2 Japanese Muddied Sounds(dakuten,handakuten) and Combination Sounds Tutorial with Pronunciation

Japanese Muddied Sounds(dakuten,handakuten) and Combination Sounds Chart with Pronunciation

The table of the Dakuten(muddy sounds)

The cells in the table represent Hiragana, Katakana, and Romaji in order.

	a column	i column	u column	e column	o column
ga rowg	が　ガ ga	ぎ　ギ gi	ぐ　グ gu	げ　ゲ ge	ご　ゴ go
za row	ざ　ザ za	じ　ジ ji	ず　ズ zu	ぜ　ゼ ze	ぞ　ゾ zo
da row	だ　ダ da	ぢ　ヂ ji	づ　ヅ zu	で　デ de	ど　ド do
ba row	ば　バ ba	び　ビ bi	ぶ　ブ bu	べ　べ be	ぼ　ボ bo
pa row	ぱ　パ pa	ぴ　ピ pi	ぷ　プ pu	ぺ　ぺ pe	ぽ　ポ po

The table of the Combination Sounds

The cells in the table represent Hiragana, Katakana, and Romaji in order.

	ya column	yu column	yo column
k row	きゃ　キャ kya	きゅ　キュ kyu	きょ　キョ kyo
s row	しゃ　シャ sha	しゅ　シュ shu	しょ　ショ sho
c row	ちゃ　チャ cha	ちゅ　チュ chu	ちょ　チョ cho
n row	にゃ　ニャ nya	にゅ　ニュ nyu	にょ　ニョ nyo
h row	ひゃ　ヒャ hya	ひゅ　ヒュ hyu	ひょ　ヒョ hyo
m row	みゃ　ミャ mya	みゅ　ミュ myu	みょ　ミョ myo
r row	りゃ　リャ rya	りゅ　リュ ryu	りょ　リョ ryo
g row	ぎゃ　ギャ gya	ぎゅ　ギュ gyu	ぎょ　ギョ gyo
j row	じゃ　ジャ ja	じゅ　ジュ ju	じょ　ジョ jo
b row	びゃ　ビャ bya	びゅ　ビュ byu	びょ　ビョ byo
p row	ぴゃ　ピャ pya	ぴゅ　ピュ pyu	ぴょ　ピョ pyo

The Muddied Sounds

Once you memorize all the characters in Hiragana, there are still some additional sounds left to be learned. There are five more consonant sounds that are written by either affixing two tiny lines similar to a double quotation mark called dakuten （濁点） or a tiny circle called handakuten （半濁点）. This essentially creates a "muddy" or less clipped version of the consonant (technically called a voiced consonant or 「濁り」, which literally means to become muddy).

Voiced sounds are created by adding two small marks, called dakuten (゛), to specific kana. This changes the pronunciation of the consonant from voiceless to voiced. For example:

Voiced Sounds (dakuten):

か (ka) becomes が (ga) さ (sa) becomes ざ (za) た (ta) becomes だ (da) In each case, the addition of the dakuten changes the consonant from being pronounced without vibrating the vocal cords (voiceless) to vibrating the vocal cords (voiced).

‼️ ぢ, although pronounced as 'zi' (same as 'ji'), when inputting on the keyboard, you need to type 'di'. Similarly, for づ, you should input 'du'."

Semi-Voiced Sounds (handakuten)

emi-voiced sounds are created by adding a small circle, called handakuten (゜), to specific kana. This modifies the pronunciation of the consonant to be a softer, less pronounced version of the original sound. For example:

は (ha) becomes ぱ (pa) ひ (hi) becomes ぴ (pi) ふ (fu) becomes ぷ (pu) The handakuten changes the pronunciation of the consonant to be partially voiced, creating a softer sound.

The Small 「や」、「ゆ」、and 「よ」(Combination Sounds)

In Japanese, "yōon" refers to a phenomenon where two kana (characters) are combined to form a single sound. This typically involves adding a small "ya," "yu," or "yo" (ゃ, ゅ, or ょ) to a kana to create a new sound. Yōon are commonly used in Japanese to represent sounds that are not present in standard kana.

Here's how it works:

Combination with "Ya" (ゃ): When combined with the small "ya" (ゃ), certain kana take on a contracted sound. For example:

きゃ (kya) is a combination of き (ki) + ゃ (ya) しゃ (sha) is a combination of し (shi) + ゃ (ya) ちゃ (cha) is a combination of ち (chi) + ゃ (ya) Combination with "Yu" (ゅ): When combined with the small "yu" (ゅ), certain kana form contracted sounds:

きゅ (kyu) is a combination of き (ki) + ゅ (yu) しゅ (shu) is a combination of し (shi) + ゅ (yu) ちゅ (chu) is a combination of ち (chi) + ゅ (yu) Combination with "Yo" (ょ): When combined with the small "yo" (ょ), certain kana produce contracted sounds:

きょ (kyo) is a combination of き (ki) + ょ (yo) しょ (sho) is a combination of し (shi) + ょ (yo) ちょ (cho) is a combination of ち (chi) + ょ (yo)

These contracted sounds are essential in Japanese for representing certain syllables that are not directly expressed in standard kana. They are commonly used in everyday speech and are crucial for learners to understand and use correctly to communicate effectively in Japanese.

In the next section, we will introduce the long sounds and geminate consonants in Japanese.