Filologija, No. 77, 2021.
Review article
https://doi.org/10.21857/y7v64t0pry
Phonological system of Japanese compared to Croatian
Dragana Špica
orcid.org/0000-0003-1008-2700
Abstract
This paper deals with the phonological system of the Japanese language. Its main goal is to compare the phonological system of Japanese with that of Croatian, as there have been no published papers on the topic so far, and there have been no similar papers in languages closely related to Croatian, either. In order to explain the complexity of Japanese phonological system, the prosodic structure, phonotactic restrictions and lexical strata of the Japanese language are first discussed. The relevant literature, both traditional and more theoretically oriented, usually states that Japanese has 14 consonant phonemes, while other existing sounds are considered to be allophones. The paper proposes a system of 27 consonants in Japanese, 22 being phonemes and 5 allophones. The consonants of the two languages are then compared. The comparison shows that 15 Japanese consonant phonemes also exist in Croatian, 3 Japanese consonant phonemes exist in Croatian as allophones, while only 4 out of 22 do not exist in Croatian. It is thus established that the two langages exhibit a high similarity with respect to their consonat inventories. The paper also draws attention to the phonemization of certain Japanese allophones under the influence of loanwords, a process attested in Croatian, as well.
Keywords
Japanese, Croatian, phonology, allophone, mora
Hrčak ID:
272064
URI
Publication date:
8.2.2022.
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