Is it true that all Japanese words end in a vowel when transliterated to English?


First off I know zero Japanese, so sorry if this is a stupid question. I seem
to remember hearing a while back that all Japanese words, when transliterated
to the Latin alphabet, will end in a vowel. From the few Japanese words/names
I've seen this seems possible.

Is there any truth to this? If true, does anyone know why that is?




(See the other answers for translate vs. transliterate.)

It's due to Japanese's syllable structure. English allows some spectacularly
complicated syllables ( _strengths_ being a good maximal example*), but
Japanese doesn't - its allowed syllable structure is (C)V(N/Q), where C is any
consonant, V is any vowel, N is the nasal ん (which can vary in pronunciation
depending on what follows it), and Q is the っ consonant-length-extension-
phoneme-thing (which can't occur unless it's before a consonant that can be
lengthened).

So you can have words that end in /N/, but most of the time you're going to
have a vowel. Primarily this is because almost without exception /N/ only
occurs in Chinese loanwords (though a few native Japanese words (especially
verb forms) have gained an /N/ since its introduction) - so most native words
end in vowels. Indeed, most native words will alternate between consonants and
vowels (partly due to Old Japanese not liking adjacent vowels - the most
common word shape by -far- is (C)VCV).

There are languages (e.g. most Polynesian ones) which cannot, under any
circumstances, have syllables that end in consonants. Japanese used to be that
way, but under the influence of Chinese, it has gained two syllable-final
consonant phonemes. So you will get words that end in /N/, but mostly words
will only end in vowels.

*(English's syllable structure works out to something like (s)(C)(L)V(N/L)(C)(s), where L is either l or r and N is any nasal (n, m, ng) - there are some further rules on which consonants can occur next to each other in certain positions (so trV is okay, but tlV isn't), but that description's mostly accurate. _Strengths_ is pretty much the biggest you can have.)




(See the other answers for translate vs. transliterate.)

It's due to Japanese's syllable structure. English allows some spectacularly
complicated syllables ( _strengths_ being a good maximal example*), but
Japanese doesn't - its allowed syllable structure is (C)V(N/Q), where C is any
consonant, V is any vowel, N is the nasal ん (which can vary in pronunciation
depending on what follows it), and Q is the っ consonant-length-extension-
phoneme-thing (which can't occur unless it's before a consonant that can be
lengthened).

So you can have words that end in /N/, but most of the time you're going to
have a vowel. Primarily this is because almost without exception /N/ only
occurs in Chinese loanwords (though a few native Japanese words (especially
verb forms) have gained an /N/ since its introduction) - so most native words
end in vowels. Indeed, most native words will alternate between consonants and
vowels (partly due to Old Japanese not liking adjacent vowels - the most
common word shape by -far- is (C)VCV).

There are languages (e.g. most Polynesian ones) which cannot, under any
circumstances, have syllables that end in consonants. Japanese used to be that
way, but under the influence of Chinese, it has gained two syllable-final
consonant phonemes. So you will get words that end in /N/, but mostly words
will only end in vowels.

*(English's syllable structure works out to something like (s)(C)(L)V(N/L)(C)(s), where L is either l or r and N is any nasal (n, m, ng) - there are some further rules on which consonants can occur next to each other in certain positions (so trV is okay, but tlV isn't), but that description's mostly accurate. _Strengths_ is pretty much the biggest you can have.)

