The nasal allophones of /g/


In this [this post's
comments](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/4708/why-does-the-g-
tends-to-sound-more-like-a-m-or-n?lq=1), Zhen Lin said that the rules
surrounding the nasal allophones in compound words are 'complicated', but
couldn't remember them. I'd like to know what these complex rules are.




Here is what I know. If, by "complex rules", you refer to more complex ones
than these below, I wish one of the experts here would post an answer.

By the way, the nasal sound we are discussing here is called 「鼻濁音{びだくおん}」 in
case someone did not know. "Nose-muddy-sound", literally. Since you know the
word now, you can hear how it actually sounds on Youtube. It has quite a few
videos on the subject.

The other sound, I do not even know what it is called. It is the "g" sound
used in English words such as " **g** ame", "for **g** et", "su **g** ar",
etc. I will call it the non-nasal here.

### The Big Basic Rules

  1. Use the **_non-nasal_** when the ガ行{ぎょう} syllable comes at the beginning of a word.

> 「 **が** っこう」、「 **が** んばる」、「 **ぎ** んこう」, etc.

  2. Use the **_nasal_** for the particle 「 **が** 」. **_No exceptions!_**

  3. Use the **_nasal_** for basically all non-word-starting ガ行{ぎょう} syllables. (Exceptions will be discussed below.)

> 「にん **げ** ん」、「おん **がく** 」、「に **げ** る」, etc.

## Exceptions

  1. Use the **_non-nasal_** for all of the ガ行 syllables in **_onomatopoeias_**.

> 「 **ギ** リ **ギ** リ」、「 **ゴ** ロ **ゴ** ロ」、「 **ガ** リ **ガ** リ」, etc.

  2. Use the **_non-nasal_** for ガ行 syllables in **_non-Sino loanwords_**.

> 「ポイント **ゲ** ッター」、「オル **ガ** ン」、「エ **ゴ** 」, etc.

  3. Use the **non-nasal** for number "5" (「五」).

> 「25日{にち}」（にじゅう **ご** にち）

「5月(ごがつ)」 will truly test your ability as the 「ご」 is non-nasal while 「が」 is
nasal.

  4. When a ガ行 syllable is preceded by the honorific 「お」, it is a **_non-nasal_**.

> 「お **げ** んき」、「お **ぐ** あい」, etc.

  5. Compound words can be rather complex when the latter parts start in ガ行 syllables because, unlike everything else we have discussed above, "personal judgement" is invloved. 

In 「音楽学校(おん **が** く **が** っこう)」, for instance, the first 「が」 is 100% nasal,
but the second 「が」 is pronounced with a non-nasal by the majority of us native
speakers (including professional announcers, voice actors, etc.). This is
because the part 「学校」 in the second half of the compound word " ** _feels_** "
more like an independent word to many of us than like just a part of the
longer word 「音楽学校」.

  6. When an originally **カ** 行 syllable becomes a **ガ** 行 syllable by **_rendaku_** , that **ガ** 行 syllable is pronounced as a **_nasal_**.

> 「飛行機雲（ひこうき **ぐ** も）」、「天然氷（てんねん **ご** おり）」, etc.

There should be a couple of more, I think, but this is all I can recall right
now.

Here is a good video about 鼻濁音 by the National Institutute for Japanese
Language and Linguistics.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amscTH7z3iM>




Here is what I know. If, by "complex rules", you refer to more complex ones
than these below, I wish one of the experts here would post an answer.

By the way, the nasal sound we are discussing here is called 「鼻濁音{びだくおん}」 in
case someone did not know. "Nose-muddy-sound", literally. Since you know the
word now, you can hear how it actually sounds on Youtube. It has quite a few
videos on the subject.

The other sound, I do not even know what it is called. It is the "g" sound
used in English words such as " **g** ame", "for **g** et", "su **g** ar",
etc. I will call it the non-nasal here.

### The Big Basic Rules

  1. Use the **_non-nasal_** when the ガ行{ぎょう} syllable comes at the beginning of a word.

> 「 **が** っこう」、「 **が** んばる」、「 **ぎ** んこう」, etc.

  2. Use the **_nasal_** for the particle 「 **が** 」. **_No exceptions!_**

  3. Use the **_nasal_** for basically all non-word-starting ガ行{ぎょう} syllables. (Exceptions will be discussed below.)

> 「にん **げ** ん」、「おん **がく** 」、「に **げ** る」, etc.

## Exceptions

  1. Use the **_non-nasal_** for all of the ガ行 syllables in **_onomatopoeias_**.

> 「 **ギ** リ **ギ** リ」、「 **ゴ** ロ **ゴ** ロ」、「 **ガ** リ **ガ** リ」, etc.

  2. Use the **_non-nasal_** for ガ行 syllables in **_non-Sino loanwords_**.

> 「ポイント **ゲ** ッター」、「オル **ガ** ン」、「エ **ゴ** 」, etc.

  3. Use the **non-nasal** for number "5" (「五」).

> 「25日{にち}」（にじゅう **ご** にち）

「5月(ごがつ)」 will truly test your ability as the 「ご」 is non-nasal while 「が」 is
nasal.

  4. When a ガ行 syllable is preceded by the honorific 「お」, it is a **_non-nasal_**.

> 「お **げ** んき」、「お **ぐ** あい」, etc.

  5. Compound words can be rather complex when the latter parts start in ガ行 syllables because, unlike everything else we have discussed above, "personal judgement" is invloved. 

In 「音楽学校(おん **が** く **が** っこう)」, for instance, the first 「が」 is 100% nasal,
but the second 「が」 is pronounced with a non-nasal by the majority of us native
speakers (including professional announcers, voice actors, etc.). This is
because the part 「学校」 in the second half of the compound word " ** _feels_** "
more like an independent word to many of us than like just a part of the
longer word 「音楽学校」.

  6. When an originally **カ** 行 syllable becomes a **ガ** 行 syllable by **_rendaku_** , that **ガ** 行 syllable is pronounced as a **_nasal_**.

> 「飛行機雲（ひこうき **ぐ** も）」、「天然氷（てんねん **ご** おり）」, etc.

There should be a couple of more, I think, but this is all I can recall right
now.

Here is a good video about 鼻濁音 by the National Institutute for Japanese
Language and Linguistics.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amscTH7z3iM>

