Help:IPA/Japanese

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Japanese on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Japanese in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Shortcut

H:IPA-JA

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Japanese language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Examples in the charts are Japanese words transliterated according to the Hepburn romanization system.

See Japanese phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Japanese.

Consonants
IPA	Example		English approximation
IPA	Kana	Romanization	English approximation
b	ばしょ, かびん, ヴァージョン	basho, kabin, vājon	about
bʲ	びょうき	byōki	rebuke
ç	ひと, ひょう	hito, hyō	hue
ɕ	した, いっしょう	shita, isshō	sheep
d	どうも, どうどう	dōmo, dōdō	today
dz^[1]	ざぜん, あんぜん, キッズ	zazen, anzen, kizzu^[2]	cards
dʑ^[1]	じょじょ, かんじゃ, エッジ	jojo, kanja, ejji^[2]	jeep
ɸ	ふじ	fuji	phew!
ɡ^[3]	がっこう, りんご, ぎんこう	gakkō, ringo, ginkō	again
ɡʲ	きぎょう	kigyō	argue
h	ほん, はは	hon, haha	hat
j	やくしゃ, ゆず	yakusha, yuzu	yacht
k	くる, はっき	kuru, hakki	skate
kʲ	きょうかい, けっきょく	kyōkai, kekkyoku	skew
m	みかん, せんぱい, もんもん	mikan, senpai, monmon	much
mʲ	みゃく	myaku	mute
n	なっとう, かんたん	nattō, kantan	not
ɲ	にわ, こんにゃく, きんちょう	niwa, konnyaku, kinchō	canyon
ŋ^[3]	りんご, なんきょく	ringo, nankyoku	pink
ɴ^[4]	にほん	nihon	roughly like long
p	パン, たんぽぽ	pan, tanpopo	span
pʲ	はっぴょう	happyō	spew
ɾ	ろく, そら	roku, sora	American atom
ɾʲ	りょうり	ryōri	American party
s	する, さっそう	suru, sassō	soup
t	たべる, とって	taberu, totte	stop
tɕ	ちかい, けっちゃく	chikai, ketchaku^[2]	itchy
ts	つなみ, いっつい	tsunami, ittsui^[2]	cats
w^[5]	わさび	wasabi	roughly like was
ɰ̃^[6]	ふんいき, でんわ, あんしん	fun'iki, denwa, anshin	sin
z^[1]	ざぜん, つづく	zazen, tsuzuku	zoo
ʑ^[1]	みじかい, じょじょ	mijikai, jojo	vision
ʔ	あつっ！	atsu'!	uh-oh

Vowels
IPA	Example		English approximation
IPA	Kana	Romanization	English approximation
a	ある	aru	father
e	えき	eki	bet
i	いる	iru	meet
i̥^[7]	した	shita	whispered meet
o	おに	oni	story
ɯ^[8]	うなぎ	unagi	shoot
ɯ̥^[7]	すきやき	sukiyaki	whispered shoot

Suprasegmentals
IPA	Description	Example	English approximation
ː	Long vowel	hyōmei, ojiisan	re-equalize
ꜜ	Pitch drop^[9]	[kaꜜki] (牡蠣, 'oyster'), [kakiꜜ] (垣, 'fence')	/ˈmæri/ (marry), /məˈriː/ (Marie)
.	Syllabification	nin'i [ɲiɰ̃.i]	higher /ˈhaɪ.ər/

