in the actual realization of the particle. (16) This principle is not totally preserved in Modern Japanese (cf. oriru to get down, ireru to insert), but even in the modern language, most verbs containing two occurrences of /r/ are compounds involving two stems, or are derived by adjunction of the suffix -eru, which is an innovation of the PreModern language.
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Consonants
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Consonants

Laurence Labrune
The phonology of consonant voicing

Laurence Labrune
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.003.0004

Chapter 4 first presents a comprehensive overview of the issue of consonant voicing in Japanese, which is characterised by a number of specific and rather outstanding properties, including low frequency, phonotactic restrictions, historical instability and transparency, failure to undergo gemination and so on. It also considers their historical development and status in the writing system and offers an original analysis of the internal structure of the Japanese voiced obstruents within the framework of autosegmental phonology and feature geometry. This chapter also provides a detailed presentation of rendaku, one of the most studied and debated issue in Japanese morpho-phonology, and a section on post-nasal voicing, before concluding that voicing could be regarded as a supra-segmental feature rather than as a segmental one in Japanese.
Keywords: gemination, rendaku, post-nasal voicing, Japanese voicing, low frequency, phonotactic restrictions, historical instability, historical transparency
The four voiced obstruents /b/, /d/, /g/, and /z/ (dakuon ##, literally impure, or muddy, sounds in the traditional Japanese terminology), display several intriguing properties. In the present chapter, we begin by examining the general phonological properties of voiced obstruents (section 4.1). We will then proceed to an overview of rendaku (sequential voicing, section 4.2) and post-nasal voicing (section 4.3), and end with a discussion concerning the similarities between Japanese voicing and some supra-segmental features such as tone and accent (section 4.4).
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4.1 General Properties of Japanese Voiced Obstruents

4.1.1 Limited Distribution, Low Frequency, And Co-occurrence Restrictions
The voiced obstruents have a limited distribution, especially in Yamato words. They do not normally occur at the beginning of independent morphemes, except in a few special cases which will be examined below. Also, voiced obstruents present an extremely low frequency in Yamato words, as shown by the statistical data provided at the end of the preceding chapter. Furthermore, two voiced obstruents rarely co-occur within the same root. It and Mester (1986) state that huda label, tag and buta pig are possible words of Yamato Japanese, but that *buda is not. However, forms such as debu fatty or gaburi swallowing at once do exist. These are certainly rather marked, but not really more so than buta pig, whose structure is also rare and highly marked because of its initial voiced obstruent. So the paucity of bimoraic words containing two voiced obstruents is more probably a statistical consequence of the fact that words beginning with a voiced obstruent are rare, and that forms containing a voiced obstruent in the second mora are far less frequent than those containing an unvoiced obstruent in the same position. The voiced obstruents which appear word-initially in Yamato words come from the following sources. First, one finds a number of cases which result from secondary voicing of an originally unvoiced obstruent, whose phonopragmatic function is to introduce a pejorative or expressive connotation. This kind of initial (p. 103 ) voicing generally signals the negative character (unpleasant, disgusting, dirty, big, heavy, etc.) of the referent (Komatsu, 1981). For example sama appearance occurs in the form zama to mean messy appearance, plight, kani crab becomes gani- in the expression gani-mata bandy legs, hareru to clear up yields bareru to transpire, to be revealed (about a secret), sara-sara smooth, silky becomes zarazara rough. Incidentally, it is interesting to observe that the first meaning of the term daku,nigori (#), which has been inherited from the Chinese phonological tradition, and designates the voiced character of a sound both in China and Japan, is originally that of dirty, impure, or muddy, that is, precisely the connotation associated with voiced obstruents when they occur word-initially in Japanese. Pairs such as the above are generally lexicalized, and, apart from the mimetic class, it is rare to find productive and personal derivations
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like zakana rotten fish from sakana fish, bakimono dirty footwear from hakimono footwear, shoes, or Beike for Heike those bastards of Heike (Heike is the name of a war clan and the eponymous title of a twelfthcentury epic tale), which are sporadic examples of the Edo period. There also exist words starting with b,d,g, and z which do have a negative connotation but whose corresponding voiceless forms do not exist (or no longer exist). Let us cite, for example, zurui tricky, sly, gomi rubbish, bokeru to become senile, geppu a burp, damasu to cheat, to deceive (for additional examples see Wenck, 1987 and Komatsu, 1981). All the words which contain two voiced obstruents within the same Yamato root are found within this lexical class. They belong to the familiar or slang register, for example doji blunder, or debu fatty. One should consider that the two voiced consonants do not share the same status. The one which appears word-internally is unmarked and primary, while the one which occurs word-initially is marked and secondary, that is, derived from an originally unvoiced consonant even if the lexeme beginning with the corresponding unvoiced obstruent is no longer attested. In the modern language, there exist some cases of voiced initials in lexemes which do not carry a pejorative connotation. These are historically derived from a phonetic transformation involving a nasal, like buchi whip (probably from muchi) or ba place (maybe from niwa garden), or they result from the loss of a high vowel, for example bara rose (derived from ibara / ubara), doko where (from iduku), daku to hold in ones arms (from idaku) (Komatsu, 1981; Yanagida, 1985; Kishida, 1984). Lastly, it should be noted that a good number of the forms starting with a voiced obstruent and which lack a negative phono-pragmatic connotation are animal or plant names, for instance bora mullet (fish), dani acarid, buna beech, gama (also gama) toad or reed mace, buta pig. It is obvious that in Japanese, the functional load of voicing is not as strong as that of other features. Voicing works more like a prosodic feature than like a (p. 104 ) segmental one, since a voicing difference (very much like a pitch accent difference) does not seem to impede proper comprehension in Japanese. I shall return to this interpretation in section 4.4 below.
4.1.2 Failure To Undergo Gemination

The voiced obstruents display another characteristic in Yamato and SinoJapanese words: they cannot undergo gemination. This impossibility is
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absolute in those two strata. Only a few marginally formed mimetics like zabbun-to with a large splash and Western loans such as baggu {bag} or beddo {bed}, accept the gemination of /b/, /d/, /g/, and /z/. But even in this last type of example, one will undoubtedly hear more frequently the forms bakku or betto, with devoicing of the geminate (Kawahara, 2006). Note that baggu or beddo are noteworthy in three respects from the point of view of their phonological structure: (i) they begin with a voiced obstruent; (ii) they contain two voiced obstruents within the same morpheme; (iii) they contain a geminated voiced obstruent. Although in native Japanese, they cannot be geminated in the classical sense of the term, the voiced obstruents may sometimes undergo a strengthening process which can be analysed as a sort of gemination, since it consists of the insertion of a mora nasal before the consonant, in a manner parallel to what occurs with voiceless consonants, which are consistently geminated in the same context (that is, the special segment /Q/ is inserted before the consonant). This nasal insertion is sometimes termed partial gemination. The functional equivalence and complementary distribution between gemination and insertion of /N/ is particularly observable and regular in the mimetic lexicon, as depicted in the examples below. The examples shown here involve -ri suffixation to a bimoraic mimetic root and gemination or prenasalization of the second consonant of this root. (1) Insertion of /Q/ (gemination) and /N/ (prenasalization) in mimetics a. Before a voiceless consonant
root derived adverb battari
bata
/ baQtari/
suddenly, with a clash precisely entirely
kaki goso
kakkiri gossori
/ kaQkiri/ / goQsori/ / zaNburi/
b. Before a voiced consonant (except /r/)

zabu zanburi
with a
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big splash maji manjiri / maNziri/ not (to sleep) a wink well roasted cosily, compactly in an airy manner
koga chima huwa
kongari chinmari hunwari
/ koNgari/ / tiNmari/ / huNwari/
(p. 105 )
The complementary distribution of /Q/ and /N/ also occurs with the intensive prefix bu-, and a few others, but less productively. (2) Insertion of /Q/ (gemination) and /N/ (prenasalization) in buprefixed (intensive) derivatives
bu + korosu bu + tobasu bu + naguru bu + toru bu + *dakuru bukkorosu to kill
buttobasu
to strike to beat to grab to take forcefully
bunnaguru bundoru bundakuru
This Q / N insertion process is also observable in simplex non-mimetic words, for example in tada # tanda only or tabi # tanbi time (Hamada, 1952).
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The complementary distribution of /Q/ and /N/ in the above examples pleads in favour of an analysis which treats the specification of nasality as pre-existent to /N/ insertion, and thus views nasality as an inherent, constitutional feature of the phonological structure of the Japanese voiced obstruents, as we shall see more thoroughly in section 4.1.6.
4.1.3 Instability And Transparency

Another striking characteristic of the Japanese voiced obstruents is their instability. Both diachronically and synchronically, one observes many shifts from a voiceless consonant to a voiced one, or from a voiced one to a voiceless one, as in the following examples (the symbol / indicates variation in synchrony, while # marks variation in diachrony): (3) Voiced/voiceless obstruents alternations
hota / bota / hoda shita-tsuzumi / shita-zutsumi kurai / gurai touboku # touhoku tenga # tenka abureru # ahureru kami-gakura # kami-kagura tsukumu # tsugumu sawaku # sawagu firewood
smack of lips approximately Province of the North-East all the country to overflow sacred dance to be silent to be noisy
In classical poetry, there exists a literary device, kakekotoba, consisting of a pun based on homophony, in which a sequence of sounds was used to suggest more than one meaning. Interestingly, voicing can be transparent or irrelevant in kakekotoba. For instance, in poem 423 of the Kokinsh (dating from the beginning of the tenth century), we find the following kakekotoba.
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Capitalized letters (p. 106 ) indicate the sounds for which voicing distinction is not relevant, allowing double interpretation of the meaning. (4) Voicing transparency in kakekotoba kubeki hoDo toKi suginure ya the moment it should have come has passed Or the nightingale that should have come This verse also contains the noun for the nightingale, hototogisu, in the sequence hodo toki su(ginure), if one ignores the voicing distinctions. Considering the fact that such poetry was first composed to be sung aloud, it appears that voicing differences were felt as secondary and did not impede the understanding of the poem. This type of pun actually still exists in Modern Japanese. In goro awase, a popular mnemotechnic device for remembering phone numbers, dates, passwords, and so on, numbers may be read following their different allomorphs corresponding to a number of phonetic values (native Japanese, Sino-Japanese, or even English, each number has generally more than four or five possible readings), in order to be used to cue words or phrases (see Schourup, 2000, for a detailed study). Interestingly, a voiced number can cue an unvoiced one, and vice versa. For instance, the phone number of a taxi company is 35635151, which reads sa, gorou-san, koi, koi well, come and pick me up Mr Goro! (Goro is a popular male name).1 Here, the digit 5 which normally reads go (in Sino-Japanese) is used to cue both the mora go in Gorou-san Mr Goro and the mora ko in koi come!. Similarly, in a study of Japanese rap rhymes, Kawahara (2007) reports that consonants differing only in voicing are frequently treated as similar. It is also interesting to observe that in Japanese dictionaries, the difference between an unvoiced and a voiced consonant is not taken into account for the ordering of the headwords. Thus the entries kara shell, karada body, gara design will appear in the following order: kara,gara,karada. The difference between k and g is simply ignored.2 Ohno (2005) also mentions the fact that recent loanwords in the modern language are sometimes pronounced with different voicing values, for instance amejisuto for {amethyst}, batominton for {badminton}. Finally, let us also note the following phenomenon: in a sequence of the shape C1VC2V, where C1 is a voiceless consonant and C2 the same consonant in its (p. 107 ) sonorous version, haplology frequently occurs in Old and Middle Japanese, in the same way that it occurs between two
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strictly identical consonants: for example mashiji evolved into maji will not, ought not (auxiliary), kuhibisu (*kupibisu) into kubisu a heel (Yamaguchi Yoshinori, 1988a:203).
4.1.4 Historical Development of Voiced Obstruents

A large number of intervocalic voiced obstruents have developed out of consonant clusters containing a nasal segment, as illustrated in the following examples: (5)
10th century 20th century hude ko ube suzuri ikaga humite # kamipe # sumisuri # ikanika # *hunde # *kambe # *sunzuri # *ikanga # brush, pencil Kbe inkstone how
We also know, from the transcriptions in the Latin alphabet made by European missionaries during the Muromachi period, and the notations found in Chinese and Korean materials of the same period, that a vowel preceding a voiced obstruent used to be realized with a nasalization. Thus we find, in the documents written by the Iberian Jesuits, romanizations such as Nangasaqui for Nagasaki (place name), vareranga for warera ga (we), and so on. This nasality is noted in an especially regular manner before /g/ and /d/. It presumably disappeared progressively during the Edo period, but note that it is still occasionally heard in the modern language in the speech of certain speakers of the Tky dialect, and very regularly in the dialects of the Thoku and Tosa (Shikoku) areas. In the standard language, the g / alternation, which was discussed in section 3.10, can be regarded as the last vestige of this once widespread nasalization. Most linguists agree today in considering that the voiceless/voiced opposition used to come down to an oral/nasal opposition. According to Yamaguchi Yoshinori (1997), /b/ would have corresponded to [mb], /d/ to [nd], [nd], or [ndz], /g/ to [], and /z/ to [ndz], [nd] in the archaic language. Then, prenasalization disappeared in the following order according to Inoue (1971): /(d)z/ # /b/ # /d/, and finally /g/ (see section 3.10 for details concerning the velar nasal []; see also Yamane-Tanaka, 2005, for a
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discussion of the connection between the loss of prenasalized stops and the history of voiced obstruents within the OT framework). For Hayata (1980), phonologically voiceless consonants were all phonetically voiced intervocalically in pre-archaic Japanese, while phonologically voiced consonants were prenasalized. However, this hypothesis does not reach full consensus among Japanologists. Hayata also claims that it is under the influence of Chinese loanswhere voiceless consonants occur intervocalicallythat the (p. 108 ) system of Japanese might have undergone restructuring. Intervocalic consonants would have remained voiceless in Japanese when they were so underlyingly, while voiced consonants would have started to lose prenasalization. This assumption is not very different from that of Hamada (1960), who also considers that the voiceless/voiced opposition has developed under the influence of the Chinese loans, and that prior to the Chinese influence, the opposition was not relevant in Japanese. Only a phonetic opposition would have existed, the obstruents being voiced between two vowels, but in a non-distinctive way, in a manner reminiscent of what occurs in Modern Korean. One of the arguments in favour of this analysis is that the voiceless/voiced difference was not recorded in the documents of the Heian period and even after. However, a counter-argument exists, which would contradict the absence of a distinctive opposition between voiced and voiceless obstruents in Archaic Japanese. Some of the oldest documents (in particular the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki) denote very accurately the presence of a voiced obstruent in the passages transcribed in Japanese, a notation which later, from the Nara period on, became suddenly optional or erratic, hence a serious problem. The rather sudden disappearance of voicing indications in the oldest documents actually constitutes one of the most mysterious enigmas in the history of the Japanese language, as we shall see in the next section.
4.1.5 Representation In the Writing, Past And Present

Unlike the Latin alphabet, the modern kana writing system captures in a quasi iconic manner the natural link which exists between a voiced and a voiceless obstruent. Voicing of an obstruent is transcribed, in hiragana and katakana, by the addition of two superscript diacritic dots (the dakuten ## voicing dots) on the right side of the kana used to denote the mora starting with the corresponding voiceless consonant (see section 1.5). The written symbol for the voiced sound is thus derived from the voiceless one, in a uniform manner. This notation actually reflects the morpho-phonological status of voicing in Japanese obstruents in a rather appropriate manner,
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because obstruent voicing often appears, as we shall see, as a secondary, derived property. However, the notation of voicing in the kana system is rather recent. Voicing has been indicated in a systematic way in the common orthography since the middle of the twentieth century only. The dakuten used in the modern kana writing system are actually the product of a long and complex history. It is interesting to look back at its development across the centuries because it sheds interesting light on the phonological nature and perception of the voicing feature in the Japanese language. First, one has to consider the question of the recognition of the voicing opposition in Japanese documents. Is voicing indicated or not? In the Kojiki (712 ad) and the Nihonshoki (720 ad), two of the oldest Japanese texts, the voicing opposition is nearly always precisely and accurately noted in the sections written in Japanese or transcribing Japanese nouns (these two documents also contain parts written in Chinese). The writers used manygana (Chinese characters that are used for their phonetic reading in Chinese or Japanese), the ancestor of kana. For instance, to transcribe the moras ku and gu, they use the following characters: (6) Sets of manygana used to transcribe the moras ku and gu in the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki (eighth century)
(p. 109 )
ku: ############etc. gu: #######, etc. This mode of transcription is radically different in spirit from the one used today since there did not exist a single and uniform diacritic mark to denote voicing. Moreover, this system does not capture the phonetic and phonological link which exists between a voiced and voiceless consonant in the system. In the Manysh, a collection of Japanese poetry whose compilation was completed around 760 ad, the written distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants becomes loose, and even absent in a number of poems. For instance, poem 3645 uses the same character # to transcribe the sound ki in oki offing and gi in wagimoko my lady. In the texts in prose which flourished during the Heian period (7941185), when the manygana progressively gave rise to the hiragana by way of simplification, the voicing distinction disappears completely in documents written in hiragana (see Seeley, 1991 on the history of Japanese writing). One single kana is used
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to represent both the voiced and voiceless version of a given CV mora. Posterior texts in katakana such as the Hjki (1212) follow exactly the same principle. However, we know from the first missionary accounts of the Muromachi period in the Latin alphabet (for instance Rodriguez, 16041608) that the voicing distinction had a phonemic status in Japanese since it is consistently transcribed in the first documents in the Latin alphabet. It is only in the Edo period (16041868) that a written distinction between voiced and voiceless obstruents reappears in printed kana documents, by means of the dakuten, but even in the Edo period the notation of voicing was neither systematic nor consistent. To sum up, whereas the voicing distinction is regularly and faithfully transcribed in the earliest manygana texts, it disappears within a few decades with (p. 110 ) the completion of the kana systems during the Heian period, before reappearing during the Edo period several centuries later. The temporary disappearance of the voicing opposition in the orthography constitutes one of the most intriguing mysteries in the history of the Japanese language. Whatever the exact reason for this fact, what we must retain is that voicing was not felt to be as distinctive as other features for many centuries. For details about the precise interpretations of these facts, see Labrune (1998a) or Ohno (2005) and the references cited therein. Next, we shall look at how voicing was shown in cases where it was. As pointed out above, different manygana were used in the oldest texts to denote voicing differences. From the Heian period on, the voicing distinction is denoted only in kanbun style texts, that is, texts written by the Japanese in Chinese. A practice starting from the twelfth century makes use of a mark, posted onto a Chinese character, or onto the kana symbol written next to a Chinese character, in order to indicate that its pronunciation contains a voiced obstruent. The marks used vary greatly depending on the texts, writers, or regions, especially in the older texts. They may consist of a small circle, full or empty, or two circles, sometimes two or three triangles, placed in one of the four corners of the square which contains a character, or they may affect the kana placed next to the character. Interestingly, the initial function of such marks was to indicate the tone of the character (in its Chinese pronunciation) but soon enough the mark also came to denote the voicing status of the consonant, in conjunction with the tone. Some texts make a marking distinction between original
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voicing (hondaku ##) and new voicing (shindaku ##), that is, voicing resulting from rendaku or post-nasal voicing (see sections 4.2 and 4.3 and ). One also finds a very curious manner of voicing transcription consisting of writing a given kana under its mirror image to indicate the presence of voicing (cf. Kokugo Gakkai, 1992, Tsukishima, 1977, or Labrune, 1998a, for reproductions of the original documents). In the course of time, the so-called dakuten, that is, the two dots placed at the top right corner of a kana as we know them today emerged as the most common mark. It is extremely interesting to look back at the evolution of the utilization and value of the modern dakuten, because it is an established fact that dakuten were originally used for the indication of tone. In this respect, it is quite paradoxical to observe that they were used in documents written in Chinese characters, a system that is basically logographic, whereas they were not used in kana texts, even though kana is a truly phonographic system. Some scholars have posited that the voicing distinction was consistently made in older texts because those were written by people who were well trained in Chinese, and were used to distinguish voiced from unvoiced (Hamada, 1960; Ohno, 2005). Less educated people had more trouble in making the distinction because it was less distinctive than it is in Modern Japanese. We must not exclude the possibility that dakuten were (p. 111 ) primarily developed as an aid to understand and pronounce foreign languages (Chinese and Sanskrit) in kanbun texts, mostly written by monks. If this is the case, it could mean that it is only in this type of text that the voiced/ voiceless opposition was felt to be really distinctive, underlying the fact that it was not so in native Japanese (Yamato Japanese). However, it remains hard to understand why voicing was accurately transcribed in the Kojiki and the Nihonshoki, the earliest texts in Japanese, except under the hypothesis that these documents might have been written by non-natives, for example Chinese or Korean scribes.
4.1.6 The Internal Structure of Voiced Obstruents

In Labrune (1999), I proposed a theoretical treatment of the phonological structure of voiced obstruents within the representational framework of autosegmental phonology and feature geometry (Clements and Hume, 1995). The idea is that voiced obstruents are intrinsically specified for nasality. I argue, first, that voicing on the surface as it presently occurs in the modern language can be accounted for by the presence of a nasal specification in the internal structure of the consonant under a Spontaneous Voicing (SV) node (following the proposal by Piggott, 1992). Second, I claim
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that voiced obstruents in Yamato words possess two root nodes under a single skeletal position, and must therefore be viewed as heavy segments. (7) Internal structure of voiced obstruents (Labrune, 1999) (Place features are omitted)
In the older language, voiced obstruents corresponded to two skeletal positions, the first one being carried out as a prenasalization. In other words, /b, d, g, z/ (surface [mb, nd, g, nz]) were contour segments. This representation also helps to understand why they sometimes alternate with voiceless geminates, as in migi + kawa # migi-gawa (# migi-ngawa) / migikkawa right side. In the modern language, nasality is now implemented, in a majority of cases, by means of a voiced feature at the surface level. This approach which regards voiced obstruents as containing a nasal specification at the level of their infra-segmental structure is confirmed by the evolution process these consonants have gone through during the history of Japanese (see the next section). It also accounts for certain modern forms where the presence of an inter-morphemic n is apparently unexplainable, for example in on-dori cockerel, men-dori hen (from o- male, mefemale, and tori bird), kuman-bachi hornet (from kuma bear and hachi wasp). There also exist many doublets of the type kobu / konbu sea tangle, togaru / tongaru to be sharp, tobi / tonbi kite (milvus migrans), tabi / tanbi time. In all such cases, it is not possible to posit the presence of a rendaku, of the particle no, or of any other morphological element since we are dealing with simplex words. These modern examples containing a prenasalization are simply vestiges of a former state of the language. They reflect a once widespread pronunciation of the voiced obstruents as prenasalized segments, as is still found in a number of modern dialects.
(p. 112 ) Page 13 of 40
4.2 Rendaku
Voicing also plays an essential role in Japanese morphology because it functions as a compounding marker, a process known as rendaku (##), literally sequential voicing, or connective voicing. Rendaku consists of a phonological alteration which occurs at morpheme juncture when two full morphemes enter the formation of a compound word, resulting in the voicing of the initial obstruent of the second component. It affects /k, s, t, h/, which become respectively /g, z, d, b/.3 If the second element of the compounding starts with a segment other than k,s,t,h, that is, an already voiced consonant like b, d, z, m, n, r, w, y, or by a vowel, no transformation can occur, except for the velar voiced consonant /g/ which may (but in a non-obligatory way) be nasalized as [] in the speech of speakers who have this allophone of /g/ in their system (see section 3.10). Consider the following examples. (8)
u mi + kame sea + turtle ku ro + satou black + sugar kaki + tsurai writing + difficult se + hone back + bone te + kaki hand + writing mome + koto discord + thing
(p. 113 )
umi-game (or umi-game) sea turtle kuro-zatou brown sugar kaki-zurai hard to write se-bone backbone te-gaki handwriting mome-goto trouble, discord
As can be seen from these examples, rendaku not only occurs when combining two nouns but also with other types of combinations such as Noun + Verb (te-gaki), Adjective + Noun (kuro-zatou), Verb + Noun (mome-goto
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), Verb + Adjective (kaki-zurai), and so on, except, as we will see below, in Verb + Verb compounds. The principal problem raised by the Japanese rendaku is due to the unpredictable and apparently random character of its appearance. Take for instance the oft-cited example of the two Japanese syllabaries names (Martin, 1952). Katakana / katakana (kata / kata side + kana letter) has not undergone rendaku of the second constituent so kana remains voiceless, whereas the second syllabary, hiragana / hiragana / hiragana (hira flat + kana), presents a rendaku. However, it is often said that nothing in the combination mode, the origin, or the phonological structure of the morphemes implied could explain this difference.4 Examples of this type are not hard to find. In addition to hiragana and katakana, let us mention for instance: (9)
ashi + kuse foot + habit vs. kuchi + kuse mouth + habit yuki + tama snow + ball vs. mizu + tama water + ball u mi + tori sea + bird vs. mizu-tama *mizu-dama water ball (water drop) umi-dori *umitori sea bird kuchi-guse *kuchi-kuse favourite phrase yuki-dama *yukitama snow ball ashi-kuse *ashi-guse (particular) way of walking
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niwa + tori garden + bird

(p. 114 )
niwa-tori *niwa-dori rooster
Moreover, many examples illustrate the fact that the two modes of compounding, with and without rendaku, can exist in parallel for the same compound, without any difference in meaning or even in usage between the two, as in waru-kuchi / waru-guchi calumny, kenkyuu-sho / kenkyuujo research centre, nori-tsuke / nori-zuke pasting, kami-kakushi / kami-gakushi disappearance (of child) (lit. hidden by the gods), kaki-tome / kaki-dome registered mail. Many scholars explicitly or implicitly follow the view that rendaku appearance is the default, elsewhere condition when two lexemes enter compounding, if some specific blocking factors such as the ones to be presented below in section 4.2.2 are not involved. Rendaku can thus be viewed as the materialization of a dependency link which exists between two lexemes on the occurrence of compounding. Whether rendaku is still productive is a matter of controversy. Ohno (2000) has conducted an experiment which demonstrates the usage-based conditioning of rendaku application. He argues that native speakers refer to a semantically and/or phonetically parallel existing compound in order to determine whether a novel compound must undergo rendaku or not. If there is no existing parallel rendaku form, the item will not undergo rendaku in the novel compound. For this author, speakers simply memorize whether rendaku occurs for individual compounds, and so synchronically rendaku would just be the lexical residue of a rule which was once productive and automatic. However, the data presented by Fukuda and Fukuda (1999), cited in Kubozono (2005), tend to demonstrate that rendaku is still productive, which suggests that more research is still needed on this question.5 Rendaku has sometimes been regarded as a fossil of the determination particle no or of some other particle containing either a nasal (such as ni, which marks the agent, the recipient, the locative, the attributive, among others), or a voiced obstruent (such as de, locative marker). This would explain why, as we shall see in section 4.2.2, rendaku does not appear in coordinative (dvandva) compounds, in Object + Verb compounds, or in mimetics, where there is no syntactic or semantic reason to assume the underlying presence of a particle like no,ni, or de. This is the analysis
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proposed by Lyman (cited by Yamaguchi Yoshinori, 1988b), Vance (1982), and Hirano (1974, cited by Takayama M., 1992). Thus for example yamagawa mountain river is a determinative compound which would derive from yama no kawa mountain Det. river, whereas yama-kawa mountains (and) rivers, a coordinative compound, is the simple juxtaposition, (p. 115 ) on the morphological and semantic levels, of yama and kawa, hence the absence of rendaku. Incidentally, it is interesting to observe that rendaku sometimes alternates with voiceless consonant gemination (Takayama T., 1995), as in migi-gawa / migi-kkawa right side, de-ba / de-ppa protruding teeth, hitori-go / hitorikko only child, kore-kiri / kore-kkiri / kore-giri once (and) for all, thats it, suki-ppara / suki-bara empty stomach. So in addition to rendaku, at least two other common compounding markers exist in Japanese: gemination of the initial consonant of the second member, and, as we shall see in Chapter 7, accentuation. In spite of its largely random nature, some factors favourable to the application of rendaku can be identified, as shown in the next section.
4.2.1 Rendaku Triggering Factors

The factors which condition the appearance of rendaku are of various kinds. First, there exist factors of a lexical nature. Rendaku can be regarded as a compounding marker, but it is also a manifestation of the degree of lexicalization of a given compound. All things being equal, the more lexicalized and frequent, the more a compound will be likely to contain a rendaku. The occurrence of rendaku also varies according to the lexical class, reflecting the degree of integration of a compound in the lexicon of Japanese. Whereas rendaku is extremely rare in loans of Western origin, and only occasional in Sino-Japanese words, it is very frequent in Yamato words. Lexemes of this latter stratum constitute the very privileged target for the application of rendaku when they occur as the final component of a compound. According to Rosen (2003), rendaku occurs in about 75% of Yamato NounNoun compounds that present the right phonological conditions to trigger it. However, and very interestingly, his survey makes it clear that cases of rendaku blocking actually cluster around particular lexical items rather than being randomly dispersed. This means that most nouns undergo rendaku in a regular manner, whereas a small number of nouns exhibit idiosyncratic behaviour with respect to rendaku: they either block it in a seemingly unpredictable and unconsistent manner in a number
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of compounds, or consistently block it under all conditions. Therefore there exists a clear unbalance as to the number of rendaku-triggering nouns and rendaku-blocking nouns, to the benefit of the former. We will return to Rosens study in the next pages. Takayama T. (2005) claims that Sino-Japanese words that undergo rendaku are informal or colloquial expressions which can be categorized as vulgarized Sino-Japanese. They are lexemes of high frequency, which refer to concrete and familiar referents, like shashin photograph, kaisha a firm, satou sugar. (p. 116 ) (10) Rendaku in Sino-Japanese words
ao + shashin / syasiN/ blue + photograph kabushiki + kaisha share, stock + firm ku ro + satou black + sugar ao-jashin /zyasiN/ blueprint kabushiki-gaisha a stock company kuro-zatou brown sugar
The few cases of rendaku occurring in Western loans are found only in words which are no longer perceived as foreign, and have totally assimilated to the Yamato class. This is the case of kappa overcoat, raincoat and karuta playing card, two very early loans from Portuguese (see Takayama T., 2005 for additional examples). Many speakers analyse these words as Yamato words, hence the application of rendaku when they occur as the second constituent of a compound as in ama-gappa raincoat and iroha-garuta iroha card (a game with the Japanese kana). The phonetic environment constitutes one of the other determining factors for the application of rendaku. Rendaku occurs much more readily when the first element of the compound ends with the mora nasal /N/. This type of rendaku is traditionally referred to as shindaku (## literally new voicing) in Sino-Japanese words. (11) Rendaku after /N/
ho n + tana ho n-dana
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book + shelf ha n + hiraki half + to open shi n + suru trust + to do
bookshelf han-biraki / han-biraki half-open shin-zuru to trust
Sino-Japanese words usually described as containing a rendaku often belong to this category. However, the examples cited here can be analysed differently. In hon-dana,han-biraki / han-biraki, and shin-zuru (in which the initial morphemes are Sino-Japanese and the final ones Yamato) the voicing occurring after the mora nasal might not pertain, strictly speaking, to a rendaku since this type of voicing can appear elsewhere than at the boundary between two autonomous morphemes. We might be dealing here with post-nasal voicing (see section 4.3), which, unlike rendaku, has no morphological function. It also appears that, other things being equal, the length of the compound or of one of its constituents might also determine the application of rendaku. Rosen (2003) and Irwin (2009) claim that long compounds prevent the blocking of rendaku under most conditions. Rosen (2003) shows that a set of words, which he labels as rendaku-resisters, can undergo voicing in a number of shortshort noun compounds but always voice in long compounds (see Table 4.1 in the next section). In other words, rendakuresisters never block rendaku when they occur in long compounds, but may voice when preceded by a short noun. (A compound is considered as long when its first component exceeds two moras.) So there exists a prosodic size threshold which, when exceeded by a compound, disables the blocking of rendaku by rendaku resisters. Compare for example the following examples with kusa grass, a noun which, according to Rosen (2003), always undergoes rendaku when appearing after a long first member (12a), but sometimes resists it when the first member is short (12b). (12) Rendaku and prosodic length (C2 is not a rendakublocking noun) a. C1 = long rendaku is systematic
(p. 117 )

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hotaru-gusa firefly grass enokoro-gusa foxtail grass hitsuji-gusa sheep grass

b. C1 = short rendaku is non-systematic mizu-kusa water grass no-gusa wild grasses
Ohno (2000) also reports an interesting experiment concerning the voicing of the morpheme hon book in relation to the length of the first component. Hon undergoes rendaku only when the first member of the compound has three or more moras, as in bunko-bon pocket book, manga-bon manga book, karugaru-bon light book (the last item is a novel compound made up for the experiment). These examples can be compared to e-hon picture book or aka-hon cheap (pulp) fiction in which no rendaku occurs. All of this shows that the size is definitely relevant for rendaku application. However, long compounds containing more than two constituents do not undergo rendaku in a systematic way. This is because rendaku also depends on the morpho-syntactic structure of the compound. According to Otsu (1980), Rendaku happens only when a potential rendaku segment is on a right branch at the lowest level of a constituent tree. So one finds minimal pairs like the following (accent omitted): (p. 118 ) (13) Right-branch condition (Otsu, 1980)
a. nuri + hashi + hako (nuri((hashi) (bako))) # nuri-hashi-bako (the second element does not undergo rendaku)
b. nuri + hashi + hako # nuri-bashi-bako

(((nuri) (bashi))(bako)
lacquered + chopstick + box
chopstick box which is lacquered (both the second and third elements undergo rendaku)
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lacquered + chopstick + box
box for lacquered chopsticks
Observe the meaning difference between the two compounds in (13). The scope of nuri lacquered is different in the two examples. Semantic factors are also relevant. Rendaku appears systematically in reduplicated forms with a plural or iterative value as depicted in (14). (14)
hito + hito person + person kuni + kuni country + country ka esu + kaesu to repeat + to repeat hito-bito people kuni- g uni various countries kaesu-gaesu repeatedly
Note however that in reduplications with distributive value, variation occurs: rendaku may or may not apply: sore-zore (sore-zore) each with rendaku,hitori-hitori each person, without rendaku (the form with rendaku hitori-bitori is also attested). Finally, the grammatical class of words also plays a key role. Vance (2005) shows that 80% of the compounds involving adjectives, be they of the structure Adj + Verb = V (naga-biku be prolonged), Adj + Verb = Noun (waka-gaeri rejuvenation), Adj + Adj = Adj (usu-gurai / usu-gurai dim) or Verb + Adj = Adj (utagai-bukai suspicious) undergo rendaku, a percentage comparable to that found by Rosen (2003) for Yamato Noun + Noun = Noun compounds (p. 119 ) (see above). Contrastively, as we will see below, Verb + Verb = Verb compounds do not normally exhibit rendaku. These few remarks are unfortunately far from providing a correct account of all cases of occurrence of rendaku. As Yamaguchi Yoshinori (1988b)
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observes, it is easier to enumerate the conditions of rendaku blocking than to determine the rules which govern its application, as shown in section 4.2.2.
4.2.2 Rendaku-blocking Factors

The conditions of rendaku blocking depend on various phonological, semantic, syntactic, and lexical parameters. As we have seen, the lexical origin of the morphemes has considerable influence on the chances for rendaku to apply. It occurs less often in Sino-Japanese words than in Yamato words, and never in recent Western loans (the exceptions only concern older loans, see above). Reduplicated mimetic words also never undergo rendaku: kira-kira glitteringly, pera-pera eloquently (*kira-gira,*pera-bera6). Neither do numeral compounds made up of a numeral and a specifier like huta-hako two boxes (*huta-bako) or go-hiki five animals (*go-biki), but for a few exceptions such as hitotsu-boshi one star, and some compounds starting with san three because of the presence of /N/ (such cases resort to post-nasal voicing, see below). A general principle blocks the application of rendaku. This principle is that of dissimilation. Rendaku does not occur when its appearance would be likely to involve the co-occurrence of two identical segments or of phonologically resembling segments within the same domain. The most widely known aspect of this phenomenon is without question the so-called Lymans law. Lymans law stipulates that rendaku never occurs when the second component of the compound already contains a voiced obstruent. It is important to note that rendaku is not blocked when the second component contains a sonorant (a nasal or the liquid r). Consider the following examples: (15)
ka mi + tana god + shelf but kami + kaze kamikaze *kami-gaze kami-dana a domestic altar *kamitana
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god + wind toki + toki
divine wind toki-doki / toki-doki sometimes *tokitoki / *tokitoki
moment + moment but tabi + tabi time + time mizu + kuruma water + wheel but mizu + kagami water + mirror
(p. 120 )
tabitabi often
*tabi-dabi
mizu-guruma
*mizu-kuruma
water wheel
mizu-kagami
*mizu-gagami
reflection in water
The non-application of rendaku in kamikaze,tabi-tabi, and mizu-kagami can actually be regarded as pertaining to the already discussed general law of Yamato roots, which forbids the co-occurrence of two voiced obstruents within the same morpheme (see section 4.1.1).
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Observe that the presence of a voiced obstruent in the first component, for example in mizu, is irrelevant with regard to Lymans law. However, some exceptions to this principle have been reported, especially in personal names ending with the morpheme ta # rice field (Kubozono, 2003 based on Sugit, 1965). Rendaku of ta fails to apply when it is immediately preceded in the first component by a voiced obstruent or by /y/. We thus have Kubota,Naga-ta,Mizu-ta, etc. but Yama-da,Kan-da,Yasu-da, etc. (all are personal names). The non-application of rendaku in cases where the second component already contains a voiced obstruent is often described as an absolute principle, but Vance (1987) mentions a few exceptions. The least disputable examples are compounds containing the noun hashigo ladder, for example nawa + hashigo # nawa-bashigo rope ladder, in which the rendaku of h occurs, in spite of the presence of g in hashigo. But interestingly enough, the two voiced obstruents in -bashigo are not contiguous, and moreover, hashigo is a lexeme longer than two moras, and, as already mentioned, prosodic length has been shown to be a definite rendaku-triggering factor. Other manifestations of the dissimilation principle, which Lymans law can be viewed as a strong example of, are a little less obvious but nevertheless rather special. They appear in examples such as those presented in (16), taken from Sat H. (1989). Here, the absence of rendaku seems to be motivated by a dissimilatory principle, in order to avoid repetition of the same phonological element, which can be either a mora or a segment. (16) a. Compounds containing the morpheme hi fire
tobi + hi jump + fire Compare with kitsune + hi
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tobihi
*tobi-bi
leaping flames
kitsune-bi
*kitsunehi
fox + fire nokori + hi remainder + fire morai + hi receiving + fire
a fox (elf) fire nokori-bi *nokorihi
embers
morai-bi (morai-bi, morai-bi) fire caught from a neighbouring house
*moraihi
(p. 121 )
b. Compounds containing the morpheme tsukeru to put

kizu + tsukeru a wound + to put Compare with a to + tsukeru ato-zukeru *atotsukeru kizutsukeru *kizu-zukeru
to hurt
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a trace + to put na + tsukeru name + to put i chi + tsukeru position + to put
to leave a trace na-zukeru *natsukeru
to name
ichi-zukeru
*ichitsukeru
to locate
This series of examples shows that compounds of the shape X + hi and X + tsukeru undergo rendaku regularly, except tobi-hi and kizu-tsukeru, the two forms which already contain the moras bi and zu in their first component. This seems to be a robust tendency, and I could find only one counter example, tabi-bito traveller (tabi + hito) with respect to this rule in the list of about 800 rendaku-containing compounds provided by It and Mester (2003, appendix). However, since voiced obstruents are statistically much less frequent in the overall Japanese lexicon, as the statistics shown at the end of Chapter 3 indicate, additional research based on a thorough statistical analysis is called for in order to confirm the reality of this phenomenon. Sat H. (1989, quoting Kindaichi 1976) also mentions the lexemes hime princess and himo string, which never undergo rendaku. This could also be interpreted as an effect of the dissimilation principle, since the voicing of h would produce the components *bime, *bimo, with two labial consonants. However, a number of other lexemes such as tsuchi soil, shio tide, kemuri smoke, taka hawk, are known to resist rendaku even though voicing
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of their initial segment would not cause the repetition of similar segments or features.7 Such words actually belong to the class of nouns that Rosen (2003) labels as rendaku-immune. Rosen examines exceptions to rendaku voicing that are independent of Lymans law and which are generally ignored or treated as random and (p. 122 ) unsystematic by the relevant literature. He argues that although rendaku appears completely unpredictable seen from the perspective of individual nouns, it exhibits a strong degree of patterning on a global scale. On the basis of a thorough corpus examination of Noun + Noun compounds, he identifies three types of nouns with respect to rendaku blocking: (a) Rendaku-immune nouns, which never voice under any circumstances (see also Martin, 1987, Vance, 1987), such as kita north, hasi edge, shita below, kasu dregs, hima leisure, kemuri smoke, kase shackles, himo string, katachi shape, tsuchi earth, hime princess, kamachi framework, hama beach, tsuya gloss. (b) Rendaku resisters which robustly resist voicing but only in shortshort compounds (shortshort compounds are compounds in which neither member exceeds two moras). (c) The elsewhere case of all other nouns, which undergo rendaku voicing in most compounds. The difference between rendaku-immune nouns and rendaku resisters thus lies in the fact that rendaku-immune nouns never undergo voicing, even in long compounds, whereas rendaku resisters always voice in long compounds, even though they do not always do so in short ones (see the examples with kusa grass cited in (12)). Rosens study shows that cases of rendaku blocking among rendaku resisters actually cluster around particular lexical items rather than being randomly dispersed. That is, about half of the cases of rendaku blocking in shortshort compounds occur among just eight nouns, which are: kusa grass, hara field, kuse habit, kawa skin, saki tip, ki tree, ko child, te hand.8 These findings are summarized in table 4.1. We will return to Rosens study, which consitutes an important recent contribution to rendaku, in section 4.2.4 below. It is sometimes said that Verb + Verb compounds are another type of compound in which rendaku is supposed to occur less readily. Okumura (1980) gives the pairs seme-toru to take by assault (accent unknown) with no rendaku, and seme-dori being forced to add extra stones to remove a
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captured group from the board (a term of the go jargon), its nominal form, which exhibits rendaku. However, according to Vance (2005), neither the verbal nor the nominal variant undergoes rendaku in about 90% of the compounds belonging to this type. To (p. 123 ) Table 4.1 Summary of blocking patterns among Yamato nounnoun compounds (Table 5 in Rosen 2003)
Classification of second conjunct Total n of short N of cases of Total n of long N of cases of voicing in short compounds voicing in long compounds compounds
compounds
Rendakuimmune (never undergoes rendaku voicing) Rendakuresistant (usually blocks voicing in short compounds but never in long compounds) Unknown type (never undergoes rendaku but occurs in few compounds; likely either rendakuresistant or rendakuimmune) Non-resistant (usually voices in compounds)
49
0 (0%)
14
0 (0%)
119
36 (30%)
13
13 (100%)
21
0 (0%)
0 (0%)
580
522 (90%)
196
196 (100%)
give just one example, mi-toosu / mi-toosu foresee and mi-toosi prospect, both occur with no rendaku.9
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Another robust constraint of a morpho-syntactic nature is at work. Rendaku tends to occur more easily when the initial component (a noun) is an instrument, or place complement, than when it is the object complement of the final component. Compare for instance the following pairs (Okumura, 1980): (17)
e+ kaki picture + writing e-kaki a painter (= picture drawing) hude-gaki writing with a brush yanehuki (yanehuki) roof covering (Object) (Object)
vs. hude + kaki brush + writing ya ne + huki roof + covering vs. wa ra + huki straw + covering
(p. 124 )
(Instrument)
wara-buki thatching with straw
(Instrument)
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Here, it is tempting to resort to the etymological hypothesis already mentioned in 4.2, which analyses rendaku as the remnant of an enclitic particle containing a voice feature, such as de (Instumental) or ni (Locative). This factor seems to be still productive in Japanese. For instance, in the novel Neko no kyaku (2001:9091),10 by the well-known poet Hiraide Takashi, the narrator makes a linguistically interesting comment regarding the meaning difference between two possible readings of the compound written as ## # (which occurs as the title of a lithograph in the novel and combines ## inazuma lightning and # tori catching). Should it be inazuma-tori, without rendaku, or inazuma-dori, with rendaku ? He comments that inazuma-tori should be interpreted as inazuma wo toru, to catch lightning (inazuma = Object), whereas inazuma-dori would mean to catch (something) like lightning, or with a movement resembling that of lightning (inazuma de toru,inazuma = Manner). The semantico-syntactic relationship between the two morphemes of the compound is relevant in another way. Rendaku generally appears when the first element syntactically depends on the second. On the other hand, when no hierarchy exists between the two components, as is typically the case in dvandva compounds (coordinative compounds), as well as in reduplicated mimetics, rendaku never occurs. Compare the already cited pairs of compounds yama-kawa mountains (and) rivers, and yama-gawa river of the mountain, or tsuyu-shimo dew (and) frost and tsuyu-jimo frost formed by the dew.11
4.2.3 Correlations Between rendaku And Accent

There exist strong and curious correlations between voicing and accent. For instance, as just mentioned, it is noteworthy that dvandva compounds neither undergo rendaku nor receive an accent following the rules of compound accentuation, as we shall see in Chapter 7. Long compounds, containing more than two constituents and which possess two accent kernels do not undergo rendaku either (It and Mester, 2003). For Kubozono (2005), the correct generalization is that phonological unification is blocked between two constituents A and B, if B does not c-command A, phonological unification being materialized by rendaku and/or attribution of a compound accent pattern. Rosen (2003) also observes a parallel between the predictability of accent patterns and the predictability of rendaku appearance with
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respect to prosodic (p. 125 ) length in compound words. As he states, when a compound has at least one constituent that exceeds two moras, both its pitch accent and the voicing of the rendaku-targeted obstruent are predictable from the input forms. So there is a strong correlation between prosodic size and irregularity regarding accentuation and rendaku application. In some cases, one observes that the appearance of rendaku might correlate with an atonic accent pattern because compounds which fail to undergo rendaku are often atonic. The series of compounds with tori bird offers interesting examples: ko-tori little bird, mizu-tori waterfowl, niwa-tori domestic fowl, yaki-tori grilled chicken with no rendaku are all atonic, whereas chi-dori plover, miyako-dori oyster bird, yama-dori mountain bird, watari-dori migrating bird, all undergo rendaku and are also tonic (this series of examples comes from Takeuchi, 1999:49). Another interesting comparison can be seen in the following pairs of examples, where rendaku-undergoing compounds also happen to be atonic: (18) hito-te ## one hand vs. hito-de ## anothers hand (lit. human hand) (hito- one + te hand vs. hito person + te hand) hito-koe ## one voice vs. hito-goe ## human voice (hito- one + koe voice vs. hito person + koe voice) These correspondences between accent and rendaku are symptomatic of the particular status of voicing in Japanese. In many respects, voicing can be compared to a supra-segmental feature such as tone or accent, a point to which we return in the last section of this chapter.
4.2.4 Some theoretical Proposals Concerning rendaku

