Omitting half of a letter in Japanese


Specifically when transcribing foreign words into katakana, it is often
implied that half of a letter is dropped in pronunciation.

Take for example メルボルン, the Japanese import of the Australian city name
Melbourne. The rōmaji for this is _Meruborun_. However, it is pronounced
_Merborn_. Therefore, the latter half of _ru_ is intuitively dropped in both
of its instances within the word.

Is there a symbol which denotes that only the first half of the preceding
character should be used? Or is the conversion between orthoëpy and lexicon
usually intuitive?




Loanwords are pronounced exactly the way they are transcribed. Depending on
the circumstances of the transcription (which are often unknown), the
transcription is based on a mix of actual pronunciation, its alphabet
representation and the weather.

If "Melbourne" becomes メルボルン, then it will be pronounced exactly like
//meruboruɴ//, no matter whether it's far from or close to the original
pronunciation. (It could also have been メルボーン.)

The insertion of the extra vowels follows some loose rules: the default is
_u_. However since _t_ + _u_ becomes [[tsu]], after _t_ you usually use _o_
instead of _u_ , as in アート _āto_ "art". However this may be broken if _tsu_ is
perceived to be a similarly good fit, e.g. ピーナツ _pīnatsu_ "peanut" or "peanut
**s** ". Sometimes the choice is also just taken to be the same as the vowel
that follows it: for example in a syllable with two consonants and the vowel
_i_ , the default _u_ that would be "inserted" after the first consonant may
also become _i_ , to avoid the contrast _–u–i_ , as in キリスト _k **i** risuto_
"Christ".

There have been efforts to include phonemes from other languages, such as //va
vi vu ve vo//, transcribed as ヴァ ヴィ ヴ ヴェ ヴォ, but by many still pronounced [[ba
bi bu be bo]]. (For example, ヴィオラ vs. ビオラ. Also see [Do Japanese actually
pronounce the "v" sound?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/24498/1628))

The introduction of スィ ([[si]] rather than [[ɕi]]) or ディ ([[di]] rather than
[[dʑi]]) has been successful. For example, older sources use エジンバラ _Ejinbara_
for Edinburgh, but エディンバラ _Edinbara_ now seems to be standard and most people
do pronounce ディ as [[di]].

Having to introduce extra vowels into loanwords, like _Mer **u** bor **u** n_
can lead to curious effects when actually pronounced. For example プロ from
"pro(fessional)" has pitch accent プロ【HL】, which sounds like the first vowel in
_p **u** ro_ (which shouldn't be there) is stressed.

So, unlike in English (or French), in Japanese everything that is written is
pronounced — sometimes even with a pitch accent that sounds like vowels which
weren't present in the original word are stressed.




Loanwords are pronounced exactly the way they are transcribed. Depending on
the circumstances of the transcription (which are often unknown), the
transcription is based on a mix of actual pronunciation, its alphabet
representation and the weather.

If "Melbourne" becomes メルボルン, then it will be pronounced exactly like
//meruboruɴ//, no matter whether it's far from or close to the original
pronunciation. (It could also have been メルボーン.)

The insertion of the extra vowels follows some loose rules: the default is
_u_. However since _t_ + _u_ becomes [[tsu]], after _t_ you usually use _o_
instead of _u_ , as in アート _āto_ "art". However this may be broken if _tsu_ is
perceived to be a similarly good fit, e.g. ピーナツ _pīnatsu_ "peanut" or "peanut
**s** ". Sometimes the choice is also just taken to be the same as the vowel
that follows it: for example in a syllable with two consonants and the vowel
_i_ , the default _u_ that would be "inserted" after the first consonant may
also become _i_ , to avoid the contrast _–u–i_ , as in キリスト _k **i** risuto_
"Christ".

There have been efforts to include phonemes from other languages, such as //va
vi vu ve vo//, transcribed as ヴァ ヴィ ヴ ヴェ ヴォ, but by many still pronounced [[ba
bi bu be bo]]. (For example, ヴィオラ vs. ビオラ. Also see [Do Japanese actually
pronounce the "v" sound?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/24498/1628))

The introduction of スィ ([[si]] rather than [[ɕi]]) or ディ ([[di]] rather than
[[dʑi]]) has been successful. For example, older sources use エジンバラ _Ejinbara_
for Edinburgh, but エディンバラ _Edinbara_ now seems to be standard and most people
do pronounce ディ as [[di]].

Having to introduce extra vowels into loanwords, like _Mer **u** bor **u** n_
can lead to curious effects when actually pronounced. For example プロ from
"pro(fessional)" has pitch accent プロ【HL】, which sounds like the first vowel in
_p **u** ro_ (which shouldn't be there) is stressed.

So, unlike in English (or French), in Japanese everything that is written is
pronounced — sometimes even with a pitch accent that sounds like vowels which
weren't present in the original word are stressed.

