だくおん 【濁音】
はんだくおん　【半濁音】

■ dakuon and handakuon, voiced sounds represented by kana with diacritical marks.

濁音：Each kana in the 五十音図 (ごじゅうおんず) is made up of a consonant plus a vowel (except ん・ン). てんてん tenten (a diacritcal mark like a double quotation) can be added to kana with unvoiced consonants, making voiced kana. Examples follow.

In the か行, か /ka/ → が /ga/

In the さ行 (s-column), さ /sa/ → ざ /za/ (Note also: し /shi/ → じ /ji/)

In the た行 (t-column), た /ta/ → だ /da/ (Note also: ち /chi/ → ぢ /ji/, つ /tsu/ → づ /zu/)

In the は行 (h-column), は /ha/ → ば /ba/


半濁音：A まる maru (circle) can be added to the は行 for は /ha/ → ぱ /pa/.


(1) 濁音・半濁音

By adding てんてん (two marks) or まる (a circle) to the upper right of certain kana, additional sounds can be made.

The hiragana
p b d z g 　
ぱ ば だ ざ が a
ぴ び ぢ じ ぎ i
ぷ ぶ づ ず ぐ u
ぺ べ で ぜ げ e
ぽ ぼ ど ぞ ご o

The katakana
p b d z g 　
パ バ ダ ザ ガ a
ピ ビ ヂ ジ ギ i
プ ブ ヅ ズ グ u
ペ ベ デ ゼ ゲ e
ポ ボ ド ゾ ゴ o

The column on the left is 半濁音。The rest are called 濁音。

In the z-column, じ・ジ are pronounced /ji/.

In the d-column, ぢ・ヂ are pronounced /ji/ just like じ・ジ。Also, づ・ヅ (z-column) are pronounced /zu/ just like ず・ズ in the z-column. The じ・ジ and ず・ズ are normally used in spelling, except in certain cases (see 仮名遣い).

ぢ・ヂ are pronounced as /di/ and づ・ヅ as /du/ sound in some dialects.


(2) 濁音・半濁音 plus 拗音

By combining the 濁音・半濁音 with 拗音, more sounds can be made.

The hiragana
p b j (d) j (z) g 　
ぴゃ びゃ ぢゃ じゃ ぎゃ ya
ぴゅ びゅ ぢゅ じゅ ぎゅ yu
ぴょ びょ ぢょ じょ ぎょ yo

The katakana
p b j (d) j (z) g 　
ピャ ビャ ヂャ ジャ ギャ ya
ピュ ビュ ヂュ ジュ ギュ yu
ピョ ビョ ヂョ ジョ ギョ yo

You may notice that the まる in the first column and the てんてん in the second column look almost identical. This is because of computer resolution and can be confusing.

The kana in both the j (d) and j (z) columns should be pronounced /ja/, /ju/, /jo/. As above, ぢゃ・ヂャ、ぢゅ・ヂュ、ぢょ・ヂョ are not used except in certain cases.

To learn more about Japanese writing, see 文字。

Vocabulary notes

五十音図 gojuuonzu, the basic kana table. See 五十音図

This entry was created by Benjamin Barrett with contributions from Brian Chandler.


Revised by BB 2000-06-25.
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