For Komatsu (1981), Yamaguchi Yoshinori (1988b), and many other linguists, the main function of rendaku is that of a compounding marker. Since virtually no root of the Yamato lexicon starts with a voiced obstruent, the presence of voicing on the normally voiceless initial consonant of the second component indicates that this consonant is not initial and, thereby, that the word is no longer independent. A formal interpretation of this is provided by It and Mester (1986) who posit that rendaku consists of a morphological operation involving the insertion of a [+voice] autosegment at compound juncture. This autosegment is associated to an unsyllabified
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segmental position. It and Mester (2003:83) reformulate this by saying that rendaku is a feature-sized morpheme, expressed as , and consisting of the specification [+voiced]. acts as a prefix to the second member in word compounds, forming a constituent with it. Rosen (2003) proposes that the capacity for a given noun to undergo rendaku is encoded in its underlying representation. Recall, as explained before, that Rosen (p. 126 ) distinguishes three types of nouns: rendakuimmune nouns, rendaku resisters, and rendaku undergoers. He proposes that the three types be formally specified as follows: rendaku-immune nouns such as kita north have a [voice] feature that is linked to the root node of the initial obstruent, rendaku resisters such as kusa grass have a floating [voice] feature, and non resisters such as kuchi mouth have an initial obstruent that is underspecified for voicing, as follows (the capital K represents a velar stop minus its voicing feature). (19)
Following It and Mester (1986), Rosen assumes that rendaku voicing occurs because of a junctural morpheme whose underlying form is a floating [+voice] feature. The basic idea is that in non-resisting nouns, which have no relevant underlying voicing feature, the [+voice] feature of the junctural morpheme links to the initial obstruent of the second conjunct in the output. The linked [voice] feature of rendaku-immune nouns persists in all compounds, whereas the floating [voice] feature of rendaku resisters persists only in shortshort compounds, for a reason which has to do with the length of the compound. As pointed out above (section 4.2.2), a crucial aspect of Rosens study and analysis rests on the empirical observation that rendaku-resisting nouns block rendaku only in shortshort compounds. So, in addition to the specification of the [voice] feature which distinguishes rendaku-immune nouns and rendaku resisters, Rosen claims that one has to further take into account the prosodic difference between the two types of compounds, and integrate this into the analysis through a constraint-based grammar. Taking for granted that the canonical Japanese feet are bimoraic (see Chapter 6), Rosen follows Kubozono (1999a) in considering that every foot is entirely contained within the same morpheme, so that two adjacent monomoraic feet will not form a single bimoraic foot: each foot will be parsed as a separate degenerate foot. Adopting the commonly accepted analysis
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that a prosodic word must maximally consist of two feet in Japanese, it follows that long compounds consist of a separate prosodic word for each constituent but that short compounds do not. This is supposedly what explains that rendaku blocking occurs only in short compounds. For Rosen, the relevant generalisation is that rendaku voicing is freely permitted to occur in a syllable that is at the left edge of a prosodic word. In short compounds, the initial obstruent of the second conjunct is not at the left edge of a prosodic word, whereas it is in long compounds. Rosen assumes that the marked [+voice] feature is permitted more freely in the prosodically strong position that occurs at the left edge of the second conjunct of a long (p. 127 ) compound, i.e. the beginning of a different prosodic word, following the assumption of Positional Markedness as developed by Zoll (1998), Smith (2002), etc. In short, the beginning of the second conjunct coincides with the beginning of a new prosodic word in long compounds but it does not in shortshort compounds. In Rosens approach, the lexical prespecification of a [voice] feature thus interacts with prosodic length to cause blocking of rendaku voicing specifically in shortshort compounds but not in long compounds. Rosen also provides a challenging OT analysis of how different constraints interact in order to select the right candidates (with or without rendaku). Since his treatment is extremely technical, and cannot easily be summarized, interested readers are invited to refer directly to the paper itself. To give a flavour of an OT analysis of rendaku, we will offer here a summary of It and Mester (2003). Contrary to Rosens, it does not rely on a difference in specification between nouns, and thus may appear to be mechanically simpler. The overall process of rendaku appearance is accounted for by the action of four main constraints. (20) Constraints involved in rendaku (It and Mester, 2003:96)
No-D2m No two voiced obstruents per morpheme domain
Realize-M
Every morpheme in the input has a nonnull phonological exponent in the
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output (Kurisu, 2001) Ident No change in feature specification No voiced obstruents
No-D
These four constraints are ordered according to the following hierarchy: (21) Constraint hierarchy in rendaku (It and Mester, 2003) No-D2m ## Realize-M ## Ident ## No-D Let us see how the analysis works for naga-sode /naga + + sode/ longsleeve, in (22) which does not undergo rendaku because of the application of Lymans law, and natsu-zora /natu + + sora/ summer sky, in (23) which does ( stands for the rendaku morpheme). (22) naga-sode
/ naga + + sode/ naga zode naga sode
(p. 128 )
NoD2
m
RealizeM
Ident
NoD
*! *
*** **
(23) natsu-zora
/ natu + + sora/
NoD2
m
RealizeM
Ident
NoD
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natsu zora natsu sora *!
The presentation above is only intended to provide an overview of how the analysis by It and Mester (2003) works. A number of additional constraints (which can be considered as secondary as far as the core phenomenon of rendaku is concerned), as well as considerations of a more general relevance with respect to theoretical research in Optimality Theory, are also involved. In their account, compounds that do not undergo rendaku are treated as mere exceptions, and the relevance of prosodic length to the likeliness of rendaku occurring is not considered.
4.2.5 Concluding Remarks on rendaku

Rendaku is sometimes presented as a unitary phenomenon, but it is not. As we have seen throughout the preceding pages, rendaku is a process located at the intersection of several fields of grammarphonology (both segmental and prosodic), morphology, syntax, semantics, and so onwhere various forces come into conflict. The difficulty one has in trying to get a full picture of rendaku precisely comes from the fact that rendaku application or nonapplication depends on factors of many kinds, which concern almost all dimensions of linguistic analysis, and hence exceptions can always be found. What we need now are more corpus investigations with a wider coverage, on the model of those conducted by Rosen (2003), Irwin (2009), or Vance (2005), but which would target lexemes belonging to all word categories (nouns, verbs, adjectives), of both Yamato and Sino-Japanese origin. Ideally, such a database would also contain prosodic information (accent location as well as length), as well as, needless to say, semantic, morphological, and syntactic parameters. Psycholinguistic studies are also likely to provide new insights into rendaku, particularly concerning the productivity of rendaku in the modern language, not forgetting the manner in which it is acquired by Japanese children.
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4.3 Post-nasal Voicing

Post-nasal voicing refers to the phenomenon whereby a voiceless consonant is replaced by its voiced counterpart after the mora nasal /N/ in Yamato and (p. 129 ) Sino-Japanese words. Voicing of the nasal /N/ spreads to the following consonant. Typical examples are kan sick + sha person # kanja a patient, or the well-known cases of the verbal suffixes -te and ta, which become -de and -da after a verbal base ending with /N/: ton-de to fly and, ton-da flew from tobu to fly.12 In all the examples just cited, none of the morphemes can occur in isolation. Note that mora nasals do not always cause voicing of a following voiceless consonant, especially in reduplicated mimetics (kankan / *kangan be in rage). Post-nasal voicing is often said to apply productively in Yamato words, in an erratic manner in Sino-Japanese words, and never in Western words, but not a few exceptions can be found in the Yamato stratum. For instance, we have chanto properly, yutanpo hot water bottle, tanpopo dandelion, chinko small person or penis (child language), Junko (personal name), chinpira young hooligan, which are all native (Yamato) words, except Junko whose first element is Sino-Japanese. Voicing can thus be seen as contrastive in the post-nasal position even in Yamato words, as Rice (1997, 2005) claims, even if minimal pairs are hard to find. Post-nasal voicing must not be confused with rendaku, even though the two processes involve alternation between a voiced and a voiceless obstruent. The difference lies in the fact that post-nasal voicing plays no morphological role, unlike rendaku, and that it can affect non-independent morphemes. So, whereas rendaku can be viewed as a morphological marker, post-nasal voicing cannot. It is true however that there are cases where it is not easy to decide whether the alternation between a voiced and a voiceless consonant is due to rendaku or to post-nasal voicing. The two phenomena overlap when voicing occurs at morpheme juncture in rendaku possible contexts when the first component ends with /N/ as in hon book + tana shelf # hon-dana bookshelf. Weak instances of post-nasal voicing also occur morpheme-internally, when no alternation is involved, for instance in kangaeru (*kankaeru) to think which is a simplex verb of Yamato origin. However, examples of this sort are rare.
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It and Mester (1995a) and It, Mester, and Padgett (1995) posit the action of a *NT constraint in Yamato words to account for post-nasal voicing. *NT prohibits the occurrence of a voiceless obstruent after the mora nasal, and voicing after a nasal mora thus becomes a redundant feature (for a view challenging the analysis by It, Mester, and Padgett, 1995, see Rice, 1997). They claim that *NT is only operative in Yamato words, such as kangaeru to think, tonde fly and, akanbou baby but not in Sino-Japanese or Western words, but, as we have seen, counterexamples are commonly found. So it seems more reasonable to assume, following Ota (2004) who addresses the question of the learnability of (p. 130 ) the lexical strata in Japanese through the case study of post-nasal voicing,13 that the distribution of post-nasal voicing is arbitrary in Japanese from a synchronic point of view. Rice (1997, 2005) argues that two types of voicing features exist phonologically in Japanese. The first type, laryngeal voicing, is involved in rendaku, the second type, sonorant voicing, is involved in post-nasal voicing. According to her, one of the empirical differences between the two phenomena would be that post-nasal voicing is not blocked by Lymans law morpheme-initially. However, to my knowledge, the example cited by Rice, hun-jibaru (hun- + shibaru), is the only one that can be put forward to support this assumption. It is rather surprising that no other example can be found, for instance in the paradigm involving the morpheme hon book or main as a first element. Words such as *hon-zuji cannot be found (only honsuji main thread exists), even though most compounds starting with the morpheme hon undergo post-nasal voicing, as hon-dana book shelf, honbako book box, and so on.
4.4 Voicing In Japanese, A Supra-segmental Feature?

The considerations above lead me to assume that in many respects voicing in Japanese behaves more like a supra-segmental feature than like an infra-segmental one (an idea already expressed by Komatsu, 1981, Kamei, 1997, Labrune, 1998a). As we have seen throughout this chapter, voicing in Japanese displays a great number of characteristics which are typically associated with supra-segmental features such as accent, stress, or tone. For instance, voicing can function like a juncture marker in the case of rendaku. It also fulfils a culminative function since only one voiced obstruent is authorized within a simple word, as well as a demarcative function, because voiced obstruents normally do not occur word-initially. The fact that two voiced obstruents do not normally cohabit within a simple word constitutes a co-occurrence constraint which is prototypically characteristic of stress, since
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a word cannot contain two primary stresses. Voicing is also highly unstable, as we have seen in a number of examples in 4.1.3. In addition, there are cases in which the voicing shifts to the preceding mora, in the manner of a stress or accent, as in kami-gakura, from kami-kagura, an example which appears in the Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam (16041608, reprinted 1976, cited by Morita, 1977 and Yamaguchi Yoshinori, 1988b). In the current Japanese writing system, the transcription of voicing on obstruents is made by way of diacritics (the so-called dakuten), much like that of a prosodic feature, thus reflecting its autosegmental nature. Recall also that voicing, like accent, has been ignored for centuries in the Japanese script (in the same way as stress is not denoted in the orthography of languages such as English or Russian). The dakuten, the voicing dots, have been in systematic use since the turn of the twentieth century only. Finally, it must be emphasized that for a long time accent and voicing have shared the same orthographical symbol (Labrune, 1998a), since dakuten were originally used to denote the presence of an accent on a given mora.
(p. 131 )
Notes:
(1.) Example found on the web in May 2009 in the Japan Times online, Canny Japanese playing it by the numbers, by Mark Schreiber, 13 June 2002. (2.) The same goes for h,p, and b, whose difference is ignored in the ordering of dictionary headwords. We will find hari needle, bari Bali, pari Paris, before hariai rivalry. (3.) On the h b transformation, see section 3.7. Note also that the voiced counterpart of the mora tsu is zu in the romanized transcription of Modern Tky Japanese which has been adopted in this book (see section 3.3). (4.) However, the words katakana and hiragana also differ accentually. Katakana is always tonic, with penultimate or antepenultimate accent (katakana,katakana), while hiragana is tonic with final or penultimate accent, or atonic (hiragana,hiragana or hiragana). (5.) See also below the example taken from a story by Hiraide Takashi, which illustrates the fact that native speakers are sensitive to meaning differences expressed by rendaku even in compounds that they have never heard before.
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(6.) The exceptions which may come to mind are in fact non-ideophonic in origin, like kori-gori, kori-gori learning at ones cost, from koriru to learn by experience, taka-daka very high, from takai high. Such words also differ from true mimetics by the accent pattern. (7.) It would be interesting to check whether there is a correlation between the accent pattern of these words and the fact that they resist rendaku, given the fact that none of the examples cited here is accented on the initial. (8.) A number of other nouns never voice in shortshort compounds, for instance kata shoulder or shimo frost, but since each of them occurs only in at most three compounds, all of them shortshort, it is difficult to tell if they are behaving as rendaku-immune nouns or rendaku-resister nouns. (9.) Some rare exceptions exist. Vance cites the verb kaeri-zaku bloom again (accent unknown), from kaeru to return and saku to bloom. (10.) Hiraide Takashi, 2001, Neko no kyaku (The Guest Cat). Reference is to the paperback edition by Kawade Shobo Shinsha in 2009. (11.) Noteworthy enough, dvandva compounds do not follow the general compound accent rule either (see section 7.3.4), so it might be expected that identical semantic constraints account for the resistance to compound accent and to rendaku, as observed by Takeuchi (1999) based on Kubozono (1987). (12.) The past auxiliaries -te and -ta are also voiced after the moraic front vowel i in the flexion of -gu ending verbs: toide sharpening and, toida sharpened, from togu to sharpen. (13.) This article offers a good summary of the phenomenon and an interesting discussion of the approaches which have been adopted in OT to handle such cases of non-uniform phonology within a language.
Page 39 of 40
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Laurence Labrune
Special segments
Laurence Labrune
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.003.0005

The term special segments refers to the three moraic segments of Japanese, which constitute a rather unique feature of the language and have been granted special status in traditional Japanese analyses, namely the mora nasal /N/, the first part of an obstruent geminate /Q/ and the second part of a long vowel /R/. The chapter provides a description of their phonetic realisation, their historical development, and their general phonological properties in modern Japanese.
Keywords: moraic segments, mora nasal, gemination, obstruent geminates, long vowels, phonetic realisation, phonological properties
Japanese scholars generally associate under the label special phonemes (tokushu onso ####), special rhythmic units (tokushu haku # ##), or mora phonemes (mra onso #####), three phonological elements which exhibit special phonological characteristics, the most significant one lying in the fact that they are moraic. These units will be referred to as special segments or moraic segments hereafter. Special segments are: the mora nasal (hatsuon ##, haneru oto ####), noted /N/ in phonological transcriptions, as in yanda /yaNda/ [janda] stopped, sanpo /saNpo/ [sampo] a walk, hon /hoN/ [#hoN] book. the mora obstruent / first part of a geminate (sokuon ##, tsumaru oto ####), noted /Q/ in phonological transcriptions: kitte /kiQte/ stamp, kossori /koQsori/ secretly, hakken /haQkeN/ discovery.
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Special segments
the second part of a long vowel (chon ##, hiku oto ###), noted /R/ in phonological transcriptions: hou /hoR/ direction, aa / aR/ like that, kuuki /kuRki/ air.
A number of Japanese structuralist phonologists only recognize /N/ and /Q/ as special moras, and exclude /R/ from the set.1 Others (for example Jo, 1977) sometimes consider that a fourth element should be added to the list: the moraic palatal vowel i, transcribed as /J/ phonologically. /J/ appears for instance in kai /kaJ/ shell, oyoida /oyoJda/ swam. This element is also the one which occurs after the vowel /e/ when it is lengthened, as in sensei /senseJ/ professor. I assume that there is no need to distinguish /J/ from the moraic vowel /i/, since there is no minimal pair such as /kai/ and / kaJ/. Accordingly the above-mentioned examples will be transcribed as kai /kai/, oyoida /oyoida/, and sensei /seNsei/ or /seNseR/ in this book (see also section 2.7.1, as well as Chapter 6, on this issue). In this work, I shall follow the Japanese approach (for instance Hamada, 1949) in considering that /N/, /Q/, and /R/ are segments different in nature from vowels and consonants.
(p. 133 )
Special segments are worth one prosodic unit (mora, haku) in the same way as CV sequences. The trimoraic forms sanpo /saNpo/ a walk, kitte /kiQte/ stamp and kuuki /kuRki/ air, which each contain one special segment, are thus perceived as having the same prosodic length (three moras) as the word sakura cherry tree. The phonological status of /N/, /Q/, and /R/ constitutes without doubt one of the most intricate issues of Japanese phonology. In particular, it has to be acknowledged that it is the very existence of these elements which has led some scholars to posit a distinction between light and heavy syllables in certain recent approaches, or between normal, independent rhythmic units (jiritsu haku ###) and special rhythmic units (tokushu haku ###) in traditional approaches. Since the issue of the mora and syllable in Japanese phonology will be discussed in detail in the next chapter, in close connection with the status of special segments, the present chapter will keep to a general presentation of /N/, /Q/, and /R/s phenomenology, without entering too deeply into the problem of their phonological nature and structure. After having presented each of the three special segments from the point of view of their phonetic and phonological characteristics (sections 5.1 and 5.2, and 5.3), we will have a look at their origin (section 5.4.), before
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Special segments
considering their common properties (section 5.5). We shall finally provide some statistical data concerning their frequency (section 5.6).
5.1 /N/ (The Mora Nasal)

/N/, the mora nasal, is a generic nasal contoid, with no definite place of articulation. By default, in slow speech and before a pause, /N/ is a uvular realized with no dorsal occlusion and transcribed as [N] (1a). Before oral or nasal labial stops /p/, /b/, /m/, it is realized as [m] (1b), before the alveolars / t/, /d/, /n/, as [n] (1c), and before the velars /k/ and /g/, as [] (1d). Before the fricatives /h/, /s/, and /z/, be they palatalized or not, phoneticians disagree about its place of articulation: /N/ is either realized as the nasalized version of the preceding vowel (Sait, 1997, 2003), as a fricative nasal, or even a nasalized high vowel [] or [] (Imada, 1981; Hashimoto Sh., 1950) (1e). Before the semi-consonants /w/ and /y/ and before vowels, the special segment /N/ is phonetically a nasal vowel whose quality is said to be that of the preceding vowel (1f). According to Akamatsu (1997:58ff.) it is actually impossible to determine the exact quality of /N/ before vowels, semiconsonants, and fricatives. In addition, before the liquid /r/, things are quite (p. 134 ) fuzzy. It would seem that /N/ is uttered as some kind of [], as the nasalized version of the preceding vowel, or as a nasal which would be at the same time alveolar and uvular (1g). Moreover, the presence of /N/ generally involves nasalization of the preceding vowel (not noted in the examples below). To conclude, the descriptions of phoneticians diverge considerably as to the exact articulatory nature of /N/. (1) Phonetic realization of /N/ a. Before a pause
ho n [ho] /hoN/ book
b. Before [p], [b], [m]

kinpatsu [kimpa] bi nbou [bimbo] ge nmai [gemmai]
/kiNpatu/ /biNboR/ /geNmai/
blond poor whole rice
c. Before [t], [d], [n]

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Special segments
honten [honteN] tonda [tonda] sannen [sanneN] kankei [kake] kangae [kaae], [kaae] /kaNgae/, / kaNae/ thought (noun) /kaNkei/, / kaNkeR/ relation /toNda/ /saNneN/ flew three years /hoNteN/ main shop
d. Before [k], [g], []
e. Before /h/, /s/, /z/

sanhujinka [saika], [saika] sensei [sese], [sese], [sezse] kanji [kai], [kai], [kai]
(p. 135 )
/saNhuziNka/
gynaecology
/seNsei/
professor
/kaNzi/
Chinese character
f. Before /w/, /y/, and before a vowel

kanwa [kaa] senyou [sejo] /seNyoR/ exclusive use
Special segments
/kaNwa/
SinoJapanese
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onin [oi], [oi] nanou [nao], [nao] enryo [ejo], [ejo], [enjo] /eNryo/ reserve, discretion /naNoR/ Southern Europe /oNiN/ phonology
g. Before /r/
Another notable fact about /N/ is that it can never be linked to an onset position before a vowel. It can never be resyllabified either. Thus the word onin /oNiN/ phonology is realized as [o.iN] or [o.iN] but never as *[o.ni], *[on.ni] or *[o.i].2 This impossibility of resyllabifying /N/ and its significance for the phonological analysis of the moraic segments will be discussed again in the next chapter (section 6.2.3). Finally, it is noteworthy to observe that the graphemes # and # for the nasal mora /N/ in the Japanese kana syllabaries are the only letters whose origin is totally unknown, contrary to all other kana symbols.
5.2 /Q/ (gemination)

/Q/ represents a generic moraic oral obstruent with no specific place of articulation. It occurs only before another consonant, except in a few special cases, in particular that of interjections, in which /Q/ can be word-final. However, its function in that case is expressive and non-distinctive. The phonetic realization of /Q/ depends on that of the following consonant. / Q/ inherits the totality of its articulatory features from the following obstruent. It is realized as unreleased when it corresponds to a stop, so we have [p] before /p/, [b] before /b/, [t] before /t/, and so forth. Note that /Q/ is always noted by means of the small kana tsu (#, #) before an obstruent in the Japanese writing system, whatever its effective phonetic realization. Consonants likely to undergo gemination, that is, likely to be preceded by /Q/ in Yamato (including mimetics) and in Sino-Japanese are normally limited to the voiceless obstruents /p, t, k, s/ and their palatalized
(p. 136 ) Page 5 of 14
Special segments
counterparts (2a). The voiced geminates (bb, dd, zz, gg) appear only in very recent loanwords, or under particular conditions (see Chapter 4). When they exist, they tend to undergo devoicing (2b) especially if the word already contains another voiced obstruent (Kawahara, 2006), as is the case in the examples provided below. The geminate versions of /r/ and /h/ are almost non-existent, except in some marginal examples such as recent borrowings or mimetic words (2c); (on geminate /h/, see also section 3.7, as well as footnote 3, Chapter 3). The glides /w/ and /y/ are never geminated. Finally, recall that in Yamato (including mimetics) and Sino-Japanese words the geminate counterpart of the fricative /h/ is normally [pp] (see section 3.7). Nasal geminates do exist, but they are interpreted as /N/ + nasal consonant rather than as /Q/ + nasal consonant. The kana spelling accordingly is minna all ### /miNna/ rather than *### /miQna/. (2) Realizations of /Q/ a. Before a voiceless obstruent
kappa [kappa] / kaQpa/ /moQto/ / kiQsateN/ / haQsya/ / maQtya/ / seQkeN/ /baQgu/ /guQzu/ /zyuQhari/ kappa (river imp) more coffee shop departure green matcha tea soap
mo tto kissaten hassha matcha sekken ba ggu gu zzu ju hhari
[motto] [kissateN] [haa] [matta]
[sekkeN]
b. Before a voiced obstruent
[ba] [zz]
{bag} {goods} ten stitches
c. Before /h/ and /r/ (marginal cases)

[hhai]
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Special segments
ba hha uhhuhhu(to)
[bahha], [baa] []
/baQha/ / uhhuhhu/ / baQrabara/
{Bach} (onomatopoeia for laugh) scatteringly
barra bara [baabaa], [ballabala]
Before a pause, /Q/ is realized as a glottal stop []. It almost exclusively appears at the end of interjections (are [ae] /areQ/, an expression of surprise), at the end of onomatopoeia and ideophones (bata [bata] /bataQ/ bang), and at the end of adjectives referring to sensations or feelings used in an interjective manner, in replacement of the -i ending (for instance atsu [a#ts] its hot!, from atsui hot). Recall finally the CV / Q alternation which occurs in Sino-Japanese morphemes such as gaku / gaQ study, teki / teQ enemy or in Yamato words such as dokka for doko ka which has already been discussed in section 2.5 in relation to vowel deletion. /Q/ can also occur as a juncture mark at morpheme boundary, for instance migi right + kawa side migikkawa right side.
(p. 137 )
5.3 /R/ (vowel Length)

/R/ is a vocoid segment which can be phonologically defined as a generic vocalic position with no articulatory specifications of its own. Like /N/ and /Q/, it is moraic. /R/ thus corresponds to the lengthening of the preceding vowel, from which it inherits all its quality specifications. (See also 2.7 for additional examples and discussion.) (3) Realizations of /R/
okaasan oniisan ku uki oneesan [okasan] [onisan] [kki] [onesan] / okaRsaN/ / oniRsaN/ /kuRki/ / oneRsaN/ mother older brother air older sister
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Special segments
koukou
[koko]
/ koRkoR/
high school
5.4 The Origin of Special Segments

It is generally assumed that special segments first emerged in Japanese between the ninth and eleventh centuries under the influence of Chinese (Hamada, 1952; Komatsu, 1981), a language in which there existed heavy syllables ending in a consonant or a glide, and from which Japanese made massive borrowing at the time. Some of the sound changes which resulted in the development of the so-called special segments are known as onbin # # sound change in Japanese linguistics (see, among others, Hamada, 1949, 1951, Kishida, 1984, Frellesvig, 1995). Today, special segments are found in all lexical strata and not only in Sino-Japanese words. They are the result of one of the three following processes: reduction of a CV sequence (4) (see also section 2.7.2), expressive strengthening (5), and adaptation of foreign sounds (6): (4) Special segments resulting from the lenition of a CV sequence3
shinita torita kamibe kehu gakuki # shinda # totta # koube # kyou # gakki / siNda/ died (Yamato)
/toQta/ /koRbe/ /kyoR/ / gaQki/
took Kbe today musical instrument
(Yamato) (Yamato) (Yamato) (SinoJapanese)
(p. 138 )
In contemporary colloquial Japanese, /N/ and /Q/ are sometimes the result of the lenition of a nV or rV sequence, for instance aruite iru no # aruite inno are you walking or sou suru to # sou sutto doing this. (5) Special segments marking expressive reinforcement (by addition of a rhythmic position)
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Special segments
kogari
# kongari # onnaji # tottemo # zuutto
/ koNgari/ / oNnazi/ / toQtemo/ / zuRQto/
well well roasted quite identical veeeery
(mimetic)
onaji totemo zutto
(Yamato)
(Yamato)
contiiiiinuously (mimetic)
(6) Special segments resulting from the adaptation of foreign sounds

Old *tong Chinese Old *sam Chinese Old *niet Chinese English pet # # # jp. jp. jp. to u san /toR/ / saN/
East three sun
(go nichi,nit-/ reading) niti/, / niQ/ pe tto bo rudou /peQto/ /borudoR/
jp. jp.
pet Bordeaux
French Bordeaux #
In Sino-Japanese words, /Q/ is the reflex of one of the three Old Chinese syllable-final implosives p,t, and k (known as ##, rusheng in Chinese, nissh in Japanese, lit. entering tone).
5.5 Properties of Special Segments

Special segments share a number of properties, that distinguish them from regular consonants and vowels. First, they lack phonological autonomy. For instance, they can never appear in isolation or at the beginning of a word.4 Second, they are moraic (see Chapter 6 for examples and discussion). Thirdly, they are, in theory, unaccentable. This principle, which we shall call
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Special segments
the NADM principle (Non-Accentuation of Deficient Moras), will be discussed in more detail in sections 6.2.4, and 6.3.2, and 7.1.4. and Let us merely observe that in cases where the accent should fall on a special segment, it shifts to the preceding mora. (p. 139 ) Thus, according to the traditional account in Japanese phonology in compound words of the type N + eki N station, or N + kai club of N, the accent normally falls on the last mora of the first component, except if it ends in /N/, /Q/, or /R/, in which case the accent moves to the penultimate mora, as shown in (7): (7)
na goya + eki na goya + kai but toukyou + eki ro ndon + eki toukyou + kai ro ndon + kai toukyoueki *toukyoueki Tky station nagoyaeki Nagoya station
nagoyakai
Nagoya club
rondoneki
*rondoneki
London station
toukyoukai
*toukyoukai
Tky club
rondonkai
*rondonkai
London club
The same phenomenon occurs in verbs to which the -ta (perfect) auxiliary has been added. The suffixation of -ta normally causes the accent to strike the antepenultimate mora in tonic verbs. However, if the antepenultimate
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Special segments
consists of a special segment, the accent moves one mora leftward, striking the pre-antepenultimate mora: (8)
/ tabe/ +/ ta/ ta beta /tabeta/ ate
/ atume/ +/ ta/ but / roNzi/ +/ ta/ / moRsi/ +/ ta/
atsumeta
/ atumeta/
gathered
ro njita
/roNzita / *ronjita
argued
mo ushita
/moRsita/ *moushita
said (humbly)
Let us consider another instance of this phenomenon. In foreign loans, the default accent normally falls on the antepenultimate mora: opera /opera/ {opera}, sandoitchi /saNdoiQti/ {sandwich}, maikurohon /maJkurohoN/ {microphone}, sanhuranshisuko /saNhuraNsisuko/ {San Francisco}. However, if the antepenultimate mora is /N/, /Q/, or /R/ (and sometimes / i/), the accent shifts to the pre-antepenultimate mora: disukasshon / disukaQsyoN/ *disukasshon {discussion}, repoutaa /repoRtaR/ *repoutaa {reporter} (see Chapter 6 for additional examples and discussion of this process). Exceptions to this principle are rare, but they do exist. They pose a challenge to syllable-based analyses of Japanese, as we shall see in the next chapter. These exceptions occur in case several special segments follow one another: for instance, in the words obaasankko /obaRsaNQko/ child cherished by his/ her grandmother or cheen-ten /tyeRNteN/ chain store, in which there is a succession of /N/ + /Q/, and /R/ + /N/, the special segments /N/ and /R/ are high-pitched, that is, accented. This characteristic will be analysed in the next chapter.
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Special segments
Vance (1987:81) also reports a personal communication from Hamano Shoko stating that some words may be pronounced with an accent on a special segment in some marginal cases when an unaccented word is quoted emphatically (see the next chapter, section 6.2.4 for examples and discussion).
(p. 140 )
Moreover, it is interesting to observe, as Jo (1977) does (among others), that the special segments frequently alternate with each other and with i, in a somewhat loose manner, as the following examples illustrate: (9)
shouben / syoRbeN/ omotta / omoQta/ ~ shonben / syoNbeN/ urine
~ omouta / omoRta/ (dialectal) ~ bonzu /boNzu/ ~ tonya / toNya/ ~ eechi /eRti/ ~eichi /eiti/ ~ kiree /kireR/
thought (verb)
bouzu /boRzu/ toiya /toiya/
bonze
wholesale dealer
ecchi /eQti/
h (name of the letter) pretty
kirei /kirei/
In ancient Japanese documents, there are frequent confusions in the kana spelling of /N/, /Q/, /R/ and the mora /i/. One sometimes appears instead of the other, for instance the word tenki in Modern Japanese, ## weather is noted as teike in a text dating from the beginning of Heian, with i /J/
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Special segments
replacing n /N/ (Hamada, 1952), or nobotte ### climbing and is noted as nobonte in an eleventh-century text, with n /N/ replacing /Q/, the first part of the geminate (Komatsu, 1981:199). According to Hamada (1949), /N/ and / Q/ had been written using the same symbol until the Muromachi period. This could lead us to regard /N/ as a sort of nasalized /Q/. Kuroda (1967) has proposed an analysis of /Q/ and /N/ in Yamato, mimetics, and Sino-Japanese within a linear generative framework (Chomsky and Halle, 1968) whereby /Q/ and /N/ are unspecified consonantal segments, the former being [vocalic, +consonantal, voiced, nasal] and the latter [vocalic, +consonantal, voiced, +nasal]. In mimetics and verbal flexion, Kuroda implicitly assumes that /Q/ and /N/ are one and the same segment, because they stand in complementary distribution in these two native subclasses of the Japanese lexicon. In the next chapter (section 6.3), I will present an analysis of the internal structure of /Q/ and /N/ along the same lines as that of Kuroda, but cast in a multilinear representational framework. The underspecified status of /N/ and /Q/ in Japanese has also led It (1988) to formulate the Coda Condition. It assumes that Japanese /N/ and /Q/ occupy the coda position in heavy syllables. The Coda Condition states that a coda cannot license place features, which forbids /N/ and /Q/ to possess their own place (p. 141 ) specifications. Place specifications are acquired through propagation from the following segment.
5.6 Relative Frequency of Special Segments

According to Imae (1960, cited in Hayashi O., 1982), /N/ and /Q/ respectively account for 4.7% and 2.3% of all Japanese moras in textual (token) frequency. This source does not provide any data for /R/.
Notes:
(1) For instance, Hattori Shir (1960, and other papers) does not need the unit /R/ because he posits a zero consonant // which enables him to distinguish satooya foster parent from satouya sugar seller, which he transcribes respectively as satooya and satooya. In the transcription adopted in this book, these two forms are transcribed as sato-oya /satooya/ and satou-ya /satoRya/. The former has two full os which follow each other, the latter has a long o (see section 2.7.3 for a discussion on the representational difference between the two entities).
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(2) In Pre-modern Japanese, the process known as renj (## liaison) sometimes occurs in this type of context. Some vestiges of this remain in the modern language, but they are totally lexicalized, like tennou emperor from ten /teN/ heaven and ou /oR/ king, rather than tenou as one would expect. See Vance (1987:164ff.) for a presentation of this phenomenon. (3) This process is known as onbin (## sound change) only when it applies to Yamato words. (4) The only exception in Standard Modern Japanese is the interjection un uh huh, realized as []. One can also mention the marginal, obsolete realizations [m#me] for ume plum, and other words beginning with u + nasal (see section 3.8).
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Special segments

Laurence Labrune
Prosodic units
Laurence Labrune
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.003.0006

This chapter is devoted to the prosodic units of Japanese, the mora, the syllable, the foot, the prosodic word, and the prosodic hierarchy. It reviews the evidence demonstrating the central role played by the mora in Japanese phonology. It then proceeds to a re-examination of the status of the syllable, which has been argued in a number of recent works to be an indispensable prosodic unit, alongside the mora and the foot, although it has been absent from the work of most native Japanese phonologists who have always been content with the mora. Taking as a basis the authors extensive research on the subject, this chapter argues that the syllable is not a relevant unit in the phonology of Japanese, and it shows how all the phenomena which have been inputed to the action of the syllable can be accounted for with exclusive reference to the mora and the foot.
Keywords: mora, syllable, foot, prosodic word, prosodic hierarchy
This chapter is devoted to the prosodic units of Japanese, the mora, the syllable, the foot, the prosodic word, and the other upper units. Whereas there is no doubt about the relevance of the mora, the foot, and the prosodic word in Japanese phonology, things are much less clear with regard to the syllable in the most usual sense of the term, i.e. a prosodic constituent which can be structurally light (two-slot syllables, like ka) or heavy (threeslot syllables, like kan,kou [ko], or kai). The claim I would like to put forward in this chapter is that the syllable actually plays no relevant role in Tky Japanese and that this language is a mora-counting mora language, thus
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Prosodic units
rehabilitating the Japanese native linguistic tradition which has long been satisfied with what corresponds to the mora for the analysis of the various prosodic phenomena of the language. However, it should not be forgotten that some dialects of Japanese such as the Aomori or Akita dialects (north of Honsh) or the Kagoshima dialect (south of Kysh) are indisputably syllabic and held as such by the proponents of a moraic analysis of Tky Japanese, while others, for instance the Kyto/saka dialect or the Izu dialect (south of Tky) are clearly moraic and held as such even by the advocates of a syllabic analysis of Tky Japanese. Japanese phonologists generally operate a distinction between mora dialects (haku hgen ###) and non-mora dialects, i.e. syllable-based dialects (hi-haku hgen ####, see for instance Hirayama et al., 1993, Sat R., 2002). Actually, it is mainly Tky Japanese that poses a problem with regard to its classification as a mora or syllable dialect, being analysed either as only moraic, or as syllabic with moras acting as subconstituents of syllables. In section 6.1, we shall review the evidence demonstrating the central role played by the mora in Japanese phonology. Section 6.2 critically reassesses the role and relevance of the syllable in the standard language, through a review of the scholarship and reexamination of the alleged evidence in favour of the syllabic approach. It will be shown that the relevance of a light/ heavy syllabic distinction is extremely difficult to justify on the basis of the languages internal evidence. All the phenomena which have been imputed to the action of the syllable in Tky Japanese can be accounted for by exclusive reference to the mora and to the foot. In section 6.3, I present a model of the basic prosodic unit (prosodeme) of Japanese that does not rely on the syllable, in keeping with the (p. 143 ) traditional Japanese approach. Instead, two different types of prosodemes (= moras) are distinguished: regular CV prosodemes and weak, or deficient, prosodemes, which lack one of the two components V or C. Section 6.4 is dedicated to the foot. We will see that Japanese feet obey a structural constraint that stipulates that they start with a regular mora. Section 6.5 introduces the other upper levels of the Japanese prosodic hierarchy, and section 6.6 offers a conclusion and summary.
6.1 The Mora

The positive evidence for the mora as a basic, autonomous prosodic unit in Japanese is well established. The mora is the unit of rhythm and of prosodic measurement of the Japanese language. It is the only prosodic unit that has been recognized by the native linguistic tradition, which calls it haku #
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Prosodic units
(Kindaichi Haruhiko, 1972a; Kindaichi and Akinaga 2001), mra ### (Hattori Shir, 19601), or sometimes onsetsu ## (Arisaka Hideyo, 1940; see for example Kindaichi 1972b for a general discussion about these questions). Each articulated mora occupies one rhythmic unit. It is perceived as isochronous to other moras (for a review of the phonetic research about the Japanese mora as an isochronous unit, and other questions, see Warner and Arai 2001). Japanese moras may have the following structure: (1) Structure of Japanese moras
CV in /sa/, / ko/, / ni/, etc.
CyV (with a palatalized consonant)
in
/ nya/, / kyu/, / tyu/ (chu), / sya/ (sha), etc. /a/, / i/, / u/, / e/, /o/ /hoN/ hon book /moQte / motte to hold and /toR/ tou tower, /maR/ maa
Prosodic units
in
/N/ (the mora nasal) /Q/ (first part of an obstruent geminate) /R/ (second part of a
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in
in
in
long vowel)
euh well
The word hontou true is therefore of the same phonological length as kaminari thunder, that is, four moras. The modern standard language has 103 distinctive moras, as shown in Table 6.1, where plain moras (chokuon ###) stand in opposition to their palatalized counterpart (yon ##). Table 6.1. The 103 distinctive moras of Modern Standard Japanese in phonological transcription (consonants that have phonologized only recently, see Chapter 3, are not included)
Plain moras (V or CV) Palatalized moras (CyV)
#a # ka # ga # sa # za # ta # da # na # ha # ba # pa # ma # ya # ra # wa #N #Q #R
#i # ki # gi # si # zi # ti # di # ni # hi # bi # pi # mi # ri # wi
#u # ku # gu # su # zu # tu # du # nu # hu # bu # pu # mu # yu # ru
#e # ke # ge # se # ze # te # de # ne # he # be # pe # me # re # we
#o # ko # go # so # zo # to # do # no # ho # bo # po # mo # yo # ro # wo
## kya ## gya ## sya ## zya ## tya ## dya ## nya ## hya ## bya ## pya ## mya ## rya
## kyu ## gyu ## syu ## zyu ## tyu ## dyu ## nyu ## hyu ## byu ## pyu ## myu ## ryu
## kyo ## gyo ## syo ## zyo ## tyo ## dyo ## nyo ## hyo ## byo ## pyo ## myo ## ryo
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Prosodic units
The groups in italics correspond to sequences that are no longer distinctive in the contemporary language but for which there exists a specific kana or kana combination. In Japanese traditional phonology, where the mora is considered to be the only relevant prosodic unit, the following two types of moras are distinguished: Autonomous (or regular) moras (jiritsu haku ###), which have the structure CV, CyV, or V, except for the mora # i made up of the onsetless vowel /i/ when it occurs word-internally, for instance in daigaku university. Special moras (tokushu haku ###) corresponding to the mora nasal /N/, to the first part of an obstruent geminate /Q/, to the second part of a long vowel /R/, in other words, the elements identified as the special segments (see Chapter 5). The onsetless / i/ # which occurs word-internally (denoted /J/ in some phonological transcriptions) also belongs to this list.
(p. 144 )
The mora is the metric unit of Japanese verse in poetry and song. Any mora, be it autonomous or special, stands as one beat. In order to illustrate this point, let us (p. 145 ) consider the following haiku by the poet Yosa Buson. A haiku is composed of three verses. The first verse contains five moras, the second one seven, the last one five.
Ikken no chamise no yanagi oinikeri The willow tree By the lone tea house It has grown old2 (five moras) (five moras) (seven moras)
The first2 verse, ikken no, occupies five rhythmic beats, or slots: i.k.ke.n.no and not three, as would prima facie suppose an English or a Chinese ear. Similarly, in oinikeri,o.i.ni.ke.ri, the vowel i occupies one beat. The same applies in songs. Each mora, including /R/, /N/, or /Q/, generally corresponds to a rhythmic unit which is sung over one musical beat, even if exceptions are sometimes found (Tanaka, 2008).
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The mora is also granted a written status in the kana writing system, so that any mora, including the second part of a long vowel, the mora nasal, or the first part of a geminate, occupies one virtual square on the sheet. The fourmora words ikken #### one building or hontou #### true thus fit in the same writing space as the words okinawa #### Okinawa or kaminari #### thunder, namely four virtual squares.3 The only exception to this principle is (p. 146 ) that of palatalized consonants. CyV clusters, although being only one mora long, occupy two squares. The mora also functions as the major prosodic unit in a number of language games, for example the babibu language analysed by Haraguchi (1991), which consists of inserting a b + V sequence after each mora. The word sakura cherry tree is thus coded as saba-kubu-raba, the word nippon as nibi-tsubu-pobo-nbu.4 These examples clearly illustrate the fact that sakura and nippon are respectively made up of three and four distinct and independent units of identical phonological weight. The popular shiritori game (literally buttock taking) consists of finding a word starting with the final mora of the word given by the preceding player (Katada, 1990), as in the following example: hutsuu normal uguisu bush warbler surume dry squid meirei order iruka dolphin.5 Here again, we note that the final vowel length of hutsuu, or the moraic /i/ of meirei are treated as single, autonomous units. The mora also constitutes the phonetic support of pitch accent, in the sense that two moras belonging to what can be considered a heavy syllable can be articulated in two different registers. For example, in the trimoraic word kyouto HLL Kyto, the pitch fall occurs after the initial mora kyo, that is, before the second part of the long vowel. Note that in some cases, even the second part of what could be interpreted as a long syllable by advocates of the syllabic analysis can receive an accent in Tky Japanese (examples are given below, see also section 5.5). Moreover, as Uwano (2003) reports, there also exist dialects closely linked to the Tky variety in which we find a contrast in surface melodies between a heavy syllable accented on the first part and a heavy syllable accented on the second part, as kai paddle and kai shell. Several psycholinguistics studies, in particular those of Otake et al. (1993), have established that it is the mora, rather than the phoneme or the syllable, which constitutes the basic unit of processing, production, and perception in Japanese. Such studies have shown, for example, that Japanese listeners detect the target unit mo in the stimulus word monka as fast as they do
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Prosodic units
in monaka, which means that monka and monaka begin with the same prosodic unit and that they should (p. 147 ) consequently be segmented as mo.n.ka and mo.na.ka, that is, under a mora-based segmentation procedure rather than as mon.ka and mo.na.ka, under a syllable-based segmentation procedure. This contrasts radically with the responses made by listeners whose native language is syllabic, and which are asked to perform the same type of task (Mehler et al., 1981). Thus the response time of French listeners is faster for palace than for palmier when the target pa is presented. This result is interpreted as indicating that the French words palace and palmier do not start with the same prosodic unit, whereas the Japanese monka and monaka do. Finally, in speech errors, special moras (including the mora /i/) show a frequent tendency to replace each other or to be copied elsewhere in a given utterance (Kubozono 1989, 1996). (2) Speech errors
Target Realization (accents unknown) # kubbo middowei # juugo pansento # beichuu kaikei
ku ubo middowei ju ugo paasento be ichuu kankei
Aircraft Carrier Midway fifteen per cent US China relations
Note that in the above examples a vocoid element (/i/ or /R/) can be replaced by a contoid element (/N/ or /Q/), and vice versa. This, according to Kubozono (1989, 1996), shows that post-nuclear vowels have the same status as postnuclear consonants, a phenomenon that is not generally observed in English for instance. The explanation for this is that the unit of coding of the two languages is different: it is the mora in Japanese, the syllable in English. In other words, Japanese moras, including special segments, behave as independent constituents with respect to speech errors. Kubozono (1985, cited in Kubozono 1995c, 1996) also reports that CVV or CVC sequences are replaced by CVCV sequences more frequently than by CV sequences. This suggests that what can be analysed as a heavy syllable is phonologically
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Prosodic units
equivalent to a sequence of two short syllables. Post-nuclear elements such as /N/, /R/, or /Q/ serve as one prosodic unit just as CV sequences do. Kubozono (1995a, c) also demonstrates that Japanese speakers tend to segment words on a mora-based pattern rather than on a syllable-based pattern in blends.
6.2 The Syllable?

