1.
vowel
A speech sound produced without obstruction of airflow. Japanese has five vowels: あ (a), い (i), う (u), え (e), お (o).
Usage
A linguistics and language-learning term. Useful when discussing pronunciation differences between Japanese and other languages. Japanese vowels are "pure" (monophthongs), unlike English vowels which often glide (diphthongs).
Common collocations
Contrasting term
- 子音: consonant