1.
contracted sound; palatalized syllable
In Japanese phonetics, a syllable formed by combining a consonant-i kana (き, し, ち, に, ひ, み, り, ぎ, じ, び, ぴ) with a small ya, yu, or yo (ゃ, ゅ, ょ) to produce a single palatalized syllable. Examples: きゃ (kya), しゅ (shu), ちょ (cho).
「きゃ」や「しゅ」は拗音だ。
'Kya' and 'shu' are contracted sounds.
拗音は小さい「ゃ」「ゅ」「ょ」を使って書く。
Contracted sounds are written using small 'ya', 'yu', and 'yo'.
外国人学習者にとって、拗音の発音と表記は難しいことがある。
For foreign learners, the pronunciation and writing of contracted sounds can be difficult.
A phonetics term composed of 拗 (twisted, bent) and 音 (sound). The name reflects the idea that these sounds are 'bent' or modified versions of the base syllable.
THE KANA SYSTEM:
拗音 is one of several categories of Japanese sounds:
- 直音: straight sounds — the basic single kana (か, き, く, etc.)
- 拗音: contracted sounds — combinations like きゃ, しゅ, ちょ
- 促音: double consonant — the small っ (e.g., きって)
- 撥音: nasal sound — the syllabic ん
- 長音: long vowel — extended vowel sounds
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 拗音の発音: pronunciation of contracted sounds
- 拗音の書き方: how to write contracted sounds
- 拗音を含む言葉: words containing contracted sounds
NOTE:
In writing, the small kana (ゃ, ゅ, ょ) must be written smaller than regular kana. In horizontal writing, they sit at the bottom left of the character space. Mixing up large and small ya/yu/yo changes the meaning entirely: きょう (今日, today) vs. きよう (器用, skillful).