6.2.1 Preliminaries
It is only recently that the syllable has been assumed by a number of modern phonologists to be a fundamental unit that cannot be dispensed with in the analysis (p. 148 ) of Standard Japanese alongside the mora,6 following James McCawley, who claims, in his 1968 thesis, that the prosodic unit of Japanese is the syllable and not the mora. McCawley (1968) posits two syllable types in Japanese: short syllables and long syllables, and claims that Japanese is a mora-counting syllable language (p. 134). McCawleys position is in the spirit of Trubetzkoys (1939) who considers that there exist two types of languages: mora-counting languages, which also have syllables, and syllable-counting languages, which may not have moras. Japanese is supposed to belong to the first type. With practically no exceptions, McCawleys generativist and post-generativist successors trained in the Western linguistic tradition (from linear-SPE-type phonologists to OT ones) make explicit or implicit reference to the syllable in their accounts of Japanese phonology, the terms light and heavy being generally preferred to those of short and long to refer to syllable weight differences. One exception is Higurashi (1983), who adopts a strictly moraicbased analysis of Japanese phonology. For the majority of the studies which have tackled the question, the issue is not so much that of the existence of the syllable itself: this point is taken for granted, since the syllable is granted universal status in modern phonological theory. Rather, it is the existence of the heavy syllable CVC or CVV, with three constituents, which is at stake. After reviewing the various models of the Japanese syllable which have been proposed in the literature, we shall carry out a critical examination of the main arguments which are supposed to support the existence of heavy syllables in the language. It will be shown that there exists no direct indisputable empirical evidence of the phonological reality of the syllable,7 and that the phenomena which have been regarded as such can receive an
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Prosodic units
alternative account, by referring exclusively to other prosodic constituents, namely the mora and the foot.
6.2.2 Previous Proposals Concerning the Structure of the Japanese Syllable

As already stated, for McCawley and his successors, Japanese possesses light syllables, which are of the following structure: (C)V or CyV, and heavy syllables, (p. 149 ) which are (C)VC or CyVC, or (C)VV or CyVV. Super-heavy syllables such as sain (CVVN) {sign} or zuut in zuutto (CVRQ) continuously must be added to this inventory, but they are far less common. The details of the exact organization of these various types of Japanese syllables may vary according to different scholars, but they all share a common basic structure with three positions. The moraic framework as developed by Hyman (2003 [1985]) or Hayes (1989), for instance, considers heavy syllables as having a ternary structure. They are made up of an onset which has no moraic weight, of a nucleus which is worth one mora, and of a final element V or C, also worth one mora, as shown in the representation in (3a) below. It has sometimes been proposed, to account for the Japanese case, that the onset is attached to the mora containing the nucleus, as in (3b), and not directly to the syllable (Kubozono 1989, 1995a, inspired by Hyman 2003 [1985]). Other works (Terao 1992; Kubozono 1994, 1998b) have gone as far as to dissociate the mora and the syllable (3c), each being directly and independently associated with the segments, according to a model in which the mora is no longer a syllable-dependent constituent. The choice of dissociating the mora from the syllable is rather unorthodox, and not properly discussed by its proponents. Clearly, it constitutes an attempt to bypass the extremely thorny problem of how the mora and the syllable are supposed to interact with each other in Japanese. Lastly, Haraguchi (2003) has proposed that the syllable is structured with a core and a coda, the core itself being divided into an onset and a nucleus, as in (3d). According to him, and rather surprisingly, this is supposed to be the unmarked option of syllable structure, while the onsetrhyme model would be a marked one. (3)
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Prosodic units
The models of the Japanese syllable presented in (3) are seemingly very different but they all share a common characteristic: none of them recognizes the existence of a rhyme constituent (consisting of a nucleus and a coda), contrary to most current general approaches to syllable organization. This choice is revealing of a strong particularity of Japanese. It is justified by massive evidence showing that the (p. 150 ) rhyme does not exist in Japanese as a subconstituent, as we shall see below8 (see also the discussion in Vance, 2008:120). Clearly, whatever the theoretical framework, the discrepancies in the conceptions and representation of the Japanese syllable significantly differ from those of most current models of phonology. The fact that a number of leading phonologists have come to adopt a rather unorthodox view of the Japanese syllable is, by itself, revealing of the existence of a major problem with regard to the prosodic structure of Japanese.
6.2.3 Absence of Positive Evidence for the Syllable Or for A Heavy/light Syllabic Distinction
This section presents different strands of evidence which point to the nonrelevance of the syllable itself, or of the syllabic constituents (rhyme or coda) which would support the opposition between light and heavy syllables. Lack of psycholinguistic evidence First, one has to acknowledge the fact that not a single one of the many psycholinguistic studies that have been conducted in the last decades has been able to establish the cognitive reality of the syllable in Japanese, whereas many works have established the central role of the mora and the foot both at the perceptual and cognitive levels (see the papers in Otake and Cutler, 1996, and subsequent research by the authors therein). Absence of phonetic clues for the existence of a rhyme-like constituent Considerable evidence points to the non-existence of a rhyme constituent in Japanese would-be syllables. Segments which can be interpreted as belonging to the rhyme of a heavy syllable do not behave as expected
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Prosodic units
of rhymes or of codas, on the basis of what can be observed in other languages. First, the vowels which occur in presumably closed syllables of the shape CVC are not phonetically shorter than those that occur in presumably open CV syllables (Homma 1981). Quite the opposite: vowels can even be longer in allegedly closed syllables. Han (1994) and Idemaru (2005) have shown that in (p. 151 ) Japanese a vowel preceding a geminate consonant in / CVQCV/ is longer than a vowel preceding a singleton in /CVCV/. Kubozono (1999a:34) states that, in Japanese, vowel duration is independent of the difference in syllable structure []. These exceptional temporal patterns shown by Japanese can be properly accounted for if the mora is posited as a unit of temporal organization in the language (see also Sagisaka, 2009 and the works cited therein). This situation contrasts radically with what is observed in languages with closed syllables, like English for instance, in which phenomena of temporal compensation exist between the nucleus and the coda (Maddieson, 1985), and in which vowels are shorter before geminate consonants than before single ones. This provides evidence against the existence of a rhyme component in the Japanese syllable symmetric to the onset, and authorizes us to consider that CVC sequences must be divided as CV/C just as CVCV is divided as CV/CV (see also Kubozono 1995c, already cited above). The fact that the first vowel is longer in /CVQCV/ (three moras) than in /CVCV/ (two moras) can be explained as an effect of temporal compensation within the bimoraic foot. In addition, Campbell and Sagisaka (1991), cited by Kubozono (1995c), show that in Japanese it is between the onset and the nucleus that effects of temporal compensation occur. The duration of a nuclear vowel is inversely proportional to the intrinsic duration of the consonant preceding it. This causes the same onset consonant to be shorter before /a/ than before /i/ and /u/, the two shortest vowels in Japanese. Even within analytical frameworks which do not recognize the rhyme, such as those mentioned above, one would expect phonetic assimilations or temporal compensation to occur at least as frequently between segments in position 1 and 2 as between segments in position 2 and 3 within a single putative syllable. However, this does not happen in Japanese, suggesting that a unit such as the heavy syllable is not relevant phonologically. One also observes that in Japanese, the link between C and V is phonetically tighter than the link between V and C or V1 and V2 in a would-be heavy
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Prosodic units
syllable. Many restrictions hold between an onset consonant and the following vowel, but there are no such restrictions between the vowel and the following would-be tautosyllabic consonant (Kubozono, 2006a). To take just one example among many, /t/ becomes [ts] before /u/, and [t] before / i/ (see section 3.3). If heavy syllables exist, one would expect that phonetic assimilations similar to those occurring between two distinct syllabic components (the onset and the nucleus) would be even more frequent within a unique syllabic component, i.e. a branching nucleus in the case of a V1V2 sequence, or a rhyme in the case of VC. However, this is not the case. According to Kubozono (2006a), this shows that the coda consonants are phonologically independent of the V preceding them. The only obvious case of a would-be coda to nucleus featural assimilation could be that of the mora nasal /N/. Recall that vowels placed before /N/ can be phonetically nasalized in Japanese; for instance hon book tends to be realized as [hN].9 However, feature assimilation involving / N/ extends beyond the strict domain of the putative syllable, since /N/ also undergoes place assimilation from the following consonant, as in sanpo / saNpo/ a walk realized as [smpo], so this phenomenon cannot be taken as evidence of the relevance of a prosodic domain such as the syllable (and not even as relevance of the foot).10 Absence of onset optimization
(p. 152 )
Another convincing argument against the existence of heavy syllables at the phonological level can be found in the behaviour of the mora nasal /N/. In Japanese, a VNV sequence is never syllabified as V.NV (two moras) but as V.N.V (three moras). This is in contradiction with what is generally assumed in phonology, as stated by Golston and van der Hulst (1999): It is a widely observed fact that a sequence of a closed syllable followed by a syllable that starts with a vowel is empirically unattested. The traditional view that assumes that linearly organized strings form the input for syllabification explains this by saying that a string VCV is universally syllabified as V.CV. This is due to the constraints that Prince and Smolensky (1993) call Onset and NoCoda. However, counterexamples of this principle can be commonly found in Japanese. Consider the following contrasts: (4)
a. ani /aNi/ [a.i]
ease
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Prosodic units
b. c.
ani anni
/ani/ /aNni/
[ani] [anni]
older brother implicitly
Here, (4)a corresponds exactly to the type which is supposed to be empirically unattested if analysed through the syllabic mirror. The moraic /i/ behaves similarly to the mora nasal with respect to onset nonoptimization. In the word baiorin /baioriN/ violin, the palatal does not group with the vowel o which follows (*ba.yo.ri.n) in the standard variety of the (p. 153 ) language. It keeps its moraic status: ba.i.o.ri.n. This word is thus realized in five moras, not in four. This constitutes evidence that /N/ and /i/ are not syllable margins (codas) but prosodic units in their own right. Non-coincidence of foot and syllable boundaries Another series of arguments against the syllable was raised by Poser (1990). As Poser observes in the conclusion of his 1990 paper, the fact that the Japanese foot consists of morae rather than syllables points to the independence of the mora as a phonological constituent. It also poses a problem for advocates of the position that morae are subconstituents of syllables, since the boundaries of feet, composed of morae, need not coincide with syllable boundaries. Kubozono (1995a) also hints at the possibility of eliminating the syllable to the benefit of the foot in Japanese at the very end of his book. Examples of the mismatch between foot and syllable are easy to find. For instance, the truncated form of rimouto kontorouru {remote control}, rimokon would be rimou-kon (rim-kon in Hepburn romanization) if foot and syllable boundaries coincided. This mismatch is rather annoying because it calls into question the strict layer hypothesis (Nespor and Vogel, 1986), according to which each prosodic constituent is included in totality in the immediately higher-ranked constituent. Could it be that, if foot boundaries and syllable boundaries do not coincide, it is because syllables do not exist, and thus presumed syllable boundaries are therefore of no relevance? As we shall see below, in the model proposed here, moras are directly linked to feet, with no syllable layer in between, so that coinciding boundaries are only mora and foot boundaries. Speech errors
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Prosodic units
The examination of speech errors finally provides extremely interesting clues. According to Kubozono (1989, 1995c, 2006a), what corresponds to a heavy syllable tends to be replaced by a succession of two light syllables or by a heavy syllable more often than by a light syllable in slips of the tongue, for example in Kyouno Kikujirou (proper name) # Kikuno Kikujirou and juugo paasento fifteen per cent # juugo pansento. This shows that the unit syllable does not have cognitive reality, since one would otherwise expect a heavy syllable to alternate with a light syllable more often than with two light syllables. On the contrary, an analysis of this phenomenon based on the mora or the foot provides a better understanding of the data: a mora is replaced by a mora, a foot is replaced by a foot. For further evidence, see Terao (1992, 2002) who shows that the fundamental unit on which speech errors operate is, in Japanese, the mora rather than the syllable.
(p. 154 )
Syllable
6.2.4 A Reexamination of the Alleged Evidence In Favour of the
Let us now review some of the internal evidence which is generally presented in favour of the recognition of a light (i.e. monomoraic) vs. heavy (bimoraic) syllable opposition in Japanese. The phenomena that will be put under scrutiny are the following: initial lowering, unaccentedness of /N/, / Q/, /R/, /i/, accentuation of foreign toponyms, accentuation of the enclitic particle no, accentuation patterns of compound personal names whose second member is -tarou (see also Labrune, 2012, for additional arguments and discussion). As we shall see, in each case an alternative, syllable-free approach to the data, which is either as convincing as or more convincing than the syllable-based approach is possible, or the linguistic data are ambiguous or incomplete. Initial dissimilation (initial lowering) Initial dissimilation, or initial lowering, is a phenomenon which is generally accounted for through reference to the syllable (see for instance Haraguchi, 1999). As we shall see in the next chapter, there exists in Japanese a principle stipulating that any word which does not bear an initial accent lexically begins with a LowHigh pitch sequence. However, this principle applies only optionally in words beginning with a CV + special mora sequence, in other words, with a putative heavy syllable. Rather, such words can start with a HighHigh pattern (Hattori, 1954). Compare for instance: (5)
kokusai LHHH international
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Prosodic units
kousai
LHHH or HHHH
exchange
At first sight, the correct description of this phenomenon forces one to refer to heavy syllables: initial dissimilation supposedly does not apply when the word starts with a heavy syllable. However, this is nothing more than an ad hoc statement. Compare the two following formulations: (a) Initial dissimilation does not occur when the word starts with a heavy syllable. (b) Initial dissimilation does not occur when the second mora of the word is a deficient mora. The statement in (a) does not have more explanatory power than the one in (b), nor is it simpler. Moreover, even if one follows the syllabic analysis of Japanese, the formulation of the process at hand is not fully adequate, and can therefore not be held as definite evidence for the action of the syllable, because it appears that only a subset of putative heavy syllables, namely those ending in /R/ and /N/, are concerned by this phenomenon. When they end in /Q/ or /i/ (the two other arguably possible syllabic (p. 155 ) codas of Japanese), the phenomenology is different. Unaccented words beginning with CVi behave like words beginning with CVCV, for instance koikuchi strongly flavored is uttered LHHH while unaccented words beginning with CVQ are pronounced with a sequence of two low tones, for instance gakkou LLHH school (Haraguchi, 1977, Tanaka, 2008). So the issue is actually a little more complicated and controversial than it appears to be at first sight. The intuitive analysis I propose of this phenomenon is the following. Although the rise in pitch which occurs on the second mora of a word is not an accent in the phonological sense of the term, it does actually constitute a prosodic phenomenon with relative relevance, in particular because of its demarcative function, a status which is actually comparable to that of accent on the functional level. One can thus regard initial dissimilation as a mirror image of accent, some sort of accent echo, in other words a secondary accent. Initial dissimilation is characterized by a pitch rise between two moras, while accent consists of a pitch fall between two moras. And, just as accent does not normally occur after a special mora, initial dissimilation does not normally occur before a special mora. In both cases, the near impossibility of pitch change occurs because of the inherent structural
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Prosodic units
weakness of special moras, which prevents them from being the locus of pitch change (from high to low or from low to high). The adopted strategy is identical in both cases: the pitch change (fall in the case of accent, rise in the case of initial dissimilation) is moved one position leftward. In the case of initial dissimilation, there is no leftmost mora available to receive a low pitch, so the initial mora is realized with a high pitch. There is therefore no need to refer to the syllable in order to account for initial dissimilation. Unaccentedness of /N/, /Q/, /R/, and moraic /i/ (/J/) The phenomenon most frequently invoked in favour of a ternary conception of the Japanese syllable comes from accentual phonology. It involves the prosodic status of the special moras /N/, /Q/, /R/ and that of the moraic vowel /i/, in other words of the elements which, in some other languages, are likely to constitute the second part of a heavy syllable. These elements have been presented in detail in the preceding chapter. Recall that, first of all, they cannot in principle bear accent and have the property of causing a left shift of the accent when they occupy a prosodic position likely to receive accent (section 5.5), a mechanism that I propose naming NADM principle (Non-Accentuation of Deficient Moras) and which will be further developed in 6.3.2 as well as in Chapter 7. For the moment, let us consider the case of loanwords of Western origin in which a default accent is assigned to the antepenultimate mora, as presented in section 5.5. The traditional approach (Kindaichi and Akinaga, 2001) states the following rule: the accent falls on the antepenultimate mora; if the antepenultimate mora consists of a special mora (/N/, /Q/, /R/, or moraic /i/), the accent moves to the preceding mora, striking the pre- (p. 156 ) antepenultimate. Compare for instance a.na.ku.ro.ni.zu.mu {anachronism} and di.su.ka.s.sho.n rather than *di.su.ka.s.sho.n {discussion} (dots are used to denote mora boundaries). Note that this traditional approach, which is widely followed by Japanese scholars of the philological mainstream, does not refer to the syllable to account for such accentual patterns. McCawley (1968) proposes a different analysis: for him, the examples above support the claim that the syllable rather than the mora is the prosodic unit of Japanese, because in a heavy syllable only the first mora can be accented. Following his approach, disukasshon has four syllables: di-su-kas-shon (hyphens denote syllable boundaries). The default accent rule of Japanese, which applies to foreign loans, is accordingly reformulated as follows: accent is placed on the syllable containing the third from last mora. Japanese would thus be categorized as a mora-counting syllable language whose prosodic unit is supposed to be the syllable and not the mora, even though McCawley
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Prosodic units
also recognizes that the mora plays a major role in Japanese as a unit of phonological distance. At this point, let us first observe that, as Uwano (2003:74) remarks, the mora approach is just as explanatory as the syllabic one. The first objection to McCawleys analysis is that if the syllable is indeed the prosodic unit in Japanese, how can we explain that, in an accented heavy syllable, the third component (the coda according to the syllabic approach) is never of the same melodic height as the onset and nucleus? In words such as kyouto Kyto or nihon Japan, the fall in pitch that marks the location of the accent occurs before a special mora (before the second part of the long vowel in kyouto and before the mora nasal in nihon). The categorization of Japanese as a syllable-accenting language thus appears inappropriate, since only a subpart of the syllable is likely to carry the pitch. It is therefore not empirically true to state that the syllable is accented, because only the first part of it bears a high pitch. This situation is radically different from what occurs in syllabic languages like English where it is the whole syllable which bears the phonetic manifestation of accent. As remarked by Hyman (2003[1985]:96), in pitch accent languages it is the unit corresponding to the mora that receives the accent, but in the standard formulation of the syllable; this generalization cannot be captured. So the most straightforward and simple analysis is to assume that Japanese counts moras and accentuates moras, since pitches coincide with moras, but that a certain category of moras cannot receive the accent. Moreover, McCawleys conception of the mechanisms of Japanese accent appears even more inadequate in cases where several special moras follow each other. It sometimes happens that /N/, /Q/, /R/, or /i/ receive the accent. In words like obaasankko /obaRsaNQko/ child cherished by his grandmother or cheenten /tyeRNteN/ chain store, the accent does not fall on what would constitute, in McCawleys model, the accentual peak of the syllable but on the first special mora after the nucleus, here /N/ and /R/ respectively. Higurashi (1983) reports another case in which the presumed second part of a heavy syllable is accented. When the pre-accenting recessive enclitic particle shika only is combined with an unaccented noun, the final mora of the noun receives an accent, including /N/, /R/, or the moraic /i/. Let us look at the following examples: (6) Accentual pattern of atonic nouns + shika (from Higurashi 1983:35)
(p. 157 )
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Prosodic units
miyako + shika only the capital kouen + shika
miyako-shika / miyako sika/ kouen-shika / koReN sika/ *kouen-shika tekkyou-shika / teQkyoR sika/ *tekkyou-shika
only the park tekkyou + shika
only the iron bridge
Not only is it not the entire syllable that receives the accent but it is not even what constitutes the heart of the syllable, i.e. its nucleus, that does. Such cases are rather marginal, but it is obvious that they cannot be accounted for within McCawleys approach, thus crucially weakening the overall syllabic analysis of Japanese. Vance (1987:81, quoting a p.c. by Hamano Shoko) also mentions interesting cases in emphatic speech where an atonic word ending in /N/ can receive the accent on /N/ before the quotative particle to. So for instance in kouban to itta I said police box, kouban police box normally atonic (kouban) is pronounced kouban with an accent on the final / N/. Hamano (1998:32) also says that in some dramatic uses of mimetic words, a special mora can be accented as in paanto or pinpin-to. Finally, one has to take into account the fact that some dialects of Japanese belonging to the same dialect subfamily as Tky Japanese, and very closely related to it, allow special moras to receive an accent in a very general fashion. Thus, in the Izu dialect,11 there exists a possible contrast between tou # HL political party and tou (too) # LH ten, or between kai # a paddle and kai # shell (Uwano, 2003). As Uwano correctly observes, this type of contrast would be totally impossible in a syllable-based language like English. Accentuation of foreign toponyms Other pieces of evidence supposed to prove the relevance of the heavy syllable have been presented since McCawley. Prima facie, one of the most convincing examples is provided by Kubozono (1996). Examining the assignment of accent in foreign toponyms (a class representative of
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Prosodic units
accent assignment processes in loanwords in general), Kubozono observes that although the default accentuation (p. 158 ) rule stated above applies quite generally in accented loans, whatever formulation of the rule one adoptsbe it la Kindaichi and Akinaga or la McCawleyit nevertheless encounters a number of exceptions. Such exceptions are accented on the fourth or fifth mora from the end, as in monburan /moNburaN/ Mont Blanc, amazon /amazoN/ the Amazon, pirenee /pireneR/ the Pyrenees, rather than *monburan, *amazon, *pirenee as predicted both by Kindaichi and Akinaga and McCawleys analyses. Taking such examples into consideration, Kubozono posits the following accentuation rule: the accent falls on the penultimate syllable if it is heavy, on the antepenultimate otherwise. However, we shall see in the following chapter (section 7.2.5) how the present approach to the structure of the foot and mora provides a simpler account of these crucial examples, without referring to heavy and light syllable types. Accentual behaviour of no Another example worthy of interest is examined by Miyake (1943), Martin (1952), Vance (1987, 2008), Kubozono (1999a), Haraguchi (1999), Uwano (2003), among others. It involves the determination particle no, whose accentual behaviour is rather peculiar. When no occurs after a noun which bears a final accent, that noun sometimes undergoes de-accentuation. Consider the following examples. (7)
a. yama + no otoko + no b. nihon + no kinou + no c. kokoro + no yamano otokono nihonno kinouno kokorono of the mountain of the man of Japan of yesterday of the heart
Prosodic units
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d.
me + no do u + no te n + no ka i + no
me no do uno te nno ka ino
of the eye of bronze
e.
of the sky of the shell
According to Kubozono, an adequate description of these examples can be made through explicit reference to the syllable, and should be formulated as follows: words longer than one syllable such as yama,otoko in (a), nihon and kinou in (b), accented on the final syllable become unaccented when followed by the no particle, while monosyllabic words (whose only syllable is either heavy or light and bears an accent) like me, dou, ten or kai maintain the original accent. This phenomenon might at first sight appear to be quite convincing as a justification for the relevance of heavy syllables. However, on the one hand, many apparent exceptions can be found (see Vance, 1987:82, 2008:156157 for lists and additional references). For instance, takusan much is not de-accented before no: takusan + no yields takusan-no and not *takusan-no. On the other hand, some (p. 159 ) speakers do not realize (7b) as predicted by Kubozono. This is probably why, according to Vance (1987) and Uwano (2003) accent deletion before no should not be taken as reliable evidence for syllable structure. Moreover, it seems that words such as nihon or kinou that undergo de-accentuation before no are actually lexical exceptions (Takayama Tomoaki, p.c. 2009) belonging to a close and numerically limited set, while the takusan type, which does not yield deaccentuation, is more likely to be the general, default type. Clearly, the issue is controversial and does not reach consensus. The data would need further investigation to determine which pattern is regular: the one involving deaccentuation or the one involving no deaccentuation.
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Prosodic units
An alternative approach to these data consists of positing that the words belonging to types (7b) and (7e), which end in a special mora and bear a surface accent on the penultimate mora, actually have an underlying accent on the final mora, as follows: /nihoN/, /kinoR/, /doR/, /teN/, /kai/ (see also sections 7.2.3 and 7.2.5). This analysis is also proposed by Uwano (2003:75). The underlyingly final accent is shifted one mora leftward by virtue of the NADM principle stipulating that special moras cannot bear an accent at the phonetic level, except in a few special cases such as the examples with shika above, as well as the obaasankko example previously mentioned. This analysis accounts very easily for exceptions like takusan, because takusan is accented on the mora sa at the underlying level, as well as at the surface level, contrary to the words in (7b) and (7e), which actually carry a final accent at the underlying level. This is why they behave exactly like yama and otoko in (7a) rather than like kokoro in (7c). In dou, ten, or kai, it is the initial mora of the word which, on the surface, receives the accent. In this case, de-accentuation does not occur, and the accent is maintained on the initial mora, a phenomenon which has to do with the fact that the beginning of a word constitutes a privileged position, where contrasts are more often preserved and neutralizations avoided (Beckman J., 1999). Personal compound names whose second member is -tarou Let us now examine the following examples, also cited by Kubozono (1999a) as another piece of evidence for the syllable. Consider the following personal names (all from Kubozono 1999a: 46, romanization adapted; when no accent information is provided, it means that the word does not have its proper accent pattern because it never occurs in isolation): (8) Accentuation of personal names ending in -tarou a.
ki + tarou ne + tarou kitarou netarou kintarou kyuutarou
b.
kin + tarou kyuu + tarou
(p. 160 )
c.
momo + tarou
momotarou
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Prosodic units
kane + tarou
kanetarou
d.
chikara + tarou karee + tarou urutoraman + tarou chikaratarou kareetarou urutoramantarou
According to Kubozono (1999a), the accent behaviour of the compounds with -tarou is predictable on the basis of the syllable structure of the first member. When the first member is monosyllabic, the compound is unaccented. Otherwise, it is accented. Note that -tarou exhibits two different accent patterns when combined with a bimoraic first member: a monosyllabic N1 (8b) yields an unaccented compound just like a monomoraic N1 (8a), whereas forms with a bisyllabic N1 receive the accent on the first member (8c) but only if it is also bimoraic. However, the data in (8) can receive an alternative account. First, as Kubozono (1999a) mentions, personal compound names with -jirou behave in a different way, in so far as they do not trigger the same accent behaviour. The first member kin is accented, and thus behaves like kane rather than like ko when combined with -jirou. We find Kinjirou (not Kinjirou) and Kanejirou vs. Kojirou. This shows that the conditioning of the accent rule is lexical rather than strictly phonological, since not all suffixes activate the rule which is supposed to refer to the syllable: -tarou does, but -jirou does not. Second, examination of the examples in (8) shows that trimoraic bisyllabic first members behave like trimoraic trisyllabic ones (8d). The syllabic approach fails to capture the fact that momotarou and kareetarou, whose first members are both bisyllabic, do not receive the same accentuation. This suggests that it is not the number of syllables that is crucial but something else. One can achieve a correct descriptive account of these data by referring simply to the foot and to its constituents, i.e. moras. The rule can accordingly be reformulated as follows: when the first member is equivalent to a monomoraic foot or to a bimoraic foot ending in a special mora, the compound is atonic (8a, b). When it is equal to a bimoraic foot ending in a regular mora, the accent is placed on the final mora of N1 (8c). Finally, when the first member contains more than one foot made up of two regular moras, the accent is placed on the initial mora of -tarou.
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Prosodic units
To conclude, unlike the mora, the relevance of the syllable appears highly questionable. First, the models of the Japanese syllable which have been proposed in the literature reflect the existence of a problem concerning the articulation between the mora and the syllable with regard to the foot. Second, the lack of traditional evidence in favour of the syllable or of its constituents is particularly blatant. Finally, the linguistic data which have been claimed to attest the relevance of the syllable are either not sufficiently documented, or they are ambiguous and can receive an alternative, syllablefree account. In the next section, I shall propose a new model of the basic Japanese prosodic unit that does not rely on the syllable.
(p. 161 )
6.3 for A Strictly Binary Model of the Basic Prosodic Unit In Japanese
The facts discussed so far show the inadequacy of a three-position syllabic model (onsetnucleuscoda) in the phonology of Japanese. This calls for another analysis of the basic prosodic unit of Japanese, that I will temporarily call a prosodeme, following Trubetzkoys term. The ideas that are developed here are inspired by Larry Hymans theory of phonological weight (2003 [1985]), which argues that the universal phonological anchor tier consists of weight units, or beats, that correspond to moras, and that the syllable is not a universal constituent but a languageparticular construct built out of the weight units. On the basis of the evidence reviewed so far, I claim that the basic prosodic unit of Japanese is maximally binary, i.e. with two positions: position 1, the onset (ideally represented by C) and position 2, the nucleus (ideally represented by V), as shown below.12 (9) Structure of the basic prosodeme
The dots represent linear positions corresponding to the skeleton as conceived in multilinear phonology, that is, some sort of temporal projection of each segmental unit within a prosodeme, which allows the encoding and representation of quantity. Accordingly, geminate consonants and
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Prosodic units
long vowels are considered to be one single segmental unit (actually a set of distinctive features) associated with two skeletal positions, whereas affricates or some types of diphthongs correspond to two segments (i.e. two sets of distinctive features) linked to one position. In the model argued for here, there is no need for a more complex structure such as the heavy syllable, that is, for a three-position prosodic unit. All the elements which can be considered to belong to the third position within a syllable in competing approaches are to be analysed as so many distinct prosodemes. Further, and most importantly, some prosodemes are to be considered as structurally incomplete, in the sense that they contain an empty position, either the onset or the nucleus. These units will be called deficient, weak, or degenerate. Japanese is thus characterized by the fact that it contains two types of prosodemes: regular and deficient.
(p. 162 )
Deficient prosodemes may belong to the following four types: Prosodemes containing only one nuclear vowel. Prosodemes containing /N/, /Q/, /R/ (the so-called special moras of the Japanese linguistic tradition). Prosodemes containing a devoiced vowel. Prosodemes containing an epenthetic vowel. Note that the units recognized as deficient prosodemes here do not correspond exactly to the special moras of Japanese traditional phonology (see Chapter 5 as well as section 6.1 above), since they also comprise onsetless vowels other than /i/, moras containing a devoiced vowel, as well as those containing an epenthetic vowel. Let us now examine the structure and representation of the deficient prosodemes. (10) Deficient prosodeme made up of a vowel (with empty onset)
The representation in (10) is that of onsetless prosodemes whose nucleus is filled by a vocoid, for instance e in kangaeru to think, or i in kai shell.
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Prosodic units
The three so-called special moras /N/, /Q/, and /R/ are deficient moras which, I assume, have the representations in (11): (11) Prosodemes made up of a special mora
/R/ consists of a [consonantal] segmental specification, while / Q/ is [+consonantal].13 /N/ is also [+consonantal] but note that it contains an additional segmental specification in comparison to /Q/, the nasality feature. In fact, except for the [consonantal] feature specification, which simply encodes their vocoid or contoid nature, /R/ and /Q/ have no segmental specification at the underlying level. Note also that the /R/ features are linked to the second position, but the /N/ and /Q/ features to the first one.
(p. 163 )
Let us now examine two other types of deficient moras: prosodemes containing a devoiced vowel (already discussed in section 2.6) and prosodemes containing an epenthetic vowel: (12) Prosodemes made up of a devoiced vowel
In the case of devoiced vowels, a V segment present in the underlying form is phonetically deleted on the surface, but the structural position initially associated with the nucleus (V) is not. The nucleus is thus left empty, but it nonetheless remains as a position at the phonological level14 (possibly with a [consonantal] feature), thus yielding a deficient unit. The proposal to include the moras with a devoiced vowel in the set of the special moras was also made by Akinaga (1968), but her proposal has not been followed up in subsequent studies. (13) Prosodemes containing an epenthetic vowel
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Prosodic units
The exact phonological status of epenthetic vowels in phonological representations and derivations constitutes a major problem for phonological theory, which still awaits a proper solution. Nevertheless, whatever the theoretical framework, an epenthetic vowel comes down to an empty position at the most underlying level which receives (p. 164 ) default phonetic realization at a later stage. In that sense, epenthetic vowels can be considered to be the opposite of devoiced vowels, as seen in (12), because devoiced vowels correspond to a position initially filled which loses its phonetic content. Onsetless prosodemes, those containing epenthetic and devoiced vowels, as well as special moras thus display strong representational similarity in the approach proposed here: they all contain an empty position at some level of the representation. This is very desirable, because these four types of moras share a common empirical characteristic which has not received sufficient attention in previous studies: they are not readily accentable. We have already mentioned the fact that /N/, /Q/, and /R/ are not, under normal conditions, able to receive an accent, but it is also a well-established fact in the phonology of Japanese that onsetless vowels, epenthetic vowels, and devoiced vowels share the same property, although not as systematically as /N/, /Q/, and /R/ (a point to which we will come back below). The following examples illustrate this fact: (14) a. Accent shift caused by the presence of a devoiced vowel (see also section 2.6) in conservative Tky Japanese
expected form realized form
hukaku [Fkak] kisha [kia]
# #
hukaku [Fkak] kisha [kia]
deeply train
b. Accent shift caused by the presence of an onsetless vowel expected form realized form
keizairyoku kangaeru
15
# # #
keizairyoku kangaeru anaunsu
economical power to think {announce}
anaunsu
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Prosodic units
c. Accent shift caused by the presence of an epenthetic vowel in a CV mora expected form realized form
amusuterudamu# andesukai # andesukai
amusuterudamuAmsterdam Andes Club
That moras containing an15epenthetic vowel do not behave in the same way as moras containing an underlying vowel, but rather like special moras, is further demonstrated by the fact that four-mora loanwords that end in a sequence of two CV moras are mostly unaccented (90%) if their final vowel is underlying, (p. 165 ) whereas the ratio goes down to 30% if the final vowel is epenthetic (Kubozono, 2006b), a percentage which is close to that displayed by words ending in a supposedly heavy syllable, that is, words ending in a special mora. So not only are epenthetic vowels difficult to accentuate, their presence also causes word accent computation to differ significantly when they occur word-finally. Note that the occasional ability of onsetless moras to repel the accent constitutes a serious problem for phonology because it is commonly admitted that onsets do not contribute to prosodic weight. However, the data under examination contradict this assumption if analysed through the syllabic mirror.16 In the present approach, this can be accounted for by the fact that structurally, onsetless moras are phonological objects that contain a position with no segmental specification, in the same way as moras containing an epenthetic or a devoiced vowel. At the phonetic level, this corresponds to a lack of acoustic prominence, not suitable for receiving an accent. The syllabic framework does not allow us to capture onsetless, devoiced, and epenthetic vowels and would-be third-position syllable constituents (i.e. codas) as entities belonging to the same category, whereas the model developed here does, because all four elements are conceived as containing an empty slot, which explains their relative weakness or transparency. Actually, the relevance of the onset for prosodic weight is already attested in the Manysh, a compilation of poems dating back to the eighth century. The meter of Japanese poetry is fixed, and it is based on the number of moras per verse. The verses of tanka, the most representive genre of Japanese classical poetry, are composed respectively of 57577 moras. Quite interestingly, this meter is not always respected. This notably happens when the verse contains an onsetless vowel, as the following two examples taken from the Manysh illustrate:
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Prosodic units
(15)
8 moras instead of 7: imada sakazukeru 9 moras instead of 7 tori age mahe ni oki taking (it) and putting (it) in the front (poem 4129) does not bloom yet (poem 2123)
Such hypermetric poetic licences are called jiamari (###). It is important to note that the onsetless vowel can occur at the beginning of the verse, as in the first example, thus excluding the hypothesis of syneresis. I claim that this phenomenon can be accounted for along the same lines of analysis as the one I adopt for modern Tky Japanese, that is, syllables did not exist in eighth-century Japanese, and the basic prosodic unit consisted of a two-slot element equivalent to a mora. When one of the two slots is empty, the unit is (p. 166 ) considered to be deficient, and presents a type of phonological behaviour which is not that of full units. In the verses above, it is clear that deficient moras may not always count as one rhythmic unit as full moras do. In the above representations, empty positions generally represent the vestige of segmental material which has been disassociated, either from a diachronic or a synchronic perspective. From the diachronic point of view, as already mentioned in the previous chapter, special moras /N/, /Q/, and /R/ are known to result from consonant or vowel loss in Yamato Japanese, a process which has left an empty structural position in the underlying representation. Interestingly, internal onsetless vowels in simplex words are also the result of a similar process. Archaic Japanese did not accept onsetless vowels morpheme-internally, so that all the modern occurrences of internal V1V2 sequences are due to the loss of a consonant in native words. For instance, modern koe voice comes from kowe, au to meet from afu # *apu.
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Prosodic units
6.3.1 Japanese As A Syllable-less Language

The reader will have noticed that the model of the Japanese prosodeme proposed here corresponds exactly to the mora, which leads us to consider that the mora is the core prosodeme of Japanese. I assume that moras are structured as in (16). (16) Structure of Japanese moras
Recall that in the case of special moras, one of the two positions, C or V, is left empty at some level of the analysis. Taking into account the phenomena reviewed thus far, three other lines of analysis of the prosodic structure of Japanese ought to be considered. It is important to examine them in order to justify the claim made here. These options appear in (17ac), while (17d) represents the analysis which we adopt here (the dots representing segment position are omitted). (17)
The first representation (17a) consists of positing that moras and (light) syllables, although isomorphic, coexist in Japanese, and that they are organized hierarchically. This option is undoubtedly the most cautious one. In this representation, however, there is a redundancy between the mora and the syllable, so that the principle of Occams razor leads us to adopt one of the three remaining possibilities, (17b), (17c), or (17d).
(p. 167 )
The second option, (17b), appears to be the least challenging one for the model which actually dominates in current phonological theory. However, the facts examined throughout this chapter did not provide any evidence that there would be any advantage in distinguishing an onset directly attached to
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the syllable, whereas the nucleus would be associated with a mora. On the contrary: we have seen that there exists in Japanese a remarkable cohesion between the element C and the element V of a prosodeme. Such a close cohesion is not reported for truly syllabic languages. In addition to the facts already presented, one can also mention data taken from stuttering speech which can be taken as evidence that (17b) is not the right representation. According to Ujihira and Kubozono (1994) and Kubozono (2006a), the portion repeated by Japanese stutterers at the beginning of words starting with a consonant is a CV unit in 88.6% of the cases (for instance, na-na-na/nde why). Only in 1.2% of the cases is it a C unit. This, as Kubozono observes, differs from English, for instance, where initial segmentation generally occurs before the vowel (n-n-n-n/ever). If one assumes that it is not the syllable and its constituents which are the units of prosodic encoding but rather a prosodeme corresponding to the mora, these data can be accounted for quite naturally. Also, recall that, as stated earlier, the temporal adjustment between C and V is much more important in Japanese than it appears to be in syllabic languages. We can interpret this fact as a consequence of the strictly binary and symetric structure of the Japanese prosodeme, and of the strong solidarity and equality of status which exists between its two components. Since (17b) hardly reflects this cohesion and equality between a C and a V belonging to the same prosodeme, it wont be adopted here. The elimination of (17a) and (17b) leaves us with two possibilities: (17c) and (17d). (17c) considers the syllable as the only necessary constituent, but limited to a maximally binary structure, more or less in the fashion of Lowenstamm (1996) or Scheer (2004) who defend the idea that all syllables, in all languages, consist fundamentally of a CV structure. If we adopted this position, the references to the mora could be simply replaced by references to the syllable. This choice would have the advantage of not questioning the very largely followed postulate according to which all languages have syllables, and which views the mora as an optional constituent. However, it seems desirable to maintain a conceptual distinction between the mora and the light syllable, in other words, to ensure that these two terms are not understood as different denominations of the same entity. This is why we shall adopt the hypothesis in (17d). The justification for this stand is that (p. 168 ) Tky Japanese prosodemes have a number of specific properties which, as explored in the preceding pages, make it phonologically different from syllable-based languages.
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6.3.2 The Non-Accentuation of Deficient Moras Principle (NADM)

We have seen that on the structural and functional levels, two types of moras have to be distinguished: full moras which have a CV structure, and weak or deficient moras in which one of the two positions is empty. The main empirical difference between full and deficient moras is that deficient moras are not able to work as proper accent kernels under normal and general conditions. From now on, this inability of deficient moras to bear the accent will be referred to as the NADM principle or constraint: (18) Non-Accentuation of Deficient Moras (NADM) Deficient moras must not be accented Examples of the NADM principle application have been presented on many occasions throughout this book, for instance in 5.5 and 6.2.4, and will be seen again in sections 7.1.4, 7.2.3, and 7.3.2. This principle is nothing but a reformulation of the well-known OT constraint PeakProminence (Prince and Smolensky, 1993:39) which stipulates that more prominent elements make better prosodic peaks within a foot. Let us take for instance a sequence such as /hoN/ hon book, which, in a syllabic approach, would be interpreted as a heavy syllable. In our model, this is simply a foot made up of a regular mora, /ho/, followed by a deficient mora, /N/. Further, we shall assume, as argued in section 6.2.4(see also sections 7.2.3 and 7.3.2) that /hoN/ is underlyingly accented on the final mora /N/, and that the accent moves to /ho/ at the surface level: [hoN]. This process can be accounted for in an extremely simple manner by the interaction of the following three constraints: NADM, Max(Accent) and FaithIO(Accent). NADM dominates Max(Accent), the constraint which imposes that an accent present in the input has a correspondent in the output, and Max(Accent) dominates FaithIO(Accent) which demands that an accent present in the input be preserved in the same location in the output. The ranking between the three constraints accounts for the accentual shift to the initial mora of the morpheme, as shown in (19) (19) Interaction of Max(Accent), NADM and FaithIO(Accent) a. Hierarchy: NADM ## Max(Accent) ## FaithIO(Accent) (p. 169 ) b. Tableau
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/ hoN/ a. hon b. hon c. hon
NADM
Max(Accent)
FaithIO(Accent) *
*! *! *
In (19b), the candidate in b., which infringes the dominant constraint NADM, is the worst one. Of the two remaining possibilities, a. with initial accent, and c., without accent, a. is selected as the optimal output because, contrary to c., it preserves the accent present in the input, although in a location which is not the original one. Note that the constraint Max(Accent) does not govern positional faithfulness but the preservation in the output of an element present in the input, contrary to FaithIO(Accent) (see also section 7.3.2). Dialects such as the Izu dialect which allow special moras to be accented at the surface level can be assumed to have a different hierarchy, ranking NADM below FaithIO(Accent). However, some deficient moras may, under certain conditions, carry the accent even in Tky Japanese. Variation is frequently observed, especially in cases of onsetless and epenthetic vowels, which are sometimes accented. The mora nasal /N/ can also receive the accent in certain cases, as in obaasankko child cherished by his/her grandmother, as well as /R/ (see also the examples in (6) above), whereas /Q/, for instance, never can. Reliable and phonetically controlled data which would inform us about the factors which condition this variation, especially concerning the accentuation of onsetless and epenthetic vowels, is still needed. In a constraint-based approach, we would be led to posit that there exists a constraint placed higher in the hierarchy than NADM, and that this higher constraint forces an accent to be put on a deficient mora. I leave the issue of the exact nature of this constraint for future investigation. Nonetheless, the fact that all deficient moras do not always behave exactly in the same manner is indisputable and will lead us to the proposal that Japanese moras are arranged along a scale, as will be shown now.
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6.3.3 Hierarchy of Japanese Prosodemes (moras)

Because the opposition between full and deficient moras is not dichotomous, the conception of the Japanese prosodeme developed above needs some further refinements. It seems reasonable to assume that Japanese moras have to be classified along a scalar hierarchy according to their acoustic prominence. This is because, as just stated, the NADM principle is neither absolute nor free of variation. The general scale of Japanese moras according to their relative capacity to receive the accent is as follows (here s denote empty positions): (p. 170 ) CV ## V ## C I propose that these three major mora types be further subclassified as follows:17
i, CVepenthetic, and CVdevoiced seem to occupy the same position in the hierarchy, in between u and /R/, hence the use of the brace. The relative capacity of a mora to receive the accent is conditioned by its intrinsic phonetic prominence and acoustic energy, as well as by the number of filled structural positions it contains. Any consonant followed by a high vowel (for instance mi,ku), the mora nasal, the first part of a geminate, as well as voiceless consonants when followed by a devocalized nucleus vowel, on the one hand, are quite unsurprisingly characterized by their relative lack of prominence. On the other hand, onsetless vowels can also be considered as relatively weak, in any case weaker than CV moras. This may be more unexpected at first sight, but, following Burzio (1994:158) one can assume that onsets contribute to acoustic energy, so onsetless units are prosodically weaker. As for moras containing an epenthetic vowel, I assume that their lack of prominence is phonological (or representational) rather than phonetic, even if the exact nature of their phonological representation is an issue which must be further investigated. Moreover, among onsetless moras, it is also clear that a and o are not as weak as i, u or even e. In addition to its phonological structure, the intrinsic sonority of the mora thus unquestionably conditions its capacity to receive the accent.18 However,
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I argue that the relationship between accent, sonority, and structure is not direct. Rather, it is mediated by reference to the foot, as we shall see now.
6.4 The Foot

