Cover not available
Part of
Topics in Theoretical Asian Linguistics: Studies in honor of John B. Whitman
Edited by Kunio Nishiyama, Hideki Kishimoto and Edith Aldridge
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 250] 2018
► pp. 287–302

Chapter 13
The inexorable spread of 〈ou〉 in Romanized Japanese

| Komatsu University

When the Japanese government adopted new guidelines for representing words in kana (basically moraic phonograms) in 1946, a few mismatches between spelling and modern Tokyo pronunciation remained. One was using 〈う〉 (u) as the default representation for the second half of the long vowel /oH/ (/H/ = length). In official romanization, /ou/ is 〈ou〉 and /oH/ is 〈ō〉, 〈ô〉, or 〈oo〉, but the most popular romanization for /oH/ is now 〈ou〉, partly because most computer users input Japanese text by typing romanization that matches kana spelling. This paper will propose that kana spelling, abetted by romanized input, might induce future speakers to adopt /ou/ as the underlying form in many words that, for now, still have /oH/.

Keywords: kana spelling reform, long vowels, romanization, spelling pronunciation, word processing
Article outline
  • 1.Kana
  • 2.Long vowels and vowel sequences
  • 3. Kana spelling reform
  • 4.Disparity between /ou/ and /ei/
  • 5.Romanization(s)
  • 6.Word processing
  • 7.The future
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 December 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.250.14van
References
Bloch, Bernard
1950 Studies in colloquial Japanese IV: Phonemics. Language 26: 86–125.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bunka-chō
1986 Gendai kana-zukai (naikaku kokuji, naikaku kunrei). Tokyo: Bunka-chō.Google Scholar
Frellesvig, Bjarke
2010 A History of the Japanese Language. Cambridge: CUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gnanadesikan, Amalia E.
2009 The Writing Revolution: Cuneiform to the Internet. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hachiya, Kiyoto
2007 Rōmaji. In Nihongo-gaku kenkyū jiten, Y. Hida et al. (eds.), 383–385. Tōkyō: Meiji Shoin.Google Scholar
Hepburn, J. C.
1867 A Japanese and English Dictionary with an English and Japanese Index. Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press.Google Scholar
1872 A Japanese-English and English-Japanese Dictionary, 2nd edn. Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press.Google Scholar
1886 A Japanese-English and English-Japanese Dictionary, 3rd edn. Tokyo: Z. P. Maruya & Co. (Maruzen).Google Scholar
Hirayama, T.
1998 Zen-Nihon no hatsuon to akusento. In Nihongo hatsuon akusento jiten, NHK Hōsō Bunka Kenkyūjo (ed.), 123–173. Tokyo: Nihon Hōsō Shuppankai.Google Scholar
Katsumata, S.
(ed.) 1954 Kenkyusha’s New Japanese-English Dictionary, 3rd edn. Tokyo: Kenkyūsha.Google Scholar
Kindaichi, H.
1950 ‘Gooku’ to ‘gōku’: Hikionsetsu no teishō. Kokugo to Kokubungaku 27(1): 46–59.Google Scholar
Koizumi, T.
1978 Nihongo no seishohō. Tokyo: Taishūkan.Google Scholar
Kubozono, H.
1989 The mora and syllable structure in Japanese: Evidence from speech errors. Language and Speech 32: 249–278.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kubozono, H. & Honma, T.
2002 Onsetsu to mōra. Tokyo: Kenkyūsha.Google Scholar
Labrune, L.
2012 The Phonology of Japanese. Oxford: OUP.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ladefoged, P. & Maddieson, I.
1996 The Sounds of the World’s Languages. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Martin, S. E.
1952 Morphophonemics of Standard Colloquial Japanese [Language Dissertation No. 47]. Baltimore MD: Linguistic Society of America.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Masuda, K.
(ed.) 1974 Kenkyusha’s New Japanese-English Dictionary, 4th edn. Tokyo: Kenkyūsha.Google Scholar
Nakano, Maki
2011 Kindai kana-zukai kaitei-shi kara mita ‘tenji kana-zukai’ ni tsuite. In Nihongo Gakkai 2011-nendo Shunki Taikai Yokō-shū, 91–98.Google Scholar
Nihon Tenji Toshokan
(ed.) 1996 Hajimete tenji o yomu anata e. Tokyo: Enpawamento Kenkyūjo.Google Scholar
Rōmaji-kai
(ed.) 1885 Rōmaji nite Nihongo no kakikata. Tokyo: Rōmaji-kai.Google Scholar
Sampson, G.
1985 Writing Systems: A Linguistic Introduction. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Seeley, C.
1991 A History of Writing in Japan. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Sproat, R.
2000 A Computational Theory of Writing Systems. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Tanahashi, H.
2012 Gakkō ni okeru hyōki no hi-nichijōsei. In Nihongo moji, hyōki no muzukashisa to omoshirosa, 27–34. Tokyo: Kokuritsu Kokugo Kenkūyjo.Google Scholar
Terao, Y.
2002 Ii-machigai wa dōshite okoru? Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Vance, T. J.
2008a Romanization and phonemicization of Japanese. In Japanese/Korean Linguistics 13, M. Endo Hudson, P. Sells & S.-A. Jun (eds.), 81–91. Stanford CA: CSLI.Google Scholar
2008b The Sounds of Japanese. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
2011  Rendaku in Sino-Japanese: Reduplication and coordination. In Japanese/Korean Linguistics 19, H. Sohn, H. M. Cook, W. O'Grady, L. Serafim & S. Y. Cheon (eds.), 465–479. Stanford CA: CSLI.Google Scholar
Yoshida, S. & Inokuchi, Y.
(eds.) 1962 Meiji ikō kokuji mondai shoan shūsei. Tokyo: Fuzama Shobō.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Vance, Timothy J.
2023. A misleading syllable-based generalization about Japanese SJ+/zu/ compounds. Journal of Japanese Linguistics 39:2 ► pp. 213 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 22 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.