Japanese phonology

phonology of the Japanese language

is a pronunciation change seen in some compound words in Japanese. Rendaku modifies the consonant at the start of the second (or later) part of the compound, replacing a voiceless consonant, such as , with a voiced consonant, such as . For example, the morpheme starts with the voiceless consonant , which is replaced with the corresponding voiced consonant in the compound word , from + .

thumb|190px|The word (, ) written vertically with vertical chōonpu The , also known as , , , or Katakana-Hiragana Prolonged Sound Mark by the Unicode Consortium, is a Japanese symbol that indicates a , or a long vowel of two morae in length. Its form is a horizontal or vertical line in the center of the text with the width of one kanji or kana character. It is written horizontally in horizontal text and vertically in vertical text (ー). The is usually used to indicate a long vowel sound in katakana writing, rarely in hiragana writing, and never in romanized Japanese. The is a distinct mark from

The is a Japanese symbol in the form of a small hiragana or katakana , as well as the various consonants represented by it. In less formal language, it is called or , meaning "small ". It serves multiple purposes in Japanese writing.

Japanese words of Chinese origin

The is a feature of the Japanese language in which a mora is formed with an added sound, i.e., palatalized, or (more rarely in the modern language) with an added sound, i.e. labialized.

thumb|A pair of cosplayers who respectively cosplaying as Robin and Stelle from [[Honkai: Star Rail simulating the Kabedon scenario]] ' or ' (; , "wall", and , "bang") refers to the action of slapping a wall fiercely, which produces a loud sound, "don". One use of this phrase is to describe the action of slapping a wall as a protest in collective housing, such as condominiums, when the neighboring unit makes too much noise. Another use often appears in shōjo manga or anime when one character forces another against the wall with one hand or leans against the wall, making the "don" sound. This h

thumb|right|350px|Different regions distinguish different sets of sounds. Using [[Nihon-shiki romanization:

Japanese language feature

Japanese diacritic signs used with Kana characters to modify the voicing of consonants

large amount of sound mimeses words in Japanese