Mora in spoken language, and syllable


I was speaking with a friend of mine about Japanese, and we come up with a
doubt I found no clear answer to: as far as I know, morae are relevant in
everyday Japanese, and (at least on theory) each kana should take the same
time to be pronounced (small っ included).

On the other end, he (with a C2 in Japanese, and having worked in Japanese
translation) was saying that morae are something used to calculate rhythm in
classical poetry, but they are not relevant in the phonetics of spoken
language, and that when learning the language it's ok to think in syllables.

While I can understand why it's ok to think in syllables, if nothing else
because it's easier to understand for people native in languages without mora
but with syllable, this conflicts with my knowledge that morae do have
relevance in today spoken language as well; I found that morae and syllables
are different and counted as such
([here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/88747/is-%E5%AE%B5%E5%AE%AE-
considered-3-syllables-or-4-syllables) and
[here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/68904/what-constitutes-a-
syllable)), and the second answer does state that mora is "a rhythmic unit
[used to count] in Japanese poetry", but I didn't find anything about its
relevance in today speech, so I was wondering: are morae a concept relevant to
the phonetics of spoken language, or something just used for rhythm in
classical poetry?




Japanese kindergarteners cannot enjoy haiku yet, but I think most of them can
count "the number of sounds" in a word based on the mora system. See my answer
in this question: [Do native speakers think of prolonged vowels as one long
vowel, or two vowel sounds following each
other?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/30035/5010)

The mora system is important not only with classical poetry but also with
modern songs and wordplays
([example](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/30106/5010)). Articles [like
this](https://dic.nicovideo.jp/a/%E4%B8%83%E4%BA%94%E8%AA%BF%E3%81%AE%E8%A8%80%E8%91%89%E3%81%AE%E4%B8%80%E8%A6%A7)
have little to do with classical Japanese, but are based entirely on the mora
system. They don't need to explain how to count morae because everyone
understands it intuitively. Everyone thinks that the number of "sounds" in 東京,
大阪, 埼玉 and 神奈川 are all 4. On the other hand, I have never met a Japanese
speaker who counts the number of "sounds" based on (English-style) syllables,
and I still do not know how to do that properly.

Researches show that Japanese babies recognize morae even before they turn 1
year old: [Do native speakers learn consonant and vowel length easily, or is
it difficult?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/73355/5010)




Japanese kindergarteners cannot enjoy haiku yet, but I think most of them can
count "the number of sounds" in a word based on the mora system. See my answer
in this question: [Do native speakers think of prolonged vowels as one long
vowel, or two vowel sounds following each
other?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/30035/5010)

The mora system is important not only with classical poetry but also with
modern songs and wordplays
([example](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/30106/5010)). Articles [like
this](https://dic.nicovideo.jp/a/%E4%B8%83%E4%BA%94%E8%AA%BF%E3%81%AE%E8%A8%80%E8%91%89%E3%81%AE%E4%B8%80%E8%A6%A7)
have little to do with classical Japanese, but are based entirely on the mora
system. They don't need to explain how to count morae because everyone
understands it intuitively. Everyone thinks that the number of "sounds" in 東京,
大阪, 埼玉 and 神奈川 are all 4. On the other hand, I have never met a Japanese
speaker who counts the number of "sounds" based on (English-style) syllables,
and I still do not know how to do that properly.

Researches show that Japanese babies recognize morae even before they turn 1
year old: [Do native speakers learn consonant and vowel length easily, or is
it difficult?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/73355/5010)

