The Way of Producing Sound and

Intonation Matter on Japanese and English

Adinda Siti Rahmah1, M. Abdul Rohman2, Rosneeda Dadeh3,
Muhamad Haydar4, Muhammad Rofiiq Aqil5, Muhammad Zulkifli6
Student, Department of English Literature, Sunan Gunung Djati
State Islamic University, Bandung, Indonesia1,2,3,4,5,6
1adinda.sr97@gmail.com, 2doelalvarez@gmail.com,
3koree.002@gmail.com, 4muhamadhaydar13@gmail.com,
5rofiiq.cool@gmail.com, 6zulkiflipangkep@gmail.com

Abstract: This research aimed at revealing the differences between Japanese and English, especially on the
way of producing sound and intonation matter. There are around 7000 languages in world-wide. This
research focused in describing vowels, consonants, syllable types, intonation (statements, commands, and
questions intonation). English has rich vowels and consonants systems. Every single English vowel and
consonant are available in Japanese, while Japanese are not all available in English. But still, Japanese still
can keep up to English words by using the nearest vowel and consonant systems. In syllable matter, English
has both open syllable and closed syllable, while the syllable types in Japanese are a little bit restricted to
open syllable only, and close syllable only for “n” in the end of word. The intonations of both languages are
the same, but still English has variety on intonation matter, and Japanese has monotonous intonation. Both
of language users can learn each language, but the author can say that English speaker will learn Japanese
quickly rather than the opposite due to the number of vowels and consonants matter.

Keywords: vowel, consonant, intonation, English, Japanese

1. Introduction
Language is one of human principal needs (such as breathing, eating, drinking, etc.) that must be fulfilled in
order to make people survive on living as God’s creature. People cannot live if languages do not exist. They
need a medium called language to deliver (to express) their thoughts/intentions. Thus, living without
language is impossible for every normal human being in real life.

Language creation is something which is far beyond human’s knowledge. Language cannot be created by
anyone, except God. To be honest, every language user always uses their respective descendant languages.
They use a language that is already exist. They only can use it, and cannot create it. To prove this, let us say,
what is the curve of hand underneath the elbow or the curve leg underneath the knee called? Either
Bahasa/Indonesian, English or other languages do not have the name of it.

According to Gerhard (2010), there are around 7000 languages world-wide in 2005. On each language, there
are many different ways to speak. In Indonesia, for example, even though its people speak the same
language (Bahasa/Indonesian), they have different dialect (way to speak). This makes the author interested
in showing the differences between Japanese and English on the way of they speak.

1.1 Purpose
Due to the fact that every language has its own way to speak, the author wants to show the reader
about the differences between Japanese and English, especially on the way of producing sound and
intonation matter.
2. Review of Related Literature
2.1 Definition of Vowel
Chomsky and Halle states that we always perceive vowels as sound intimately related to the feature
of voicedness: a vowel is a sound that must be produced with vocal cord vibration. That this is a
feature that characterizes some non-vocalic sounds is something that will be discussed a little bit
later.

2.2 Definition of Consonant

In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by a closure
or stricture of the vocal tract sufficient to cause audible turbulence. The word consonant comes from
Latin and means "sounding with" or "sounding together," the idea being that consonants don't sound
on their own, but occur only with a nearby vowel, which is the case in Latin. This conception of
consonants, however, does not reflect the modern linguistic understanding which defines consonants
in terms of vocal tract constriction. (National Taipei University Press)

2.3 Definition of Intonation

Intonation is a complex system of meaning communicated through the rise and fall of a speaker's
voice. Like stress, intonation operates on a system of contrasts - here, the contrast is between the
movement of the voice up or down. Intonation can change the meaning of what a person says even
when the same words are used. Look at the examples below. The same words are used but different
intonation communicates a different meaning. (University of Technology Sydney Press)

Trujillo argues that intonation is very important for communication, as it helps the addressee
interpret the message. There have been different proposals to explain how intonation can help
communication, some of which are:

1. Intonation enables us to express emotions and attitudes as we speak: the attitudinal function
of intonation.

2. Intonation helps to produce the effect of prominence on stressed syllables: the accentual
function of intonation.

3. Intonation helps to recognize the grammar and syntactic structure of the utterance: the
grammatical function of intonation.

4. Intonation conveys the given-new information, or provides information for turn-taking: the
discourse function of intonation.
So, there are three simple possibilities for intonation: level, fall and rise.

However, more complex tones are also used, such as fall-rise or rise-fall. Each of these tones
are functionally distinct, that is, they convey different attitudes, intentions and meanings to
the hearer, as it has been stated above. Thus, the fall tone is regarded as quite “neutral” and it
conveys a certain sense of “finality” (so, it is normally used to yield the floor in turn-taking).
The rise tone, on the other hand, conveys an impression that something more is to follow (so,
it is frequently used to keep the floor in turn-taking). The fall-rise tone is quite frequent and it
conveys, among many other possibilities, “limited agreement” or “response with
reservations”. The rise-fall tone is normally used to convey strong feelings of approval,
disapproval or surprise.
3. Research Method
3.1 Methodology
This research used qualitative as the method. The sources of the data are from reliable sources such
as university press, journal, e-book, and author’s own experience in learning both Japanese and
English.