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Voiced fricatives [z, ʑ] are generally pronounced as affricates [dz, dʑ] in utterance-initial positions and after the moraic nasal /N/ ([n] before [dz] and [ɲ] before [dʑ]) or the sokuon /Q/ (only in loanwords). Actual realizations of these sounds vary (see Yotsugana).
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d When an affricate consonant is geminated, only the closure component of it is repeated: [kiddzɯ, eddʑi, ittsɯi, kettɕakɯ].
^ ^a ^b A declining number of speakers pronounce word-medial /ɡ/ as [ŋ] (Vance 2008:214), but /ɡ/ is always represented as [ɡ] in this system.
^ The utterance-final nasal is traditionally described as uvular [ɴ], but instrumental studies have found that this is inaccurate and the actual realization varies (Maekawa 2023). However, an alternative transcription has yet to be established, so ⟨ɴ⟩ is used.
^ [w] is phonetically a bilabial approximant [β̞], but it is traditionally described as a velar [ɰ] or labialized velar [w] approximant and transcribed with ⟨ɰ⟩ or ⟨w⟩ (Maekawa 2020).
^ The syllable-final n (moraic nasal) is pronounced as some kind of nasalized vowel before a vowel, semivowel ([j, ɰ]) or fricative ([ɸ, s, ɕ, ç, h]). [ɰ̃] is a conventional notation that is undefined for the exact place of articulation (Vance 2008:97).
^ ^a ^b Close vowels [i, ɯ] become voiceless [i̥, ɯ̥] when short and surrounded by voiceless consonants within a word. When the second consonant is [ɸ], [ç], or [h], or when both consonants are fricatives (including the second component of an affricate), devoicing is much less likely to occur (Fujimoto 2015), so vowels in such environments are not transcribed as voiceless (nor are word-final or non-close vowels, whose devoicing is also less consistent). Where close vowels that would be devoiced according to the above rules occur in succession, usually whichever vowel is accented is voiced; if neither is accented, the second is voiced (Fujimoto 2015:189): [kɯꜜɕi̥kɯmo, tsɯ̥kɯɕi]. These rules may be overridden by citing a reliable source that marks devoicing, such as NHK (2016) or Kindaichi & Akinaga (2014), if the word being transcribed appears in it.
^ [ɯ], romanized u, exhibits varying degrees of rounding depending on dialect. In Tokyo dialect, it is either unrounded or compressed [ɯᵝ], meaning the sides of the lips are held together without horizontal protrusion, unlike protruded [u].
^ A pitch drop may occur only once per word and does not occur in all words. The mora before a pitch drop has a high pitch. When it occurs at the end of a word, the following grammatical particle has a low pitch.

[yotsugana-1] Voiced fricatives [z, ʑ] are generally pronounced as affricates [dz, dʑ] in utterance-initial positions and after the moraic nasal /N/ ([n] before [dz] and [ɲ] before [dʑ]) or the sokuon /Q/ (only in loanwords). Actual realizations of these sounds vary (see Yotsugana).

[gemination-2] When an affricate consonant is geminated, only the closure component of it is repeated: [kiddzɯ, eddʑi, ittsɯi, kettɕakɯ].

[g-3] A declining number of speakers pronounce word-medial /ɡ/ as [ŋ] (Vance 2008:214), but /ɡ/ is always represented as [ɡ] in this system.

[4] The utterance-final nasal is traditionally described as uvular [ɴ], but instrumental studies have found that this is inaccurate and the actual realization varies (Maekawa 2023). However, an alternative transcription has yet to be established, so ⟨ɴ⟩ is used.

[5] [w] is phonetically a bilabial approximant [β̞], but it is traditionally described as a velar [ɰ] or labialized velar [w] approximant and transcribed with ⟨ɰ⟩ or ⟨w⟩ (Maekawa 2020).

[6] The syllable-final n (moraic nasal) is pronounced as some kind of nasalized vowel before a vowel, semivowel ([j, ɰ]) or fricative ([ɸ, s, ɕ, ç, h]). [ɰ̃] is a conventional notation that is undefined for the exact place of articulation (Vance 2008:97).

[devoicing-7] Close vowels [i, ɯ] become voiceless [i̥, ɯ̥] when short and surrounded by voiceless consonants within a word. When the second consonant is [ɸ], [ç], or [h], or when both consonants are fricatives (including the second component of an affricate), devoicing is much less likely to occur (Fujimoto 2015), so vowels in such environments are not transcribed as voiceless (nor are word-final or non-close vowels, whose devoicing is also less consistent). Where close vowels that would be devoiced according to the above rules occur in succession, usually whichever vowel is accented is voiced; if neither is accented, the second is voiced (Fujimoto 2015:189): [kɯꜜɕi̥kɯmo, tsɯ̥kɯɕi]. These rules may be overridden by citing a reliable source that marks devoicing, such as NHK (2016) or Kindaichi & Akinaga (2014), if the word being transcribed appears in it.

[8] [ɯ], romanized u, exhibits varying degrees of rounding depending on dialect. In Tokyo dialect, it is either unrounded or compressed [ɯᵝ], meaning the sides of the lips are held together without horizontal protrusion, unlike protruded [u].

[9] A pitch drop may occur only once per word and does not occur in all words. The mora before a pitch drop has a high pitch. When it occurs at the end of a word, the following grammatical particle has a low pitch.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]