Phoneme guide: Japanese
Every phoneme token of mbfa-japanese (28 tokens: 24 phonemes, 3 special tokens and the model's internal blank). The web interface shows the same text when you hover a phoneme.
How to read the tables:
- Sounds like is an approximation. The example words are the real thing: they are the most frequent words containing the token in the FLEURS test sentences (dev split) of 1 language (Japanese), written in the G2P's own tokens, which is exactly what the aligner sees.
- Used most in gives the languages that use the token most, as a share of all the phonemes of that language.
- Also used for: IPA the G2P wrote that has no token of its own in this model, so it was mapped to this one.
- Rare tokens never appear in those sentences: they are very rare in this language.
Japanese has no tone layer in this model. A long vowel is one token (its length is a separate layer): ドーブツ = d o b ɯ t s ɯ. Affricates are split into two tokens (ツ = t s, ジ = d ʑ): give the stop and the fricative part their own spans. The syllable-final ン is ɴ.
Where boundaries go
Suggested conventions. Agree on them before annotating, so that every annotator places boundaries the same way.
- Stops (p t k b d g …). A stop starts where the closure starts: energy drops to a near-silent gap, and the formants of the vowel before it end. It ends after its burst (and after its aspiration, for ʰ tokens), where the next sound begins.
- Vowels. Start at the first regular glottal pulse with clear formants; end where the formants fade or the next consonant's closure or noise begins.
- Fricatives (s ʃ f x …). The span of the noise: start and end where the high-frequency noise starts and stops.
- Nasals (m n ŋ …). A steady, low murmur with weak upper formants. The edges are usually sudden changes in energy.
- Glides, laterals, r (j w l ɹ …). Edges are smooth formant transitions: put the boundary at the middle of the transition.
- Diphthongs (a͡ɪ …). One token for both parts: from the start of the first vowel to the end of the second. Do not split it.
- Pauses. Leave a short pause between words as a gap, or insert SIL where the speaker clearly stops.
Diacritics
Marks added to a base symbol change it as follows.
| mark |
name |
meaning |
| ◌̃ |
nasalised |
air also flows through the nose (French “an”, Portuguese “não”) |
| ◌̯ |
non-syllabic |
the weak, glide-like half of a diphthong; it is not a syllable on its own |
| ◌̩ |
syllabic |
forms a syllable with no vowel, as the n of “button” |
| ◌̥ |
voiceless |
said without vocal-fold vibration, as if whispered |
| ◌̪ |
dental |
the tongue tip touches the upper teeth |
| ◌̠ |
retracted |
made a little further back in the mouth |
| ◌̝ |
raised |
a little closer (tongue higher) than the plain symbol |
| ◌̞ |
lowered |
a little more open; a lowered fricative is a smooth approximant with no friction |
| ◌̺ |
apical |
made with the very tip of the tongue |
| ◌̻ |
laminal |
made with the blade of the tongue, just behind the tip |
| ◌̆ |
extra-short |
a very short version of the vowel |
| ◌́ |
accent ´ (high) |
the G2P's dictionary marks a pitch accent or stress here |
| ◌̀ |
accent ` (low) |
the G2P's dictionary marks a pitch accent or stress here |
| ◌̂ |
accent ˆ (falling) |
the G2P's dictionary marks a falling pitch accent |
| ◌̌ |
accent ˇ (rising) |
the G2P's dictionary marks a rising pitch accent |
| ʲ |
palatalised |
said with the tongue body raised toward the palate: a y-like colour (“soft” consonants) |
| ʰ |
aspirated |
followed by a puff of breath before the vowel starts (English “top” has one, “stop” does not) |
| ʷ |
labialised |