The canonical Japanese foot (hutto ### or kyaku #) is bimoraic. It can have the following structures: (p. 171 ) (20) Japanese feet = ()
(C)VCV (C)VV (C)VC kata shape, iru to exist hae fly, ou [o] king hon book, kit(to) certainly
Prevocalic consonants can be palatalized (i.e. Cy). In (C)VC, the final C equals the mora nasal (/N/) or the first part of a geminate (/Q/). In (C)VV, the second V can be equivalent to /R/. However, monomoraic feet (sometimes called degenerate feet) are not uncommon in Japanese. Kubozono (1999a) argues that every foot must be entirely contained within the same morpheme, so that two adjacent monomoraic feet will not form a single bimoraic foot in polymorphemic lexemes: F() + F() = F()F() rather than F(). Each foot is supposedly parsed as a separate degenerate foot. Similarly, trimoraic feet (or heavy feet) can also be found. For instance, Tanaka (2008:203) argues, on the basis of an empirical study of foreign words accentuation, that trimoraic feet must be posited in certain cases where a sequence of two regular moras is followed by /Q/. He proposes the following respective footing for the words tomato {tomato}, biniiru {vinyl}, and sonetto {sonnet}: (toma)to, bi(nii)ru, but (soneQ)to.19 Although recognition of the foot in Japanese phonology is rather recent, dating back to Posers seminal 1990 work, the evidence for its relevance is massive and uncontroversial. Poser (1990) provides a number of foot-based phenomena which demonstrate the significant role of the bimoraicrather than disyllabicfoot in Japanese morpho-phonology through data taken from geisha / bargirl client names, kinship terms, rustic girls names, renykei reduplication, mimetic bases, the secret language of jazzmen, and compound accentuation.
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From Posers list, let us present the well-known case of hypocoristic formation. We will then introduce two other foot-based phenomena: womens secret language (nyb kotoba) derivatives, and compound loans truncations. Hypocoristics are made by adding the suffix -chan to a bimoraic foot containing segmental material obtained from the base (the complete name). When the name is longer than five moras, two-foot-long hypocoristic derivatives can also be found. The important point to note is that one-, three-, or five- mora-long patterns are prohibited. This provides robust evidence that it is at the foot level that hypocoristic derivation operates. (21) Hypocoristic formation
Full name mi dori hypocoristics mi ichan, mitchan, midochan ta rochan, taachan ka zuchan
*michan
ta rou
*tachan
kazuhiko
*kachan *kazuhichan *kechan, *kenzachan *kenzaburochan
kenzaburou
ke nchan, kenzabuchan
(p. 172 )
Derivatives used in the feminine language and originating from nyb kotoba (####), an ancient secret language used by court ladies, are also based on the foot. Nyb kotoba forms are obtained by truncation of the base to
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foot-size, and addition of the polite prefix o-, as shown in (22). Note that the truncated base can be equivalent to two light syllables, or a heavy syllable, in a syllable-based approach. But it can never consist of two heavy syllables, thus demonstrating once again that Japanese feet are made up of moras rather than syllables. (22) Nyb kotoba
base derived form (o- + ) o-satsu o-juu o-den satsuma imo juubako dengaku neshouben sweet potato stackable box oden (Japanese hotchpotch) bed wetting
o-nesho
The foot is also used as the basic unit in compound abbreviated loanwords (Labrune 2007), which are normally built by extracting one bimoraic foot (generally the initial one) out of each component of the original form, yielding a two-foot-long derivative. (23) Compound abbreviated loanwords
base truncated form dejikame rimokon ensuto pato-kaa
dejitaru kamera rimouto kontorouru enjin sutoppu patorouru kaa
{digital camera} {remote control} {engine stop} {patrol car} motor stalling police patrol car
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The foot is also the prosodic domain within which certain accent shifts occur. Whenever several vowels in the environment of a devoiced vowel are likely to receive accent as a consequence of a NADM accent shift, the basic principle seems to be that the accent will remain within the same foot (Tanaka, 2001). Another study by Tanaka (1998, 2008) highlights the fact that in certain cases, evaluation of the relative sonority of the vowels in order to determine accent placement occurs within the head foot. Accent then falls on the most sonorous vowel in the foot (see section 7.3.1 (35) for examples about the correlation between vowel sonority and accent placement). Finally, in their experimental study of Japanese speech rhythm, Ayusawa et al. (1998) have also found that a high proportion of the units of rhythm consist of two moras, that is, one foot. I assume that Japanese feet obey a well-formedness constraint, which enforces that they start with a mora of relative prominence, preferably a full CV mora, i.e. the canonical prosodeme of the language. So the inability of deficient moras to be tonic does not come directly from their weak sonority, nor from their structural incompleteness, but from their position within feet. Let us review again the structure of the canonical Japanese foot. Recall that it can have the following shapes: (C)VCV, (C)VV, or (C)VC. Since the level of the syllable is considered as not relevant in the prosodic hierarchy of Japanese, feet are directly made up of moras, as in (24). (24) Structure of Japanese feet
(p. 173 )
In the prosodic model of Japanese proposed here, the role usually devoted to the heavy syllable is entirely taken up by the foot. Supposedly heavy syllables of the shape CVC or CVV are simply reinterpreted as feet containing a deficient mora in the second position, i.e. CVC or CVV. Another important characteristic of Tky Japanese feet is that they are trochaic, that is, initially headed (Shinohara, 2000; Labrune, 2002; Ota, 2003). I further propose that a well-formedness constraint determines the shape of the Japanese foot:20 (25) Foot well-formedness constraint
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*F[m
A foot must start with a full mora
In other words, feet must be properly headed by a full mora, and their head is aligned to the left (trochees). A full mora is a mora whose structure corresponds to one of those standing at the left end of the hierarchy in 6.3.3.21 All this means that deficient moras are not, except in very special or secondary cases, in a position to stand as foot heads and to receive the accent. This is obviously so in the case of /N/, /Q/, and /R/, even if exceptions can be found (the already oft-cited obaasankko). It is less obviously so in cases of onsetless vowels. The *F[m constraint predicts that feet that start with a vowel cannot be accented on the initial mora. Yet, such feet do exist in Japanese, which contradict this prediction. However, it seems that such feet are in the majority word-initial, as in ito thread, amazon the Amazon, for instance. Remember that onsetless vowels have an intermediary status in the deficientness gradation, and it seems that when they occur wordinitially, they are more able to stand as accent nucleus than in the wordinternal position. Interestingly, a statistical survey carried out on a corpus made up of 211 toponyms of Western origin,22 a class of words in which the accent is normally attributed according to the general, default principles that govern Japanese accentuation, establishes that vowel-initial words are less frequently accented on the initial mora than consonant-initial words, in a statistically significant manner: 52% of #V- words are initially accented, as against 70% of #CV- words, all other things being equal. This shows that a constraint preventing feet from starting with a deficient mora does exist, even if this constraint is not top-ranked in the hierarchy, which explains that onsetless initial vowelswhich, as stated in section 6.3.3, stand in between truly full moras and truly deficient onescan still be found, especially at the beginning of words, a position which commonly allows exceptional phonological configurations to occur.
(p. 174 )
While a number of issues certainly remain, which require additional empirical and theoretical investigation, I believe that the above general framework of analysis of the Japanese mora and foot is correct and that it provides a satisfactory account of the phonology of Japanese. The role played by *F[m in the phonology of Japanese will be further exemplified through the case study of the accentuation of foreign toponyms in the following chapter (section 7.2.5).
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6.5 The Prosodic Word And the Upper Levels of the Prosodic Hierarchy
The foot is dominated by the prosodic word (go # or inritsugo ###), which is the domain of accentual rules (see Chapter 7) and of a number of phonotactic and morpho-phonological rules or constraints such as h lenition (section 3.7), non co-occurrence of voiced obstruents (section 4.1.1), rendaku (section 4.2). In Japanese, the prosodic word corresponds to a lexical word with its satellites, i.e. the (p. 175 ) enclitic particles which may follow it. In some cases, it also contains a prefix such as o- or go- (both honorific markers). There is no consensus as to the number and nature of the prosodic units above the prosodic word in the literature. The most widespread view, which we will follow in this book, posits two major categories between the prosodic word and the utterance: the minor phonological phrase and the major phonological phrase (McCawley, 1968; Selkirk and Tateishi, 1988; Kubozono, 1993b) also known respectively as accentual phrase and intermediate phrase (Pierrehumbert and Beckman, 1988) or the accentual phrase and the intonation phrase (Venditti et al., 2009). If, as this book claims, Japanese does not have phonological syllables, there is no need to recognize the existence of a syllabic level in its prosodic hierarchy. Instead, the mora constitutes a prosodic constituent in its own right directly linked to the foot, which has the full capacity to license segments. Accordingly, the prosodic hierarchy of Japanese may be represented as follows. (26) Japanese prosodic hierarchy
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However, some scholars posit only one corresponding category, the phonological phrase, which covers the two subtypes of phonological phrases (Labrune, 2006; It and Mester, 2008). The minor phonological phrase (akusento-ku ######) generally contains two prosodic words representing an [Adj + Noun + Particle] phrase, such as oishii gohan ga delicious rice + Subject particle, or [Noun no Noun] Noun of Noun, in a phrase like Atsuko no gohan Atsukos rice. It has at most one pitch accent (one HL pitch change, see Chapter 7). The major phonological phrase (ch akusento-ku #######) may contain two minor phrases, for instance Atsuko no oishii gohan ga Atsukos delicious rice + Subject. It is the domain (p. 176 ) of the application of catathesis, or downstep (Poser, 1984; Pierrehumbert and Beckman, 1988). The utterance (bunsetsu ##) is the domain of declination and of final raising or lowering, which may, for instance, differentiate questions from statements. Exemplifications of how intonation operates at the levels of the minor and major phonological phrases will be provided in the next chapter (sections 5.1 and 7.1.5, and 7.4), after the accentual system has been introduced.
6.6 Summary And Concluding Remarks

The mass of facts examined throughout this chapter shows that the mora, a rhythmic and temporal unit of segment grouping, and the foot, a domain of mora grouping and organization, are sufficient for the understanding and analysis of Japanese phonology at the lowest levels of prosodic organization. Two types of moras have been distinguished: regular moras, which are ideally made up of a consonant + a full vowel, and deficient moras, which lack one of the two full C or V elements in their prototypical shape. However, the difference between full and deficient moras is gradual, some moras being more deficient than others, which accounts for the fact that some deficient moras sometimes behave like regular ones, whereas others, most typically / Q/ for instance, are always treated as deficient. The main advantage of the approach retained here is that it enables us to capture under the same phonological category a set of objects (namely onsetless vowels, epenthetic vowels, voiceless vowels, the mora nasal, the first part of a geminate, and the second part of a long vowel) which share a number of characteristics in Japanese phonology, but that a syllabic analysis fails to capture as similar entities. In the present approach, all normally syllable-linked phenomena, and, in particular, references to the heavy
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syllable, are replaced by references to the foot and/or mora. We shall see in the next chapter how this approach can help provide a better account of some classical issues of Japanese phonology, through the formal analysis of loanword accentuation and compound word accentuation, two problems which have been claimed by the proponents of the syllabic analysis to prove the relevance and necessity of the syllable. The proposal that Tky Japanese makes no use of syllables contrasts sharply with the dominant current in mainstream phonology, which assumes that the syllable is not an optional unit in human languages but a universal constituent whose existence cannot be called into question.23 However, it should be (p. 177 ) emphasized that this is in accordance with the traditional analysis of the Japanese kokugogaku school of thought, which recognizes only what corresponds to the mora for the analysis of Japanese, with a distinction between autonomous and special moras.
Notes:
(1.) In addition to the mora (haku), Hattori (1960) also refers to the syllable (onsetsu) in one of his papers, but this appears in a footnote, and is made in a rather polemical tone in response to a comment by Kindaichi Haruhiko, a linguist with whom Hattori often stood in opposition. (2.) Translation: Ueda Makoto, 1998, The Path of Flowering Thorn: The Life and Poetry of Yosa Buson, Stanford: Stanford University Press. I thank my friend and colleague Michel Vieillard-Baron for finding this English translation of Yosa Busons haiku for me. (3.) It is legitimate to question the relationship between the writing system and the phonological system in Japanese, and to consider the extent to which the two systems influence each other. Thus one might wonder for example if it is because they are written by means of autonomous and specific graphic units that the mora nasal, or the first part of a geminate, are treated as one unit in the phonological system, or is it the other way round: is it because each corresponds to an autonomous phonological unit, the mora, that they possess a specific and autonomous graphic sign? In other words, is it phonology which conditions writing, or writing which conditions phonology? My position is that it is the phonological structure of the Japanese language which has determined the kana graphic system and its viability. The kana system is derived from Chinese characters. Had it evolved in accordance with the logic and spirit of the Chinese graphic system, it would have
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produced a true syllabary in Japanese, i.e. a system which uses one graphic sign (and not two as is currently the case) to transcribe a heavy syllable such as kan,sou, or kai. In Chinese, where morphemes are monosyllabic, any syllable, be it heavy or light, occupies one graphic virtual box. This is not how things work in Japanese, however: each kana sign transcribes one mora in one graphic virtual box, not one syllable. This evolution was by no means induced by the Chinese graphic system, so one can reasonably assume that if Japanese has followed the path of the mora, it is because of its phonological structure, not the reverse. This does not mean that the graphic system could not, in return, contribute to consolidating and to establishing more firmly the phonological representation of Japanese as a mora language, in the same manner as the use of the alphabet, based on the phoneme, unquestionably contributes to the development of a phonemic conscience in literate speakers (Morais, 1994). (4.) The rendering of the first part of the geminate p by tsu #can be explained by the kana spelling ####, since the letter that denotes the sound tsu is also used for the transcription of gemination. (5.) Kubozono (1993a) studies the case of a child aged 4 years and 9 months who knows how to play shiritori, but ignores the special moras which occur word-finally. Instead, she utters a word beginning with the penultimate mora. For instance, she produces cha-iro after rika-chan,takoyaki after bataa, or kemushi after tokei. Obviously, special moras pose a problem for very young children. It is noteworthy that the child studied by Kubozono does not use the final (special) mora of the words which are submitted to her but the last full mora, totally ignoring the special mora. Had she uttered chanpon after rikachan, taa-chan after bataa, or keiretsu after tokei we would have had strong evidence that this child language is syllable-based, but it is not the case. (6.) Actually, the first Western linguist to operate a distinction between long and short syllables in Kyto Japanese, on the model of Latin, is the Portuguese missionary Rodriguez, in his Arte da lingoa de Iapam published in 16041608. (7.) Of course, the fact that there does not exist any proof of the existence of an object is not enough to constitute the absolute certainty that this object does not exist. As Hyman (2003 [1985]) points out, it is of course logically impossible to prove that a language does not have syllables, since it may be the case that it has them but does not show obvious evidence of it.
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(8.) The branching rhyme approach which posits that a heavy syllable consists of an onset and a rhyme, itself divided into a nucleus and coda, has sometimes been adopted, for instance by Yoshida S. (1990, 1991), whose work is cast within the framework of government phonology. Although Yoshida argues that heavy syllables must be analysed as dissyllabic sequences with two nuclei (in his model, kuukou /kuRkoR/ airport or konpon /koNpoN/ base consist of four syllables), he does not give up the idea that certain Japanese syllables have branching rhymes: according to him, this would be true of sequences where two special moras (special segments) follow each other, as in hontte /hoNQte/ book + Citative. In hontte, the first part of the geminate is considered to be associated with the rhyme of the syllable whose nucleus is /N/. (9.) I thank a participant to the Berlin Conference 32. Jahrestagung Deutsche Gesellschaft fr Sprachwissenschaft, Humboldt University in Berlin (February 2010) for bringing this point to my attention. (10.) Moreover, in the speech of certain Tky conservative speakers, I have heard nasalized vowels before a voiced obstruent, for instance in kazu number uttered as [kdz], showing that vowel nasalization does not occur within the domain of the syllable, since it is not even questionable that the affricate [dz] may belong to the same syllable as the preceding /a/ in kazu. However, to my knowledge, this phenomenon has never been fully reported nor instrumentally verified for Tky Japanese, so I only mention it in passing. (11.) The Izu dialect belongs to the Tky type family of dialects. Izu is located 100 km southwest of Tky. (12.) For the sake of convenience, I use the terms onset and nucleus to refer to, respectively, the first and second position constituents of the prosodeme. (13.) The feature [consonant] is defined here following Chomsky and Halle (1968). It indicates a sound which is produced with a radical obstruction in the mid-sagittal area of the vocal tract. (14.) See Hyman (2003 [1985]) and Kager (1997) for arguments in favour of the theoretical existence of such vowels in languages. (15.) Accent shifts caused by the presence of an onsetless vowel are rather inconsistent. Accent variation occurs with certain words but not with others,
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for instance to think can be realized as kangaeru or kangaeru, and so does kotaeru / kotaeru answer and totonoeru / totonoeru to arrange, but other verbs containing the same ae sequence do not seem to accept variation. So haeru to grow (*haeru) is accented on the penultimate mora with no possibility of accent shift, while kaeru to return is only accented on the antepenultimate (*kaeru), in violation of the verb accent rule which requires tonic verbs to be accented on the penultimate mora. (16.) A small number of languages, including English, in which the structure of the onset is argued to be prosodically relevant have been reported (see Kelly, 2004, Davis, 1988, Everett, and Everett, 1984). See also Topintzi (2010) for an extensive study. (17.) Tanaka (2008) also proposes that the special moras should be arranged along a hierarchy: /J/ # /R/ # /N/ # /Q/ because they do not have a uniform action with respect to accent location in certain categories of words. In particular, his study shows that /Q/ does not behave like the other three special moras. (18.) The relationship between sonority and accent in Japanese has been brought to light by Tanaka (1998, 2008) and Yokotani (1997). It is also attested for other languages (Hayes 1995; Kenstowicz 1994b). (19.) Notice that sonetto is not accented on the antepenultimate mora ne, as would be expected if Q behaved exactly like the other special moras of Japanese, but on the pre-antepenultimate mora so. (20.) I would like to thank Marc Plnat for first suggesting to me the existence of a constraint such as *F[m, and for providing many valuable comments on the issue of moras and feet interaction. The *F[m constraint in (25) is actually a cover constraint for a set of three different constraints (see Labrune, 2012). (21.) As stated in section 6.3.3, the border between full and deficient moras is somewhat uncertain. It falls somewhere in between Cu and e, depending on a variety of factors which remain to be discovered. (22.) This list comes from one of the appendices of NHK (1998). (23.) But note that a small number of scholars have questioned the universality of the syllable, for instance Kohler (1966), Hyman (2003 [1985]), and Auer (1994). Hyman (2003 [1985]) claims that the syllable is not a
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universal constituent but a language-particular construct built out of weight units (which correspond to moras). According to him, some languages simply do not construct syllables. See Labrune (2012), for a more developed discussion.
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Laurence Labrune
Accent
Laurence Labrune
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.003.0007

Tky Japanese has been described as a pitch accent system which contains tonic and atonic words,and has been extensively described and analysed both in and outside Japan. After presenting the basic mechanism of present day Tky Japanese accentuation and offering a summary of two theoretical treatments of it, the chapter enters into the details of each word type accentuation: simplex vs. compound, native vs. Sino-Japanese vs. Western, nouns vs. verbs and -i adjectives, numeral compounds, and so on. A new formal account within the framework optimality theory of the accentuation of Western loans and of that of compound nouns is offered. After exploring the dialectal and sociological variation of accent, the chapter concludes with a discussion on the status of the Japanese word-prosodic system from a typological point of view, since a number of features of this system could be interpreted as tonal rather than accentual.
Keywords: accent, pitch accent system, simplex words, compound words, Sino-Japanese words, Western words, numeral compunds, optimality theory, tonic words, atonic words
Because of its complexity and rich phenomenology, as well as the typological variety exhibited across dialects, the issue of the Japanese accent (akusento #####) poses a challenge to linguistic description and analysis. We will begin this chapter with a presentation of the general principles of the Tky Japanese accent (section 7.1), before examining in turn (sections 7.2,7.3, and 7.4), the question of simplex words accentuation, compound words accentuation, and that of the phonological phrase. In section 7.5,
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we will broaden our perspective in order to get a glimpse at individual and dialectal variation. Section 7.6 will allow us to reflect on the nature of the Japanese accent from a typological point of view. It will be followed, in section 7.7, by a review of the various accent studies which have been carried out in Japan and in the West from the Edo period until the present time. The study of the Tky Japanese accentual system occupies a particular position within theoretical phonology because this original prosodic system provides an interesting and challenging ground for the testing of prosodic models which have often been elaborated for stress languages like English or tone languages like Chinese, i.e. prosodic systems seemingly quite different from that of Japanese. Such testing is thus all the more invaluable to judge the validity of theoretical principles because the Japanese accent system is without question among the best-documented in the world. Moreover, and this is, in my view, a crucial point, rare enough in the field of linguistics outside non-Indo-European languages to be worth mentioning, the descriptions of Japanese that are available are, in their majority, by linguists working on their own native tongue within a variety of frameworks, including a largely indigenous approach. It might have been necessary to begin a chapter devoted to the Japanese accent system by a reflection on what an accent language is, and on how it should be defined in contrast with stress and tone languages. However, for clarity of exposition, this discussion is postponed until section 7.6, after the presentation of the details of the so-called Japanese accent have been introduced, but some readers might prefer to read section 7.6 first.
(p. 179 )
7.1 General Principles of Tky Japanese Accentuation
7.1.1 Basic Mechanisms

The accent of Tky Japanese consists of a distinctive lexical pitch accent (sometimes called musical accent). It is marked phonetically by the change from a high-pitched mora (noted H henceforth) to a low-pitched mora (L). The last mora of the word carrying the H tone before the drop towards L is regarded as the accented mora of the word, its prosodic peak, or accent kernel (akusento-kaku ######). The lexicon is divided into tonic words (accented type, kihuku-shiki ## #) and atonic words (unaccented type, heiban-shiki ###). A tonic word
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contains an HL sequence (in other words, a pitch drop), an atonic word does not. In this book, accented moras appear in bold characters while unaccented words are followed1 by the symbol . In Standard Japanese, there exists in theory for any given word, n + 1 accent possibilities, n being equal to the number of full moras of the word. Thus, for a three-mora word having a CVCVCV structure, the following four prosodic patterns are all possible at the lexical level: (1) Accent possibilities for three-mora words
CVCVCV na mida kokoro kagami sakura tear
CVCVCV CVCVCV CVCVCV (atonic)
heart mirror cherry tree
In Japanese terminology, the namida type, with initial accent, is known as atamadaka-gata high head pattern (###), the kokoro type, with internal accent, is a nakadaka-gata high middle pattern (###), and kagami, with final accent, is termed odaka-gata high tail pattern (###). The last word, sakura, is a heiban-gata flat pattern (###). The surface prosodic pattern of a word is then governed by the two following principles: *HLH, or Adjacency Principle: two high pitches (H) on the surface can cohabit in a word only if they are adjacent. That is, several Hs cannot be separated by one or more Ls. There is thus only one high plateau in a word. Here accent fulfils a culminative function. *#HH and *#LL, or Initial Dissimilation Principle (also known as initial lowering): the first and second moras in a word always have different heights. A word thus starts obligatorily, either by HL if the first mora of the word carries the accent, or by LH in all other cases. The only exception seems to be if the second mora of the word consists of a special segment (see section 6.2.4), in which case the word may start with HH rather than with LH.2 The presence of the LH melody on the first two moras is dissimilatory in nature and always predictable. The accent here fulfils a demarcative function (see Warner, et al., 2010, an experimental study which shows confirmation of this traditional formulation of initial dissimilation
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as a demarcative cue). As we will see below in this subsection, as well as in section 7.5, it is actually at the level of the phonological phrase rather than at the level of the word that initial dissimilation occurs but it makes no difference here since we are talking of single lexemes. From the application of the two above-mentioned principles, all the moras which occur before the accented mora carry a high pitch at the phonetic level in words other than those bearing an initial accent, except the first mora, which is low. Consequently, surface prosodic patterns such as (2a and b) are impossible within a prosodic word in Standard Japanese because they violate the two principles stated above. (2) Impossible surface prosodic patterns a. Violations of *HLH: 2. *HLH *LHLH *HHLH etc b. Violations of *#HH and *#LL: 4. *LL *HH *HHH *LLL 5. *HHL *LLH *HHHL *LLLH etc The actually occurring surface patterns are given in (3). The lexical word and the following particle, which constitute a prosodic word, are separated by a hyphen. We shall limit ourselves here to examples from one to five moras (actual examples are provided in Table 7.2 below): (p. 181 ) (3) Possible prosodic patterns a. Tonic words (containing an HL sequence)
HL HLL LHL HLLL HLLLL HLLLLL
LHHL LHLL
LHHHL LHLLL LHHLL
LHHHHL LHLLLL LHHLLL LHHHLL
b. Atonic words (containing no HL sequence)

LH LHH LHHH
LHHHH
LHHHHH
Accent
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An atonic word, as in (3b), is a word which does not contain any shift from H to L. Following the principles stated above, the prosodic pattern of an atonic word will start inevitably with a LH melody (under the principle of initial dissimilation), followed by as many Hs as the word contains moras, with no significant downfall towards L. The accent of Japanese bears all the properties of a distinctive accent, and indeed, it is. However, the importance of the distinctive function should not be exaggerated, since only 14% of the total number of minimal pairs in the language are distinguished by a difference in the accent pattern according to Sibata and Sibata (1990), quoted by Kubozono (2001a). The principal function of the Japanese accent thus consists of organizing the linguistic units within the utterance linearly, and, by means of intonation, of structuring morpho-syntactic and semantic information. The location of the accented mora is indeed that from which the whole intonation structure will be built. Although the accent of Standard Japanese is by and large lexical, there exist, in certain areas of the lexicon, some rather regular principles which determine the accent pattern of words. There are notably two such areas: the accent of loanwords of Western origin and that of compound nouns. These will be examined in sections 7.2.4 and 7.3.14 respectively. As we shall see, in both cases, one observes a tendency towards the emergence of a default accent on the antepenultimate mora. The presentation which has been made in the preceding pages represents the most consensual and widespread description of the accent of Tky Japanese. But other views exist. For instance, Kubozono (2006b, 2008) proposes a different approach to the accent pattern system of nouns in Tky Japanese by positing that Tky Japanese is not a multiple-pattern system but a two-system pattern. For him, the major opposition is between the accented and the unaccented types (this is in agreement with the standard analysis). But, within the accented type, Kubozono proposes that there exists a default accent pattern which is assigned by rule (the antepenultimate rule), and a number of lexical exceptions which must be (p. 182 ) memorized. This class of lexical exceptions is made of nouns which bear an accent on a mora other than the antepenultimate.
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7.1.2 Atonic Words (and their Difference From Final Accented Words)
Unaccented words and final-accented words are generally described as having the same phonetic realization when uttered in isolation. The difference between the two is supposed to be perceivable only when the word in question is followed by an accentually neutral element, for instance an enclitic particle such as ga (Subject) or wo (Object), whose presence after the final mora will allow the realization of the HL downshift, which is the only truly reliable clue of the presence of a final accent. In order to illustrate this point, let us consider the examples hana flower (accented) and hana nose (unaccented) in Figures 7.1 and 7.2. In both cases,
Figure 7.1. Accent curve (F0) of hana-ga flower (0.30s)
Figure 7.2. Accent curve (F0) of hana-ga nose (0.27s.) the final mora na is realized with a high pitch by speakers of Tky Japanese when the words occur in isolation (that is, with no following particle). The phonetic realization of both hana flower and hana nose is thus supposed to be identical at the perception level (but see the remark below). It is only when hana and hana are followed by an enclitic particle, for example ga, that the prosodic difference between the two can be fully
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materialized. In hana-ga flower, a significant fall of register occurs on the mora ga, after the final na. In hana-ga nose, there is no significant prosodic fall after the final mora na, as can be seen in the instrumental analyses presented in the two figures. (The two words were uttered by a male speaker of Standard Japanese.) However, and very interestingly, there actually exists a slight difference in the accentual curve of hana and hana before the particle ga: the frequency of na in hana flower is higher than that of hana nose. In reality, this difference also occurs when the words are uttered in isolation. This type of data is in contradiction with the assumption by Haraguchi, presented further in 7.1.5, according to which a final-accented word and an unaccented word are supposed to receive exactly the same autosegmental representation at the surface level because, if it were the case, no phonetic difference would be carried out. As we shall see below, the model developed by Pierrehumbert and Beckman (1988), on the other hand, correctly predicts that such a difference between hana and hana may be realized. The issue of whether final-accented words and unaccented words are different both at the phonetic level and at the phonological one or at either one of these two levels is actually a controversial one. The mainstream opinion has it that the two types of words are not phonetically different, but many scholars have argued that they are (Sakuma, 1929; Uwano, 1977; Pierrehumbert and Beckman, 1988; Warner, 1997; see the latter for a comparison of the competing theories and a review of the literature on the subject). Experimental results are inconsistent because they generally show that a difference is made by some speakers but not by other speakers, which suggests that there indeed exists a difference at the latent level between final-accented and unaccented words, in accordance with Pierrehumbert and Beckmans theory. Moreover, it has been demonstrated (Sugit, 1982; Vance, 1995) that the phonetic difference, when it actually exists is not perceptible by most speakers, and that one should thus regard it as linguistically irrelevant at the perception level. The experimental study by Warner (1997) further establishes that unaccented noun phrases have a lower f0 curve than accented noun phrases. The existence of an atonic word class actually constitutes the most puzzling fact of the Japanese word prosodic system. It is also a challenge for the (p. 184 ) categorization of Japanese as an accent language, an issue to which we shall turn to in section 7.6.
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Statistical data drawn from various sources (see, among them, Table 7.1) show that the atonic pattern is the most frequent one. According to Hayashi O. (1982), about half of all words (regardless of their category or length) are unaccented. Of course, the proportion varies according to the lexical strata, the prosodic structure, and the morphological structure of lexemes, but the correlation between word length and accent pattern is quite evident in Japanese. For instance, the data in Table 7.1 show that 65.7% of quadrimoraic nominal words of Yamato and Sino-Japanese are atonic as against 52.6% of trimoraic words. This contrasts with nouns up to two moras in length, which favour the initial accented pattern (Uwano, 2003:81). Even Western loanwords, which are less frequently atonic than words belonging to other strata, show a higher percentage of the atonic pattern for four-moralong words than for shorter or longer words (Kubozono, 2006b). There also exists a clear tendency to convert tonic nouns into atonic ones in contemporary Tky Japanese. For example, densha train, kareshi boyfriend, and houki broom are realized more and more as atonic words instead of densha, kareshi, and houki, which represent the conservative realization. The atonic pattern thus seems to have become the most productive one. Moreover, high-frequency words, as well as words whose referent conveys a feeling of proximity, familiarity, or attachment to the speaker are the quickest to undergo de-accentuation, in particular among younger speakers. For instance, someone who is very fond of guitar playing will tend to pronounce the word gitaa guitar as unaccented, instead of gitaa, the more conventional form of the word. It is well known that in languages most frequent words regularly undergo phonetic reduction, either in the form of abbreviation (apocope, etc.), articulatory simplification, or prosodic simplification, like the example of de-accentuation in Japanese. De-accentuation of a tonic word can thus function as a mark of social identity. In order to mark his/her belonging to a given group, to show that he/she is well integrated in the field denoted by the word, a speaker may de-accentuate a word, in a similar way to what one observes in the use of clipped forms in certain social groups in English or French. Yet, the sociolinguistic dimension does not suffice to account for the phenomenon of de-accentuation in all its aspects. This is because, as already stated, all things being equal, three- and four-mora-long words show a higher percentage of the atonic pattern than shorter or longer words, whatever their frequency or familiarity connotation.
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One might wonder whether the generalization of the atonic pattern in present-day Japanese is to be regarded as some sort of fashionable, temporary phenomenon, or whether it is the manifestation of a major general evolution of the (p. 185 ) language towards prosodic simplification, whose final step would be the loss of the phonological accent, as it is the case in certain modern dialects in the Thoku or Kysh area (see section 7.5). The question remains open. A possible (but only partial) explanation of this preference for the unaccented pattern could be that the accentual levelling of three- and fourmora words is practically never likely to involve a loss of lexical opposition. Indeed, pairs of words longer than three moras which are homophonous except for the accent pattern are extremely rare, especially in the Yamato and Western strata. In addition, three- and four-mora-long accented nouns undergo de-accentuation more often than longer nouns. This is probably because words longer than four moras are likely to be compounds in Japanese, and as we will see later in this chapter (section 7.3), the presence of an accent as well as its location play an essential morphological role in compounds, since accent location is frequently determined in relation to the internal boundary. This probably accounts for the fact that longer compound words are less likely to lose their accent than simplex words. Yet, the reason for this special link between atonicity and quadrimoraicity is very puzzling and poorly understood. It might be necessary to invoke frequency effects and analogical factors, as I did in Labrune (2006:180). Because the atonic pattern is statistically most frequent with fourmora words in the Japanese lexicon, it tends to become more and more productive, leading this pattern to apply to recent loans, inter alia. But Tanaka (2008:216) presents what is, I think, the best explanation for the generalization of the atonic accent pattern in four- mora-long words. He observes that since the primary function of the accent in Japanese is the culminative function, that is, to mark the presence of a word in a sequence, de-accentuation can be interpreted as a loss of this function. This, at first sight, appears to be totally contradictory with the role and nature of the accent in Japanese. However, since four-mora is the most frequent word length for Japanese lexemes, that is, the unmarked, most expected, and default word length, word identification and demarcation is not so dependent on accent for quadrimoraic words. Quadrimoraicity constituting the first cue for word recognition and identification, the presence of an accent becomes redundant for four-mora-long words and can be suppressed with no functional loss. The same type of reasoning can be applied to threePage 9 of 115
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mora-long words, which constitute the second most frequent word length in Japanese. The fact that familiar and frequently used words undergo accent loss in a similar manner reinforces this interpretation, since familiar and frequent words are also more readily recognized than less familiar ones. This line of explanation is particularly appealing, especially in consideration of the fact that de-accentuation does not affect the initial dissimilation principle, which assumes the demarcative function by signalling the beginning of a word or phrase. It can thus be argued that, if de-accentuation is possible in Japanese, it is thanks to the initial dissimilation mechanism. Should the trend (p. 186 ) towards de-accentuation affect the entire lexicon of Tky Japanese, the language would turn into a fixed accent (non-distinctive) system with initial accent, initial dissimilation now assuming the role of an accent.
7.1.3 Frequency of the Accent Patterns

Examination of the frequency of the various accent patterns within the Japanese lexicon is instructive, and provides a new type of data likely to shed new and complementary light on the observations of a more traditional nature. Table 7.1 provides some statistical information concerning nominal words of Yamato or Sino-Japanese origin, according to Sibata (1994). Figures 0, 1, 2 and so forth indicate the position of the accented mora starting from the end of the word. 0 thus marks atonic words, 1, finally accented words, 2, penultimate accented words, and so forth. The global results show that the atonic words (type 0) are most numerous: they represent almost half of the total, with 47.3% (see the comments in the previous section). Then we have the antepenultimate pattern (type -3), which amounts to 26.1%. However, these results should not be taken in too general a fashion since there are sometimes important differences if the lexical strata, the phonological structure, and the morphological structure are taken into account. So, for instance, Kubozono (2006b) has found that, whereas 71% of Yamato nouns are unaccented, only 7% of loanwords and 51% of kango are. Closer examination of the data in Table 7.1 highlights the existence of other curious correlations between the accentual pattern and the length of the lexemes. One notes that one-mora words are divided roughly evenly between the atonic and tonic patterns, with a slight preference for the latter (57.6%).
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For bimoraic words, it is the penultimate pattern (in other words, the initial accent pattern) that is most widespread. It accounts for 56.3% of the words, well ahead of the unaccented pattern (23.1%). In three- and four-mora words, the atonic pattern is by far the most frequent, while in words longer than five moras, on the other hand, the penultimate and antepenultimate tonic patterns are most widespread. It is clear thus that there exists a tendency to atonicity for three- and fourmora words. Because of their massive presence in the lexiconalmost 61% of the words of the corpustri- and quadrimoraic lexemes are responsible for the supremacy of the atonic pattern in the overall figures. Besides, the atonic pattern is also spreading among certain speakers, as mentioned in section 7.1.2. One also realizes that the frequency of the initial accent falls brutally in words longer than four moras. Therefore, the term initial accent (atamadaka-gata) which is of general use among Japanese linguists does not seem suitable. It is preferable to talk about final accent for onemora words, of penultimate accent for two-mora words, and antepenultimate accent for three-mora words. Indeed, the accent in Japanese is undoubtedly attributed from the end of the word, except in some notable exceptions belonging to the class of the numeral and dvandva compounds, as we will see later in this chapter.
(p. 187 )
Table 7.1. Location of accent in nominal Yamato and Sino-Japanese words (according to Sibata, 1994), in relation to length of lexemes
Accent 0 Length 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 TOTAL%
1 2
42 446
57 396 1085
99 0.2 100% 1927 3.6
42.4% 57.6%
23.1%20.6% 56.3% 3 5789 857 868 3483
100% 10997 20.8
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52.6%7.8% 7.9% 31.7% 4 13932999 2000 2832 1446
100% 21209 40.1
65.7%4.7% 9.4% 13.4%6.8% 5 2898 375 633 4547 1061 75
100% 9589 18.1
30.2%3.9% 6.6% 47.4%11.1%0.8% 6 1571 108 329 1822 2406 26 99
100% 6361 12.0
24.7%1.7% 5.2% 28.6% 37.8%0.4% 1.6% 7 134 12 97 955 397 8 12 106
100% 1721 3.3
7.8% 0.7% 5.6% 55.5%23.1%0.5% 0.7% 6.2% 8 139 6 16 111 444 1 9 2 21
100% 749 1.4
18.6%0.8% 2.1% 14.8% 59.3%0.1% 1.2% 0.3% 2.8% 9 50 11 7 41 51 1 0 0 1 1
100% 163 0.3
30.7%6.7% 4.3% 25.2%31.1%0.6% 10 11 1 2 22 48
0.6% 0.6% 100% 84 0.2
13.1%1.2% 2.4% 26.2% 57.1% TOTAL250122822 5037 138135850 111

(p. 188 )
100% 120 108 22 1 52896100%
A rather surprising result emerges with long words. One observes a clear difference between five- and seven-mora-long lexemes, which are mainly accented on the antepenultimate mora, and six-, eight-, and tenmora-long ones, in which pre-antepenultimate accent is the most common.
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47.3%5.3% 9.5% 26.1%11.1%0.2% 0.2% 0.2% 0.04%0.001% 100%
Nine-mora words are divided into about three almost equal accent types: atonic, with a tonic penult, and with a tonic antepenultimate. I do not have any satisfactory explanation concerning these clear differences regarding the dissimilarities of the dominant patterns in long words. However, the fact that words with an odd number of moras (5, 7) differ from those with an even number of moras (6, 8) allows us to suppose that the difference could be explained by the action of constraints pertaining to foot formation and alignment. Roughly speaking, it could mean that there exists a tendency to favour an even number of moras before the accent, but further investigation is needed on that question. In order to correctly interpret those figures, one should also take into account the fact that nearly all the Japanese words longer than four moras are compounds (with the exception of Western loanwords), and that compounds undergo accent rules that are different from those of simplex words.
7.1.4 Accent Shift By Virtue of the NADM Principle

A number of phonological factors may cause a shift of the lexical accent at the surface level. The main source for accent shift is the presence of one of the deficient moras /R/, /Q/, and /N/ which causes the application of the NADM principle presented in sections 5.5. and 6.3.2. Recall that / R/, /Q/, and /N/ cannot receive the accent in Tky Japanese. If an accent nucleus is to be put on one of these units by application of one of the general accent assignment rules, it is automatically moved to an adjacent full mora, generally the left one. In the same way, the other deficient moras containing a voiceless vowel (see section 2.6) are also de-accented in conservative Tky speech, while those consisting of a single vowel or an epenthetic vowel only sometimes are (4b, c). (For a theoretical treatment of this phenomenon, see Chapter 6.) In the following examples, expected patterns marked as * do not occur. Those which are not starred are attested alongside the alternative patterns. (4) Accent shift due to the NADM principle a. Obligatory accent shift due to the presence of a special segment
Expected pattern Actual pattern
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*nihonkai *chichuukai
(p. 189 )
nihonkai chichuukai
sea of Japan the Mediterranean Sea
b. Accent shift due to the presence of a voiceless vowel (frequent, but not obligatory)
Expected pattern Alternative pattern
hukaku [kak] kisha [kia] aidokusha [aidoka]
# #
hukaku [ kak] kisha [ki a] aidokusha [aidoka]
deeply train
c. Accent shift due to the presence of a single vowel (obligatory or optional shift, depending on vowel quality (?); variation is frequently observed)
Expected pattern *keizairyoku *kaetta *donaugawa kangaeru anaunsu Actual or alternative pattern keizairyoku ka etta donaugawa kangaeru anaunsu
regular reader
# # # # #
economic power returned the Danube to think {announce}
As we shall see in the following pages, extra-phonological factors of semantic, lexical, syntactic, etymological, or morphological nature interact
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with purely phonological mechanisms in order to determine accent location, to say nothing of sociolinguistic variation, in particular dialectal, which will be discussed in section 7.5.
7.1.5 An Overview of Two theoretical Treatments of the Japanese Accent

At this point I introduce two outstanding formal treatments of the Japanese accent. Both have exerted important influence on subsequent accentual studies. The first was proposed by Haraguchi (1977), the second by Pierrehumbert and Beckman (1988). (a) Haraguchi (1977) Haraguchi Shsuke has presented a formal treatment of the Japanese accent within the framework of autosegmental phonology (Goldsmith, 1976) which has exerted unquestionable influence both on the development of autosegmental theory and on the comprehension of the Japanese accent as a whole. Autosegmental phonology assumes pitch accent to be a tone mark located on a separate tier, and that it is realized on the surface when associated with some tone-bearing unit such as the syllable or the mora. What we have thus far called accent is assumed to be the result of the association of a HL melody to a specific tone-bearing unit within the word, lexically specified in the case of nouns. In tonic words, the accented mora is associated with the H tone of the HL melody, while the low tone remains unassociated. Atonic words are seen as lexically unspecified. In tonic words, there exists, at the lexical level, one mora marked as accented. It is this mora which is associated with the H of the melody, followed by the L (p. 190 ) which remains unassociated. The other moras are not specified as H or L. If the word is atonic, i.e. not specified as accented in the lexicon, a default HL melody will be associated with the last mora of the word, as in the miyako example below. (5) Lexical representation of words within the autosegmental framework (Haraguchi 1977)3
A series of rules and association conventions, the tone association conventions, the initial lowering rule, and the contour tone simplification
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rule (of which I shall leave aside the detailed presentation) applies, so that in the end all surface vowels are associated with an H or L tone, as shown below. (6) Surface representation after the application of the tone association conventions, the initial lowering rule, and the contour tone simplification rule
Haraguchis assumption is that at the surface level, all moras receive an H or L specification. (b) Pierrehumbert and Beckman (1988) Janet Pierrehumbert and Mary Beckman have proposed an analysis in which the Japanese accent is taken as a tonal melody associated with a mora at the lexical level. Their work follows the laboratory phonology approach, which consists in exploring, with experimental tools, the relationship between the phonetic realization and the phonological representation. It is both theoretically and model- (p. 191 ) oriented. The book published in 1988 aims at describing the surface tonal patterns of Japanese by identifying the phonetic mechanisms that control the interpretation of phonological representations, in other words, it aims to uncover the phonetic rules that govern the surface tonal realization of utterances. It is not directly a study about the lexical accent but a study on the tonal, in the sense of intonational structure. Their purpose is to develop a theoretically welldefined and empirically motivated system of surface representation, in order to derive the quantitative characteristics of the F0 contour. Accordingly, their study is to be considered as a theory of the interaction between word accent and prosodic structures of a higher level. The experiments thus shed new light on the status and nature of the lexical accent because, in a language such as Japanese, the lexical accents constitute by and large the representational input to which the phonetic rules that interest Pierrehumbert and Beckman are supposed to apply. Pierrehumbert and Beckman call into question Haraguchis analysis based on the following two theoretical postulates (see above). First, accent is conceived and represented as a mark associated with a vowel within the word. This mark is later reinterpreted as an HL melody through the
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application of rules. Second, all vowels are linked to a tonal specification at the surface level. Pierrehumbert and Beckman draw a distinction between three types of tones, based on the level of the prosodic hierarchy at which the tones operate. At the lexical level, there is first an accent tone which consists of an HL melody. The H tone is phonologically associated with the accented mora of the word, in the spirit of Haraguchis model. At the level of the accentual phrase (also known as minor phrase or phonological phrase, see Chapter 6) such as akai seetaa wa (red + sweater + Topic), there is, on the one hand, an isolated H tone (phrasal H), which is inserted and linked with the second mora, except if the phrase starts with an initial-accented lexeme. On the other hand, we have a boundary tone L%, which is inserted at the end of each phrase. The accentual phrase is thus delimitated by an H associated with the second mora of the word and an L% in final position. Finally, at the utterance level, one has an L% boundary tone, inserted at the beginning of the phrase as a whole. It will be strong and associated or weak and unassociated, depending on whether the word starts with a light or heavy initial syllable (in Pierrehumbert and Beckmans model) or on whether the second mora is special (in our model). In this model, tone spreading is rejected, so that no tones other than those that are described here are claimed to exist in the surface phonological representations of utterances of Tky Japanese. The result is that there are fewer tones than tone-bearing units. Accentual phrases are thus unspecified for tone even at the surface level, as represented in (7). The main innovation of this model, in comparison with a majority of the preceding analyses, lies in the fact that (p. 192 ) Japanese is treated as a tone language (but note that the tonal perspective goes back to Poser, 1984) and, especially, that an explicit formal distinction is made between tones assigned at the lexical level (HL) and those assigned at the level of the accentual phrase (H and L %) and at the level of the utterance (L%). Such a distinction between word level and phrase level accent assignment was already made by the Japanese phonetician Kawakami (1957) who analyses the initial HL melody as resorting to the accentual phrase (## ku) rather than to the lexical accent in the strict sense. (7) Representation of surface tone patterns for the words yamazakura, kageboushi,toumorokoshi,moushikomi, and
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2.
murasakiiro in isolation (adapted from Pierrehumbert and Beckman, 1988:14)
Pierrehumbert and Beckmans hypothesis in favour of tonal underspecification is based on robust phonetic experimental data, showing in particular that the F0 contour over the prosodic units following the phrasal H in unaccented phrases (p. 193 ) (for example moushikomi or murasakiiro ) is not identical to that occurring after a lexical HL. The most plausible explanation for this fact is thus that there are, at the surface phonological level, fewer tones than tone-bearing units likely to condition the slope of the F0 contour. In the absence of tonal specifications, phonetic mechanisms determine the transitions between the phrasal H on the second mora and the final L%.
7.2 Accent of Simplex Words

Japanese words almost always occur with affixes: enclitic particles such as case markers in the case of nouns, auxiliaries or enclitic particles in the case of verbs and adjectives. However, in so far as these affixes are deprived of
Accent
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lexical autonomy, formations built upon single words consisting of a Noun + one or several enclitics, or a Verb/Adj + one or several auxiliaries or enclitics, constitute single prosodic words (or, extended word structure in the terms of Higurashi, 1983). We thus call simplex word any autonomous linguistic form that possesses at most one accent peak and that is not decomposable into smaller elements likely to have lexical autonomy. Following this definition, yama-ga mountain + Subject, yama-bakari or yama-bakari only the mountain, kaeri-masu to return + Polite are simplex words, while yamamichi mountain lane or kaeri-tsuku to return, which have one accent peak but are made up of two autonomous elements (yama,michi, kaeru, tsuku), are considered as compounds.
7.2.1 Yamato Nouns

All the accent possibilities described above (in 3a and b) are attested for simplex Yamato nouns. A Yamato noun may be tonic or atonic. If it is tonic, any of its full moras has the ability to carry the accent kernel. Examples are presented in Table 7.2, where each noun is followed by the accentually neutral particle ga (subject marker). However, not all particles are accentually neutral like ga. Some have the ability to modify the position of the lexical accent of the preceding noun by way of complex mechanisms, as the examples in Table 7.3 illustrate. The term particle is used to designate what is called joshi (##) in traditional Japanese grammar, a category that actually includes elements of various linguistic types (Japanese so-called particles belong to one of the following types: casual, adverbial, final, and connective). Two major types of particles need to be distinguished with respect to their accentual behaviour: dominant and recessive. Prosodically dominant particles, (p. 194 ) Table 7.2. Accent of simplex Yamato nouns4
1 mora 2 moras 3 moras 4 moras
atonic nouns
L-H hi-ga day LH-H hana-ga nose H-L hi-ga fire HL-L neko-ga cat
LHH-H sakuraga cherry tree HLL-L karasuga raven
LHHH-H tomodachi-ga friend HLLL-L koomori-ga bat
tonic nouns
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LH-L hana-ga flower
LHH-L kagami-ga mirror LHL-L kokoroga heart
LHHH-L imouto-ga younger sister LHLL-L kudamono-ga fruit LHHL-L mizuumi-ga lake
like dake only or bakari solely, may impose their own accent pattern on the noun phrase, while recessive particles, like yori from and shika only, do not. The presence of a dominant particle causes the accent of the noun to be deleted, and the accent pattern of the particle determines the accent pattern of the phrase, including cases where the particle is atonic, as in the example with dake. The accent of recessive particles only shows up in the surface when the preceding noun is unaccented. Otherwise it is deleted and only the nouns accent is realized on the surface as with yori. Note that some particles are pre-accenting, that is, they cause the appearance of an accent on the last mora of the noun which precedes them, for instance shika. The particle ga is prosodically inert: the noun to which it is attached always keeps its inherent accent. All the monomoraic particles but for no and ne belong to this class, as well as some bimoraic particles such as kara from or hodo just (type 1 in Table 7.3). The particle yori from (3 in Table 7.3) is recessive, initially accented. That is, its inherent accent surfaces only after an atonic noun like hana nose, but is deleted after tonic nouns. A number of other bimoraic or trimoraic particles, for example made until,nado and the like, nomi merely, demo even, datte even,kashira (I wonder) whether, koso precisely this, behave in the same manner. Shika only is a recessive pre-accenting particle for certain speakers (4b in Table 7.3), but a recessive atonic particle for others (4a).
(p. 195 )
Table 7.3. Accentual effect of particles

