2.2 Additional Features of Hiragana

There are four additional features of hiragana that influence the pronunciation of words in Japanese:

Let’s explore each of these features in detail.

1. Long vowels

Some vowels in Japanese can be pronounced as long vowel sounds, which are represented by hiragana. For example, the vowel ‘e’ is long, pronounced as /ee/, in the word せんせい (sensei). In hiragana, it is represented by a せ (se) and an い (i).

2. Diacritical marks

Some hiragana characters can be modified with diacritical marks to represent different sounds. There are two types of diacritical marks: 1) だくてん (dakuten) and 2) はんだくてん (han-dakuten).

1) だくてん (dakuten) :  ゛

The dakuten mark looks like a double quotation mark (゛), which is placed to the right of certain characters.

A dakuten is a mark that alters the sound of a Japanese character from soft (unvoiced) to harder (voiced). For example, the character か (ka) has a soft sound, where the ‘k’ is spoken without vibrating the vocal cords. When you add a dakuten, which looks like two small lines, to か, it becomes が (ga), changing the sound to a harder ‘g’, where the vocal cords vibrate.

Please listen to the recording provided below and notice the difference between the unvoiced ‘k’ sounds and the voiced ‘g’ sounds in these pairs of characters: か/が (ka/ga), き/ぎ (ki/gi), く/ぐ (ku/gu), け/げ (ke/ge) and こ/ご (ko/go).

Pay attention to how the ‘k’ sounds are made without vocal cord vibration, while the ‘g’ sounds are made with vocal cord vibration.

2) はんだくてん (han-dakuten) :  ゜

The han-dakuten is represented by a small circle (゜) and can be placed to the right of an H-sound character.

A han-dakuten modifies a character by changing the sound of its initial consonant ‘h’ to a ‘p’. For example, adding a han-dakuten to は (ha) changes it to ぱ (pa).

Here is a chart of hiragana with dakuten (゛) and han-dakuten (゜). Remember to read the chart from top to bottom, and left to right.

Note that ぢ is represented as ji and づ is represented as zu in this textbook, following the Hepburn system of romanisation. But you might also see them represented as di and du respectively in some places, depending on the romaji system used.

Please listen to the recording below to hear the pronunciation of each hiragana character, ranging from が (ga) to ぽ (po):

3. Contracted sounds

Two syllables in Japanese can merge into a single, contracted sound, known as ようおん (you-on). In hiragana, this contraction is represented by adding small versions of ゃ (ya), ゅ (yu) or ょ (yo) to characters ending in ‘i’ (excluding the character い itself). This process effectively replaces the ‘i’ sound with ‘ya’, ‘yu’ or ‘yo’. For example, combining き (ki) with a small ゃ (ya) changes it from き (ki) to きゃ (kya), creating this contracted sound.

Here is a chart of the contracted sounds in hiragana:

Please listen to the recording below to hear the pronunciation of each hiragana character, ranging from きゃ (kya) to りょ (ryo):

4. Double consonants

Japanese has some sounds that are pronounced as a double consonant, and hiragana is used to transcribe these sounds.

Double consonants is represented by a small っ (tsu), called そくおん (soku-on). It introduce a brief pause before the following consonant sound, creating a distinct pronunciation effect akin to a stutter or a stronger emphasis on the following consonant.

For example, the word なっとう (nattou), meaning ‘fermented soybeans’, is written with a small っ (tsu) character between the な (na) and と (to) characters to indicate that the ‘tt’ is pronounced as a double consonant.

Voiced consonants, contracted sounds and double consonants can be combined in various ways to represent a wide range of sounds in Japanese. It is important to learn these different combinations and their pronunciations to read and write Japanese effectively.

Here are some charts of hiragana with additional features to enhance your daily hiragana practice:

Now that you have familiarised yourself with the basic hiragana characters and their additional features, you might be interested in  the following comprehensive resource created by JAPANESE KORO. Start at a level that suits your proficiency  and work your way gradually through the increasingly challenging levels.