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 Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:01 pm
I do not understand the difference between a prolonged vowel and consecutive vowels.
(Japanese Step by Step by Gene Nishi) The book I am using gives and example:
romaji hiragana kanji
consecutive vowels - Oosaka おおさか 大阪
prolonged vowels - Ōsaka おうさか 逢坂
Because the book does not tell me the meaning of the words, I do not know the difference in the meaning. I also do not understand the difference in how you "say" the words.
It would be greatly appreciated if someone could help clarify this for me.
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Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:48 pm
They're both place names, "Oosaka" 大阪 is a major city in Japan (the 3rd largest, I believe) while "Ousaka" 逢坂 is a smaller city in the Shiga prefecture.
But, I can't say I remember ever hearing about the difference between a "consecutive" and "prolonged" vowel. It might be the difference between the chinese and japanese readings of a kanji. I can't imagine there's a huge difference in how they're pronounced, it might be one of those minute things that you would only hear if a native was saying the names very slowly. Does the book give any other examples?
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Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 10:53 pm
Although this is purely speculation, it could be that it refers to the actual spelling of the extended お sound. Consecutive referring to where two お's are used, whereas prolonged means that the sound is extended by adding an う. The actual pronounciation shouldn't actually be affected though? Although I think another example might be how とお and とう are effectively pronounced the same way, but spelt differently. If I remember correctly though, isn't this just a remnant of Japanese before standardization?
Well, if I'm wrong, ignore me xD
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:01 am
They actually are pronounced differently. おおさか would have two お sounds, whereas おうさか would have an お and a う sound. They are said so quickly, it's usually harder for westerners to hear.
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Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 1:25 pm
Ohhh... i see. Thanks for the help. smile
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