1. N + ga 2. N + no 3. N Atonic Special + yori Recessive 4. N + shika 5. N + dake 6. N + bakari Tonic
Initially
Atonic
Atonic
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accented recessive dominant dominant Recessive (a) or (a) or (a) or preaccenting recessive recessive recessive (b) (b) (b)
atonic nouns
hana nose
hana-ga hana-no hana-yori
a. hanahanadake shika b. hanashika ha -shika
hana-bakari
tonic nouns
hatooth ha -ga
ha -no
ha -yori
a. hadake b. ha dake a. hanadake b. hanadake a. nekodake b. ne kodake a. kokorodake

Accent
a. ha-bakari b. ha bakari
hana flower
hana-ga
hana-no hanayori
hanashika
a. hana-bakari b. hanabakari
neko cat
ne ko-ga ne ko-no ne koyori
ne koshika
a. neko-bakari b. ne kobakari
kokoro heart
kokoroga
kokorono
kokoroyori
kokoroshika
a. kokoro-bakar
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b. kokorodake kudamonokudamonokudamonokudamonokudamonofruit ga no yori shika
b. kokorobakari
a. a. kudamonokudamono-ba dake b. kudamonob. bakari kudamonodake
Dake only behaves as a dominant particle for certain speakers (5a), that is, it totally inhibits the accent pattern of the preceding noun by imposing its own atonic pattern. However, for other speakers, it is a recessive atonic particle (5b). Bakari solely behaves either like a dominant particle with initial accent (6a), or like a particle with recessive accent (6b), on the model of yori.
(p. 196 )
It is also necessary to posit an exceptional class comprising the genitive particle no (2 in Table 7.3) which behaves in a special way accentwise. As we saw in section 6.2.4, it causes some finally accented nouns which are at least two-mora long, like hana flower, to become atonic, but remains neutral with the other patternsincluding one-mora long words like ha tooth which preserve their intrinsic accent, as they do after ga. A fair number of exceptions exists, principally nouns ending with special segments, toponyms, and numerals (see 6.2.4.). It has to be noted that variation is not rare: a given particle such as dake or bakari behaves as recessive in the speech of some speakers but as dominant in the speech of others.
7.2.2 Verbs And -i Adjectives

Verbs and -i ending adjectives display fewer accent patterns than nouns. They are either tonic or atonic, and, in the former case, there exists only one single pattern, whatever the length of the base, as shown in Tables 7.4 and 7.5 below. Among verbs, the two patterns are about equally represented. Among adjectives, on the other hand, the tonic pattern is much more frequent. Akinaga (2002) notes that many verbs and adjectives belonging traditionally to the atonic class currently show a tendency to become tonic. Note, in
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passing, that this trend contradicts the one observed for nouns, since nouns clearly tend to become unaccented under certain conditions (sections 7.1.2 and 7.1.3). The accentuation of verbs and -i adjectives follows principles that differ from those of nouns. As stated above, the possible accent patterns are fewer than they are for nouns. However, this does not mean greater simplicity at the level of the linguistic mechanisms at work. Quite the contrary, the principles which govern verb and adjective accentuation appear to be extremely complex. The complexity is first due to the fact that it is difficult to determine which mora of the verb or adjective serves, at the lexical level, as the accent kernel because the position of accent varies throughout the paradigm of a given verb or adjective. For example, in the verb taberu to eat the accented mora occupies no less than three different locations at the surface level, depending on the form of the paradigm that is taken by the verb and the affixes attached to it. We thus have taberu / tabete / tabemasu (respectively final form / connective form / polite form). In contrast to nouns, verbs and adjectives never occur in basic form, without any affix. Under these conditions, it is hard to determine where the (p. 197 ) accent lies at the most abstract level. In consideration of the fact that tonic verbs and adjectives bear an accent on the penultimate mora at the final form (the sh#shi or dictionary form), as in taberu,shiraberu,atsui,ureshii, it would be tempting to consider that the penultimate mora is the accent nucleus at the most abstract level. However, there is actually no particular reason to regard the final form as basic, since it is neither shorter nor more frequent than any other form. It is not morphologically simpler either because it includes a suffix, -u/-ru in the case of verbs, -i in the case of adjectives.5 Kubozono (2008) makes the interesting claim that the same compound rule which assigns an accent on the last mora of a C1 in nouns with a monomoraic C2 also applies to verbs and adjectives, whose final vowel or mora can be seen as a suffix. However, with suffixes other than -u,-ru, and i which mark the final (or dictionary) form of verbs and adjectives, this claim seems hard to follow because the accent patterns then appear to be very different in nature from what they are in compound nouns, as Tables 7.4 and 7.5 show. A categorization of verbal and adjectival affixes (such as auxiliary, particles, etc.) following that which has been adopted for nouns, which would distinguish between recessive and dominant suffixes, also appears as
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inadequate and non-operational in the case of verbs and adjectives. Consider for example the volition suffix -tai: its accent behaviour would lead us to categorize it as dominant after tonic verbs but as recessive after atonic verbs. The hypothetical suffix -eba is even more problematic: it causes an accent to appear on the third-to-last mora in tonic verbs (shirabereba) and on the fifth-to-last mora in tonic adjectives (ureshikereba), but on the penultimate mora of atonic verbs (kireba,korobeba) and fourth-to-last mora of atonic adjectives (tsumetakereba). Under these conditions, it is more appropriate to consider that verbs and -i adjectives are specified as tonic or atonic (or [+accent] / [accent]) lexically, and that specific rules then come to determine which mora must receive the accent, depending on the affixes. In this approach, there is thus, within a given verb or -i adjective, no mora that must, in essence, be considered as the accented mora at the underlying level. A number of linguists have subscribed to this view, for instance McCawley (1968) and Poser (1984). The problem, however (but is it really a problem?), is that nouns, on the one hand, and verbs and adjectives, on the other hand, are to be represented in a different fashion in the grammar.6
(p. 198 )
Table 7.4. Accent of verbs

a. Atonic verbs to wear to fall to arrange Accent pattern
Final form Suspensive form Negative form Polite form Hypothetic form
kiru kite kinai kimasu kireba
korobu koronde korobanai korobimasu korobeba korobitai
naraberu narabete narabenai
Atonic Atonic Atonic
narabemasu Penultimate narabereba narabetai Penultimate Atonic
Volitive form kitai

b. Tonic verbs
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to cut
to eat
to check
Accent pattern
Final form Suspensive form Negative form Polite form Hypothetic form
ki ru ki tte kiranai kirimasu ki reba
taberu ta bete tabenai tabemasu tabereba tabetai
shiraberu shirabete shirabenai
Penultimate Antepenultimate Antepenultimate
shirabemasu Penultimate shirabereba Antepenultimate shirabetai Penultimate
Two arguments in favour of this analysis can be offered. First, as Table 7.4 shows, some verbal affixes such as -tai (volitive), present seemingly contradictory behaviour. When attached to a tonic verb, -tai receives the accent on the ta mora. When added to an atonic verb, the whole verbal form is atonic. In other words, the suffix -tai does not carry any intrinsic accent of its own, since, if it did, this accent would inevitably surface with atonic bases, but it nevertheless acquires an accent on the ta mora after tonic verb bases. This suggests that the accent of a tonic verb is not a priori associated with any particular mora of the stem at the lexical level. In addition, verbs resulting from the same etymological root always belong to the same prosodic type [+accent] or [accent]. Thus pairs of transitive/ intransitive verbs always display the same accent pattern: tonic or atonic, for instance kimaru (intr.)/kimeru (tr.) to decide, tsuzuku (intr.)/tsuzukeru (tr.) to continue, deru (intr.)/dasu (tr.) to go out, kawaku (intr.)/kawakasu (tr.) to dry, kireru (intr.)/kiru (tr.) to cut, and many other examples. (p.
199 )
Volitive form kiritai
Table 7.5. Accent of -i adjectives

a. Atonic adjectives thick cold Accent pattern
Final form Suspensive form Adverbial form Polite form
atsui atsukute atsuku atsui desu
tsumetai tsumetakute tsumetaku tsumetai desu
Atonic Antepenultimate Atonic Preantepenultimate

Accent
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Hypothetic form
b. Tonic adjectives
atsukereba
tsumetakereba
Preantepenultimate
Accent pattern
hot
happy
Final form Suspensive form Adverbial form Polite form Hypothetic form
atsui a tsukute a tsuku atsui desu a tsukereba
ureshii ureshikute ureshiku ureshii desu ureshikereba
Penultimate Preantepenultimate Antepenultimate Preantepenultimate Pre-preantepenultimate (5)
Note that the accented mora is not necessarily the same one in the two members of a pair, as kawaku/kawakasu and kireru/kiru illustrate. The point is that no verb pair of this type associates a tonic verb to an atonic one. The assumption that a verb root is specified as tonic or atonic, and that the accented mora is then determined according to the suffixes added to the base, better accounts for this regular correspondence between members of a transitive/intransitive pair. Consequently, which accent pattern should apply has then to be specified for each auxiliary or suffix. Tonic verbs and adjectives are always tonic while atonic ones may surface as tonic or atonic. Note also that denominal verbs derived from a Sino-Japanese noun containing the dummy verb suru preserve the original accent pattern of the noun: we thus have benkyou # benkyou suru to study, annai # annai suru to guide, kurou # kurou suru to have a hard time, and so on.
7.2.3 Sino-Japanese Lexemes Corresponding To A Single Chinese Character

As stated in section 1.6.2, Sino-Japanese morphemes are one- or two-mora long, with their second mora (when there is one) corresponding to /N/, /R/, / i/, /ku/, /tu/, /ki/, or /ti/. A majority of Sino-Japanese lexemes corresponding to a single character (i.e Sino-Japanese monomorphemes which can be used autonomously) are finally accented: for example e image, shi death, ji letter, bi beauty, kiku
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chrysanthemum, jitsu truth, shiki ceremony. One can consider that when the lexeme ends in /N/, /R/ or an onsetless /i/, the underlying final accent is moved one position leftward (thus onto the initial mora) at the surface level by application of the NADM principle. We thus have as in /teN/ # ten sky, /ai/ # ai love, /toR/ # tou political party.7
(p. 200 )
The assumption that monographemic Sino-Japanese lexemes ending in /N/, / R/, or moraic /i/ are finally accented at the underlying level is supported by the following evidence. First, almost all the compound nouns which exhibit an atonic accent pattern result from the combination of a C1 and a C2 of Yamato or Sino-Japanese origin bearing final accent (8a), or of Sino-Japanese origin with a surface initial accent ending in a special segment (8b): (8) a. C2 = Yamato or Sino-Japanese word with final accent
kodomo + heya # kodomobeya childrens room
midori + iro # midori-iro kao + yaku # kao-yaku b. C2 = SinoJapanese word with initial accent (at the surface) nihon + huu # nihon-huu denwa + sen # denwa-sen
green colour influential person
Japanese manner telephone line
If one considers that huu, and sen in (8b) are actually oxytonic at the phonological level (i.e. /huR/, /seN/), these morphemes can be considered as belonging to the same class as heya room, iro colour, or yaku role. They all end with an accented mora underlyingly and cause the atonicity of a compound noun when they occur as C2.
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Furthermore, Sino-Japanese morphemes such as kan building, kai sea, jou castle, shuu province, which yield the appearance of an accent on the final mora of the first component when they undergo compounding behave exactly like the Yamato words of the uma type (9b) rather than those of the neko type (9c). As will be seen in section 7.3.1., the neko type is the type which preserves the accent in its original position in compounding. Compare, for example: (9) a.
ariake + kai # ariake-kai na goya + jou # nagoya-jou sea of Ariake Nagoya castle
b.
abare + uma # abare-uma perusha + neko # perusha-neko
restive horse
c.
Persian cat
The compounds in (9a) all have an accent on the final mora of the C1, just like the type displayed in (9b). This constitutes an additional argument for considering (p. 201 ) that kan, kai, jou, shuu, etc. are underlyingly just like uma, with an inherent accent on their final mora: /kaN/, /kai/, /zyoR/, /syuR/. Lastly, recall that we also saw in 6.2.4 that some words ending with a defective mora and bearing an accent on their penultimate mora are deaccented when followed by the determinative particle no, in exactly the same way as oxytonic words are. This constitutes evidence that it is the final mora, rather than the penultimate mora, that carries the underlying accent in this type of word. An interesting consequence of this analysis is that a majority of SinoJapanese morphemes can now be regarded as finally accented. The final accent pattern can therefore be considered to be the default accent pattern for the monomorphemes belonging to this stratum.
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The rest of the Sino-Japanese lexemes are generally atonic: i stomach, cha tea, shi poem, taku residence, toku favour, shitsu quality, teki enemy, etc., or sometimes with initial accent: seki place, seat, batsu punishment. Once again, we observe that words of greater frequency and familiar use tend to become atonic.
7.2.4 Western Loans

Whereas the accent of simplex words is lexically determined and cannot, in theory, be predicted by rules, it is to a certain extent predictable in the case of Western loans, as demonstrated by Kubozono (1996, 2006b and a number of other papers). Words belonging to this lexical class frequently have an accent on the antepenultimate mora (10a) if it is a regular mora, i.e. a CV mora, or on the pre-antepenultimate mora if the antepenultimate mora is deficient (10b), by virtue of the NADM principle. If the word is short, the accent is placed on the first mora (10c). (10) Accent of Western loans a. Antepenultimate accent
chokoreeto piramiddo ri zumu oosutoraria {chocolate} {pyramid} {rhythm} {Australia}
b. Pre-antepenultimate accent (antepenultimate mora = deficient mora)

nabigeetaa washinton ahuganisutan risaikuru u uman
(p. 202 )
{navigator}
{Washington} {Afghanistan} {recycle} {woman}
c. Penultimate accent (short words)

ka a gya ru
{car} {gal}
However, quadrimoraic loans as well as integrated loans of high frequency are often unaccented, for instance amerika {America}, huransu {France},
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rittoru {litre}, botan {boto}, oopuningu {opening}. This is especially true (at 90%) of four-mora-long words if they end in a sequence of two regular moras (amerika), whereas the ratio goes down to about 30% if their final mora is deficient (ending with a special mora or an epenthetic vowel): serekuto {select}, pirenee {the Pyrenes} (Kubozono, 2006b). According to Kubozono (2006b) loanwords do not crucially differ from native words in accent structure and preference. What appears to be an accentual difference between the two types of words stems largely from their difference in phonological structure and in the nature of vowels, since loanwords contain plenty of deficient moras (including moras containing an epenthetic vowel). Lastly, a few loanwords have retained the accent in the location in which it occurs in the source language, as mentenansu {maintenance} or konsarutanto {consultant}, except in cases where the original accent is final. Indeed, there does not exist in Japanese any loanword finally accented at the surface level.
7.2.5 A Constraint-based Account of the Accent of Western Loans

The accent of Standard Japanese is lexical, but, as we have seen in the preceding sections, the emergence of a default accent is observable in a number of word classes belonging to different etymological strata, including native Japanese or Sino-Japanese lexemes. However, the default accent pattern is most widely productive in Western loanwords. In this section, we offer an analysis of the Tky Japanese default accent pattern within the framework of Optimality Theory, based on the ideas developed in this paper, and building on the study of the accentuation of foreign toponyms by Kubozono (1996). Foreign toponyms constitute an exemplary case of a lexical class in which the default accent is implemented. These examples also offer an ideal theoretical testground because their study is based on a statistical approach, on the one hand, and because, on the other hand, they relate to a representative, well-circumscribed corpus of foreign place names where accent is attributed by means of a default process. In addition, an examination of the accentual patterns of foreign toponyms is particularly interesting because these data have been taken as evidence for the relevance of the heavy syllable (p. 203 ) in Japanese by several scholars (Katayama, 1995; Kubozono, 1996, 2006b; Tanaka, 2008).
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Therefore one of the purposes of the present analysis is also to demonstrate that one can achieve a satisfactory treatment of this classical issue in Japanese phonology, which has been taken as evidence for the necessity of the syllable (Kubozono, 1996), without the syllable. As will be shown, only the mora and the feet are necessary to account for the data. The analysis which is proposed here is no less simple and natural than syllable-based analyses. In addition, and more crucially, we will see that it accounts for a greater number of facts, since it allows a regular treatment of the accent pattern of words such as pirenee the Pyrenees and senegaru Senegal. The data Kubozono (1996) observes that in foreign toponyms longer than two moras, default accent is generally placed on the antepenultimate mora (11a). In cases where the antepenultimate mora contains /N/, /Q/, or /R/, the accent shifts one position leftward and is placed on the pre-antepenultimate mora, all of this being in accordance with the general principles of Japanese accentuation (11b). If the word is two moras long, the accent falls on the initial mora (11c). This accent rule, it is important to note, is actually that which generally applies to common nouns of Western origin, as established by Tanomura (1999). Note that, like Kubozono, we shall only consider here the case of accented nouns, leaving aside that of unaccented ones. (11) Default accent a. On antepenultimate mora
meraneshia isutanbuuru waiomingu mo nako de kan Melanesia Istanbul Wyoming Monaco Deccan London Washington Kentucky Edinburgh Paris the Don
b. On pre-antepenultimate mora
ro ndon washinton kentakkii ejinbara pa ri do n
(p. 204 ) Page 31 of 115
c. On penultimate mora (bimoraic words)
Accent
However, and this is what makes this set of data particularly interesting, a number of words do not conform to these principles. The examples in (12), which all end in a deficient mora, receive pre-antepenultimate accent instead of the expected antepenultimate accent. (12) Pre-antepenultimate accent
pi renee te heran se negaru *pirenee the Pyrenees Teheran Senegal (the final u is epenthetic)
*teheran *senegaru
Kubozono (1996:74), according to whom the syllable plays an active role in the accentuation of loanwords, proposes the following generalization: If the word ends with a heavy syllable (or a light syllable containing an epenthetic /u/) accent is placed on the initial syllable, whether it is light or heavy []. If the word ends with a light syllable and the penultimate syllable is heavy, accent is placed on the heavy syllable []. Note that in this case, it does not matter whether the final light syllable contains an epenthetic vowel /u/ or not. Although this formulation seems perfectly correct on the descriptive level, provided that one accepts the idea that a distinction between light and heavy syllables is relevant in Japanese phonology, it has no explanatory power. Why should the presence of a heavy syllable word-finally have such an accentual effect on the pre-antepenultimate syllable? I argue that a better, sounder explanation for this data is possible and that this account can be made with no direct or indirect reference to the syllable. I will now propose a formal treatment of this data within the framework of Optimality Theory. This treatment will take as a basis the analysis of default accent assignment in Japanese adaptations of French words proposed by Shinohara (2000). (For other OT treatments, see Kubozono, 1996 or Tanaka, 2008.) OT constraints as proposed by Shinohara (2000)
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The French words studied by Shinohara (2000) obey accentuation principles that are identical to those displayed by foreign toponyms (except for a few exceptions), hence the relevance of her work for the present study. The constraints proposed by Shinohara (2000) in order to account for the default accent pattern are the following: (p. 205 ) (13) Constraints (adapted from Shinohara, 2000)
Head-Left: Feet are trochaic. Align the right edge of every foot with the right edge of a prosodic word (PrWd). No prosodic head (accented foot or accented syllable) of PrWd is final in PrWd. Feet are binary at some level of analysis. Parse every syllable into a foot. Align (F, R, PrWd, R):
NonFinality:
FootBinarity:
Parse-Syllable:
An additional constraint prohibits an epenthetic vowel to be the head of a foot: (14)

*v (epenthetic vowel) A non-prominent nucleus cannot be the head of a foot
Due to space limitations, I will not take up here all the details of Shinoharas (2000) analysis, which is rather complex and implements two concurrent hierarchies of the above constraints. Note that her analysis makes explicit reference to the syllable, through the constraints NonFinality and Parse-
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Syllable. However a major shortcoming of Shinoharas analysis is that it cannot provide any explanation for the initial accent of a word like senegaru. In the pages that follow, I shall propose another line of analysis which preserves some of the proposals formulated by Shinohara, which have the advantage of being very standard in the treatment of accent within OT. My intention is thus to use Shinoharas proposal as a basis for a syllablefree analysis of default accent assignment in Japanese, and to propose a simple and natural explanation of the accent of Western loan words including senegaru. A syllable-free account The general ideas that underlie my analysis are the following: feet are preferably binary and trochaic and, within a word, the head foot is located on the rightmost edge, but it must not be final. In addition, no foot can start with a deficient mora. The interaction between these principles gives an account of the position of accent in foreign place names, but also, more generally, in the majority of Western loans. In the lines which follow, the symbol corresponds to the mora, whatever its structure, while the symbol m corresponds to a weak or deficient mora.
(p. 206 )
A first group of relevant constraints is the following: (15)

* F[m :
No foot starts with a deficient mora. The head foot must not be final. Moras are parsed into a foot. The accented mora is rightmost in the prosodic word.
NonFinality (Foot) (= NonF()): ParseMora (= ParseM): AlignRight (=AlignR):
In the category of deficient moras falling under the scope of the *F[m constraint, we find the elements located at the bottom of the hierarchy provided in Chapter 6, whose phonological structure is of the type C or V, namely, the first part of a geminate obstruent /Q/, the mora nasal /N/, the
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second part of a long vowel /R/, onsetless moras made up of the vowels / i/ and /u/, and finally, some8 moras containing an epenthetic vowel that behave as if their nuclei were empty. Note that the constraint NonFinality(Foot) concerns the head foot exclusively. ParseMoras stipulates that no mora is left outside a foot. The action of this constraint guarantees an exhaustive organization of the feet. Finally, AlignRight is different from the constraint Align(F, R, PrWd, R) as proposed by Shinohara (2000). AlignRight stipulates that the accent be as close as possible to the end of the prosodic word. Since, in theory, no Western loan longer than three moras has its accent located on one of the last two moras, everything points to AlignRight being located below NonFinality(Foot), which prohibits the accented foot from being final. Note that AlignRight is a gradient constraint. For this reason, each mora located between the accented mora and the rightmost edge of the word counts as one violation. A second group of constraints, Foot=Binary and Foot=Trochee, relates to foot structure: (16)
Foot=Binary (F=Bin): Feet are binary under moraic analysis.
Foot=Trochee (F=T):
The head foot is trochaic.
Foot=Binary ensures that feet are made up of two moras, no more and no less, while Foot=Trochee guarantees that the head foot, i.e. the accented foot, is trochaic. The case of the word pari {Paris}, which will be examined just below, will show that it is necessary to place ParseMoras above Foot=Binary in the hierarchy. This is because otherwise, the unaccented form *pari would turn out to be the optimal output, a totally undesirable result. With regard to Foot=Binary and Foot=Trochee, we know that these two constraints are both placed above AlignRight because, as we will see, they are the very two constraints which play a role in the choice of pirenee rather than *pirenee as the optimal output of /pireneR/, or of senegaru rather than *senegaru for /senegaru/ (see tableaux (18) and (19)). However, we have no evidence to determine the relative subranking of Foot=Binary and Foot=Trochee.
(p. 207 )
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There is no decisive argument to determine the position of NonFinality(Foot) in the general constraint ranking either, except that it dominates AlignRight. I thus choose to place NonFinality(Foot) above all the other constraints, with *F[m at the top of the hierarchy. However, this choice has no direct effect on the analyses, and NonFinality(Foot) could just as easily be placed anywhere else above AlignRight. These considerations lead to the following hierarchy. (17) *f[m, NonF() ## ParseMoras ## F=T, F=Bin ## AlignRight With the exception of *F[m, the constraints which have been introduced here, namely Foot=Trochee, NonFinality(Foot), Foot=Binary, and ParseMoras (an adaptation of ParseSyllables), are identical to standard constraints found in the OT analyses of the Japanese accent based on the idea that the syllable plays a crucial role in the phonology of the language (see in particular Kubozono, 1997, Shinohara, 2000, 2002, Shirose et al., 1997, and others). The main innovation in the treatment proposed here thus lies in the introduction of the *F[m constraint. Even though this constraint does not play a decision role in every example that will be examined, resorting to *F[m brings simplification to the analysis and avoids using ambivalent constraints referring indifferently, and in an ad hoc manner, to the foot and/or syllable (Shinohara, 2000) or to the syllable and/or mora (Kubozono, 1997), while allowing us to provide a principled account of the general cases of default accent assignment. In the following tableaux, the candidates containing only unfooted moras will not be examined, since such candidates would remain accentless (and, as stated at the beginning of the section, the issue of atonicity will not be dealt with here). However, it is not without significance to observe that the candidates in question would, in any event, never be in a position to emerge as optimal candidates. The tableaux Let us now proceed to the examination of the tableaux. We will start with the two examples which are of particular interest to us: those comprising a deficient mora in final position, like pirenee the Pyrenees and senegaru Senegal, and which appear irregular within the traditional framework because they carry an accent on (p. 208 ) the pre-antepenultimate mora rather than on the antepenultimate. As we will see, such words turn out to be perfectly regular if one adopts the constraints and the hierarchy proposed here.
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(18) pirenee the Pyrenees
Candidate a., (pire)(nee), with pre-antepenultimate accent, wins over the others because it is the only candidate that satisfies all the constraints except the lowest ranked AlignRight. Yet, let us consider candidates d., e., g., and h. which present an antepenultimate accent, as expected in the traditional approach. The form in d. (pire)(nee) contains a non-trochaic foot, which is enough to eliminate it with respect to a. The form in e. (pi)(rene)(e) contains a foot beginning with a deficient mora e (/R/), making it the worst candidate of the series (the foot in question being, in addition, non-binary). Candidate g., pi(rene)e is excluded because, despite its trochaic foot, and the fact that no foot starting with a deficient mora is constructed, it has two unbounded moras, in violation of ParseMoras, which make it a candidate worse than (pire)(nee). Finally, h. (pi)(rene)e contains a non-binary foot, in addition to one unparsed mora. Candidate f. (pire)nee with initial accent is another serious competitor to a. However, the presence of two moras left unparsed is fatal in comparison with a (pire)(nee). The same type of reasoning applies to candidates d., e., f., g. and h. of the input /senegaru/ whose final u is epenthetic. Recall that the mora ru belongs to the category of deficient moras just like the final vowel length in /pireneR/. (p. 209 ) (19) senegaru (with final epenthetic /u/) Senegal
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Let us now consider the general case, with antepenultimate accent, of words which do not contain a deficient mora in their final or penultimate position, such as baruserona Barcelona. (20) baruserona Barcelona
Candidates b., c., and d. are the least optimal because they violate *F[m. The form e. is excluded because it violates Foot=Trochaic. F, g., and h. leave one or several unbounded moras. Under these conditions, the victorious candidate can only be candidate a. (baru)(sero)(na). Note that f. would be optimal if the order between Foot=Binary and ParseMoras were inverted (this, as already stated, remains a possible option), but this change would not affect in any way the location of the accent in the output. The word burunji /buruNzi/ Burundi also constitutes a case traditionally recognized as regular. It is also in our analysis. Contrary to baruserona, it contains a special mora in penultimate position, and it is precisely for this reason that it deserves special interest. (21) burunji Burundi
(p. 210 )
Candidate a. (bu)(run)(ji) wins over all the other candidates because it is the only form which respects the four higher-ranked constraints. The candidates h. bu(run)ji and g. (bu)(run)ji also display an antepenultimate accent, but the former also has two non-binary feet, while the latter has a non-binary foot and an unparsed mora. They are thus disqualified in comparison with a.
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Let us see now how the form rondon London is selected. It is interesting to note that words such as haaremu Harlem or andesu the Andes, which end with an epenthetic vowel and contain a special segment in second position, behave exactly as rondon since they are indeed accented on the initial.9 This confirms the correctness of positing a deficient mora category broader than the traditional special mora category. (p. 211 ) (22) rondon London
The candidate a. (ron)(don) respects all the constraints higher than AlignRight, and thus wins over all the other candidates. Let us now consider three-mora words, which are all accented on the antepenultimate mora. Two subtypes can be distinguished: those that do not contain any deficient mora, like monako Monaco, and those that do, either in final position, like dekan Deccan, or in medial position, like mekka Mecca. All these examples can be accounted for in a straightforward manner. (23) monako Monaco
Candidate a. (mona)(ko) emerges as the optimal output. The next example, dekan, contains a deficient mora in final position, just like pirenee or senegaru, which makes it particularly worthy of interest. (p. 212 ) (24) dekan Deccan
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Tableau (24) shows that candidate a. (de)(kan) is the best candidate. In the case of mekka, the result of the tableau is also as expected. Candidate a. (mek)(ka) emerges as victorious. (25) mekka Mecca
Let us close with the examination of the bimoraic word pari, whose accent is initial. According to the hierarchy that I propose, candidate c. (pa)(ri) is optimal. Here, once more, the other possible hierarchies would produce an optimal output with initial accent. Of all the alternatives considered here, the candidate with initial accent emerges as the winner, a desirable result. (26) pari Paris
However, notice that the unaccented, prosodically unstructured form pari (pari, which does not figure in the tableau) could appear here as a better candidate than (pa)(ri) if ParseMoras had been placed below Foot=Binary, as tableaux (27) and (28) show. If, as in (27), ParseMoras is ranked below Foot=Binary, candidate a. pari becomes the best candidate, a totally undesirable result. This is what justifies, in the present analysis, the ranking of ParseMoras above the constraints Foot=Trochee and Foot=Binary. (27)
(p. 213 )
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(28)
The above analysis accounts in a simple and natural way for the assignment of the accent in foreign toponyms, including quadrimoraic forms with initial accent like pirenee, teheran and senegaru, which resist existing analyses, with no need to assume any opposition between heavy and light syllables. Although all the examples reviewed above are place names of foreign origin, the present analysis applies more generally to common nouns borrowed from Western languages, since they follow the same accentuation principles.10
(p. 214 )
7.2.6 Other Types of Simplex Words
The remainder of simplex words is divided into a multitude of specific subcases, for which general principles of accent assignment can sometimes be posited. I shall rapidly mention here some of these categories. More detailed descriptions can be found in the references already cited. Adjectives ending in -na form a heterogeneous class from the point of view of accentuation. The pattern of the source word (in most cases a noun) from which the -na adjective is derived generally applies to the adjective. Thus we have ooki # ooki-na (Yamato) large, shinpuru # shinpuru-na (Western) {simple}, dame # dame-na (mixed Sino-Japanese + Yamato) vain, no good. However, -na adjectives whose base ends in -ka (originally, an adjectival suffix) are automatically accented on the antepenultimate mora of the base: shizuka-na quiet, komayaka-na detailed. Interrogative words are all initially accented: nani what, doko where, ikutsu how many, dochira in which direction, etc., but the corresponding deictics are generally atonic: koko here, are that, sono this, asoko over there, sonna such, etc. Adverbs show a tendency to receive a penultimate accent when they are bimoraic, and an antepenultimate accent when trimoraic or longer: mada not yet, mushiro rather, mochiron of course, shibaraku for
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one moment, yurai in the beginning (but note that as a noun yurai the origin is atonic). A fair number of four-mora adverbs are atonic: ainiku unfortunately, hanahada extremely, kekkyoku finally. Simplex mimetic words (onomatopoeias and ideophones) bear a final or penultimate accent when they end with -ri (to), and a penultimate accent when they end in -n (to) or -t (to): korori(-to) / korori(-to) rolling, katan(-to) with a clatter, gyorot(-to) glaring goggle-eyed. Two- and three-mora truncated words are regularly accented on the initial: shami (# shamisen) shamisen, tero (# terorizumu) terrorism, anime (# animeeshon) cartoon. This rule also applies to hypocoristic truncations: masa, masa-kun # masaki (male first name), nao, naochan # naomi (female first name). Four-mora-long abbreviations are generally atonic: rihabiri (# rihabiriteeshon) rehabilitation, masukomi (# masukomyunikeeshon) mass media. It is also interesting to observe that modification of the grammatical category of a word can materialize through modification of its accent pattern. For instance, nouns with temporal or quantitative reference accented on the final mora such as (p. 215 ) ashita tomorrow, hutatsu two are unaccented when used as adverbs: ashita,hutatsu (Kindaichi and Akinaga, 2001; Uwano, 2003). Semantic factors also come into play: thus the suffix sei # is pre-accenting with the meaning pupil, student (ichinen-sei ### first-year pupil, yuutou-sei ### brilliant pupil), but atonic in the botanical sense (ichinen-sei ### annual plant, tanen-sei ### perennial plant, Sat H., 1989).
7.3 Accent of Compound Words

The accentuation of compound words constitutes one of the thorniest and most interesting issues within the domain of Japanese accentology, both from the descriptive and theoretical point of view, and as such it has been the focus of a number of descriptive or analytical studies. Whereas the accent pattern of a compound, whatever it is, seems very generally predictable from that of its components, except when the second constituent is short, the factors that condition compound accentuation are numerous and varied, and their interactions extremely difficult to capture. Contrary to what occurs in a language like English, where the position of the primary accent in a compound can be analysed as the projection of the primary accent of one of its members (christmas + cake # christmas
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cake, feather + pillow # feather pillow), things work very differently in Tky Japanese. In this language, the accentual algorithm of the compound is entirely recomputed, so that accent may fall on a mora which was not accented in the simplex form of the lexeme to which it belongs. For example, the combination of yuki snow + otoko man gives yuki-otoko snowman, yeti, with an accent on o, and deletion of the original accents on ki and ko (neither *yuki-otoko nor *yuki-otoko is attested). In Japanese, an analysis which would directly project the accent of the head member of the compound cannot be conducted, except, as we shall see, in the two following notable cases: when the length of the second component is equal or superior to five moras, or when the compound has a coordinative meaning (dvandva compounds). The main parameters which may determine the accent of a Japanese compound word are the following: The nature of the morphological and syntactic relation between the two constituents. The size of the compound. The size of each constituent of the compound. The grammatical category of the constituents (noun, verb, etc.). The intrinsic accent of each constituent. (p. 216 ) The lexical stratum of the constituents (Yamato, SinoJapanese, Western). The degree of sonority of the vowels in the head foot. The degree of lexicalization of the compound also constitutes a major parameter. For example, it is very unlikely that ancient, strongly lexicalized compounds whose compositional nature is rather opaque, such as kaya mosquito net, ido a well, tamago (or tamago) egg, amado shutter, namae name, or hanabi fireworks, are to be treated in the same way as formations such as kokuritsu-daigaku national university, yuki-otoko snowman, yeti or orenji-iro the colour orange, whose compositional nature is much more transparent. Unfortunately, most studies do not provide a clear definition of what a compound word is, and this inaccuracy accounts for much of the differences, and, even, the apparent contradictions, which one observes in the analyses of various scholars. Thus Kindaichi and Akinaga (2001), which adopts a strictly etymological criterion to define what a compound isand thus treats kaya, ido,tamago,amado,namae, and hanabi as compoundsstates a general rule that is exactly the opposite to that proposed by Tanaka and Kubozono (1999). According to Kindaichi and Akinaga (2001, page 13 of the appendix), the accent of such compounds is
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determined by and large by its first member, whereas Tanaka and Kubozono (1999) considers that only the second element is decisive for the attribution of the accent in compounds. In the present section, the focus will be on transparent compounds whose global meaning is easily deducible from that of their components, which both exist independently in the modern language. Accordingly, kaya, ido, and so on are regarded as non-compound words. We will successively review the accent of [modifierhead] structured nominal compounds, of dvandva compounds (equipollents, or coordinative compounds) and mimetic compounds. We will then examine the case of fixed Sino-Japanese compounds made up of two Chinese characters, as well as that of compound verbs. We will finally have a look at numeral compounds, with or without a specifier. For additional descriptive or theoretical treatments of compound accent, the reader can refer to McCawley (1968), Higurashi (1983), Poser (1990), Kubozono (1993b, 2006b, 2008), Uwano (1997, 2003), Sat H. (1989), Shinohara (2002), Tanaka (2008), and to the appendices of the two accent dictionaries (NHK, 1998; Kindaichi and Akinaga, 2001). Most of the examples provided here are drawn from these sources.
7.3.1 Compound Nouns With A [modifierhead] Structure Containing Only One Accent Nucleus
In compound nouns having a [modifierhead] structure, for example yamainu (mountain + dog) wild dog, coyote, or denwa-ki (telephone + machine) (p. 217 ) telephone, the accent pattern depends principally, in theory (in a manner that will be examined below) on the size and original accent pattern of the second constituent (henceforth C2), which is syntactically the most important one. However, it seems that the accent pattern of the first constituent (C1) also plays a role in certain cases. For instance, nearly all quadrimoraic compounds containing hito human being as their C1 are atonic,11 whatever the accent pattern of the C2, as the examples below illustrate: (29)
hito + naka (middle) # hitonaka in the company of people
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hito + kaki (fence) # hitogaki hito + nami (ordinary) # hito-nami
a row of people
average
As we will see later, the accent of numeral compounds is also largely determined by the accent pattern of the C1. The general rules presented below apply to [modifierhead] compound nouns whose components are Yamato, Western, or Sino-Japanese, with the exception of fixed Sino-Japanese compounds made up of two characters such as benkyou ## study, shinju ## pearl, or akumu ## nightmare, which will be examined in section 7.3.6. One has to distinguish three main categories, according to whether C2 is short (one or two moras), long (three or four moras), or extra-long (five moras and longer). The shorter the word, the more irregular its accent pattern in compounding is likely to be. (i) Short C2 If C2 is one or two mora long, we encounter three types of patterns: the accent of the compound falls on the last mora of the first member (30). If it is a deficient mora, consisting of a special segment or single vowel, the accent might move one position leftward, according to the NADM principle. This is the most productive pattern according to Kubozono (1995b, 2008). the accent of the compound falls on the initial mora of the second member (31). C2s affected by this rule amount to a small number. All of them are initially accented, and are mainly of Yamato or Western origin, with only very few Sino-Japanese words. They never end with a deficient mora. the compound is atonic (32). Almost all C2s that fall under this rule have a final accent in their independent form, and are of Yamato or Sino-Japanese origin. Note that a given lexeme can belong to two different categories. For instance kuni (-guni) is both pre-accenting and de-accenting. (p. 218 ) (30) Pre-accenting C2
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ka buto + mushi (helmet + insect) abare + uma (unruly + horse) ningyo + hime (mermaid + princess) hukuoka + shi (Fukuoka + city) denwa + ki (telephone + machine)
kabutomushi
beetle
abareuma
restive horse
ningyo-hime
Little Mermaid
hukuokashi
city of Fukuoka
denwaki
telephone
Here is a list of some of the most frequent pre-accenting lexemes (when the lexeme is not used independently, no accentual information is given).
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They are mostly finally accented (see also McCawley, 1968: appendix I, NHK, 1998, for lists): machi # town, kawa (/-gawa) # river, -dake # mount, uri # melon, su (-zu) # vinegar, sushi (-zushi) # sushi, uta # song, kami (-gami) # paper, mochi # rice cake, kuni (-guni) # country, toshi (-doshi) # year, hime # princess, uma # horse, -jin# person (except after certain nouns ending with a mora nasal as in nihon-jin), -in # member, -in # institute, eki #station, -en # park, -on # sound, -kai # association, -kai # world, -gai # street, -gaku # study, -kan # feeling, -kan # building, -ki # chronicle, -ki # period, -ki # rcipient, -ki # machine, -gou # number, -koku # country, -shi # Mr, -shiki # style, -shitsu # room, -sha # society, -shuu # collection, -shou # ministry, -shoku # colour, -sei # pupil, -zoku # tribe, -hi # expenses, -ki # machine, -byou # disease, -bu # part, -ryoku # power. (31) C2 maintaining the original initial accent in the compound
uroko / uroko + kumo (scale + cloud) garasu + mado (glass + window) ka rasu + mugi (crow + wheat) # karasu-mugi oats # garasu-mado glass window # uroko-gumo a cirrocumulus
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Most of the nouns which maintain the accent in its original location when used as a C2 are initially accented. The most frequent are: kumo (-gumo) # cloud, neko # cat, ame # rain, shiru (-jiru) # juice, hune (-bune) # boat, kasa (-gasa) # umbrella, obi # belt, koe (-goe) # voice, muko # son-in-law, tsuru (-zuru) # crane, mugi # wheat, mae # front. Some nouns of (p. 219 ) Western origin behave in the same manner, for example gasu ## gaz, piza ## pizza, as well as the Sino-Japanese derivative morpheme -shugi ## -ism (shakai-shugi socialism, keishiki-shugi formalism). (32) De-accenting C2
kodomo + heya (child + room) orenji + iro (orange + colour) otoko + te (man + hand) nihon + huu (/ huR/)12 (Japan + manner) # nihonhuu Japanese way # otokode mans help # orenjiiro colour orange # kodomo-beya childrens room
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Among the most frequent de-accenting lexemes, we find iro # colour, mura # village, kumi (-gumi) # group, inu # dog, kao (-gao) # face, tera (-dera) # temple, tama (-dama) # ball, kami # hair, kuni (-guni) # country, kata (-gata) # pattern, gawa # side, te # hand, ba # place, me # eye, -ka # section, -ka # section, -tou # party, -ka # agent, -ka ## -ation, -kyou # religion, go # language, -jou # place, -tai # body, -chuu # while, -hu # woman, huu /huR/ # manner, -you # usage, -ryuu # current. They are mostly final-accented and a small number of them are atonic. A few words yield final accentuation of the compound, such as kaze wind, mono thing, or mono person. We thus have: minami-kaze southern wind, hitori-mono single person. However, there always exists a variant which follows one of the regular patterns: minami-kaze, hitori-mono. Finally, it is interesting to observe that four-mora compounds resulting from the combination of two bimoraic Yamato nouns are in their majority atonic (Kubozono and Fujiura, 2004). This is especially the case when the head noun has a final lexical accent such as uma horse or iro colour. Kubozono (1997, 2008) proposes an analysis which assumes that only de-accenting short morphemes (such as those shown in 32 above) are lexically marked, that is, specified in the lexicon with respect to their accent behaviour in compounds. So initial accenting and pre-accenting patterns are predictable by rule on the basis of their own lexical accent pattern. Kubozono thus posits the following two basic principles as a generalization of the preaccenting and initial accenting patterns (the romanization and terminology have been adapted): (p. 220 ) (33) Kubozonos generalization a. Keep the accent of C2 as compound accent except when it is on the very final mora: 2. neko cat: perusha-neko Persian cat b. Otherwise, put a compound accent on the final mora of C1: 4. inu dog: akita-inu Akita dog 5. mushi bug: kabuto-mushi beetle (ii) Long C2 When the C2 is three or four mora long, the pre-accenting and de-accenting types such as those seen above in (30) and (32) do not exist. The general principle is that the compound will receive an accent on the first mora of the C2, except when C2 has an accent that is neither initial nor final in isolation,
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in which case the accent will generally be preserved in the same position within the compound, particularly (according to Shinohara, 2002) if it is quadrimoraic with an antepenultimate accent. However, when C2 has a penultimate accent in isolation, the situation is rather confusing. Tanaka and Kubozono (1999) observe that in such a case, the compound may be accented on the initial mora of C2 (34e). (34) a. Long C2 with an initial accent
kogata + kamera (small size + camera) shimaguni + konjou (island country + disposition) yuki + daruma (snow + Dharma (doll)) kuchi + yakusoku # kuchi-yakusoku verbal promise # yuki-daruma snowman # shimaguni-konjou insularism # kogata-kamera small camera
b. Atonic long C2
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c. Long C2 with a final accent

yuki + otoko (snow + man) nuka +yorokobi (rice bran + joy) # nuka-yorokobi # yuki-otoko
(mouth + promise)
yeti
vain joy
d. Quadrimoraic C2 with an antepenultimate accent

kami + hikouki (paper + plane) wa ka + murasaki (young + purple) e njin + sutoppu # enjinsutoppu # wakamurasaki # kamihikouki
paper plane
light purple
stalling of a motor
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({engine} + {stop})
(p. 221 )
e. Long C2 with a penultimate accent

hidari + uchiwa(left + fan) yude + tamago(boil + egg) onna + kokoro / kokoro (woman + heart) denki + nokogiri / nokogiri13 (electricity + saw) # denki-nokogiri # hidari-uchiwa/ hidariuchiwa
to live in ease
# yude-tamago/ yudetamago
boiled egg
# onna-gokoro
womans heart
power saw
The examples presented in (34e) are actually very debatable. This is because the majority of compounds cited in the literature in order to exemplify the cases at hand (for example Tanaka, 2001) concern the following categories: (i) their C2 is a noun with two possible accent patterns such as nokogiri / nokogiri saw, kamisori / kamisori razor, namekuji / namekuji slug, hoobeni / hoobeni cheek rouge, kokoro / kokoro heart; (ii) their C2 is a
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noun which must be analysed as deverbal, with an original final accent which has undergone an accentual shift due to the NADM principle (machigae # machigae error, kangae # kangae thought); (iii) the compound admits two accent patterns (hidari + uchiwa # hidari-uchiwa / hidari-uchiwa to live at ease). Non-ambiguous examples of compounds which illustrate the fate of C2s with a penultimate accent are actually hard to find. An additional and secondary factor conditions accent placement: the sonority of vowels. Tanaka (2008:157ff.) demonstrates that vowel sonority plays a role in the attribution of the accent when the C2 is four mora long (except if it is of Western origin and if the third mora of the C2 is a deficient mora). So, when the first vowel in the C2 has a lower degree of sonority than the second vowel, the compound is more frequently accented on the antepenultimate mora than on the pre-antepenultimate one. The two following sets of examples illustrate this phenomenon: (p. 222 ) (35) Correlation between vowel sonority and accent (Tanaka, 2008) a. V1 is higher in sonority than V2 in C2 ( regularly accented compound)
a# o oka + yadokari kokusan + benibana # oka-yadokari land hermit crab
e# i
kokusan-benibana safflower produced in Japan
b. V1 is lower in sonority than V2 in C2 ( irregularly accented compound)

i #o ie + shiroari reitou + # ieshiroari
house termite
e #a
reitouedamame
frozen green soybeans
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Accent
edamame
(iii) Extra-long C2 When the C2 is five mora long or longer, the rules are considerably simpler. The accent of the second member is preserved even when it is final. If it is atonic, the compound will also be. (36)
shi donii + orinpikku ({Sydney} + {Olympic}) isoppu + monogatari ({Aesop} + story) chihou + saibansho (region + tribunal) minami + kariforunia (south + {California}) # minamikariforunia Southern California # chihousaibansho regional tribunal # isoppumonogatari Aesops fables # shidoniiorinpikku Sydney Olympic Games
In the above pages, we have reviewed the accentuation of compound nouns. Although the phenomenology seems incredibly complex, the following
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Accent
general trends can be established: the number of exceptions to the accent rules decreases according to the length of the second component; the compound most generally carries the accent on the second member (except for some compounds with short C2); a final accent is generally avoided (except in extra-long compounds); a certain convergence in favour of the antepenultimate pattern can be observed, resulting either from the privileged maintenance of the original accent of C2, or from the attribution of a default accent. Finally, all things being equal, it seems that if the accent of C2 can be preserved in its original location in the compound, it will be, provided this does not infringe some of the other basic principles.
7.3.2 A Constraint-based Account of Compound Noun Accentuation

