Basic Japanese

A Grammar and Workbook

Shoko Hamano, Takae Tsujioka

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780415498562
• eBook ISBN: 9781136956232
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Basic Japanese: A Grammar and Workbook comprises an accessible reference grammar and related exercises in a single volume.

This book presents 25 individual grammar points, covering the core material which students would expect to encounter in their first year of learning Japanese.

Divided into two parts, the first part outlines fundamental components of Japanese including the writing system, pronunciation, word order, particles and conjugation patterns, while the second part builds on this foundation by introducing basic grammatical patterns organised by the task they achieve. Grammar points are followed by contextualised examples and exercises which allow students to reinforce and consolidate their learning.

Key features include:

• clear, accessible format
• many useful language examples
• transliteration of all examples
• jargon-free explanations of grammar
• abundant exercises with full answer key
• subject index.

Basic Japanese is suitable both for class use and independent study making it an ideal grammar reference and practice resource for both beginners and students with some knowledge of the language.

Part 1 Basic building blocks

Unit 1 Pronunciation

DOI: 10.4324/9780203849569-1

Compared to some other world languages, Japanese has fewer sounds, and simpler sound combinations. However, to attain native-like pronunciation, you need to master not only individual sounds but also the rhythm. This unit summarizes some basic points concerning Japanese pronunciation.

Vowels and consonants

The Japanese language consists roughly of the following sounds.

Vowels:	/a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/
Consonants:	/k/, /s/, /t/, /n/, /h/, /m/, /y/, /r/, /w/, /g/, /z/, /d/, /b/, /p/

In general, Japanese vowels are similar to their Spanish or Italian counterparts. The following should give you a basic idea.

• /a/ is pronounced similar to “a” n “father” in American English
• /i/ is pronounced similar to “ee” in “feet” but shorter
• /u/ is pronounced similar to “oo” in “soon” without lip-rounding
• /e/ is pronounced similar to “e” in “bed”
• /o/ is pronounced similar to “o” in “old” but shorter

Most consonants are pronounced similarly to their English counterparts, but you will need to be careful with the following:

• /r/ is typically produced as a tap against the area behind the teeth

A consonant combines with one of the five vowels to produce short syllables, as in /ka/, /ki/, /ku/, /ke/, and /ko/. The possible combinations are presented below in the traditional order that mirrors the writing system. (See Unit 2 for more details.) Pay special attention to those highlighted in bold because they do not sound like the other syllables in the same column.

[Consonant + vowel combinations]

	k	s	t	n	h	m	y	r	w
a	ka	sa	ta	na	ha	ma	ya	ra	wa
i	ki	shi	chi	ni	hi	mi		ri
u	ku	su	tsu	nu	fu	mu	yu	ru
e	ke	se	te	ne	he	me		re
o	ko	so	to	no	ho	mo	yo	ro	o

	g	z	d	b	p
a	ga	za	da	ba	pa
i	gi	ji	ji	bi	pi
u	gu	zu	zu	bu	pu
e	ge	ze	de	be	pe
o	go	zo	do	bo	po

Each consonant can also be followed by a semi-vowel /y/ and a vowel, as in /kya/, /kyu/, and /kyo/.

[Consonant + /y/ + vowel combinations]

	ky-	sy-	ty-	ny-	hy-	my-	ry-
a	kya	sha	cha	nya	hya	mya	rya
u	kyu	shu	chu	nyu	hyu	myu	ryu
o	kyo	sho	cho...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table Of Contents
• Preface
• Part 1 Basic building blocks
• Part 2 Grammar by tasks
• Appendix A Sound patterns of counters
• Appendix B List of useful time words
• Key to exercises
• Glossary of grammatical terms
• Index