said with rounded lips |
| ʼ |
ejective |
a pop made by the throat, with no breath from the lungs |
| ʱ |
breathy-voiced |
voiced, then released with a breathy, murmured puff (Hindi “bh”, “gh”) |
| ˤ |
pharyngealised (emphatic) |
said with the tongue root pulled back: a darker, “heavy” sound (Arabic ط, ص) |
| ◌̚ |
unreleased |
a final stop with no audible burst: the closure is held and the sound ends silently |
| ◌̈ |
centralised |
said closer to the centre of the mouth than the plain vowel |
Special tokens
| token |
meaning |
SIL |
silence. A pause: no speech. Use it for a pause the speaker makes inside a segment. |
noise |
noise. A non-speech sound: a breath, cough, laugh or click. |
<unk> |
unknown. The G2P wrote a sound this model has no token for. Keep its time span; the label cannot say what it is. |
Vowels
| token |
name |
sounds like |
examples |
used most in |
| a |
open front unrounded vowel |
a as in Spanish “casa” |
Japanese ワ /ɰ a/ |
Japanese 14% |
| i |
close front unrounded vowel |
ee as in “see” |
Japanese ニ /n i/ |
Japanese 10% |
| e |
close-mid front unrounded vowel |
e as in Spanish or Italian “de”; the start of English “say” |
Japanese デ /d e/ |
Japanese 6.8% |
| o |
close-mid back rounded vowel |
o as in Spanish or Italian “no” |
Japanese ノ /n o/ |
Japanese 12% |
| ɯ |
close back unrounded vowel |
oo said with spread lips (Turkish “ı”) |
Japanese マス /m a s ɯ/ |
Japanese 7.9% |
Glides and non-syllabic vowels
| token |
name |
sounds like |
examples |
used most in |
| j |
palatal approximant |
y as in “yes” |
Japanese ヤ /j a/ |
Japanese 2.1% |
| ɰ |
velar approximant. Also used for ɰᵝ. |
a g so weak the tongue never closes |
Japanese ワ /ɰ a/ |
Japanese 1.6% |
Stops
| token |
name |
sounds like |
examples |
used most in |
| t |
voiceless alveolar stop |
t as in “ten” |
Japanese ト /t o/ |
Japanese 6.9% |
| k |
voiceless velar stop |
k as in “key” |
Japanese テキ /t e k i/ |
Japanese 7.2% |
| d |
voiced alveolar stop |
d as in “dog” |
Japanese デ /d e/ |
Japanese 3.1% |
| b |
voiced bilabial stop |
b as in “bed” |
Japanese ドーブツ /d o b ɯ t s ɯ/ |
Japanese 1.1% |
| p |
voiceless bilabial stop |
p as in “pen” |
Japanese ポロ /p o ɾ o/ |
Japanese 0.34% |
| ɡ |
voiced velar stop |
g as in “go” |
Japanese ガ /ɡ a/ |
Japanese 1.9% |
Fricatives
| token |
name |
sounds like |
examples |
used most in |
| s |
voiceless alveolar fricative |
s |
Japanese マス /m a s ɯ/ |
Japanese 4.3% |
| z |
voiced alveolar fricative |
z |
Japanese ズ /z ɯ/ |
Japanese 0.53% |
| h |
voiceless glottal fricative |
h as in “hat” |
Japanese ホトンド /h o t o ɴ d o/ |
Japanese 0.86% |
| ɕ |
voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative |
a soft sh, with the tongue body raised (Polish “ś”) |
Japanese シ /ɕ i/ |
Japanese 3.6% |
| ç |
voiceless palatal fricative |
the ch of German “ich”; like a strong h before ee |
Japanese ヒツヨー /ç i t s ɯ j o/ |
Japanese 0.45% |
| ʑ |
voiced alveolo-palatal fricative |
a soft zh (Polish “ź”) |
Japanese ハジメ /h a d ʑ i m e/ |
Japanese 0.82% |
| ɸ |
voiceless bilabial fricative |
blowing through nearly closed lips |
Japanese フ /ɸ ɯ/ |
Japanese 0.27% |
Nasals
| token |
name |
sounds like |
examples |
used most in |
| n |
alveolar nasal |
n |
Japanese ノ /n o/ |
Japanese 4.8% |
| m |
bilabial nasal |
m |
Japanese マス /m a s ɯ/ |
Japanese 3% |
| ɴ |
uvular nasal |
an n made far back, at the uvula (Japanese syllable-final ん) |
Japanese ン /ɴ/ |
Japanese 2.8% |
Rhotics (r sounds)
| token |
name |
sounds like |
examples |
used most in |
| ɾ |
alveolar tap |
one quick flap of the tongue, as in Spanish “pero” |
Japanese レ /ɾ e/ |
Japanese 4.3% |