Let us now move to the formal and theoretical analysis of the mechanisms reviewed above. We shall take as a starting point the work by Kubozono (1997) who presents an OT treatment of these data. After summarizing (p. 223 ) Kubozonos paper, which brings new light to this complex problem and has greatly contributed to its reconsideration, we will see what treatment we can propose of the same facts. As we have just seen, the length of C2 is traditionally regarded as the main parameter in order to determine the prosodic pattern of a compound. It is precisely to the issue of this length parameter that Kubozono (1995b, 1997) makes a first significant contribution, by proposing that the same principles apply to the accentuation of short and long C2 compounds, and that it is thus irrelevant to distinguish between these two classes. On this basis, the accent principles can be reformulated according to the following generalization: (37) Kubozonos generalization (slightly adapted) A short or long C2 accent is parsed in compounds except when it is final. If C2 is atonic or oxytonic, a default compound accent emerges on the rightmost non-final foot. There exists a class of exceptions among the words whose C2 is short (equivalent to a one- or two-mora foot). They yield unaccented compounds. However, as Kubozono observes, there exists in fact a second class of exceptions among short C2s (the Little Mermaid, ningyo-hime type, see below). It will be noted moreover that Kubozono does not address the issue of compounds with an extra-long C2. They thus constitute, de facto, a special class with regard to his analysis. There is also, and this should not
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Accent
be forgotten, a whole list of words whose accent is idiosyncratic, as well as many cases of accentual variation. The distinction between short and long C2s being now irrelevant, only the de-accenting type must be specified as such lexically, and considered as exceptional. This contrasts with former analyses which consider (implicitly or explicitly) that there exist three different classes of short C2s. This descriptive simplification constitutes the first important contribution of this work: one now has a general case, which can be accounted for in a unified way, and a number of exceptions, which should be treated as such. The second important contribution lies in the theoretical treatment that is proposed, on the basis of this new formulation of the problem. This treatment will be summarized here. We shall then proceed to a reanalysis of the data, which, I believe, improves on that originally proposed, while being in accordance with the conception of the Japanese prosodic units and the role of the mora and the foot in the phonology of Japanese defended in the present book. OT treatment: Kubozono (1997)s analysis According to Kubozono, the principles highlighted in (37) can be accounted for by the interaction between a small number of constraints, defined as follows: (p. 224 ) (38) Kubozonos constraints (1997, adapted)
OCP: No more than one prominence peak (i.e. word accent) is allowed in a single PrWd. Parse the lexical accent of the C2 in compound nouns. The head mora, i.e. the accented mora, is not final in PrWd. The head syllable, i.e. the accented
Parse(accent):
NonFinality():
NonFinality():
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Accent
syllable, is not final in PrWd. NonFinality(): The head foot, i.e. the accented foot, is not final in PrWd. A peak of prominence lies at the right edge of the Word.
Edgemostness/ Rightmostness:
As pointed out by Kubozono, an essential aspect of his analysis lies in the fact that the NonFinality constraint is decomposed into three independent subparts: NonFinality(), NonFinality(), and NonFinality(). Recall, in connection with this issue, that Kubozono is a scholar for whom the distinction between mora and syllable is held as essential in Japanese, and who regards the analysis of compound accentuation as a definite argument in favour of such a distinction. Kubozono assumes that the constraints OCP and NonFinality() are undominated. The hierarchy that he proposes is given in (39): (39) Constraints hierarchy (Kubozono, 1997, adapted) OCP, NonFinality(, ) ## Parse (accent) ## NonFinality () ## Edgemostness The undominated constraint OCP will be omitted in the following discussion and tableaux. The following four tableaux illustrate the action of the constraints and their hierarchy according to Kubozonos analysis. Only the candidates that respect the constraint OCP appear here. The examples we will consider are the following (we continue to use our notation conventions throughout): (40)
pe rusha + neko # perusha-neko nebada + shuu # nebada-shuu (accent is kept in C2) (C2 is preaccenting)
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Accent
abare + uma # abare-uma ka buto + mushi # kabuto-mushi

(p. 225 )
(C2 is oxytonic and preaccenting) (C2 is atonic and pre-accenting)
(41) perusha + neko # perusha-neko Persian cat

/perusya/ +/neko/ NonF(, ) ParseA NonF() Edgemost
a. perusha)(neko) b. perusha)(neko) c. perusha)(neko) , ! *!
# *
In (41), the first candidate, perusha-neko is optimal because it maintains the non-final accent of neko, thus respecting the higher-ranked constraints NonFinality (, ) and ParseAccent. The following tableau illustrates the case where the C2 is assumed by Kubozono to be a monosyllable. (42) nebada + shuu # nebada-shuu the State of Nevada
/nebada/ +/syuu/ NonF(, ) ParseA NonF() Edgemost
a. nebada)(shuu) b. nebada)(shuu)
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Accent
c. nebada)(shuu)
#!
Here, candidate a. cannot win because it violates NonFinality(). It is thus candidate b. which, although violating ParseAccent, is optimal because it incurs fewer violations to edgemostness than c. In tableau (43), C2 uma is bimoraic (as well as bisyllabic in Kubozonos terms). Once again, the candidate with an antepenultimate accent, in c., emerges as victorious. (43) abare + uma # abare-uma restive horse
/ abare / +/ uma/ NonF(, ) ParseA NonF() Edgemost
a. abare)(uma) b. abare)(uma) c. abare)(uma)
, ! *
*!
# #
Finally, we consider the case where the C2 is atonic, with no lexical accent to parse. (p. 226 ) (44) kabuto + mushi # kabuto-mushi beetle
/kabuto/ +/ musi / NonF(, ) ParseA NonF() Edgemost
a. kabuto)(mushi)
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, !
Accent
b. kabuto)(mushi) c. kabuto)(mushi) d. kabuto)(mushi)
*!
# # #!
Here too, the candidate with an antepenultimate accent, kabuto-mushi in c., is selected. Apart from the class of de-accenting nouns, excluded from the scope of the analysis from the beginning because they are regarded as marked exceptions in the lexicon, and that of extra-long compounds which are not discussed in the article, this treatment generates two types of exceptions. The first type consists of the so-called Little Mermaid pattern (as exemplified by ningyo + hime # ningyo-hime Little Mermaid or yoyaku + seki # yoyaku-seki reserved seat), which are words in which the initial accent of the C2 is not faithfully parsed, contrary to neko in perusha-neko. The second type includes cases ending with a supposedly bimoraic syllable, such as sunakku + baa # sunakku-baa snack-bar or eiga + fan # eiga-fan movie fan, which preserve the accent of C2 on the final putative syllable, in violation of NonFinality(), and thus contradict the analysis proposed for nebada-shuu. We will not enter the details of the extensions that Kubozono gives to his analysis in order to provide an account of these exceptions and of the strong inter-speaker variation observed in the accent pattern of some compounds. We shall merely observe that he analyses these exceptions as resulting from a minimal deviation from his standard constraint hierarchy. This is a classic approach to exception and variation in OT. However, although such an approach correctly succeeds in formalizing the exceptional character of the words under consideration, it fails to explain why it should be so. I claim that a better analysis of these data can be proposed. It remains based on the descriptive generalization of Kubozono, but baa and fan no
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Accent
longer appear as exceptions. This reanalysis builds on the conception of the Japanese lower prosodic units as consisting only of the mora and foot, with no reference to the syllable, presented in Chapter 6. (p. 227 ) My analysis As mentioned above, Kubozonos analysis rests on the assumption that the difference between mora and syllable is relevant in Japanese. It is precisely this assumption that we call into question. The explanation that I propose in the following lines rests on the distinction between the mora and the foot. I claim, on the one hand, that a simpler and more coherent account can be provided, and, on the other hand, that we can get rid of one class of exceptions, the sunakku-baa and eiga-fan type. Indeed, these words, which pose a problem in the original analysis, turn out to be perfectly regular in our approach. The reason why Kubozono calls upon the constraint NonFinality() is because it is essential in the analysis to account for one-character Sino-Japanese morphemes ending in a deficient mora like shuu #, in nebada-shuu. When they occur as the second constituent of a compound, these morphemes require an accent to be put on the last mora of the first component: they thus do not preserve their apparent lexical accent after compounding, contrary to the neko type. For Kubozono, as seen before, the difference between shuu and neko lies in the fact that shuu is a bimoraic monosyllable while neko is a bimoraic bisyllable. The behaviour of the words fan or baa which, despite the fact that they are also bimoraic monosyllables like shuu, behave like neko rather than like shuu in keeping their accent on the moras fa and ba in compounding (sunakku-baa,eiga-fan) leads Kubozono to treat them as exceptions. However, one can assume that it is not the number of moras or syllables that is at stake here but some other kind of difference. In reality, the difference between the shuu type and the baa type is to be captured at some other level. I assume that there exists an accentual difference at the underlying level between these two lexemes. Morphemes like shuu are accented on their last mora at the lexical level: /syuR/ (see also sections 6.2.4 and 7.3.6 for additional evidence), whereas baa or fan are accented on the first one: /baR/, /faN/. One thus distinguishes, at the lexical level, the two following types for words consisting of one foot whose second mora is deficient (that is, which consist in a heavy syllable following Kubozonos analysis): (45) Underlyingly final accent a. Sino-Japanese morphemes
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Accent
/ syuR/ shuu # / toR/ tou # / yoR/ you # etc.
state
/ tyuR/ chuu # middle / hoN/ hon # book / ryuR/ ryuu # stream
party
use
b. Western morphemes
/piN/ pin {pin}
/paN/ pan {pa} etc.
/maN/ man {man}

(p. 228 )
(46) Underlyingly initial accent (Western morphemes)

/baR/ baa {bar} /kiR/ kii {key} /faN/ fan {fan} etc.
Morphemes in (46) are all of relatively recent Western origin. Morphemes in (45) are mostly Sino-Japanese, but it is worth noting that they also include a small number of ancient loans from Western languages, such as pin pin, pan bread, or man man. Interestingly, there exist some Western words like kaa car or tii tea that behave like the words in (45) or (46) depending on speakers. One thus has patorooru-kaa or patorooru-kaa {patrol car}, and remon-tii or remon-tii {lemon tea}. Noteworthy enough, these words obviously belong to a class of loans which are neither very old nor very recent. So, the phonological difference in the localization of the lexical accent that we see actually reflects a difference in the dating of the borrowing, be it from Chinese or from a Western language. Older loans
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Accent
generally bear an underlyingly final accent while more recent ones tend to bear an underlyingly initial accent. Words such as kaa or tii represent an intermediate stage, which is why they allow accentual variation in compounding. The surface pattern shuu corresponding to the underlying form /syuR/ and that of the other words of the same class is accounted for by the action of the NADM principle, which prohibits accentuation of deficient moras (see section 6.3.2). Note that PeakProminence, the constraint of which the NADM principle is a reformulation (see section 6.3.2) is needed to correctly derive the output form of monographemic Sino-Japanese morphemes finishing with a deficient mora, but since it is not directly active here, it will not be mentioned in the tableaux below. As seen in section 7.2.3, it is thus not because it consists of a heavy syllable that shuu behaves differently from neko in compounding but because it actually possesses a final accent at the input level, exactly like uma, examined in (43). This question being set, the NonFinality() constraint proposed by Kubozono is no longer necessary. I thus propose to revise the list of constraints as follows: (47)
OCP:
No more than one accent peak in PrWd. The accent kernel of the head noun occupies the same position in the input and in the output. The accented mora must not be final. The accented foot must not be final.
FaithIO(Head Accent):
NonFinality():
NonFinality():
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Accent
AlignRight:
The accent lies at the right edge of the word.
Except for NonFinality(), which has now become superfluous, the constraints proposed here are essentially the same as those introduced by Kubozono (1997). We adopt the constraint FaithIO(HeadAccent) in replacement (p. 229 ) of ParseAccent, for the sake of clarity. FaithIO(HeadAccent) requires that the accent occupy exactly the same position in the output as in the input. Moreover, AlignRight, already used for the analysis of the default accent in Western loans in section 7.2.5, henceforth replaces Edgemostness/Rightmostness. The analysis by Kubozono (1997) does not address the issue of compounds with a long C2. This class of compounds was the subject of a previous work by the same author (Kubozono, 1995b), but the treatment suggested for compound nouns with long C2 in the 1995 paper is independent of the one proposed for short C2 in 1997. This is why it is essential to look for a unified approach, which can account for the two types: compounds with a short C2 and compounds with a long C2. I will retain from the 1995 paper the constraint given in (48). I shall also assume that this constraint is at work both for long and short C2 compounds: (48) AlignCA: Align the accent with the boundary between C1 and C2. AlignCA stipulates that the accent is aligned with the boundary between C1 and C2, either on the last mora of C1 or on the first mora of C2. In addition, I propose that a constraint imposing the realization of an accent in the compound, the Accent constraint, be ranked above all the other constraints. Due to the action of this constraint, atonic candidates are systematically eliminated. Like Kubozono, I consider that atonic compound nouns constitute a closed word class, limited to forms containing a short C2, which it is preferable to treat as exceptional. (49)
Accent: Compounds must have an accent.
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Accent
In the following tableaux, the Accent constraint does not figure, nor do the atonic candidates that fatally violate it. Mutatis mutandis, the hierarchy in (50) remains that of Kubozono, but without the NonFinality() constraint. Note that it is also fully compatible with our analysis of foreign place names developed in section 7.2.5. (50) Final constraint hierarchy Accent ## NonF() ## FaithIO(A) ## NonF() ## AlignCA ## AlignRight Let us now examine how five of the examples presented earlier in this chapter, that is, perusha-neko, abare-uma, kabuto-mushi, nebada-shuu, and sunakku-baa, can be handled following this new proposal. Let us start with perusha-neko, abare-uma, and kabuto-mushi. (p. 230 ) (51) perusha + neko # perusha-neko Persian cat
/perusya/ +/neko/ NonF() FaithIO(A) NonF() AlignCA AlignR
a. perusha)(neko) b. *! perusha)(neko) c. perusha)(neko) *
*!
**
(52) abare + uma # abare-uma restive horse

/ abare / +/ uma/ NonF() FaithIO(A) NonF() AlignCA AlignR
a. abare)(uma)
*!
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Accent
b. abare)(uma) c. abare)(uma)
*!
**
(53) kabuto + mushi # kabuto-mushi beetle

/kabuto/ +/ musi / NonF() FaithIO(A) NonF() AlignCA AlignR
a. kabuto)(mushi) b. kabuto)(mushi) c. kabuto)(mushi) d. kabuto)(mushi) *! *
*!
****
*!
**
In each of the three cases above, the expected form is correctly selected. These examples do not pose any particular problem because they do not include a prosodic unit likely to be analysed as a heavy syllable. In this respect, the following example, nebada-shuu, appears as crucial. As we have stated, the morpheme shuu carries an initial accent at the surface level, but we now assume that it actually contains an accent on its final mora at the lexical level, which constitutes the input of tableau (54). (p. 231 ) (54) nebada + shuu (/syuR/) # nebada-shuu the State of Nevada
/nebada/ +/ syuR/ NonF() FaithIO(A) NonF() AlignCA AlignR
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Accent
a. nebada)(shuu) b. nebada)(shuu) c. nebada)(shuu) *!
*!
**
The candidate in c. is victorious, even though it does not maintain the accent in its original position. It is actually non-optimal to maintain the final accent of the input, as candidate b. does, because this violates the higher-ranked constraint Nonfinality(). The nebada-shuu case is actually identical to that of abare-uma in (52). Finally, let us see what happens with sunakku-baa {snack bar}, an example which is problematic in Kubozonos analysis. Recall that, as seen above, the word baa has its underlying accent on the initial mora ba in the present approach, contrary to shuu which has an underlyingly final accent: /baR/versus /syuR/. (55) sunakku + baa # sunakku-baa snack-bar
/ sunaQku/ + /baR/ NonF() FaithIO(A) NonF() AlignCA AlignR
a. sunakku)(baa) b. sunakku)(baa) c. *! sunakku)(baa) *!
**
The candidate in c. displays a fatal infringement to NonFinality(), and is eliminated. So is b. which violates FaithIO(HeadAccent). It is thus the form
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Accent
in a., whose non-final lexical accent is faithfully parsed, which emerges as optimal. The analysis proposed here has the advantage of getting rid of what appears, in Kubozonos analysis, as a class of exceptions. The accent pattern of baa can now be distinguished from that of shuu. The former is accented on the initial mora underlyingly (/baR/), while the latter is on the final mora (/ syuR/), hence the difference in their accentual behaviour when they undergo compounding. There remains one type of lexical exception in the treatment I have proposed, as in Kubozonos, the Little Mermaid case: ningyo + hime yields ningyo-hime instead of *ningyo-hime, the expected output. As mentioned above, this type resorts to a closed class, and one should resign oneself to mark it as exceptional at the lexical level at the present state of research.
(p. 232 )
One can go one step further and extend the analysis to the class of compounds containing a long C2, such as kogata + kamera # kogata-kamera small camera, shimaguni + konjou # shimaguni-konjou insularism, yuki + daruma # yuki-daruma snowman, kami + hikouki # kami-hikouki paper plane, kuchi + yakusoku # kuchi-yakusoku verbal promise, nuka +yorokobi # nuka-yorokobi premature joy, waka + murasaki # waka-murasaki light purple (see section 7.3.1). We can consider that the regular output for compounds with a long C2 is to preserve the accent in its original position except when it is final. In this case, or if the C2 is atonic, an accent is placed on the first mora of C2. We are only dealing here with cases that do not present any variation, be it in the accent of the compound or in that of the noun in C2 (we thus leave aside those examples likely to present more than one accentual possibility like hidari + uchiwa # hidari-uchiwa/hidari-uchiwa, or denki + nokogiri/ nokogiri # denki-nokogiri, previously discussed in section 7.3.1). In the first example (tableau 56), the candidate kogata-kamera in a., in which the non-final accent of the trimoraic C2 kamera is preserved in its position of origin, wins over all other candidates because those violate one or more than one of the four higher-ranked constraints. The same applies to the compound with a four-mora C2 in tableau (57), where it is the form in a. with an accent on the first mora of konjou that is optimal. (56) kogata + kamera # kogata-kamera small size camera
/ kogata Page 68 of 115 NonF() FaithIO(A) NonF() AlignCA AlignR
Accent
/ + /kamera/
a. kogata)(kame) (ra)/ (ka) (mera) b. kogata)(kame) (ra) c. kogata)(kame) (ra) d. kogata)(ka) (mera)
(p. 233 )
**
*!
***
*!
*!
(57) shimaguni + konjou # shimaguni-konjou insularism

/ NonF() simaguni/ + /konzyoR/ FaithIO(A) NonF() AlignCA AlignR
a. shimaguni)(kon) (jou) b. shimaguni)(kon) (jou) c. shimaguni)Page 69 of 115
***
*!
****
*!
Accent
(kon) (jou)
The following tableau exemplifies the case of a trimoraic C2 atonic in its independent form, in which there is thus no original accent to parse. (58) yuki + daruma # yuki-daruma snowman
/ yuki/ NonF() FaithIO(A) NonF() AlignCA AlignR
+/ daruma /
a. yuki)(daru) (ma) / (da) (ruma) b. yuki)(daru) (ma) c. yuki)(daru) (ma) d. yuki)(daru) (ma) *! * *!
**
***!
The form yuki-daruma in a. will be selected. Its most serious competitors are b. and d., which also respect the three higher-ranked constraints. However, candidate b. fatally violates AlignCA, while d. presents one infraction more in comparison to a. for AlignR. In (59), C2 is a four-mora-long noun with an original antepenultimate accent. Here, candidate b. wins out because it is the only one that respects the three
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Accent
highest constraints, and particularly FaithIO(HeadAccent), which both the candidates a. and c. violate. (59) kami + hikouki # kami-hikouki paper plane
/ kami/ NonF() FaithIO(A) NonF() AlignCA AlignR
+/ hikoRki/
a. kami)(hi) (kou) (ki) b. kami)(hi) (kou) (ki) c. kami)(hi) (kou) (ki) d. kami)(hi) (kou) (ki)
(p. 234 )
*!
***
**
*!
****
*!
Turning now to (60), we can consider the case of a quadrimoraic atonic C2. The candidate in b., kuchi-yakusoku, is the best one, as expected. Its most serious competitors are the forms in a. and e. with an antepenultimate accent. Their elimination is due to the fact that the accent is too far from the C1C2 boundary (infringement of AlignCA). The same applies to candidate d., which presents four infringements of Align(Right), whereas b. has only three. (60) kuchi + yakusoku # kuchi-yakusoku verbal promise
/ kuti Page 71 of 115 NonF() FaithIO(A) NonF() AlignCA AlignR
Accent
/ +/
yakusoku /
a. kuchi)(yaku) (soku) b. kuchi)(yaku) (soku) c. kuchi)(yaku) (soku) d. kuchi)(yaku) (soku) e. kuchi)(ya) (kuso) (ku) *!
*!
**
***
****!
*!
**
In the compound nuka + yorokobi in (61), the original accent of C2 cannot be maintained in the compound since that would involve fatal violation of NonFinality(), which is higher in the hierarchy than FaithIO(HeadAccent). The candidate in a. is thus excluded. The correct output must then be selected among the forms which infringe FaithIO(HeadAccent). It is the lowranked constraint Align(Right) that makes the difference between b. and e., allowing candidate b. to win over e., because, all other things being equal, b. has one violation less than e. with respect to Align(Right). (61) nuka +yorokobi # nuka-yorokobi premature joy
/ nuka/ NonF() FaithIO(A) NonF() AlignCA AlignR
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Accent
+/ yorokobi/
a. nuka)(yoro) (kobi) b. nuka)(yoro) (kobi) c. nuka)(yoro) (kobi) d. nuka)(yoro) (kobi) e. nuka)(yoro) (kobi) f. nuka)(yo) (roko) (bi)
(p. 235 )
*!
***
*!
*!
**
****!
*!
**
Tableau (62) exemplifies the case of a compound with a quadrimoraic C2 accented on the antepenultimate mora in its lexical form. One expects that the accent will be kept in this position, even after compounding. And indeed, this is what occurs. One of the forms in a., the only ones that respect FaithIO(HeadAccent), is selected as the optimal candidate because all the other possible outputs present fatal violation of this constraint. (62) waka + murasaki # waka-murasaki light purple
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Accent
/waka/ +/
NonF()
FaithIO(A) NonF()
AlignCA
AlignR
murasaki/
a. waka)(mura) (saki)/(mu) (rasa) (ki) b. waka)(mura) (saki) c. waka)(mura) (saki) d. waka)(mura) (saki) *!
**
***
*!
****
*!
In conclusion, it must be pointed out that the treatment proposed here presents a number of improvements. First, the recourse to the ambivalent and problematic constraint NonFinality(, ) is no longer necessary. Only NonFin() and NonFin() are. Second, the sunakku-baa and eiga-fan types, treated as mere exceptions in the previous analysis, are no longer exceptional. In third place, our analysis provides a unified account of compounds with short and long C2s. And, last but not least, it illustrates the uselessness of resorting to the syllable. Not only is reference to the mora and to the foot sufficient for handling the examples but it also provides a more satisfying account of the data, thus confirming the proposals made in Chapter 6.
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Accent
7.3.3 Compound Nouns Containing Two Accent Nuclei

The accentuation principles which have been presented up until now apply to [modifierhead] structured compounds which only get one accent nucleus after the compounding process. However, there also exist compounds with two accent nuclei. Such compounds preserve the accent pattern of each of their components after the compounding process (Kubozono, 1993b, 1998a; Kubozono, It and Mester, 1997). Such formations involve two or more nouns, which, on the morphological level, do not seem any different from the constructions previously seen. However, they do not follow the same accent rules. Thus kyuushuu + nanbu receives (p. 236 ) the pattern kyuushuu-nanbu Southern Kysh, with two accent nuclei, rather than *kyuushuu-nanbu if it had followed the previously mentioned rules. In the same way, jishin + soushitsu yields jishinsoushitsu loss of self confidence (but jishin-soushitsu also seems to be attested), and obama + daitouryou becomes obama-daitouryou president Obama (*obama-daitouryou). Each member of the compound preserves its original accent nucleus in its original location, and we thus have two distinct prosodic words. The conditions which govern this prosodic structuring are not clear: whereas jishin-soushitsu #### is treated as a succession of two distinct prosodic words, kioku-soushitsu loss of memory (kioku + soushitsu) #### is treated as only one. Yet, the morphological and semantic structure of these two compounds is strictly identical. In a number of such cases, we are no longer dealing with a [modifierhead] structure in the narrow sense but rather with an appositive-like morphosyntactic structure (see the examples cited above: South(ern) Kysh, president Obama), which can justify that each member keeps its own accent. Nevertheless, this analysis does not apply to all the cases concerned, for instance, jishin-soushitsu cannot be considered to be an appositive construction. In constructions made up of three nouns, accent differences may reflect differences in the morphological and syntactic structure of the compounding. Kubozono (1993b) mentions the example nihon + buyou + kyoukai (Japan + dance + association), which can be realized with two accented nuclei, nihon-buyou-kyoukai (with a [A [BC]] structure) or with only one nucleus nihon-buyou-kyoukai ([[AB] C]), depending on the meaning of the compound: Japanese association of dance in the first case, association of Japanese dance in the second.
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7.3.4 Yamato Dvandva Compounds

In Yamato dvandva (coordinative) compounds, containing two equipollent terms whose order is not fixed by syntactic factors (none of the two modifies the other one), the first member determines the accentual pattern of the compound. The accent of the second word is deleted, and the first member maintains its accent in the original location, following a principle somewhat identical to that governing the accentuation of the phonological syntagm (see section 7.4.). If the first word is atonic, the compound will also be. (63)
natsu + huyu haru + aki momo + kuri
(p. 237 )
natsu-huyu
summer and winter spring and autumn
haru-aki
momo-kuri
peaches and chestnuts
7.3.5 Compound Mimetics

Compound mimetics mostly occur under the reduplicated form of a monomoraic or bimoraic base, possibly followed by the particles to or ni, or the copula da (and its pre-nominal form -na). They also include echo words, which do not consist of the reduplication of an identical base but rather of the concatenation of two different mimetic bases. When used in isolation or followed by the particle to, compound mimetics bear an accent on the initial mora: kiri-kiri(-to) diligently, kon-kon(to) coff coff, pappa(-to) puff puff, chira-hora(-to) scatteringly. When followed by da (the copula), -na (adjectival ending), or ni (adverbial particle), they are atonic: kan-kan ni red hot, tsuru-tsuru da it is soft. When -to is preceded by /Q/, an accent is placed on the antepenultimate mora: doki-dokit-to fast beating (heart).
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Sino-Japanese reduplicated mimetics are generally atonic, sometimes paroxytonic: rin-rin / rin-rin piercingly (cold). Forms which are, in nature, mimetic, but are etymologically derived from the reduplication of a non-mimetic base, are accented on the penultimate mora when they occur with the particle to: taka-daka-to high, and are atonic when they occur with da or ni: atsu-atsu da it is very hot.
7.3.6 Two-character Fixed Sino-Japanese Compounds

The use of the term compound to refer to Sino-Japanese lexemes made up of two Chinese characters, like denwa ## telephone, kagu ## piece of furniture, isha ## doctor, henji ## answer, deshi ## disciple, which are so numerous in the Japanese lexicon, is debatable. One can argue that such combinations are not necessarily analysed as compounds by speakers in their everyday oral use because they are generally semantically and referentially simple. Besides, their meaning cannot always be deduced from the meaning of each component in a direct and transparent fashion. Moreover, the constituents themselves are bound morphemes that are generally not used independently. For example, the two components of denwa telephone, den # electricity, and wa # to speak, are never employed in isolation.14 In fact, many compounds of this type are totally lexicalized and are to be considered as single lexemes. However, in writing, they contain two identifiable components, each with stable and transparent meaning represented by one Chinese character. This is the reason why I use the term fixed compound to distinguish such formations from those which are made up of two or more components with true lexical autonomy as in (p. 238 ) the examples seen above in section 7.3.1. Some scholars also call them Sino-Japanese binomials. Fixed Sino-Japanese compounds written by means of two Chinese characters follow specific accent rules. These rules are mainly conditioned by the phonological length of the compound, its phonological structure, and by its nominal or verbal character. However, many exceptions can be found. In certain cases, semantic criteria also have a role to play. Finally, one should note that some characters impose their own special accent pattern when they appear in the second position of the compound. This leads to lists which try to enumerate all the special cases. Actually, the accent of Sino-Japanese compounds seems to be a topic rather neglected in the field of accent research. More work is thus necessary, especially since the area appears to
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be a very promising field in terms of the wealth of the data, the theoretical implications, as well as the historical depth.15 Sino-Japanese compounds that I call non-fixed, that is, compounds which are made up of three or more characters, of which one is a derivational suffix like -go # language, -jin # person, -tou # party (as in nihon-go ### Japanese language, nihon-jin ### Japanese person, shakai-tou ### socialist party) or which represent the combination of two fixed compounds (like kokuritsu-kouen #### national + park = national park, seishin-bunseki #### spirit + analysis = psychoanalysis) will thus not be dealt with here. Such compounds fall under the scope of the general accent rules described in section 7.3.1. A thorough analysis of the principles governing the accent of fixed SinoJapanese compounds requires, first of all, detailed morphological and semantic analysis of the various types of Sino-Japanese compounds. Such a study cannot be carried out here. For this reason I will confine myself to an overview of the most general principles. Most words of this class are either initially accented or unaccented (Nakada and Hayashi, 1982). Bimoraic two-character fixed compounds with a ()() structure generally bear an initial accent: chiri ## geography, kagu ## piece of furniture, shuhu ## housewife. According to Kindaichi and Akinaga (2001), there exist approximately 20% of exceptions, among which isha ## doctor, jama ## obstacle, sewa ## assistance, deshi ## disciple, including a rather high number of old loans related to Buddhism, according to Takeuchi (1999). Kindaichi and Akinaga (2001) states that when the compound is trimoraic, with either a ()() or ()() morphological structure, it will be attributed an initial accent if it is nominal in nature but will be atonic if it is verbal: kokka ## state, nation, seishi ## official history, shigai ## suburbs, kokyou ## native village vs. akka ## aggravation, nyuukyo ## moving in, seishi ## stop, shibou ## death. There too exceptions can be found, like henji ## answer, chitsujo ## order, dougu ## tool.
(p. 239 )
However, the criteria for determining whether a word is nominal or verbal remain vague. According to Ogawa (2004, 2008), the influence of the noun/ verb distinction on the accent pattern of trimoraic Sino-Japanese compounds is only partial, and not limited to this part of the lexicon (it can also be
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observed in the Yamato and Western strata). Ogawa presents a statistical study that demonstrates that the prosodic structure of the compound plays the most important role in determining the accent of Sino-Japanese words. Indeed, if one compares the accent patterns of Sino-Japanese compounds having MmM and MMm structure16 (in syllabic terms, HL and LH structures respectively, where H represents a bimoraic foot ending in /N/, /R/, or the moraic vowel i, and L, a regular mora), it appears that nearly 80% of MmM (HL) words are accented on the first mora, while 82 % of MMm (LH) words are atonic. However, since this calculation does not include words that contain a geminate or that have a bimoraic CVCV structure with one component like jitsu or seki whose final u and i is etymologically epenthetic, these results need further examination. Moreover, the morphological structure also plays a role, since a majority (50%) of [MM][M] trimoraic SinoJapanese words tend to bear an initial accent, whereas 80% of those having a [M][MM] structure are atonic, as shown by Ogawa (2003), cited by Tanaka (2008:176). According to Tanaka (2008), the morphological structure is, on the whole, less determining in kango than it is in wago for accent attribution. The important role of the prosodic structure of fixed Sino-Japanese compounds on accentuation probably explains why accent has practically no distinctive function with homophonous Sino-Japanese two-character words, according to Coyaud (1985). Only a few minimal pairs based on an accentual difference can be found, for instance koukou ## filial piety and koukou # # high school. In the case of four-mora compounds, the same general tendency is observed towards atonicity as that already seen in quadrimoric words of other lexical groups.We thus have daigaku ## university, kokusai ## international, tankyuu ## search, suigai ## flood, teikoku ## empire, koukou # # high school. However, words in which the accent falls on the last mora of the first component (with NADM left-shift of the accent when relevant) can be found (p. 240 ) among older and/or strongly lexicalized compounds such as kokunai ## domestic, shokubutsu ## plant, (mangetsu#) mangetsu ## full moon, (kaishaku #) kaishaku ## interpretation. Note also that there are a few rare words with final accent like shougatsu ## New Years day. According to Kindaichi and Akinaga (2001), the occurrence of a penultimate accent frequently results from an accent shift consecutive to the devoicing of the initial vowel. This factor could account for many apparent exceptions such as chihou (# chihou) ## area, or kikai (# kikai) ## machine.
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Moreover, many characters impose a specific accent pattern when they occur in final position, whatever the size of the first component: the characters tou # party, tai # body, jou # place, sei # nature, gender, ren # ream, wa # speech, etc. cause the compound to be atonic (seitou ## political party, dantai ## group, josei ## woman) while ou # king, suu # number, ryou # fee, and others involve the appearance of an initial accent on the second component (kokuou ## king, sansuu ## arithmetic). When the first character has prefixal status, such as sho # various, i # more, kaku # each, shin # neo, the compound generally receives initial accent: shokoku ## various countries, inan ## south of, kakui ## all, etc.
7.3.7 Compound Verbs

In the conservative variety of speech, the accent of the first member determines the accent pattern of a compound verb made up of two independent verbs (V1 and V2), following a rather curious principle of accent inversion: if the first verb is atonic, the compound will be tonic with the accent on the penultimate mora (64); if the first verb is tonic, the compound will be atonic whatever the pattern of V2 (65). (64) Atonic V1 # tonic V1V2
kiru + kazaru # ki-kazaru (to wear + to decorate) naku + dasu # naki-dasu (to cry + to take out) to burst into tears to dress up
(65) Tonic V1 # atonic V1V2

taberu + owaru # (to eat
tabe-owaru
to finish eating
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+ to finish) huru + dasu #

(p. 241 )
huri-dasu
to begin to rain
(to rain + to take out)
However, in the innovative speech, the current trend is towards the attribution of a tonic pattern to all compound verbs, even if V1 is tonic: huru + dasu # huri-dasu to begin to rain.
7.3.8 Numeral Compounds

The label numeral compounds designates two types of compounds comprising a numerical expression. On the one hand, we have numeral cardinals containing at least two (linguistic) elements, for example san-juusan 33, sen-ni-hyaku-hachi-juu-nana 1287. On the other hand, we have forms comprising a numeral followed by a specifier (this label also includes measurement terms), like rok-ko 6 small objects, san-juu-san-mai 33 sheets, hitotsu-boshi 1 star, ichi-meetoru 1 meter. We will examine these two types in turn. The principles that govern the accentuation of this particular type of compound are incontestably among the most complex of the Japanese language. One outstanding characteristic of this class is that it is sometimes the accent of the initial component that determines the accent of the compound, contrary to the majority of other non-verbal compounds of Standard Japanese, in particular those of the Yamato stratum, where the prosodic characteristics which are relevant in accent assignment are those of the final component. The rules that apply here are thus specific to this class, and notably different from those applying to the common run of non-numeral compound nouns. The factors, very diverse, which condition the accentuation of numeral compounds, are determined on phonological, lexical, or even syntactic grounds. These factors are: the intrinsic accent of the numeral. the origin of the numeral (Yamato, Sino-Japanese, or Western).
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the origin of the specifier. the length of the specifier. the syntactic status (nominal or adverbial) of the numeral expression.
Inter- and intra-speaker variation is very frequent, even if, as a whole, speakers generally agree with each other, even when it comes to the accent pattern of numeral expressions which they have never heard before, as can be noted for example with the recent diffusion of the new specifier yuuro euro. Let us first consider the intrinsic accent of cardinal numerals when they occur without a specifier. (i) Cardinal numerals (with no specifier) The series used to form cardinal numerals is that of Sino-Japanese numerals. Let us recall however that the forms 4 yon and 7 nana, of Yamato origin, are also frequently employed in this series. As will be noted in the following examples, there are a number of variants of some of the numerals. Cardinals are accented as follows in isolation: (66) Accent of Sino-Japanese numerals
(p. 242 )
Oxytonic (with leftward accent shift conditioned by NADM principle) 1 ichi, 2 ni, 4 shi (yon), 5 go, 6 roku, 7 shichi, 8 hachi, 9 kyuu / ku, 10 juu, 100 hyaku, 1000 sen, 10000 man (only in innovating varieties for 5 go and 9 ku) Atonic: 3 san, 5 go, 9 ku (only in conservative varieties for 5 go and 9 ku)
One may consider that with the exception of san 3, all the Sino-Japanese numerals are finally accented underlyingly in the innovative variety. Among the numerals of Western origin, only 0 zero is commonly employed in compounding. In compound cardinal numerals, either the original accent of the rightmost element is maintained even when it is final (67), in a manner which is somewhat reminiscent of what occurs in the accentuation of the major
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phonological phrase (see section 7.4) or, in compounds of the series 20, 30, 40, 70, 90, and 300, 400, 700, 900 (examples 68), an accent is attributed to the leftmost numeral even when that numeral is unaccented in isolation, so for instance san becomes san in san-juu 30. This rule does not apply solely to round figures, since 51, or 888, for instance, are also accented on their rightmost element. However, in cases of leftmost accent preservation or attribution, it seems that long numbers are treated as two or even more than two prosodic words by some speakers, and may thus contain more than one accent kernel, as some of the examples in (68) illustrate. (67) Rightmost accent preservation
13: ju u + san ju u + roku go + juu + ichi ni + hyaku + go + juu + ichi hachi + hyaku # juusan (also juu-san) juuroku
16:
51:
gojuuichi
251:
nihyakugojuuichi
800:
happyaku
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888:
hachi + hyaku + hachi + juu + hachi
happyakuhachijuuhachi
(68) Leftmost accent preservation or attribution

20: ni + juu san + juu + ichi na na + juu + go san + hyaku san + hyaku + juu # ni juu sanjuuichi (also sanjuuichi) nanajuugo (also nanajuu-go) sa nbyaku sanbyakujuuichi or sanbyakuAccent
31:
75:
300:
311:
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+ ichi
juuichi (the latter seems more common) # yonhyakunijuuroku or yonhyaku-nijuuroku (the latter seems more common) nanahyaku
426:
yo n + hyaku + ni + juu + roku
700:
na na + hyaku
(p. 243 )
(ii) Numeral compounds containing a specifier Let us now proceed to the examination of numeral compounds containing a simplex numeral expression followed by a specifier. We will only look at the forms from 1 to 10, and at compounds with a nominal syntactic status, keeping in mind that in adverbial use they sometimes present an atonic pattern. For example, ringo mittsu wo katta (bought three apples), where mittsu three, followed by the object particle wo, is tonic, and is distinct from ringo wo mittsu katta, where mittsu, which modifies the verb, is atonic.
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Note also that when the numeral meaning of a compound is weakened, the regular compound nouns accent rules tend to apply, for example we have hutago twins (literally two children) rather than *hutago or *hutago. Yamato numerals The intrinsic accent of simple Yamato numerals likely to appear in compounding (according to Kindaichi and Akinaga, 2001) is as follows. Note that these forms are never used in isolation, except yon 4 and nana 7. (69) Accent of short Yamato numerals Final accent: 1 hito, 2 huta, 3 mi, 4 yo, 6 mu, 8 ya, 10 to Penultimate accent: 4 yon, 5 itsu, 7 nana, 9 kokono
If the two components are of Yamato origin, and the specifier is one or two mora long, it is in theory the last mora of the numeral that will carry the accent: hito-ri one person, huta-hako two boxes, hitotsu-boshi a star, mittsu-boshi three stars, nana-tsubu seven grains, kokono-e nine layers, etc. The names of the days of the month ending in -ka are all atonic, thus irregular: hutsu-ka the 2nd of the month, mik-ka the 3rd, yok-ka the 4th, itsu-ka the 5th, etc. but nano-ka the 7th and kokono-ka the 9th may also receive a final accent. Some compounds starting with huta- 2 are sometimes exceptional in the conservative varieties in so far as they receive a final accent, whatever the size of the specifier: huta-ri two persons, huta-michi (also huta-michi) two ways, and so on. Forms with the generic specifier -tsu are strongly irregular. They are accented sometimes on the second mora from the beginning, sometimes on the final mora (70). (70) Yamato numerals in -tsu (x things)
(p. 244 )
Accent on the second mora: 1 hitotsu, 5 itsutsu, 7 nanatsu, 9 kokonotsu Accent on the final mora: 2 hutatsu, 3 mittsu, 4 yottsu, 6 muttsu, 8 yattsu
It is interesting to observe that the accentual behaviour of words such as iro colour, taba bundle, tsubu grain, or hako box employed as specifiers is completely different from that which they adopt as elements entering
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into the formation of endocentric compound nouns. Thus, as we saw in section 7.3.1 (examples 32), within a non-numeral compound iro causes the compound to de-accentuate (mizu-iro colour of water, light blue) whereas in numeral compounds, it is pre-accenting, and the accent is placed on the numeral (hito-iro,huta-iro, mi-iro,nana-iro, etc.). The same applies to taba bundle and tsubu grain whose initial lexical accent is generally preserved in a non-numeral compound (satsu-taba bundle of banknotes, meshi-tsubu grain of rice) in the manner of the examples seen above in (31), whereas in a numeral compound, it is the initial constituent that is accented (hito-taba,huta-taba, etc. and hito-tsubu, huta-tsubu, mi-tsubu / san-tsubu). Lastly, hako box, which is unaccented in its lexical form almost always yields de-accentuation of non-numeral compounds, but in numeral compounds, it is pre-accenting (hito-hako, huta-hako, etc.). The rules which have just been seen also apply when the specifier is a oneor two-mora-long word of Sino-Japanese origin written using one character, such as maku act (in theatre) (hito-maku,huta-maku/huta-maku, mimaku/san-maku). When the Yamato specifier is longer than two moras, such as hashira/hashira (a specifier for gods, lit, pillar), or toori/toori manner, another rule applies. The general tendency is then to place the accent on the second mora of the compound, whatever the length of the numeral element. One thus finds an accent either on the last mora of the initial component (the numeral), or on the first mora of the final component (the specifier): hitohashira,huta-hashira / huta-hashira, mi-hashira, yo-hashira, itsu-hashira, etc. Kasane layer, which is atonic in isolation but receives initial accent on ka in numeral compounding (hito-kasane 1 layer), is an exception. This type of accent assignment, starting from the beginning of the word, is rather unexpected in Tky Japanese, where the accent is in theory attributed from the end of the word. In short, the general conclusion is that, when the numeral is Yamato, the accent does not depend on the intrinsic accent of the specifier except in rare cases. Moreover, atonic numeral compounds are almost non-existent. It should be noted that this is fundamentally different from what is observed in cases of non-numeral compound words with a [modifierhead] structure, as previously presented in section 7.3.1, whose accent depends mainly on the final component, and among which atonic compounds are legion. Sino-Japanese numerals
(p. 245 )
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We have seen above that in isolation Sino-Japanese numerals had the following accent pattern: 1 ichi, 2 ni, 3 san, 4 shi, 5 go/go, 6 roku, 7 shichi, 8 hachi, 9 kyuu/ku/ku, 10 juu. Recall that 4 yon and 7 nana, although of Yamato origin, have slipped into the so-called Sino-Japanese series, so that one frequently encounters them in place of 4 shi and 7 shichi. It is actually not uncommon for the numeral and the specifier to be heterogeneous from the point of view of the lexical stratum. If the specifier is Yamato and one or two mora long, the tendency is that the numeral receives an accent (ichi-kumi, ni-kumi, san-kumi 1, 2, 3 groups, ichi-wari, ni-wari, san-wari 1, 2, 3 tenth), except with -gata pattern, which always yields an atonic compound (ichi-gata,ni-gata, etc.). If the specifier is Yamato and longer than two moras, the long compound accent rule applies. An accent is placed on the initial mora of the final component. The word shiai match, atonic in its isolated form, thus produces is-shiai,ni-shiai, san-shiai, yon-shiai1, 2, 3, 4 matches. Finally, in cases where both the numeral and the specifier are of SinoJapanese origin, the accent patterns are various and largely dependent on the specifier, but with many complications or exceptions, of which Table 7.6 gives an overview. One should not, however, be surprised to encounter, in actual usage, an important variation on this type of data, even within Tky Japanese. One will find in the appendix of NHK (1998) a more or less complete list of specifier accents, but the diversity of the actual uses is not always reflected. All the accent possibilities are represented in Table 7.6: accent on the numeral (with the specifiers ji #, dai #); accent on any of the moras of the specifier (satsu #, gatsu #); atonic forms (kai #). The compounds with 3, 4, 5, and 9 sometimes behave differently from the other members in the same paradigm of their series. Some remain atonic when the rest of the series is tonic (ban #, nen #). It is rare for a paradigm to be completely regular, even if the usage of the younger generations presents a tendency towards paradigmatic regularization within the series.
(p. 246 )
Table 7.6. Accent of compounds made up of a numeral + Sino-Japanese specifier.
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# # # # # # # hour book machine time floor monthyear # # #long objectanimal object
# # # ordinaltime degree n
ichi-ji ik-ko ni -ji ni-ko
isichiik-kai satsu dai ipip-piki pon
ik-kai ichiichigatsu nen
ichiban niban
ichi-do ichido ni-do ni -do
ni ni -dai ni-kai ni-kai ninisatsu ni-hon gatsu nen ni-hiki / nigatsu sa ndai sanbon san-kai sankai / sangai sa ngatsu sannen
sa n- sa nji san- satsu ko sanbiki yo -ji yonko yo nsatsu yonhiki
sanban
sa ndo
sa ndo
yo n- yo n- yondai / kai / kai yo-dai yon-kai yonhon
shiyogatsu / nen shigatsu gonen
yo nban / yoban goban
yo n- yo ndo / do yo-do
go -ji go go-ko satsu gohiki
go-dai go-kai go-kai go go gatsu hon / gohon rok-kai rokkai
go-do go do
roku-ji roku- rokurok-ko satsu / dai roku- ropsatsu pon / roprokupiki / hon rokuhiki shichiji nanako nanasatsu nanahiki
roku- rokugatsu nen
rokuban
roku-dorokudo
nana- nana- nanadai kai / kai nana- nana-kai hon
shichi- shichi- nanagatsu nen / ban nananen
nanado / shichido
nanado / shichido
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hachiji hachiko / hakko
hassatsu happiki / hachihiki
hachi- hachi-ka hachii/ hachi- hachi- hachi- hachi- hachidai hak-kai kai / gatsu nen ban do do haphakpon / kai hachihon kyu kyu u-dai / u-kai kudai kyuuhon ju udai juppon / jippon kyuukai ku gatsu kyu kyu kyu u-nen u-ban u-do kyu u-do / ku-do
ku -ji kyu kyuu- uko satsu kyuuhiki ju uji jukko / jik-ko jussatsu / jissatsu juppiki / jippiki
10
juk-kai / juk-kai juuju ujik-kai / jik- gatsu nen kai
ju uban
ju udo
ju udo
(p. 247 )
The examples in Table 7.6 illustrate fairly general types. the specifiers # -ku (ward), # -hun (minute), # -bu (part), # -sai (year old), # -gou (number), # -byou (second) behave like # -ji (hour) and # -ko (small object) in the first column. # -soku (pair of footwear), and # -hatsu (shot, round) behave like # -satsu (book) and # -hiki (small animal) in the second column. # -dai (-th, generation), # -chou (sheet, block), # -chou (city), # -hai (glass), # -mai (leaf, sheet), # -mei (person) behave like # -dai (machine) and # -hon (long object) in the third column. # -kan (volume), # -sen (a sen (penny)), # -tsuu (letter), # -ten (point) behave like # -kai (time) in the fourth column. # -kyuu (level), # -shuu (week), # -ren (series), # -tou (class), # -bai (time) behave like # -kai (floor) in the fifth column.
Lastly, one should not forget that a number of specifiers are of Western origin, for example kiro kilogram or kilometre, paasento per cent, burokku block, shiishii CC, diikee DK {dining kitchen} (a specifier for
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the type and room number of flats or houses), ton ton. They combine in theory with a Sino-Japanese numeral. The accent principles which apply are the same as those of extra-long compounds, as presented in section 7.3.1: the accent is maintained in the specifier on the mora which carries the inherent accent (thus kiroguramu keeps its accent on gu: ichi-kiroguramu, ni-kiroguramu; paasento has an accent on se: ichi-paasento,ni-paasento), except for the specifiers kiro and ton, which have the common properties of being short and old loans. Numeral compounds containing these two elements are accented on the numeral: ichi-kiro, ni-kiro, san-kiro, yon-kiro, etc; and it-ton, ni-ton, san-ton, yon-ton, etc. Only a very short outline of the complexity of the accent patterns encountered in numeral compounds has been provided. The principles that govern the accent of this particular type of compound word are basically different from those that apply elsewhere in the language, in particular in [modifierhead] compounds, except when the specifier is long and/or of Western origin. It is interesting to note that the prosodic prevalence of the initial component, as observed on several occasions in numeral compounds, is also found in dvandva formations (shiro-kuro black and white, see section 7.3.4) or in mimetic compounds (teki-paki brisk), which, just like numeral compounds (7.3.5), have a common property of not being endocentric. To sum up, the basic generalization that can be drawn from the above can be summarized as follows: when the numeral is Yamato, with the specifier being Yamato, Sino-Japanese, or Western, the numeral determines the accentuation pattern, except when the (p. 248 ) specifier is a long Yamato lexeme, in which case the accent is generally assigned from the beginning of the word and falls on the second mora. when the numeral is Sino-Japanese, the accent pattern is determined by the specifier, be it Yamato, Sino-Japanese, or Western, except when the specifier is a short Yamato lexeme. numeral compounds are de-accented when employed as adverbials.
7.4 The Accentuation of Phonological Phrases

