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Friday, April 20, 2018

The Names of the Universe

In her work The Names of the Universe, Rika Hashikawa decided to point out to her employees and their descendants the following information:
1. ア-form: all pronounced /a(ː)/
ア is pronounced /a(ː)/. It is the "gutturo-retroflex vowel."
アァ and アア are both pronounced /aː/; these and their formal counterpart may be homophones. In fact, the former of the two vowel combinations always trails off. The same is true for the columns containing a consonant.
ヴァ is pronounced /va(ː)/
ヴァァ and ヴァア are both pronounced /vaː/
カ is pronounced /ka(ː)/
カァ and カア are both pronounced /kaː/
ガ is pronounced /ga(ː)/
ガァ and ガア are both pronounced /gaː/
サ is pronounced /sa(ː)/
サァ and サア are both pronounced /saː/
ザ is pronounced /za(ː)/
ザァ and ザア are both pronounced /zaː/
タ is pronounced /ta(ː)/
タァ and タア are both pronounced /taː/
ダ is pronounced /da(ː)/
ダァ and ダア are both pronounced /daː/
ナ is pronounced /na(ː)/
ナァ and ナア are both pronounced /naː/
ハ is pronounced /ha(ː)/
ハァ and ハア are both pronounced /haː/
バ is pronounced /ba(ː)/
バァ and バア are both pronounced /baː/
パ is pronounced /pa(ː)/
パァ and パア are both pronounced /paː/
ファ is pronounced /fa(ː)/
ファァ and ファア are pronounced /faː/
マ is pronounced /ma(ː)/
マァ and マア are pronounced /maː/
ヤ is pronounced /ja(ː)/
ヤァ and ヤア are pronounced /jaː/
ラ is pronounced /ra(ː)/
ラァ and ラア are pronounced /raː/
ワ is pronounced /wa(ː)/
ワァ and ワア are pronounced /waː/
Others may follow this pattern. Those and their respective formal counterparts may be homophones.
2. The pronunciation of any アー-form katakana may be tantamount to a retroflex vowel (/ɚ/); it falls between the 'a' in father, the 'ar' in Mars, and the 'er' in western.
The katakana ホゥ, on the other hand, represents the sound [hu], rather than フ ([fu]) or ホ ([ho]).
Codas
ヴ: pronounced /v/
ク: pronounced /k/
グ: pronounced /g/
シ(ュ): both pronounced /sh/
ジ(ュ): both pronounced /(d)zh/
ス: pronounced /s/
ズ: pronounced /z/
チ: pronounced /tsh/
ツ: pronounced /ts/
ッ: glottal plosive, also geminates most consonants and shortens vowels
ト: pronounced /t/
ド: pronounced /d/
ン: pronounced /n/, and is the only unique syllable coda because it does not have an inherent vowel, and helps geminate nasal consonants
フ: pronounced /f/
ブ: pronounced /b/
プ: pronounced /p/
ホゥ: pronounced /h/ or /x/
ム: pronounced /m/
ユ: consonant form of イ
ル: the liquid coda
ウゥ: consonant form of ウ
Because most of the codas have an inherent vowel inside of them, if they are preceeded by a chōonpu (ー), their respective inherent vowels get pronounced and they are no longer codas.
However, ッン and ンー are homophones, and are only used to transliterate the double consonant nn.

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