Up to this point, we have mainly considered the accent at the level of the prosodic word, consisting in a simplex or compound lexeme to which suffixes may be attached. We will now examine what occurs when prosodic words are
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integrated into units of a higher level. As we shall see, the principles which apply are notably different from those in compounds. The prosodic hierarchy of Japanese was introduced in Chapter 6. Recall that at the upper levels, it contains the following layers:
The minor phonological phrase (or accentual phrase) can contain one or several prosodic words, generally not more than two. It has at most one pitch accent, and its periphery is marked with an H tone at the beginning and a L % tone at the end (Pierrehumbert and Beckman, 1988:16; see also section 7.1.5). The major phonological phrase (or intermediate phrase in Pierrehumbert and Beckmans terminology) is the domain of post-accent downstep and catathesis. The presence of an accent triggers catathesis, which lowers everything to the right of the H accent. An intermediate phrase boundary blocks the effect of catathesis (Pierrehumbert and Beckman, 1988:90). The general principle is that the major phrase, like the prosodic word, contains at most one HL pitch fall. This HL sequence corresponds to the projection of an accent at the prosodic word level. If the prosodic words constituting the minor phrase (or accentual phrase) contain more than one inherent lexical accent, the principle is as follows: the accent located at the left of the syntagm is preserved and all subsequent accents are removed. If there is no accent, the whole group remains atonic. The general (p. 249 ) accentuation principles that have been introduced earlier then apply, namely, the principle of adjacency and that of initial dissimilation. The difference between the accentuation of accentual phrases and that of compound words is that in the latter it is generally the accent pattern of the last element that determines the accent of the new form (except in dvandva compounds, mimetic compounds, and in some numeral compounds), whereas in the former prevalence is given to the initial accent of the group.
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In each of the following examples, two simplex lexemes (possibly followed by suffixes), form a minor phrase. We only consider here the sequences of L and H corresponding to the mapping of accent patterns in the strict sense, not the surface intonational structure. Below are the four possible combinations of two lexemes in a phrase: tonic + tonic, atonic + tonic, tonic + atonic, and atonic + atonic. (71) Two lexemes domain (minor or accentual phrase) a. tonic + tonic
utsukushii + hana-ga # LHHHL + LH-L # beautiful + flower Subject # utsukushii + sakura-ga LHHHL + LHH-H beautiful + cherry tree Subject sakura-ga + utsukushii LHH-H + LHHHL cherry tree Subject + beautiful sakura-ga + saku LHH-H + LH cherry Subject + bloom # # # utsukushii hana-ga LHHHL LL-L beautiful flower Subject utsukushii sakura-ga LHHHL LLL-L beautiful cherry tree Subject sakura-ga utsukushii LH-H HHHHL the cherry tree is beautiful sakura-ga saku LHH-H HH the cherry tree blooms
b. tonic + atonic
c. atonic + tonic
# # #
d. atonic + atonic
# # #
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In (71a), the word hana on the right loses its accent; only the accent of utsukushii is maintained as the accent nucleus of the phrase. In (71b) and (71c), there is each time only one tonic lexeme, utsukushii, whose accent becomes the accentual peak of the phrase. In the fourth example (71d), there is no tonic lexeme, and the whole phrase remains atonic. These principles apply in a similar way to groups containing more than one minor phrase: (p. 250 ) (72) Major phrase (intermediate phrase) 1.
2. 3. 4.
garden Locative + bloom + flower Subject + beautiful the flower blooming in the garden is beautiful
5. 6. 7.
garden Locative + bloom + cherry tree Subject + beautiful the cherry tree blooming in the garden is beautiful
8. garden Locative + beautiful + flower Subject + bloom 9. a beautiful flower blooms in the garden 10.
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11. spring Det + flower Subject + beautiful 12. spring flowers are beautiful Focus displacements may involve accent patterns different from those presented here,17 but we will not go into the details of what actually relates to (p. 251 ) another issue, that of intonation, which will not be treated in this book. Interested readers can refer to the studies by McCawley (1968), Higurashi (1983), Poser (1984), Kubozono (1987, 1989), Pierrehumbert and Beckman (1988), Koori (1997, 2003), and to Venditti et al. (2008) for a recent synthesis. It will be noted, finally, that in the preceding examples (71a, b, and c), the initial LH melody is present only at the beginning of the utterance, and not at the beginning of each lexeme. The prosodic words saku, hana-ga, sakura-ga, and utsukushii do not start with a L tone, because they do not appear in initial position of the phrase. On the other hand, niwa, the first element of the phonological phrase, has a LH melody (but not haru-no in (71d) since this word is initially accented). This type of data is confirmation of the analysis by Pierrehumbert and Beckman (1988) presented in section 7.1.5, which postulates that an initial L tone is a boundary tone attributed at the level of the utterance.
7.5 Dialectal And Sociological Variation In Accent

Accent appears as a key phenomenon for the understanding of both dialect relations and historical linguistics, including the reconstruction of the ProtoJapanese language. The disparities between the Japanese dialects are huge, to the point that mutual comprehension is not always possible. The prosodic system constitutes one of the loci of variation, as well as the segmental units, the lexicon, and the syntax. From the point of view of word prosody, Japanese dialects are traditionally classified into several basic types (see Map 2), generally from three to five: the accentless type (mu akusento ######), the one-pattern type (ikkei akusento #######), the Kagoshima type (sometimes called special type tokushu-shiki akusento ########), the Tky type (tky-shiki akusento ########), and the Kyto-saka type (keihan-shiki akusento ####### #).
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The accentless and one-pattern types are sometimes confused. This is because they are both characterized by the fact that a constant, recognizable prosody is assigned to phrases. However, whereas this melody fulfils a demarcative function in the one-pattern accentual typefor example any word is invariably accentuated on the last mora in Miyako-no-j (Miyazaki prefecture) or on the initial mora (p. 252 )
Map 2. Geographical distribution of accent types in zu (Ehime prefecture) according to Akinaga (1986)it does not do so in the case of the accentless type. Moreover, native speakers of the latter type are said to be incapable of perceiving it. The accentless type extends over a vast area north of Tky, from the Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures as far as Sendai, as well as into certain parts of the Kumamoto prefecture in Kysh. The Kagoshima type is widespread in Western Kysh. It operates a distinction between two types of words, tonic and atonic. The location of the accent is fixed in tonic words and thus always predictable. For instance, it invariably falls on the penultimate mora in the dialect of the city of Kagoshima. The Tky type is the type that has been described throughout this chapter: it is a system in which the prosodic pattern of a word is determined by the presence or absence of an accent and by its location within the word.
(p. 253 )
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The Kyto-saka type is characterized by the fact that, in addition to one accent nucleus that may be located on any of the moras of the word, each lexeme carries a register (a tonal melody) that determines the tonal pattern of the moras occurring before the accent nucleus. Thus, in the Kyto variety, the principle of initial dissimilation does not exist. Two-mora nouns are accented or unaccented, and there exist two registers: a high register (noted H), and a low registeror rising register according to certain scholars (noted L), which affects the beginning of the word. In this system, there is a three-way contrast for one-mora words18 (73), a four-way contrast for twomora words (74), a six-way contrast for three-mora words (75), a seven-way contrast for four-mora words, and a nine-way contrast for five-mora words. Moreover, in this dialect family, deficient moras except /Q/ have the ability to constitute accent nuclei.19 Most of the data concerning the Kyto dialect has been taken from Nakai (2002). All the nouns cited below are followed by the subject-marking enclitic particle ga. (73) Accent patterns in the Kyto dialect (Kyto-saka type): underlyingly monomoraic nouns a. Words with high register
Hkaa-
ga
H
HH-H HL-L
/ka/ /hi/
mosquito day
hi iga
b. Words with low register

Lmee-
ga
(74) Accent patterns in the Kyto dialect: bimoraic nouns a. Words with high register
Hhana-ga H
LL-H (or LHH in certain areas)
/me/
eye
HH-H HL-L
nose summer
na tsu-ga
(p. 254 )

Lhashi-ga Lame-ga
LL-H LH-L
chopstick rain
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(75) Accent patterns in the Kyto dialect (Kyto-saka type): trimoraic nouns a. Words with high register
Hsakura-ga H
HHH-H HLL-L HHL-L LLL-H LHL-L LLH-L
cherry tree head gardener rabbit helmet buckteeth
a tama-ga
Hniwashi-ga

Lusagi-ga Lkabuto-ga Ldeppa-ga
In two- and three-mora low-register nouns with final accent (Lame, Ldeppa), the final mora is articulated with a falling melody when no particle follows. When uttered in isolation with no enclitic attached to it, thus ame for instance is generally realized with a falling pitch on the second mora in the Kyto dialect. Some speakers maintain this falling pitch even when a particle follows, while most others replace it by a high pitch, and put a low pitch on the particle. It is to be noted that high-register words never have an accent on the final mora, and that low-register words never have an accent on the initial mora. Another major difference between Tky and Kyto-saka lies in the fact that it is generally the second noun that determines the accent pattern of a compound in Tky, whereas it is the first noun that does this in Kytosaka. In view of the various dictionaries written and studies carried out by Japanese dialectologists, one should acknowledge that the criteria for determining whether a dialect belongs to such or such group are not always explicit. Other more rigorous and explicit accent classifications have been proposed, in particular that of Uwano (1999). Uwano (1999) proposes that the Japanese accent systems are first divided into two groups, accented and accentless. The former is then subdivided into multi-pattern accents (the number of accentual distinctions increases in proportion to the length of the lexeme) and N-pattern accents (N oppositions exist, independent of the length of the lexeme), as follows: (p. 255 ) (76) Classification of Japanese accent systems according to Uwano (1999)
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Accented
Multipattern accent
With registers
Three registers Two registers
Ibuki Kyto
Without registers
SyntagmaShizukuishi dependent20 (Iwate) SyntagmaTky independent
Npattern accent
Threepattern Twopattern Onepattern
Oki (Shimane) Kagoshima Miyakonoj Sendai, Kumamoto
Accentless
Two strikingand apparently contradictoryfacts characterize crossdialectal accent variation. First, it is the extreme diversity of the systems in use, going from accentless dialects (Sendai, Kumamoto) to dialects with several tonal melodies, which look rather more tonal than accentual, and are somewhat reminiscent of some Bantu languages (we shall return to this issue in section 7.6). Second, the systematic nature of the correspondences that exist among the various dialects, in spite of the surface differences, are remarkable: a given word class with the same accent pattern in one dialect will generally correspond to one common other pattern in some other dialect in a consistent manner. Thus, for instance, LH two-mora words of the Tky dialect such as hashi bridge, hana flower, or yama mountain regularly correspond to initially accented lexemes in the Kyto dialect (hashi, hana, yama). The general regularity in the correspondences between dialects can be taken as evidence that the accent (p. 256 ) systems of present-day Japanese dialects represent different evolutions from a single, common original system of which they are the descendants (Hattori, 1951; Kindaichi, 1974, 1977). The prevailing view in Japan is that the Kyto type has remained the most faithful to the proto-system, but it is sometimes assumed that Tky-type dialects have better preserved the original system (Tokugawa, 1972 cited by Shibatani, 1990:213, Ramsey, 1979. There is also
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a cautious proposal by Hattori Shir according to Ramsey, 1982). Yamaguchi Yukihiro (1998) even assumes that accentless dialects reflect the most ancient stage of the language (see also the next section). Following the proposal by Kindaichi Haruhiko (1974), based on philological evidence and modern cross-dialectal accent correspondences, monomoraic nouns of Proto-Japanese can be divided into three accent classes, bimoraic nouns into five classes, and trimoraic nouns into six (or seven) classes. Table 7.7 presents some of the modern correspondences between the dialects of Tky, Kyto, Ibuki-jima, ita, Kagoshima, and Miyako-no-j for each of the five bimoraic noun classes. In the present-day Tky dialect, classes 2 and 3, as well as classes 4 and 5 have merged and now display the same accent pattern. Class 1 is distinguished from classes 2 and 3, on one hand, and from classes 4 and 5, on the other hand; there are thus, in Tky, three accent possibilities for twomora nouns. In Kyto and saka, classes 2 and 3 have merged, but 1, 4, and 5 remain distinct, hence the four accent patterns nowadays in this dialect. In the Shikoku Island, which belongs to the Kyto-saka type, classes 1, 4, and 5 each form a distinct type, while 2 and 3 are confused; the number of accent constrasts thus amounts to four (this type is not represented in Table 7.7). In ita, a Tky-type dialect spoken in Kysh, classes 1 and 2 have merged, as well as classes 4 and 5, yielding three distinct accent patterns, partially different from those that exist in Tky. In Table 7.7. Cross-dialectal accent correspondences for bimoraic nouns for the five Kindaichi word classes
Classes Tky Kyto Ibukijima ita Kagoshima Miyakono-j
1 2 3 4 5
hana-ga nose
LH-H
LH-H HL-L
HH-H HL-L HH-L
HH-H
LH-L
LL-H
natsu-ga LH-L summer inu-ga dog hashi-ga HL-L chopstick ame-ga rain
LH-L HL-L
LL-H
LL-H LH-L
LH-H LH-L
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Kagoshima (Kagoshima-type), only two patterns are attested: accented with an accent kernel on the final syllable, and unaccented. Finally, in certain dialects, for example that of Sendai in the Miyagi prefecture or in Miyako-no-j, Miyazaki prefecture, the difference between the five classes has been completely neutralized. We therefore find an accentless dialect in Sendai (not represented in Table 7.7), and a one-pattern dialect in Miyakono-j.
(p. 257 )
For a long time, accentologists have believed that no modern dialect had maintained a five-way accent opposition for two-mora nouns, similar to the one reconstructed for Archaic Japanese, until the discovery by Wada Minoru, in the 1960s, of the Ibuki-jima dialect, spoken on a small island of the Inland Sea (Kagawa prefecture), in which the five classes were still preserved in a distinct way. It is the most complex word-prosodic system among modern dialects. The preceding lines offer the merest hint of the richness and complexity of cross-dialectal comparison and of their relevance for Japanese linguistics as a whole, as well as for general linguistics. However, even if, as pointed out by Matsumori (2003), a colossal amount of descriptive work has been accomplished from the 1930s on in the field of accentual dialectology, much remains to be done. Indeed, scholars have been mainly concerned with the collection of data from a comparative point of view, with a special emphasis on short, morphologically simple Yamato words. However, there is much more to be uncovered concerning the accent of longer words, of compounds, of inflected forms, or pertaining to the lexical classes of Sino-Japanese or Western loans in the various modern dialects. Within the same dialectal community, accent variation is not rare, as some of the examples given throughout this book illustrate. A number of words display two or even three different accent patterns which may vary according to the socio-cultural profile of the speaker. Accent dictionaries often provide contradictory information about this sort of linguistic variation, and the actual observation of the empirical facts sometimes also seems in opposition with current descriptions. Age seems to be one of the determining factors for such diversity within a single dialect, as the examples below show. One characteristic of younger peoples speech that is commonly mentioned (and sometimes deplored) in the literature is the spreading of the atonic pattern in most frequently used words, or in words a speaker feels familiarity with, as discussed in 7.1.2. (77) Examples of accent variation
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standard variety kareshi kuma odoroki, odoroki oi, oi

(p. 258 )
innovating varieties kareshi kuma, kuma odoroki oi, oi boyfriend bear astonishment old age
According to Akinaga (2008), initial-accented and final-accented patterns are declining in contemporary Japanese; for instance the words akatonbou dragon fly and katana blade now tend to be realized as akatonbou and katana. Uwano (2003) states that two- and three-mora finally accented words tend to become atonic or initially accented: , change to , , or , . Similarly, middle-accented trimoraic words turn into atonic or initial accented: -# or . In addition, it is necessary to point out the role of vowel devoicing, which, as mentioned previously, is likely to cause accent shifts within a word (even if this tendency is not as strong as it used to be in the contemporary language). For this reason, voiceless vowels constitute a major cause of intra- and inter-speaker accent variation.
7.6 Tone Or Accent? the Japanese Word-prosodic System From the Typological Point of View
Throughout this book, the term accent has been used to refer to the wordprosodic system of Japanese, thereby following the practice of most modern Japanese linguists. However, it is time to reflect more thoroughly upon the essential nature of the so-called Japanese accent from the typological point of view. Traditionally, canonical types of accent or stress languages such as Spanish, English, or Russian are generally opposed to tone languages like Chinese or Yoruba. Some researchers consider that, typologically, two subsets of accent languages exist, in opposition to tone languages: stress
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accent languages with an intensity accent (like English) and pitch accent languages with a musical accent (or restricted tone languages). Following this point of view, Tky Japanese is regarded as a prototypical example of a pitch accent language, of which it is undoubtedly the best and most extensively described type. The very use of the term accent to qualify the word-prosodic system of (Tky) Japanese suggests that Japanese might be typologically closer to the accentual type than to the tonal type. Here, it is essential to note that the fact that Japanese linguists use the term accent (akusento) undoubtedly introduces a bias in the discussion (on the use of the term accent by Japanese philologists of the Meiji Period, see the discussion in the following section). However, if one abstracts away from the common terminology and starts reflecting upon the very nature of the Tky Japanese word-prosodic system, taking into consideration the intricate picture formed by such a constellation and variety of other dialects that (p. 259 ) often differ only slightly and in a parametric-like manner from their neighbouring dialects, the issue is far more complicated. So the first question is: typologically speaking, should not some Japanese dialects be classified as tonal rather than as acccentual? Another, more difficult question is: what are the criteria that will allow us to determine whether a given dialect is tonal whereas a neighbouring one is accentual within the Japanese linguistic area? If, like Odden (1999), who, on this point, reflects a rather traditional position, one considers that there exists, on the one hand, languages with distinctive intensity stress like English or Russian, and, on the other hand, languages with tones like Chinese, a language such as Tky Japanese, usually described as a pitch-accent language, poses a major problem in so far as its prosodic characteristics hold, some for stress, others for tone. Thus, like stress, the so-called accent of Tky Japanese is privative in nature (a mora is accented or not); it is culminative (there is at most one pitch drop per word); it fulfils a demarcative function; its domain is the word, rather than a lower prosodic unit such as the mora or the syllable, unlike tone; its position may be predictable under certain conditions; it is attributed from one of the margins of the word (see, inter alia, the rule of antepenultimate accent in foreign loans). In contrast, just like tone, the so-called Japanese accent first manifests itself through variation in the fundamental frequency; it can spread from one mora to another mora: in fact, it can be considered to spread across all the moras preceding the HL mark (accent nucleus) but the first one of a given word;
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one may consider that there exist latent marks, for example the fact that an atonic word and a word with a tonic final can only be distinguished when an enclitic particle is attached to them; the so-called accent does not affect the quality of the vowels, whereas stress is known to sometimes modify the length and quality of the accented vowels, as in English or Russian; a full word may not possess any accent (i.e. a HL shift), something that is inconceivable in a prototypical stress-accent language where any lexical polysyllabic word inevitably has an inherent accent; one also encounters in Japanese mechanisms of prosodic polarity (or inversion) typical of tone languages, i.e. a lexeme is assigned a tonal pattern opposite its original pattern (Maddieson, 1978), becoming atonic if it is tonic, and tonic if it is atonic (see for example the accent of compound verbs, presented in section 7.3.7). The categorization of a given Japanese dialect as tonal or accentual thus depends on the importance which one chooses to attach to each criterion. For several decades, Japanese linguists, taking into account the fact that there exists at most one mora that is relevant to determine the prosodic pattern of a lexical word in Standard Japanese, have unanimously been in favour of the accent analysis. However, as Odden (1999) points out, the culminative criterion is not inevitably determining. In the Bantu family, there exist languages which are classified as tone languages but whose lexemes can have at most a single high tone. In reality, it should be acknowledged that it is precisely for these types of languages that accent analyses are sometimes called upon; see the discussion in Creissels (1994) or Yip (2002:260) who assumes that accentual is a convenient descriptive term for a particular type of language in which tone is used in a rather limited way, with one (or perhaps two) tone melodies []. Such languages occupy a transitional ground between pure stress languages and pure tone languages. It is thus all a matter of definition. If one adheres to the views of Hyman (2001), who considers that a tone language is a language in which an indication of pitch enters the lexical realization of at least certain morphemes of the language, then, Tky (and Kyto) Japanese is indisputably to be classified among the tone languages. On the other hand, if, like Clements and Goldsmith (1984:13), one categorizes as an accent language any language in which a fixed Basic Tone Melody (or more rarely, two) can be specified for all words, this melody being associated with the accented tone-bearing units following the principles of autosegmental phonology (through association of the melody with the vowel marked as accented in the lexicon, and application
(p. 260 ) Page 104 of 115
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of well-formedness conditions), then most Japanese dialects are just as indisputably accentual. But whatever the definitionand the authors that I have just mentioned seem to agree on this pointit is manifestly apparent that tone and accent are not disjoint classes. There is no rigid dichotomy, it is more a matter of gradual transition or parametric specification. Yip (2002) considers Japanese to occupy an intermediate position between accent languages and tone languages. So does Labrune (2006). Hyman (2009) also agrees that there is no pitch-accent prototype but rather that so-calledpitch accent systems freely pick and choose various properties from the tone and stress prototypes. He claims that it is possible to define tone and stress but that it is impossible to provide an independent definition of pitch accent. In his 2001 paper and others, Larry Hyman actually categorizes Japanese as hybrid. This linguist indeed adopts a parametric approach of the prosodic phenomena. For him, there exist only two prototypes: the tonal type and the intensity-accent type (stress). Each type is characterized by a set of distinct properties. Following this point of view, so-called pitch accent languages represent a mixed type, with prototypical properties that are sometimes typical of purely tonal systems, sometimes of stress systems. So there is no pitch-accent prototype. I shall now adopt this stand. Moreover, Hyman argues that prosodic systems cannot be treated as a continuum placed along a single dimensional scale. Hyman thus takes the rather extreme view that no language must be analysed with a pitch-accent system because a tonal analysis is always possible. Cases of evolution of a tonal system towards an accentual system have been reported. Chen (2000) describes the example of the Chongming dialect (Northern Wu dialect, China), and Goldsmith (1984), that of Tonga (Bantu). As for the other direction, that is, the shift from a stress system to a system which can be regarded as tonal, Swedish or Serbo-Croat are wellknown cases. This shows that the difference between accent and tone is not clear-cut and dichotomous but that it is either gradual or parametric (I am not sure that the two configurations are as different as Hyman claims because it seems to me that gradation can be obtained by means of a parametric specification, but this discussion is far beyond the scope of this book).
(p. 261 )
In the case of Japanese, such a non-dichotomous, gradual, or parametric approach has as an advantage that the various Japanese dialects would not be classified in typologically disjoint classes. And it is useful, indeed, to be able to account for the linguistic continuity21 that one observes between dialects such as Sendai Japanese (accentless), Kagoshima Japanese (onePage 105 of 115
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pattern accent), and Ibuki-jima Japanese (with a five-way contrast), which are all closely genetically linked. One cannot of course be satisfied with a classification which would call the first an accentless language like French or Indonesian, the second an accent language, a little like Spanish or Italian, and the third a tone language, like a certain number of Bantu languages. If one languageArchaic Japanesecan develop in a rather short period of time (on the scale of language evolution) and on a small, naturally well-delimited geographical surface so many prosodic types seemingly as divergent as those presented by the Japanese dialects, one must posit that there exists a typological continuity between them. Moreover, as Yamaguchi Yukihiro (1998) and other linguists observe, their geographic distribution obeys a concentric, circular model: the prosodically most complex systems lie at the centre, the simplest ones (the accentless pattern and one-pattern accent) are found at the periphery in Kysh and in Northern Kant, that is, in areas that are not contiguous but on the contrary very remote from each other, and even at the two extreme points of the Japanese linguistic domain. It is thus in a gradual and continuous mode, by successive transitions or waves, that one passes from one type to another by spreading outwards, following a centreperiphery model. On the basis of this observation, Yamaguchi Yukihiro (1998) makes the assumption that accentless dialects actually reflect historically older forms of the language (the language of the Jmon period?), whereas those (p. 262 ) of central Japan, in particular the more prestigious dialect of the oldest Nara and Heian documents, would have undergone more recent changes. This quite unorthodox view of central dialects as being more recent than peripheral ones actually seems to date back to the work by the great folklorist Yanagita Kunio (18751962; see Ramsey, 1982). Two geographically close dialects generally differ only by tiny amounts; but from dialect to dialect, the accumulation of such tiny differences ends up producing extremely different types. Thus there is not, within the Japanese area, any real linguistic break from the point of view of wordprosodic systems. Any theory of word-prosodic systems must be able to account for this situation. This is why a parametric conception, or propertydriven approach such as the one that Hyman (2009) calls for, seems better fitted to capturing the diversity of the Japanese prosodic subtypes and to understanding their relationships, even if much work remains to be done in order to modelize the prosodic variety found across the Japanese linguistic domain.
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7.7 An Overview of Accent Studies In Japan

The preceding reflections quite naturally lead us to look back at the history of accent studies in Japan, because such an epistemological reflection sheds novel and interesting light on the current debates concerning the typological categorization of Japanese from the prosodic point of view. It will also provide us with an opportunity to mention some essential past references within the discipline. Accentology constitutes, within Japanese linguistics, one of the key disciplines, and a very significant number of works, in their majority of a descriptive nature, have been devoted to the study of accent in Japan. Interest in the prosodic phenomena goes back a long way. For instance, the Kojiki (712 ad), one of the first documents to be compiled in the Japanese language, already provides some information on accent. A considerable number of texts of all epochs and of various types also give rough accent information, or sometimes more detailed remarks and analyses on the prosody of Japanese (for a critical presentation of these documents, see Kindaichi, 1974). Leading kokugaku scholars of the Edo period (thinkers and philologists of the national studies stream) such as Keich (16401701), Motoori Norinaga (17301801), and Fujitani Nariakira (17381779), to name but a few, have shown interest in accent and paved the way for prosodic studies. These precursors have left analyses of unquestionable interest. Pre-Meiji Restoration scholars use the traditional term of Chinese phonetics # (read as sei, shou, or kowe in Japanese) to describe the prosodic system of Japanese words. A majority of them distinguish three different tonalities (p. 263 ) (my translation for #) in the native words (and not four as in Chinese), which are generally # (high), # (mid, level), # (falling). This recourse to the descriptive categories of the Chinese language does not seem to have posed any problem. It should be noted that before them, the Iberian missionaries Joo Rodriguez and Diego Collado, authors of remarkable works of description of the Japanese language in the seventeenth century, had also distinguished three different registers. This is due to the fact that the language described by all these authors is mainly that of the Kansai area (Kyto, saka) in which, as stated earlier, there exists a falling pitch at the phonetic level, in addition to the high and low pitches. Moreover, it is interesting to observe that ancient scholars of the Japanese language, native and foreigners alike, were all struck by the fact that the same lexeme
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undergoes drastic modification in the prosodic pattern when used in a compound, an issue that is still of major concern in current research. The term akusento, borrowed from English, has been in use since the Meiji period, but it should be noted that it is also occasionally employed, including at the present time, to refer to the tones of Chinese. As stated earlier, the term usually employed by Japanese scholars of the Edo period to talk about the Japanese word prosody was sei / sh / kowe #. It would be interesting to know more about the conditions which have governed the terminological change from sei (sh / kowe) tone to akusento accent, and the reasons which made Japanese philologists prefer to talk about akusento (accent) rather than tone in the Meiji period for the description and analysis of their native language. The term akusento already figures as an entry in the 1875 edition of the Daigenkai dictionary, the Japanese language dictionary of the Meiji era. From what we know of the history of the linguistic and conceptual loans in Japan, one can suspect that the choice of the term accent may have had something to do with extra-linguistic considerations. It is not impossible that accent might have been considered more prestigious than tone, at a time when Japan was overtly looking to the West as a civilization model, and trying to enter the circle of the nations that were considered more civilized by Meiji thinkers and elites, i.e. Western countries (in accordance with the leaving Asia datsu-a-ron ideology advocated by Fukuzawa Yukichi). The most prestigious European languages being accent languages, the Meiji scholars may have sought to differentiate their native language, and hence their nation, from other Asian and African languages, which were labelled as tone languages. Of course, the typical tone language that Japanese philologists of the Meiji period were most familiar with was not Bantu but Chinese, a typologically very distant language with regard to prosody. They were undoubtedly struck by the prosodic differences which distinguish Chinese from Tky Japanese. This also undoubtedly justified their preference for the term accent. However, and to put it in a nutshell, the choice of the term akusento accent might not have been motivated by entirely (p. 264 ) linguistic reasons. This is a terminological, sociological, and historical problem that deserves further investigation. Furthermore, and rather surprisingly, the word accent was adapted as it is in katakana form as akusento, whereas the nineteenth-century practice was, notoriously, and especially in linguistics, to create semantic calques using Chinese characters. For instance meishi [mei name + shi word] was coined on the Dutch term naam woord. According to Howland (2002), it is especially after 1880 that the use of Western katakana words becomes widespread. For
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instance, he reports a tripling of loanwords in newspaper articles between 1879 and 1887. Since akusento #####(accent) already figures as an entry in the 1875 Daigenkai dictionary, this term appears as a very early borrowing, anterior to the explosion of katakana loanwords in Japanese. In such a context, it is not illegitimate to wonder about the extent to which the preference for the term akusento might well have conditioned the categorization of Japanese among the accent languages rather than among tone languages from the Meiji period onwards and oriented the subsequent vision and research on Japanese prosody (see the discussion in the preceding section), whereas many languages whose prosodic systems look typologically close to the Japanese systems are regarded as tone languages, for instance a number of Bantu languages, and of American native languages. The first modern linguistic study of the prosodic system of Tky Japanese was published in 1892 by Yamada Bimy, to whom we owe the discovery that only two pitches are relevant in lexemes of the Tky dialect. This position will nevertheless be challenged later on, at the beginning of the twentieth century, by Sakuma Kanae and Jinb Kaku. Yamada uses the term onch ## to refer to accent, a term which also has in Japanese the meaning of intonation. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Sakuma Kanaes and Jinb Kakus phonetically oriented work, based on instrumental analyses, dominate the field of Japanese accentology. For these two linguists, the Japanese accent consists of a pitch with three distinctive tones: high, low, and medium. This approach was criticized by Miyata Kichi (1927), who, like Yamada Bimy, recognizes only two relevant levels of height, a vision which is largely dominant nowadays. Observe in passing that since Meiji the issue of Japanese accent has been the subject of much dispute and controversy. The analysesand therefore the linguists who stand behind themhave often conflicted: Sakuma Kanae vs. Yamada Bimy at the beginning of the twentieth century, Sakuma Kanae vs. Miyata Kichi, Hattori Shir vs. Kindaichi Haruhiko, and Sibata Takesi vs. Kindaichi Haruhiko, in the 1950s are among the best-known instances of such academic strife. Meanwhile, prosodic descriptions of the various Japanese dialects were developing. Let us mention the works by Hattori Shir, Kindaichi Haruhiko, Hirayama (p. 265 ) Teruo, Sibata Takesi, and Willem A. Grootaers (inter alia), as well as the historical studies based on the analysis of old materials by Kindaichi Haruhiko, Komatsu Hideo, and Akinaga Kazue.
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In a 1954 paper, Hattori Shir clarified the phonological status of the Japanese accent by making a distinction between phonetically oriented descriptions (such as those by Sakuma or Jinb) and phonologically oriented ones. Hattori thus opened the path towards more formal treatments, cast in various theoretical frameworks, which all have in common that they only specify, at the most abstract lexical level (in Tky Japanese), one mora at most in a word as the location of the accent kernel. Hattori (1954) defines the notion of accent nucleus (akusento-kaku #### ##) as the mora after which a prosodic fall occurs, and poses the question of the Japanese accent in the following terms: does a given word have an accent nucleus? If it does, on which mora?. This treatment, which consists in making a distinction between the abstract H tone marking the lexical accent (at most one within a word) and the H and L tones which are attributed at the phonetic level, thus seems more abstract compared to that of Kindaichi (1960) for example, who posits the existence of two tonemes (chso ##) high and low. According to Kindaichis analysis, each mora of a lexical word is underlyingly specified at the phonological level as high or low (Sakuma and Jinb had already adopted a comparable view, but with three tonemes: high, low, medium), whereas Hattori argues that only one mora should be specified. Hattoris approach thus authorizes a truly phonological approach to the problem, even ifas Kindaichi Haruhiko has legitimately observedhis analysis does not easily allow a unified treatment of some other dialects with prosodic systems more complex than that of Tky. The year 1958 witnesses the publication of the first modern accent dictionary, the Meikai Nihongo Akusento Jiten (The Meikai Dictionary of Japanese Accent), under the direction of Kindaichi Haruhiko and Akinaga Kazue. This work will be continuously reedited, the last edition to date being that of 2010. Actually, Kindaichi and Akinaga are also the authors of the other accent dictionary, the Nihongo Hatsuon Akusento Jiten (A Dictionary of Accent and Pronunciation of Japanese), published by the Nippon Hs Kykai (NHK), the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation. Another important step was taken by Kawakami (1957, 1961) who proposes to consider that the initial LH sequence occurring in a word is attributed at the level of the accent phrase (# ku) and not at that of the lexical word, an idea that will be taken up by Pierrehumbert and Beckman (1988), among others (whereas for Hattori, the initial LH is regarded as a non-distinctive property of the lexical accent).
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More recently, Uwano Zend has proposed in a 1999 article a new typological classification of the Japanese prosodic systems (see section 7.5). Let us mention also Hayata Teruhiro (1999) whose research from the typological and contrastive point of view is based on his own analyses of the prosodic systems of various languages of Asia, including Japanese dialects. Hayata has also worked out a new proposal for the classification of the prosodic systems of the worlds languages. For the Japanese dialects, Hayata (1999:195) makes an interesting proposal. Roughly speaking, for him, the dialects of Eastern Japan (Tky type) are accentual in nature, whereas the Kagoshima type (located in Western Japan) is basically tonal (onch ##). For Hayata, tonal refers to the following property: the location of the pitch within the word is not relevant; the only relevant distinction is whether or not there is going to be an HL pitch within the word, which for Hayata makes this type comparable to a tone language, with the difference that in traditional tone languages such as Mandarin Chinese, the tonal unit is the syllable, whereas it is the word in Kagoshima Japanese. The interesting point in Hayatas theory is that he claims that the Kyto-saka accent type can be analysed as a combination of the Tky type (accentual) with the Kagoshima type (tonal). So Kyto-saka would be both tonal and accentual, and as he persuasively argues, the Kyto-saka type is located in the centre of Japan, in the zone where the tonal (Kagoshima/Western) and accentual (Tky/Eastern) zones meet.
(p. 266 )
Finally, over the past two decades or so, the work by Kubozono Haruo has brought major theoretical contributions to the understanding of the Japanese accent system, especially with regard to the accent of compounds and that of Western loanwords. The overall picture that emerges from this rapid overview is that accent studies in Japan have followed an original development path, and that the studies which have been devoted to the field are remarkable both in quantity and quality.
Notes:
(1) In certain studies, the accent is noted by the sign placed after the accented mora: namida = namida. (2) Words beginning with a putative heavy syllable (in our approach, a full mora followed by a deficient mora) are sometimes described (Hattori, 1954; Haraguchi, 1977; Vance, 1987:80) as not obeying the principle of initial
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dissimilation. However, this issue is controversial (see also 6.2.4). Haraguchi (1977:3435) and Tanaka (2008: 210) further claim that initial dissimilation does not occur when the second mora is Q, so gakkou /gaQkoR/ school is realized as LLHH. It does not occur either when the second mora is an onsetless vowel, including /i/. (3) Following the common practice of autosegmental phonology, Haraguchi uses a star to denote the vowels carrying the accent. For convenience sake, we shall continue to mark the accented moras in bold characters, and to add the symbol to unaccented words. (4) The lexemes tomodachi,kudamono,mizuumi, koomori, and imouto in Table 7.2 are actually compounds from the point of view of etymology. However, they are no longer perceived as such by modern speakers, which is why they are cited here. Most Yamato words longer than three moras are actually etymologically compound words. (5) The analysis presented here is synchronic and description-oriented, so any element likely to comute with another verbal or adjectival suffix is regarded as a verbal or adjectival suffix. For instance, the -i type adjective ureshii happy is decomposed as ureshi (base) + -i (suffix), despite the fact that -shi- is also a suffix from the point of view of etymology. In the same manner, atsukereba if it is hot is decomposed as atsu + kereba, and not as atsu-kere-ba or atsu-k-er-eba as a diachronic analysis would suggest. (6) Smith (1998) proposes an OT account of the Japanese accent according to which nouns and verbs/-i adjectives receive the same type of underlying representation (input). This constitutes a definite advantage over McCawley or Posers analyses. However, in her model, the problem is actually displaced from the representations to the constraints. It is now the constraints that have to operate a distinction between nouns and verbs/adjectives. Some constraints are supposed to apply only to nouns. Kubozono (2008) also hints towards a similar approach by arguing that Tky Japanese has a two-accent system for nouns, just as it does for verbs and adjectives. Nouns would only differ from verbs and adjectives to the extent to which they admit lexical exceptions (no lexical exceptions exist for verbs and adjectives, but many do for nouns). (7) Note that the NADM principle applies to /N/, /R/ and /i/, and not to the other final possible moras /ku/, /tu/, /ki/, or /ti/ which are not considered as epenthetic from a synchronic point of view (see section 2.5).
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(8) As previously mentioned, all epenthetic vowels in Western loans do not have the same status; some behave like full vowels, others like empty vowels. (9) In contrast, toponyms such as ankara Ankara, kinshasa Kinshasa, or aidaho Idaho with a special mora in the second position are generally atonic, exactly like words containing a succession of four regular moras such as himaraya the Himalayas or minesota Minnesota. See Kubozono (1996), who shows that if a quadrimoraic loan ends in two light syllables (i.e. for us, two full moras) and its final vowel is not epenthetic, the word will be atonic in Japanese. (10) But, whatever the analysis one adopts, some exceptions remain. If one puts aside, on the one hand, atonic words whose very existence constitutes a particularly problematic issue in Japanese phonology, and, on the other hand, lexemes which have kept in Japanese the original position of the accent in the source language (for example interijensu {intelligence}, kyanpeen {campaign}, dezain {design}, raiburarii {library}, etc.), it is also necessary to take into account a small number of forms which, to our knowledge, have remained unaccounted for. These forms are all trimoraic, and they comprise one or two deficient moras, like words of the type kurasu {class}, dorama {drama}, suriru {thrill}, kuran {clan}, with initial accent, which contrast with the type guree {grey}, huroa {floor}, sutaa {star}, purau {plow}, with penultimate accent (Kubozono, 1996; Tanomura, 1999; Tanaka, 2008). All these words share the common characteristic of starting with a mora containing an epenthetic vowel. However, the latter group, ending in a long vowel or a sequence of two different vowels, carries the accent on the penult, and is thus distinguished from the former group, which displays an antepenultimate accent. Such a difference shows that, as claimed in Chapter 6, all deficient moras should not be treated as equal, and that there exists a gradation in mora deficientness. Some moras are more deficient than others. Moreover, words such as sukin {skin}, supana {spanner}, superu {spell}, which begin with the /su/ sequence (/u/ is epenthetic) followed by a consonant other than /r/, all bear a penultimate accent, just as the words whose second mora consists of a single vowel: iesu {yes}, tsuin {twin}. I leave these issues open for future research. (11) Kubozono and Fujiura (2004) have also shown that 96% of compounds with an atonic C1 are atonic, whereas only 61% are when the C1 is tonic.
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(12) Recall that the Sino-Japanese morpheme huu is considered as carrying an accent on its final mora underlyingly (/huR/). It is phonetically realized with an initial accent because of the application of the NADM principle. (13) As already stated, kokoro and nokogiri also admit final accentuation (kokoro,nokogiri). Under this condition, the compounds onna-gokoro and denki-nokogiri can be regarded as resorting to the cases examined in (34c). (14) Such formations can be compared to neo-classical compounds in European languages, such as geology or laryngectomy. (15) According to Nakada and Hayashi (1982:394), Sino-Japanese has lost all connection with the original Chinese tones, but little is known about the development and attribution of accent in Sino-Japanese and more study is needed on this issue. (16) M represents a full mora, m a deficient mora, and any mora. (17) Thus, in the statement (72d), focus on hana would prevent deletion of the word accent: haru-no hana-ga utsukushii SPRING FLOWERS are beautiful. (18) Note that one-mora words are phonetically realized as two moras in this dialect family. So all the monomoraic nouns of Tky Japanese are realized with prosodic lengthening: hi = hii fire, na = naa name, etc. (19) For descriptions and analyses of accent of the Kyto and saka dialects, see Kindaichi (1974, 1977), McCawley (1977), Haraguchi (1977, 1999), Pierrehumbert and Beckman (1988), Nakai (2001, 2002), Sibata (1955). Nakai (2001, 2003) provides a presentation of the historical evolution of the Kyto accent from the Heian period up until the present day which is both allembracing and well documented. (20) In Uwanos account, syntagma-dependent refers to the following property: the fall in pitch is a syntactic marker indicating that the word or syntagma is phrase-final. It does not appear otherwise. So in a dialect like that of Shizukuishi, the fall is not a property of the word but of the phrasefinal position. As Uwano puts it, it is a mirror image of the Tky dialect (a syntagma-independent dialect): in the Shizukuishi dialect, the rise in pitch indicates the accent kernel, and the fall marks phrase finality, while in Tky, the fall is the accent kernel, and the rise functions as a phrase-initiality marker.
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(21) Such linguistic continuity is reminiscent of what one encounters in the Bantu area. Creissels (1994) notes that the Eastern Bantu languages offer particularly rich material for the study of the various stages of evolution of a tonal prosodic system towards an accent system, as is illustrated by the Swahili case, a language in which the position of the word accent is phonologically predictable. Clements and Goldsmith (1984:13) make a similar remark concerning the typological variety found throughout the Bantu area.
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Laurence Labrune
References DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.004.0001
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References

Laurence Labrune
Index *F[m constraint1734, 204, 20613 /a/257, 34, 48, 76, 88, 90, 91, 151; frequency 578 prosodic shortening478 accent29, 31, 33, 34, 378, 50 (n. 7), 51, 54, 55, 102, 113 (n. 4), 15960; see also initial dissimilation; NADM principle; deficient mora; atonic default accent155, 157, 174, 181, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 207 and devoicing172, 189 dominant1936, 197 on double vowels47 and foot172, 173, 205, 206, 224, 228 and heavy syllable146, 156157, 204 final31, 179, 1824, 186, 196, 199, 200, 201, 202, 217, 218, 219, 2201, 221, 222, 224, 2278, 231, 240, 242, 243, 244, 254, 258 initial179, 180, 184, 186, 191, 201, 204, 205, 208, 210, 212, 213, 214, 217, 218, 219, 228, 230, 231, 237, 238, 239, 240, 251, 254, 255, 258 of loanwords157158, 171, 172, 174, 176, 181, 20114 of no158, 201 notation179, 190 (n 4) and prosodic word174 recessive157, 194, 196 of reduplicated words119 in relation to sonority16970, 2212 Page 1 of 39
Index
secondary155 and stress156, 258260 and voicing104, 130, 131 and special segments13840, 154, 155, 1567, 159, 164, 169, 170, 173, 188, 200, 228 accent of compounds171, 176, 188, 254, 257, 266 accent deletion158, 194, 200201, 236, 250 accent inversion240 accent loss185 accent nucleus174, 179, 188, 197, 205, 216, 2356, 249, 253, 259, 265 accent shift155, 164, 168, 172, 188189, 200, 203, 221, 239, 240, 242, 258 accentual phrase, see minor phonological phrase accentless dialects251257, 261 adverb, adverbial10, 49, 50, 51, 52, 70 (n 4), 94, 96, 104, 193, 199, 21415, 237, 241, 243, 248 affricates39, 59, 60, 62, 64, 668, 152 (n 4), 161 Ainu14, 22, 75 Akamatsu, Tsutomu34, 38, 40, 81, 133 Akinaga, Kazue37, 78, 95, 143, 155, 163, 157, 196, 215, 216, 2389, 240, 243, 252, 265 akusento #####178, 258, 263, 264; see also accent akusento kaku ######179, 265; see also accent nucleus akusento ku ######175; see also minor phonological phrase Alderete, John89 alternations12, 20 between special segments140 CV / Q20, 28, 30, 32, 137 e / a27, 91 h / p20, 704 i / o27 i / u20, 28, 31 Page 2 of 39
Index
s / sh67 (n 2), 68 voiced / voiceless105, 129 voiced C / CC (geminate)111, 115 y / i89 y / zero68, 89 Amanuma, Yasushi34, 41, 53, 85 apposition236 Arai, Masako68 (n 3) Arai, Takayuki143 Archaic Japanese4, 5, 26, 27, 42, 53 (n), 578, 62, 75, 76, 77, 88, 91, 93, 96, 99100, 107, 108, 166, 257, 261 Arisaka, Hideyo6, 26, 46, 143 Aston, William George28, 76 atamadaka-gata ###179, 186; see also accent (initial) atonic179, 181, 1827, 1935, 213 (n) adjectives1969 adverbs2145, 243 compounds160, 217, 219, 220, 2224, 2256, 229, 2324, 236, 237, 23940, 2424 in dialects252, 253, 257 deictics214 four-mora words29, 164, 202, 210 (n), 214, 217, 239 Haraguchi's treatment18990 no particle158 numerals2424, 245 phonological phrase248251 Pierrehumbert and Beckman's treatment1923 and rendaku125 shika particle1567, 195 in Sino-Japanese2001, 23940, 245
Page 3 of 39
Index
spreading of atonic pattern1868, 2578 to particle140, 157 verbs1968, 240 (p. 288 ) and vowel devoicing34 Auer, Peter176 (n 23) Ayusawa, Takako172 /b/60, 61, 66, 72, 73, 87, 98, 1001, 107, 133, 135; frequency99101; see also voiced obstruents []98 babibu language146 baby talk;see child language Bantu255, 260, 261, 263, 264 Beckman, Jill159 Beckman, Mary33, 39, 176, 183, 1903, 248, 251, 253 (n 19), 265 bidakuon ###78; see also velar nasal bunsetsu ##176; see also utterance Burzio, Luigi170 Campbell, Nick57, 58, 151 catathesis175, 248 Chen, Matthew Y.261 child language49, 50, 61, 66, 68, 90, 92, 129, 146 (n 5) Chinese;see also kango; kanji; kanbun as a tone language110, 178, 238 (n), 258, 259, 263, 266 Chinese materials107 Chinese words coined in Japan (wasei kango)20 Chongming Chinese261 diphthongs55 in Kojiki and Nihonshoki109 influence of Chinese phonology1078, 137
Page 4 of 39
Index
labial glide91 linguistic tradition5, 6, 103, 2623 loans from Chinese5, 6, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 75, 89, 228 Modern Chinese20 Old Chinese19, 30, 42, 75, 91, 138 writing system145 (n 3) Chinese character; see kanji ch akusento ku #######175; see also major phonological phrase chokuonka ###28, 89 Chomsky, Noam3, 7, 140, 163 (n 13) chon ##132; see also /R/ Clements, George Nick111, 260, 261 (n 21) coalescence27, 434, 47 coda33, 95, 98, 149, 1503, 156, 160, 165 Coda Condition95, 1401 Coleman, John60 Collado, Diego34, 263 compensatory lengthening434, 47, 52 compounds193; see also rendaku accentuation29, 138, 197, 200, 21548 adjectives118 ancient compounds216 boundary42, 81, 125 determinative compounds114 dvandva114, 124, 186, 215, 216, 236, 247, 249 extra-long compounds222, 223, 226 gemination as compounding mark73, 115 hybrid14, 15, 70, 116, 214 lexicalization33, 115, 194, 216, 240 Page 5 of 39
Index
long compounds117, 122, 123, 124, 125, 1267, 185, 2201 []802, 85 neo-classical20 numeral23, 71, 734, 119, 186, 216, 217, 2418 of Western origin16, 23, 99, 116 [p] and [h] in compounds712, 77 personal names120, 154, 15960 Right Branch Condition11819 short compounds117, 122, 123, 1267, 217 Sino-Japanese17, 30, 31, 33, 61, 70, 73, 801, 217, 23740 transparent77, 216 truncation171, 172 verbs93, 113, 114, 1189, 122, 240 vowel alternation as compounding mark27, 91 Yamato41, 734, 86, 115, 118, 216, 219, 236, 239 Coyaud, Maurice239 Creissels, Denis260, 261 (n 21) culminative function130, 179, 185, 259, 260 Cutler, Anne146, 150 CV /Q/ alternation20, 28, 30, 32, 137 /d/623, 65, 97, 107, 112; frequency 99101; see also voiced obstruents Daigenkai263, 264 dakuon ##102; see also voicing dakuten ##10, 72, 108, 109, 11011, 131; see also voicing Daniels, F. J.60 Davis, Stuart165 (n 16) days of the week51 days of the month in -ka243
Page 6 of 39
Index
de Chne, Brent96 de-accentuation1589, 184, 1856, 219, 244; see also accent deletion; accent loss default accent155, 157, 174, 181, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 207 deficient mora16270, 176; see also NADM principle; special segments; *F[m accentuation160, 1889, 2012, 204, 20513, 217, 221, 253 and epenthetic vowels29 final in Sino-Japanese and Western short morphemes2278 foot structure1724 initial dissimilation1545, 180 (n 3), 191 degenerate foot126, 160, 171 deictic49, 50, 96, 214 delabialization92 demarcative function130, 1545, 180, 185, 251, 259 devoicing (of vowel)28, 29, 32, 349, 104, 136, 1634, 240, 258 dialects4, 5, 6, 10, 40, 54, 65, 66, 67, 68, 78, 92, 95, 98, 112, 140, 259, 261, 265, 266; see also Ryky accent systems2518 (p. 289 ) Amami27 central dialects262 dialectal vowel systems267 Eastern dialects4, 261 Ibuki255, 256, 257, 261 Izu54, 142, 157, 169 Kagoshima65, 142, 251, 252, 255, 256 Kansai4, 52, 69, 76 (n 7), 77, 142, 263 Kant34, 69, 261 Kumamoto255 Kysh34, 40, 65, 88, 91, 142, 185, 251, 252 Miakejima27 Miyako-no-j251, 255, 256, 257 Page 7 of 39
Index
Niigata27 Nbi27 Oita256 peripheral dialects262 Sendai27, 252, 255, 257, 261 Shikoku65, 107, 256 Shizukuishi255 Thku65, 75, 91, 107, 142, 185 Western dialects4, 76 Yonaguni27 diminutives43, 90; see also hypocoristics diphthongs42, 44, 536, 161 dissimilation119, 120, 121; see also initial dissimilation Dommergues, Jean-Yves147 double vowel447; see also diphthong; /R/ dvandva compounds114, 124, 186, 215, 216, 236, 247, 249 /e/17, 25, 278, 30, 34, 44, 66, 88, 89, 93; frequency 578 long /e/40, 48, 53, 132 /ei/;see /e/ (long /e/) empty onset46b (n 6), 162, 165, 166, 168, 169; see also onsetless vowel empty position163, 165, 169; see also empty onset; onsetless vowel. English; see also wasei eigo, Japenglish; loanwords clipping184 diphthongs55 palatalization of velars in loans634, 89 phonic adaptation61, 98, 138 stress131, 178, 215, 258, 259 stuttering167 syllable147, 151, 155, 156, 157, 165 (n)
Page 8 of 39
Index
epenthetic consonant94, 96 epenthetic glide41 epenthetic vowel2834, 1626, 16970, 176, 205, 206, 239 and accent188, 202, 204, 2089, 210, 213 (n 10) Everett, Daniel165 Everett, Karen165 expressive (connotation; words)1314, 55, 6062, 67, 68, 70, 79, 80, 90, 102, 135, 137, 138; see also diminutives; hypocoristics; slang /f/, [f]69, 97, 98, 99 Faber, Alice36 final accent;see accent (final) focus180 (n 3), 250 (n 17) foot1706; see also NADM principle and accent188, 223, 239 degenerate126, 160, 171 monomoraic foot126, 160 in OT accounts2059, 213, 224, 227, 228, 235 and rendaku126 structure142, 143 and syllable / mora150, 151, 153, 160 and vowel devoicing37 and vowel sonority37, 216 formal Sino-Japanese14 Frauenfelder, Ulrich147 Frellesvig, Bjarke137 French33, 55, 63, 147, 184, 261 Canadian French30 loans13, 20, 138, 204 Fujitani, Nariakira262 Fujiura, Yayoi217 (n 11), 219
Page 9 of 39
Index
Fukuda, Shinji114 Fukuda, Suzy114 full mora109, 168, 172, 173, 174, 176, 180 (n 3) /g/634, 7887; see also []; voiced obstruents frequency99101 gw91, 92 palatalization88, 89 prenasalization107, 112 ga-gy bion ####78; see also velar nasal gaikokugo ###14, 21, 23 gairaigo ###13, 14, 15, 16, 202, 23, 27, 61; see also loanwords gemination; see /Q/ German2, 20, 98 Germanic55 giseigo ###13; see also ideophones; mimetics gitaigo ###13; see also idophones; mimetics glottal stop45, 54, 136 go reading1819 gojonzu ####9 Goldsmith, John3, 189, 260, 261 Golston, Chris152 goon ##1819 gon ##267 goro awase106 gyon###91 Grootaers, Willem A.265 /h/17, 25, 28, 38, 59 allophone [F]98 and /b/60, 73
Page 10 of 39
Index
frequency99101 and gemination70, 68 (n), 136 and /N/133, 134 neutralization with /s/64 (p. 290 ) and /p/602, 68 (n), 72, 92, 136 and palatalization88 /H/ (phonological notation of vowel length)44; see also /R/ Hagge, Claude92 ha-gy tenkoon #####75; see also /h/ haiku17, 145 haku #132, 133, 142, 143, 144; see also mora haku hgen ###142 Halle, Morris3, 7, 140, 162 (n 13) Hamada, Atsushi1, 41, 45, 49, 50, 66, 68, 75, 105, 108, 110, 133, 137, 140 Hamano, Shoko61, 76, 8990, 94, 140, 157 handakuten ###10, 73; see also /p/ haneru oto ####132; see also mora nasal haplology107 Haraguchi, Shsuke1, 146, 149, 154, 158, 180 (n 3), 183, 18990, 191, 253 (n 19) Hashimoto, Mantar54 Hashimoto, Shinkichi1, 6, 26, 75, 133 Hatano, Giy150 hatsuon ##132; see also /N/ Hattori, Shir1, 3, 6, 26, 45, 46 (n 6), 68, 132 (n), 143, 154, 180 (n 3), 256, 2645 Haudricourt, Andr92 Hayashi, Chikafumi17, 19, 76, 238 Hayashi, Ooki15, 101, 141, 184 Hayata, Teruhiro52, 107, 266
Page 11 of 39
Index
Hayes, Bruce2, 149, 170 (n) heiban-shiki ###, heiban-gata ###179; see also atonic Hepburn transcription65, 67, 88, 98, 153 hiatus16, 45, 47 Hibiya, Junko78, 80, 81 hierarchy between two components124 of constraints825, 127, 168, 169, 174, 206, 2078, 212, 224, 226, 229, 234 of moras16970, 173 prosodic hierarchy143, 173, 174175, 191, 248 Higurashi, Yoshiko148, 157, 193, 216, 251 hihaku hgen ####142 hiku oto ###132; see also /R/ hiragana ###815, 40, 44, 108, 109, 113 Hiraide, Takashi114 (n), 124 Hirano, Takanori114 Hirayama, Teruo142, 2645 Hoffmann, J. J.66, 76 (n) Homma, Yayoi150 hondaku ##110 Howland, Douglas264 Hyman, Larry3, 148 (n 7), 149, 156, 161, 163 (n 14), 176 (n), 260, 261, 262 hyjungo ###4 hybrid compounds14, 15, 70, 116, 214 hypocoristics49, 171; see also diminutives /i/25, 28 alternation i / o27 consonant allophonies induced by /i/59, 62 (n), 63, 6566, 69, 76 (n), 92, 151 devoicing3439
Page 12 of 39
Index
in diphthongs44 duration151 frequency5758 impossibility of *yi88 insertion and deletion2834 moraic /i/55, 132, 139, 140, 143, 144, 146, 147, 152, 153, 154, 155, 157, 200, 206 palatalization induced by /i/89 prosodic shortening48 in Sino-Japanese morphemes25, 28 Idemaru, Kaori150 ideophones13, 51, 136, 214; see also mimetics Imada, Shigeko38, 133 Imae, Kuniharu101, 141 Indonesian261 initial dissimilation1545, 180, 181, 1856, 249, 253 Inoue, Fumio78, 87, 97, 107 interjection10, 49, 51, 135, 136, 138 (n) intermediate phrase;see major phonological phrase interrogative49, 51, 74, 214 inversion (accent -)240, 259 Irwin, Mark117, 128 Italian98, 155, 261 It, Junko1, 15, 234, 30, 31, 33, 52, 61, 815, 90, 94, 956, 102, 121, 124, 125, 126, 127 8, 129, 140, 175, 235 Japanese; see also dialects Ancient5, 61, 62 (n), 99, 140 Archaic4, 5, 26, 27, 42, 578, 62, 75, 76, 77, 88, 91, 93, 96, 99100, 107, 108, 166, 257, 261 Old4, 5, 16, 26, 42, 44, 93, 96, 107 Middle5, 42, 62 (n), 107 Page 13 of 39
Index
Proto27, 75, 94, 251, 256 Japenglish22 Jesuits66, 77 (n 9), 107; see also missionaries jiamari ###165 Jidai Betsu Kokugo Daijiten100 Jinb, Kaku2645 jiritsu haku ###133, 144; see also full mora Jo Hakutar54, 132, 140 jboin ###53; see also diphthong; double vowel jukugo ##17; see also compounds (Sino-Japanese) /k/18, 30, 334, 634, 75, 812, 889, 912, 133; frequency99101 Kager, Ren3, 163 (n 14) Kageyama Tar52 kaion ##267 kakekotoba1056 Kamei, Takashi1, 66, 80, 85, 130 kan'on ##1819 kan'yon ###19, 42 (p. 291 ) kana ##2, 5, 812, 15, 33, 39 (n), 40, 44, 47, 51, 52, 65, 66, 72, 73, 75, 78, 978, 101, 108; 109, 135, 136, 140, 144, 145, 146; see also hiragana; katakana kanbun110, 111 kango ##1316, 1720, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 186, 189; see also Sino-Japanese kanji ##2, 5, 8, 9, 1113, 15, 17, 18, 23 Kano, Yoshimitsu42 Karlgren, Bernhard42 Katada, Fusa146 katakana ###813, 15, 21, 23, 97, 108, 109, 264; see also kana Katayama, Motoko203
Page 14 of 39
Index
Kawagoe, Itsue68 (n) Kawahara, Shigeto24, 104, 106, 136 Kawakami, Shin53, 192, 265 Keich262 keihan-shiki akusento########251; see also dialects Kelly, Michael H.165 (n) Kenstowicz, Michael3, 170 (n) Kess, Joseph7, 9 kihuku-shiki akusento ########179 Kindaichi, Haruhiko1, 3, 6, 7, 44, 45, 46, 68, 78, 81, 85, 867, 121, 143, 155, 157, 215, 216, 2389, 240, 243, 253, 256, 262, 2645 kinship terms49 Kiritani, Shigeru207 Kishida, Takeo95, 103, 137 Kitazawa, Shigeyoshi172 k boin ###26 Kobayashi, Akemi66 Kochetov, Alexei89 Kojiki108, 109, 111, 262 Kokugo Gakkai ####110 kokugogaku ###1, 177 Kokuritsu Kokugo Kenkyjo ####### (KKK)78 (n 11), 15, 48, 100 Komatsu, Hideo52, 76, 103, 125, 130, 137, 140, 265 Kondo, Mariko38, 39 konshugo ###14; see also hybrid compounds Koori, Shir251 Korean4, 14, 20, 21, 22, 75, 108 Korean materials5, 107, 111
Page 15 of 39
Index
Kubozono, Haruo1, 29, 31, 33, 50, 52, 61, 114, 120, 124, 126, 146 (n 5), 147, 149, 151, 153, 1578, 15960, 165, 167, 171, 175, 181, 184, 186, 197, 198 (n), 2014, 207, 210 (n), 213 (n), 216, 217, 21920, 2224, 2269, 231, 232, 235, 236, 251, 266 Kuginuki, Tooru93, 94 Kurematsu, Akira92 Kurisu, Kazutaka31, 127 Kuroda, Toshiyuki94, 140 kytsgo ###4 Labrune, Laurence7, 48, 76, 93, 94, 95, 96, 110, 111, 130, 131, 154, 172, 173, 175, 177, 185, 260 Latin20, 29, 55, 148 (n) Latin alphabet;see rma-ji Lawrence, Wayne70 Lee, Hyun Bok92 lenition767, 91, 137, 138, 174 loanwords;see also gairaigo, and relevant language entries accent1558, 164, 174, 181, 184, 185, 186, 188, 20114, 216, 217, 219, 221, 2279, 239, 241, 242, 2478, 257, 266 deficient moras202 geminates68 (n), 95, 104, 136 long vowels41 mimetics13 (n) neutralization of i and u28 new sound combinations59, 62, 63, 69, 90, 979 prosodic shortening48 prosodic structure24, 172 in the overall lexicon1417, 202, 264 /p/61 palatalization44, 67, 89 /r/95
Page 16 of 39
Index
transition glide53 voicing106, 1115116, 119, 129, 136 vowel epenthesis289 long vowel;see /R/ Loveday, Leo16, 20 Lowenstamm, Jean167 Lyman, Benjamin114 Lyman's law119, 120, 121, 127, 130 /m/778, 87, 92 112, 1334; frequency99101 Mabuchi, Kazuo25, 66 Maddieson, Ian26, 151, 259 Maekawa, Kikuo34, 47, 48 Mas, Hubert7 major phonological phrase175, 242, 248, 249, 250, 251 man'ygana ####5, 8, 109110 Man'ysh ###99, 109, 165 Martin, Samuel E.4, 7, 33, 52, 75, 76, 113, 122, 158 Mase, Yoshio257 Matsumori, Akiko257 Matsumoto, Katsumi26 Matsuzaki, Hiroshi81 McCarthy, John84, 94 McCawley, James1, 7, 31, 33, 61, 712, 148, 1567, 175, 197 (n), 216, 218, 251, 253 (n 19) Mehler, Jacques146, 147 Meikai Nihongo Akusento Jiten143, 155, 215, 216, 238, 239, 240, 243, 265 Mester, Armin1, 15, 234, 30, 31, 33, 61, 815, 90, 94, 956, 102, 121, 124, 125, 126, 127 8, 129, 175, 235 Middle Japanese5, 42, 62 (n), 107
Page 17 of 39
Index
mimetics /e/27 /h/61, 62, 70, 73, 75 (p. 292 ) []79 /p/61, 62, 70, 73, 75 /r/9295 accent119 (n), 214, 216, 237, 247, 249 as a lexical class1314 ending in -ri104105, 138, 214 foot171 gemination945, 104, 136, 140, 157 palatalization88, 8990, 93, 94 prosodic lenghthening49, 51 pseudo mimetics119 (n) reduplicated80, 82, 84, 119, 124, 129, 237 voicing1034, 114 writing of mimetics10 minor phonological phrase175, 191, 192, 248, 249 missionaries26, 66, 76, 77 (n 9), 88, 90, 107, 109,148, 263 mixed compounds14, 15, 70, 116, 214 Miyake, Takeo158 Miyamoto, Tadao7, 9 Miyata, Kichi264 Mizutani, Osamu34, 41, 53, 85 mora8, 9, 44, 53, 91, 95, 120, 133, 14270, 175, 224; see also deficient mora; special mora; full mora mora and syllable54, 147170, 207, 224, 227, 259 mora nasal; see /N/ mra ons #####132; see also special segments; /N/; /Q/; /R/
Page 18 of 39
Index
Morais, Jos145 (n 3) Morishige, Satoshi26 Morita, Takeru130 Motoori, Norinaga262 mu-akusento ######251; see also accentless dialects museika ###34; see also devoicing (of vowel) /n/78, 87; frequency 99101 []64, 7887, 107 /N/ (mora nasal)59, 132135, 143, 147, 153, 171 alternation with other segments78, 95, 138, 140 and accent139, 1545, 156, 169, 218, 157, 188 as a deficient mora163, 176, 206 as a result of lenition78, 95, 138 before [dz]64 before /h/7071 before /p/60, 72 before /r/95 before voiceless consonants17, 24, 12830 frequency141 in Sino-Japanese morphemes18, 22 in the hierarchy of moras169 (n 17), 170 insertion of /N/95, 104, 105 nasalization of preceding vowel152 phonological structure72, 140, 1623 post nasal voicing128130 prosodic shortening48 syllabification135, 1523 words ending with /N/29 writing33, 135, 136, 140, 145 Page 19 of 39
Index
NADM principle138, 155, 159, 1689, 172, 1889, 200, 201, 217, 219 (n), 221, 228, 239, 242 Nakada, Norio17, 19, 238 (n) nakadaka-gata ###179 Nakai, Yukihito253 nasality, nasalization80, 81, 86, 105, 107, 111, 112, 1334, 140, 152, 162; see also prenasalization Nasu, Akio32 Nespor, Marina153 neutralization28, 59, 63, 65, 159 NHK (Nippon Hs Kykai)4, 34, 79, 80, 85, 174 (n), 216, 218, 245, 265 nigoriten ###10, 72, 108, 109, 11011, 131; see also voicing Nihonshoki108, 109, 111 nijboin ####53; see also diphthong, double vowel; /R/ Nishimura, Khei24 nissh ##138 Non Finality205, 206, 207, 2246, 227, 228, 229, 231, 234, 235 nucleus (of syllable or mora)47, 54, 56, 60, 149, 150 (n), 1512, 1567, 1603, 167, 170, 206; see also accent nucleus numbers5152, 106; accent2418 numeral23, 52 (n 9), 734, 80, 196, 249 arabic8, 9, 12, 13 compounds23, 71, 734, 119, 186, 216, 217, 2418 Sino-Japanese2458 Yamato243(6 nyb kotoba ####1712 /o/2527, 48, 143 after y889 after w92 as epenthetic vowel29 Page 20 of 39
Index
devoicing345 frequency578 OCP (obligatory contour principle)224, 228 odaka-gata ###179; see also final accent Odden, David259, 260 Ogasawara, Naomi39 Ogawa, Shinji239 Ohnishi, Masayuki92 Ohno, Kazutoshi106, 110, 114, 117 Okumura, Mitsuo73, 122, 123 Old Japanese4, 5, 16, 26, 42, 44, 93, 96, 107 onbin ##5, 42, 137 (n) onch##264 Ono, Hajime24 no, Susumu99 onomatope #####13 (n 6); see also onomatopoeia; mimetics onomatopoeia13, 51, 136, 214; see also mimetics (p. 293 ) onset optimization135, 152 onsetless vowel16, 38, 53 (n 11), 55, 100, 144, 1625, 165, 169, 170, 173, 174, 189; see also empty onset onsetsu ##143; see also syllable Ootsubo, Kazuo34, 41, 53, 85 Optimality Theory1, 3, 4, 38, 8285, 96, 107, 1278, 130 (n), 148, 168, 198 (n), 20214, 22235 orthography7, 41, 51, 61, 99, 108, 110, 131; see also writing system Ota, Mitsuhiko15, 23, 129, 173 Otake, Takashi146, 150 otsu boin ###26 Otsu, Yukio11718
Page 21 of 39
Index
oxytonic;see final accent; odaka-gata /p/910, 1718, 20, 30, 6062, 68 (n), 7077, 75, 92, 106, 134, 135, 138; frequency 99101 Padgett, Jaye15, 129 palatalization8890, 143, 144, 171; see also /y/ affective palatalization67 (n), 89 alternation between CyV and CV68 and /e/27, 67 and /u/25 as phonaestheme89 diachronic development44, 53, 89 frequency101 in kango17, 18, 22 of /k/, /g/634 of /n/78 of /r/90, 92, 945 phonological representation56 scarcity17 in writing10, 146 Peak Prominence168, 228 periodization45 phonaestheme89 phonemization69, 87, 978 phonological phrase;see major phonological phrase; minor phonological phrase phonologization69, 87, 978 phrase;see major phonological phrase; minor phonological phrase Pierrehumbert, Janet1756, 183, 1903, 248, 251, 253 (n 19), 265 Piggott, Glyne111 place names;see toponyms Portuguese14, 20, 23, 29, 44, 61, 66, 80, 116 Page 22 of 39
Index
Poser, William50, 94, 153, 171, 176, 192, 197, 216, 251 prefix50, 94, 153, 171, 175, 180, 192, 197, 216, 251 prenasalization65, 66, 87, 945, 104, 1078, 111, 112; see also nasality Prince, Alan3, 84, 94, 152, 168 prosodic hierarchy143, 173, 174175, 191, 248 prosodic lengthening41, 43, 47, 4952, 53, 253 Prosodic Word82, 1267, 142, 1745, 180, 193, 206, 236, 242, 248, 251 Proto-Japanese27, 75, 94, 251, 256 /Q/59, 132, 1357, 143, 147, 171 and accent1545, 157, 253 alternation with /N/140 as a deficient mora163, 176, 206 before /h/70, 72, 68 (n) before /p/60, 61, 62, 70, 72 before /r/17, 945 before /s/38, 68, 72 CV /Q/ alternation20, 28, 30, 32, 137 frequency141 in gairaigo21, 238 in the hierarchy of moras169 (n 17), 170, 176 insertion of /Q/1045 phonological structure72, 1401, 1623 in Sino-Japanese morphemes1718, 22, 30, 32, 33, 70, 239 in super heavy syllables150 (n) and voicing17, 73, 1045, 111, 115 and vowel devoicing38, 39 vowel length before /Q/1501 writing11, 33, 140, 145, 146 (n 4) /r/9396, 1356; frequency99101 Page 23 of 39
Index
/R/ (vowel length)447, 1323, 137, 143, see also diphthong; double vowel and accent139, 1545, 157, 200 alternation with other special segments140 as a deficient mora162, 163, 164, 166, 169 Ramsey, Robert256, 262 reduplication77 and accent237 and rendaku118, 119, 124, 129 and velar nasal7980, 82, 845 in baby talk50, 119 (n 6) in kinship terms49 of verb base51, 52, 171 regular mora;see full mora rendaku ##110, 11230 and /h/60, 73 and foot174 and gemination73 and lexical strata13, 23 of /k/ and /g/80, 812, 85, 86 renj ##13 (n) rhyme (rime)14951 Rice, Keren12930 Right Branch Condition11819 Rodriguez, Joo109, 148 (n 6), 263 rma-ji ####8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 21, 107, 108, 109 Rosen, Eric115, 117, 118, 1213, 1247, 128 Russian20, 131, 258, 259 Ryky, Ryukyuan4, 27, 75, 92 /s/28, 38, 646, 68, 69, 90; frequency 99101 Sagisaka, Yoshinori92, 151 Page 24 of 39
Index
(p. 294 ) Sait, Yoshio54, 98, 133 Sakuma, Kanae183, 264, 265 Sanskrit14, 22, 111 Sat, Hirokazu120, 121, 215, 216, 257 Sat, Ryichi142 Scheer, Tobias167 Schourup, Lawrence95, 106 secret language52, 146, 1712 Seeley, Christopher8, 109 Segui, Juan147 sei, sh, koe #2623 Selkirk, Elisabeth175 Serbo-croatian261 Shibatani, Masayoshi72, 256 Shimizu Han, Mieko25, 40 shindaku ##110, 116 Shinohara, Shigeko173, 2047, 216, 220 shiritori146 Shirose, Ayako207 Shoji, Atsuko39 Sibata, Ritei181 Sibata, Takeshi181, 185, 186, 253 (n), 2645 Sino-Japanese1720 /e/40, 41 /p/60, 61, 70, 71, 72, 75 accent184, 185, 186, 199201, 217, 2278, 242 as a lexical stratum13, 14, 15, 17, 21, 23, 24, 27, 41, 216, 257 compounds17, 30, 31, 33, 61, 70, 73, 801, 217, 23740 CV /Q/ alternation2834, 137, 138 Page 25 of 39
Index
fixed compounds217, 23740 formal Sino-Japanese14 glides91, 98 introduction of, 5 long vowels41 (n), 423, 47, 52 numbers51, 106 numerals241, 242, 2458 Old Sino-Japanese30 one-character words2001, 2278 palatalization88, 89 post nasal voicing129 prosodic shortening48 reading12, 15, 1819, 23 reduplicated80, 237 rendaku115, 116, 119, 128 sequences of two vowels53 specifiers244, 245, 246 velar nasal80, 81, 86 verbs in suru199 vulgarized Sino-Japanese14, 115 Sino-Korean20, 75 slang10, 13, 52, 72, 103 slips of the tongue147, 153 Smith, Jennifer127, 197198 (n) Smolensky, Paul3, 84, 94, 152, 168 sokuon ##132; see also /Q/ sonority101, 170, 172, 216, 2212 Spanish76, 98, 258
Page 26 of 39
Index
special mora132141, 146, 155, 156, 157, 159, 164, 202, 210; see also deficient mora; mora; special segment special segment44, 104, 13241, 180, 188, 200, 210, 217; see also /N/; /Q/; /R/; deficient mora; special mora specifier73, 119, 2418; see also numerals speech errors147, 153 strengthening72, 90, 104, 137, 138 strict layer hypothesis153 stuttering167 Sugit, Miyoko120, 183 Sukegawa, Yasuhiko47, 48 Suzuki, Takao7 Swahili261 (n) Swedish261 syllabary5, 8, 10, 78, 113, 135, 145 (n); see also kana; writing system; orthography syllable142, 14767, 189, 2025, 207; see also mora and syllable and accent180 (n 3), 259 adaptation of syllabic structure in loanwords98 in Archaic Japanese53 (n) closed syllable33, 39 in Chinese137, 138, 266 in dialects257 and foot171, 172, 173 Hattori Shir143 (n) and rendaku126 in Sino-Japanese words239 Non Finality2246 onsetless545 syllable-based dialects142, 257 weight55, 126, 133, 140, 146, 14767, 172, 210 (n), 213, 226, 2278, 230 Page 27 of 39
Index
writing8 (n 2), 10, 145 (n 3) /t/18, 30, 39, 60, 623, 67, 68, 88, 90, 98, 112, 134, 135, 151; frequency99101 Takayama Michiaki114 Takayama Tomoaki14, 23, 41, 53, 76, 115, 116, 159 Takeuchi, Lone48, 124 (n 11), 125, 238 Tamori, Ikuhiro95 Tanaka Shinichi (##)55 (n), 145, 170 (n 17, 18), 171, 172, 180 (n 3), 185, 203, 204, 213 (n), 216, 220, 2212, 239 Tanaka Shin-ichi (##)31, 37 tanka17, 165 Tanomura, Tadaharu203, 213 (n) Tateishi, Kichi30, 175 Terao, Yasushi149, 153 Td, Akiyasu19, 42 Toki, Satoshi172 Tokugawa, Munemasa256 tokushu haku ###132, 133, 144; see also special segments; deficient mora tokushu onso ####132; see also special segments; deficient mora (p. 295 ) tky-shiki akusento ########251; see also dialects tone110, 130, 179, 18993, 248, 251, 25866; of Chinese138, 178, 238 (n), 263 tone-bearing unit4, 189, 193 Tonga261 ton ##19 Topintzi, Nina 165 (n) toponyms154, 157, 174, 196, 2025, 20813 tson ###19 Trubetzkoy, Nicolas148, 161 truncation21, 48, 52, 153, 1712, 184, 214
Page 28 of 39
Index
Tsuchida, Ayako38 Tsuchiya, Shin'ichi15 Tsukishima, Hiroshi110 Tsuzuki, Masaki92 tsumaru oto ####132; see also /Q/ /u/256, 2839 after /h/75, 76 after /t/62 (n) after /w/89 after /y/56 as glide90 deaccentuation55 (n) epenthetic204 frequency578 length48 neutralization of /d/ and /z/ before /u/65 slightly rounded92 Ueda, Kazutoshi75 Uehara, Satoshi47, 48 Ujihira, Akira167 unaccented; see atonic utterance1756, 181, 1912, 248, 251 Uwano, Zend54, 146, 156, 157, 158, 159, 183, 184, 215, 216, 254, 255, 258, 266 Vance, Timothy67, 18, 19, 31, 32, 33, 36, 38, 77, 81, 114, 118, 120, 122, 123, 128, 135 (n), 140, 150, 157, 158, 159, 180 (n3), 183 van der Hulst, Harry152 velar nasal; see Venditti, Jennifer175, 251 voiced obstruents49, 60, 10231; see also post-nasal voicing; rendaku; dakuon; dakuten distribution1617, 22, 1024 Page 29 of 39
Index
frequency100 non gemination18, 32, 1045, 136 prenasalization65, 87, 945, 107, 152 (n 10) writing10, 72, 10811 Vogel, Irene153 vowel devoicing; see devoicing (of vowel) vowel harmony17 vowel length; see /R/ vulgarized Sino-Japanese14, 115 /w/9092, 133, 135, 136 frequency99100 h # w evolution69, 767 lenition41 phonotactics88, 89 in recent loanwords97 Wada, Minoru257 wago ##1324, 239; see also Yamato stratum Warner, Natasha39, 143, 180, 183 wasei eigo ####21; see also loanwords wasei kango ####20 wasei ygo####21; see also loanwords Wenck, Gnther7, 50, 103 Western borrowings;see gairaigo; loanwords writing system713; see also kanji; hiragana; katakana; orthography; syllabary and lexical strata15, 22 development5 diphthongs44 four kana merging65, 67 loanwords98
Page 30 of 39
Index
mora145 of /Q/135 of p,b,h73 relation with phonology54, 145 (n 3) voicing723, 10811, 131 vowel length40, 51 /y/8890; see also palatalization *yi, *ye56, 91 /N/ before /y/133, 135 and rendaku112, 120 consonant allophones before /y/62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 69, 78 frequency99101 in recent loanwords978 non gemination136 Yamada, Bimy264 Yamaguchi, Yoshinori107, 114, 119, 125, 130 Yamaguchi, Yukihiro256, 261 Yamane (Yamane-Tanaka), Noriko31, 107 Yamato stratum1317, 224; see also wago []86 [tsa]68 *[ti], *[di]62, 63 *[sye]67 /a:/412 /e/, /e:/, /ei/27, 40 /h/, /p/, /pp/61, 61, 68, 69, 702, 73, 75, 77 /r/93, 95 s / sh alternation68 accent184, 185, 186, 187, 1936, 200, 216, 217, 219, 257
Page 31 of 39
Index
acronyms21 compounds41, 734, 86, 115, 118, 216, 219, 236, 239 frequency of consonants99100 frequency of vowels57 long vowels413, 47, 49, 52 numerals51, 52, 241, 2435, 2478 palatalization89 (p. 296 ) pseudo Yamato words19, 22, 116 sequences of two vowels534 voiced obstruents1024, 111, 125, 1289 vowel deletions34, 137, 166 Yanagida, Seiji50 (n 8), 103 Yanagita, Kunio262 Yasuda, Naomichi26 /ye/56, 67, 77, 88, 91, 97, 98 Yip, Moira260 Yokotani, Teruo37, 170 (n) yon ##57, 88, 143; see also /y/; palatalization Yoruba258 Yosa Buson145 Yoshida, Kanehiko93 Yoshida, Natsuya38 Yoshida, Shohei150 (n) yotsugana no kond #######65 Yuzawa, Tadayuki81 /z/25, 28, 59, 63, 645, 67, 88, 104, 107, 1344; frequency99101; see also voiced obstruents zero consonant46 (n), 93, 100, 132 (n); see also onsetless vowel Zoll, Cheryl127 Page 32 of 39
Index
zja-go #####52, 171 zz-ben65; see also dialects
Notes:
(7) Japanese baby words are characterized by the following prosodic patterns, all with initial accent on the first mora of the stem: MmM (HL in syllabic terms), for instance onbu piggyback, nenne sleep, anyo walk. MmMm (HH in syllabic terms), as in oppai breast, haihai crawl, ponpon belly. Finally, a few forms are made by reduplication of a monomoraic stem and oprefixation, for instance o-tete hand, o-meme eye. (4.) However, the words katakana and hiragana also differ accentually. Katakana is always tonic, with penultimate or antepenultimate accent (katakana,katakana), while hiragana is tonic with final or penultimate accent, or atonic (hiragana,hiragana or hiragana). (4) The lexemes tomodachi,kudamono,mizuumi, koomori, and imouto in Table 7.2 are actually compounds from the point of view of etymology. However, they are no longer perceived as such by modern speakers, which is why they are cited here. Most Yamato words longer than three moras are actually etymologically compound words. (4) The adverb yahari is a mimetic which contains an intervocalic [h] root internally and is, as such, exceptional. It is sometimes considered to be etymologically a compound of ya arrow and hari tense (###). (2) A few sporadic occurrences of the she /sye/ combination are encountered in Yamato words, but they are all free variants of se, for instance misete / mishete show me!. This alternation must probably be interpreted as dialectal, or as an example of affective palatalization, see also p. 66. (3) This should be considered in parallel with the behaviour of the other Japanese fricative /h/, after /Q/. /h/ automatically becomes /p/ in cases of gemination in Yamato and Sino-Japanese words. Voiceless fricatives thus seem to resist gemination, and they tend to be transformed into occlusives when preceded by the gemination segment /Q/. One can thus posit a
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correspondence /Qs/ = [tss] ~ /Qh/ = [pp], which would be attributed to a fortition process. Note also that even in Western loanwords, /h/ and /s/ undergo gemination (as [hh] and [ss]) less often than the other consonants (Kawagoe and Arai, 2002). (23.) But note that a small number of scholars have questioned the universality of the syllable, for instance Kohler (1966), Hyman (2003 [1985]), and Auer (1994). Hyman (2003 [1985]) claims that the syllable is not a universal constituent but a language-particular construct built out of weight units (which correspond to moras). According to him, some languages simply do not construct syllables. See Labrune (2012), for a more developed discussion. (19) For descriptions and analyses of accent of the Kyto and saka dialects, see Kindaichi (1974, 1977), McCawley (1977), Haraguchi (1977, 1999), Pierrehumbert and Beckman (1988), Nakai (2001, 2002), Sibata (1955). Nakai (2001, 2003) provides a presentation of the historical evolution of the Kyto accent from the Heian period up until the present day which is both allembracing and well documented. (5.) Kubozono (1993a) studies the case of a child aged 4 years and 9 months who knows how to play shiritori, but ignores the special moras which occur word-finally. Instead, she utters a word beginning with the penultimate mora. For instance, she produces cha-iro after rika-chan,takoyaki after bataa, or kemushi after tokei. Obviously, special moras pose a problem for very young children. It is noteworthy that the child studied by Kubozono does not use the final (special) mora of the words which are submitted to her but the last full mora, totally ignoring the special mora. Had she uttered chanpon after rikachan, taa-chan after bataa, or keiretsu after tokei we would have had strong evidence that this child language is syllable-based, but it is not the case. (3.) It is legitimate to question the relationship between the writing system and the phonological system in Japanese, and to consider the extent to which the two systems influence each other. Thus one might wonder for example if it is because they are written by means of autonomous and specific graphic units that the mora nasal, or the first part of a geminate, are treated as one unit in the phonological system, or is it the other way round: is it because each corresponds to an autonomous phonological unit, the mora, that they possess a specific and autonomous graphic sign? In other words, is it phonology which conditions writing, or writing which conditions phonology?
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My position is that it is the phonological structure of the Japanese language which has determined the kana graphic system and its viability. The kana system is derived from Chinese characters. Had it evolved in accordance with the logic and spirit of the Chinese graphic system, it would have produced a true syllabary in Japanese, i.e. a system which uses one graphic sign (and not two as is currently the case) to transcribe a heavy syllable such as kan,sou, or kai. In Chinese, where morphemes are monosyllabic, any syllable, be it heavy or light, occupies one graphic virtual box. This is not how things work in Japanese, however: each kana sign transcribes one mora in one graphic virtual box, not one syllable. This evolution was by no means induced by the Chinese graphic system, so one can reasonably assume that if Japanese has followed the path of the mora, it is because of its phonological structure, not the reverse. This does not mean that the graphic system could not, in return, contribute to consolidating and to establishing more firmly the phonological representation of Japanese as a mora language, in the same manner as the use of the alphabet, based on the phoneme, unquestionably contributes to the development of a phonemic conscience in literate speakers (Morais, 1994). (13.) The feature [consonant] is defined here following Chomsky and Halle (1968). It indicates a sound which is produced with a radical obstruction in the mid-sagittal area of the vocal tract. (21) Such linguistic continuity is reminiscent of what one encounters in the Bantu area. Creissels (1994) notes that the Eastern Bantu languages offer particularly rich material for the study of the various stages of evolution of a tonal prosodic system towards an accent system, as is illustrated by the Swahili case, a language in which the position of the word accent is phonologically predictable. Clements and Goldsmith (1984:13) make a similar remark concerning the typological variety found throughout the Bantu area. (16.) A small number of languages, including English, in which the structure of the onset is argued to be prosodically relevant have been reported (see Kelly, 2004, Davis, 1988, Everett, and Everett, 1984). See also Topintzi (2010) for an extensive study. (3) Following the common practice of autosegmental phonology, Haraguchi uses a star to denote the vowels carrying the accent. For convenience sake,
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we shall continue to mark the accented moras in bold characters, and to add the symbol to unaccented words. (7) It also seems that /h/ had remained a bilabial before /i/ until the nineteenth century in the Western dialects, according to the descriptions by Aston (1872) and Hoffmann (1868). (6) In contrast with Kindaichi, Hattori (1955, 1960, 1961) assumes the presence of a zero consonant // to distinguish long vowels resulting from the succession of two vowels separated by a morphological boundary (in our terminology, double vowels) from those which constitute intrinsically long vowels. According to him, the latter represents a succession of two vowels with no consonant inbetween. Hattori adopts the notation /VV/ for the former, and /VV/ for the latter, for example /suuri/ mathematical theory and /suuri/ vinegar seller. The zero consonant of Hattori can be reinterpreted as an empty onset. (10) But, whatever the analysis one adopts, some exceptions remain. If one puts aside, on the one hand, atonic words whose very existence constitutes a particularly problematic issue in Japanese phonology, and, on the other hand, lexemes which have kept in Japanese the original position of the accent in the source language (for example interijensu {intelligence}, kyanpeen {campaign}, dezain {design}, raiburarii {library}, etc.), it is also necessary to take into account a small number of forms which, to our knowledge, have remained unaccounted for. These forms are all trimoraic, and they comprise one or two deficient moras, like words of the type kurasu {class}, dorama {drama}, suriru {thrill}, kuran {clan}, with initial accent, which contrast with the type guree {grey}, huroa {floor}, sutaa {star}, purau {plow}, with penultimate accent (Kubozono, 1996; Tanomura, 1999; Tanaka, 2008). All these words share the common characteristic of starting with a mora containing an epenthetic vowel. However, the latter group, ending in a long vowel or a sequence of two different vowels, carries the accent on the penult, and is thus distinguished from the former group, which displays an antepenultimate accent. Such a difference shows that, as claimed in Chapter 6, all deficient moras should not be treated as equal, and that there exists a gradation in mora deficientness. Some moras are more deficient than others. Moreover, words such as sukin {skin}, supana {spanner}, superu {spell}, which begin with the /su/ sequence (/u/ is epenthetic) followed by a consonant other than /r/, all bear a penultimate accent, just as the words
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whose second mora consists of a single vowel: iesu {yes}, tsuin {twin}. I leave these issues open for future research. (17) Thus, in the statement (72d), focus on hana would prevent deletion of the word accent: haru-no hana-ga utsukushii SPRING FLOWERS are beautiful. (11) Kubozono and Fujiura (2004) have also shown that 96% of compounds with an atonic C1 are atonic, whereas only 61% are when the C1 is tonic. (7.) Of course, the fact that there does not exist any proof of the existence of an object is not enough to constitute the absolute certainty that this object does not exist. As Hyman (2003 [1985]) points out, it is of course logically impossible to prove that a language does not have syllables, since it may be the case that it has them but does not show obvious evidence of it. (9) It is interesting to note that in the words haha mother and hoho cheek the intervocalic fricative has first followed the general evolution rule h # w, as indicated by the Jesuit transcriptions faua for haha, and fou (# *howo) for hoho. However, a phonetic reversal has occurred and the modern forms have reverted to haha and hoho. (11) An electronic version of the maps of the Linguistic Atlas of Japan (Nihon Gengo Chizu) issued by the Kokuritsu Kokugo Kenkyjo (National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics) is available at: http://www6.ninjal.ac.jp/ laj%20map/04/01/. (17.) Tanaka (2008) also proposes that the special moras should be arranged along a hierarchy: /J/ # /R/ # /N/ # /Q/ because they do not have a uniform action with respect to accent location in certain categories of words. In particular, his study shows that /Q/ does not behave like the other three special moras. (9) 9 is pronounced kono in recitation. It is the only numeral which does not have a form with a long vowel. The long vowel in too 10 is etymological, and does not result from prosodic lengthening (towo # too). Moreover, in this series, 4, 5, and 7 also have the alternant forms yon,itsu, and nana. (6) A number of recent Japanese researchers sometimes use the term onomatope ##### {onomatope} (from French) as a cover term for the mimetic class of words. However, since onomatope originally refers only to words which are supposed to imitate a sound of the extra-linguistic world,
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the terms mimetic or ideophone seem more appropriate in the case of Japanese, because a large number of Japanese mimetic words are not sound imitation but rather express feelings, sensations, attitudes, visual states, and so on in an iconic manner. (11) The situation was very different in Nara Japanese, since the rhythmic units (syllables or moras) were all of the form V or CV. Onsetless vowels were not allowed except morphemeinitially. (4.) The rendering of the first part of the geminate p by tsu #can be explained by the kana spelling ####, since the letter that denotes the sound tsu is also used for the transcription of gemination. (6.) The exceptions which may come to mind are in fact non-ideophonic in origin, like kori-gori, kori-gori learning at ones cost, from koriru to learn by experience, taka-daka very high, from takai high. Such words also differ from true mimetics by the accent pattern. (6.) Actually, the first Western linguist to operate a distinction between long and short syllables in Kyto Japanese, on the model of Latin, is the Portuguese missionary Rodriguez, in his Arte da lingoa de Iapam published in 16041608. (2) As we will see in Chapter 6, syllabary is not a proper term, since kana denote moras rather than syllables. However, for the sake of convenience, I will use the term syllabary to refer to katakana and hiragana thoughout this book. (11.) Noteworthy enough, dvandva compounds do not follow the general compound accent rule either (see section 7.3.4), so it might be expected that identical semantic constraints account for the resistance to compound accent and to rendaku, as observed by Takeuchi (1999) based on Kubozono (1987). (10.) Moreover, in the speech of certain Tky conservative speakers, I have heard nasalized vowels before a voiced obstruent, for instance in kazu number uttered as [kdz], showing that vowel nasalization does not occur within the domain of the syllable, since it is not even questionable that the affricate [dz] may belong to the same syllable as the preceding /a/ in kazu. However, to my knowledge, this phenomenon has never been fully reported nor instrumentally verified for Tky Japanese, so I only mention it in passing.
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(8) According to Yanagida (1991), aa is first attested in texts of the end of the Edo period (nineteenth century), after kou and sou, while the first attestation of dou is older, dating back to 1527.
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The Phonology of Japanese

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The Phonology of Japanese