4. Discussion
4.1 Vowels
According to Ohata (2004), there are 15 different vowels determined in the English vowel system,
which include several diphthongs such as /aw/, /ay, and /oy/, while Japanese has only 5 vowels. It is
obvious that there are substantially more vowels in English than in Japanese. (See Table 1)

Table 1: Japanese and English Vowel Charts (from Ohata 2004)

Japanese Vowel Chart

Front Central Back

High i u

Mid e o

Low a

English Vowel Chart

Front Central Back

High i u

I U

Mid e ^ o

ε Ə Ɔ

Low æ a

From this case, we can say that English has rich vowels system. This means that there is big
possibility for English user to learn Japanese easily, unlike the opposite. Japanese user will be
difficult in learning English due to limited vowels system. But, it does not mean that Japanese user
cannot learn to speak English with that insufficient vowels system. To prove this, we can take a look
on table below.
English How to Pronounce Japanese How to Pronounce

Strike /strʌɪk/ Sutoraiku /sutoraiku/

White /wʌɪt/ Huwaitto /huwaitto/
Master /mɑːstə/ Masutaa /masutaa/

Although the way to pronounce between English words and Japanese words are different, when they
are pronounced quickly, the limited of Japanese vowels can keep up with English vowels because
both words are similar when they are being heard.

Long-vowel matter in both languages should be concerned in learning the way of producing its
respective sound. There are some words, which are exactly the same when being pronounced but
there is a different thing on long-vowel matter. For instance, in English, when we are going to
pronounce “it”, we will face the original meaning of that word, whether it refers to “eat” (/iːt/) (doble
‘i') or “it” (/It) (single ‘i'). The double one will be heard a little bit long than the single on. Plus, when
being pronounced, there will be a different meaning on each word. The long ‘i' will refer to “eat”,
while the quick ‘i' will refer to “it”. This also happens in Japanese. Tables below may can help us in
understanding this case.

English

Word 1 How to Word 2 How to Explanation

Pronounce + Pronounce +
Meaning Meaning
eat /i:t/ (Put (food) into it /It/ (Used to refer to When the speakers
the mouth and a thing previously pronounce “it”
chew and swallow mentioned or easily with a little bit
it) identified)
long (long-vowel),
it refers to “eat”,
while when they
pronounce it
quickly (without
any emphasizing)
(short-vowel), it
refers to “it”.
beat /bi:t/ (Defeat bit /bit/ (A small piece, When the speakers
(someone) in a part, or quantity of pronounce “bit”
game or other something) with a little bit
competitive
situation)
long (long-vowel),
it refers to “beat”,
while when they
pronounce it
quickly, it refers to
“bit”.
 Japanese

Word 1 How to Pronounce Word 2 How to Pronounce Explanation

+ Meaning + Meaning
obasan /obasan/ (aunt) obaasan /obaasan/ When the speakers
(grandma) pronounce
“obasan” with a
little bit long (long-
vowel), it refers to
grandmother, while
when they
pronounce it
quickly, it refers to
aunt.
ojisan /ojisan/ (uncle) ojiisan /ojiisan/ (grandpa) When the speakers
pronounce “ojisan”
with a little bit long
(long-vowel), it
refers to
grandfather, while
when they
pronounce it
quickly, it refers to
uncle.

Unlike Bahasa/Indonesian, which only has short-vowel, Japanese and English have both short-vowel
(pronounced quickly) and long-vowel (pronounced a little bit longer than usual) system. This means that in
pronouncing both languages, we have to concern this matter because even though the words are the same
when being heard, they are exactly not the same in meaning. Thus, we have to be careful in pronouncing
some sensitive both languages words.

4.2 Consonants
The same matter with the vowel systems, there are also significant differences in consonantal
distributions between Japanese and English. The table 2 below (from Ohata, 2004), which indicates
the consonant system of each language, obviously highlights the fact that there are more consonants
in English than in Japanese. In the vertical column of manner of articulation, there is no affricate
found in Japanese. Then, in the horizontal column of place of articulation, there is variety of
fricatives and affricates that are much more widely distributed in English than in Japanese: /f/, /v/, /θ
/, /ð/, / ʃ /, / ʒ /, /ʧ/, and /ʤ/ do not exist in the Japanese consonantal system.
 Table 2: Consonants Chart

Japanese Consonants Chart

Place of Articulation Bilabial Alveolar Alveopalatal Velar Glottal

Manner of Articulation
Stops Voiceless p t k
Voiced b d g
Fricatives Voiceless Φ s Ҫ h
Voiced z
Nasals m n
Liquids r
(Approximants)

English Consonants Chart

Place of Articulation Bilabial Labio- Interdental Alveolar Alveopalatal Velar Glottal

Manner of Articulation dental
Stops Voiceless p t k
Voiced b d g
Fricatives Voiceless f θ s ʃ h
Voiced v ð z ʒ
Affricates Voiceless ʧ
Voiced ʤ
Nasals m n
Retroflex Liquid r
Lateral Liquid l

From the tables above, we can say that, English has not only rich vowels, but also consonants. Every
single English consonant is available in Japanese, and there is a lot of Japanese consonants that do
not exist in English consonant system. But, for further information, Japanese user still can keep up
with the lack of consonants in pronouncing English consonants. To prove this, we can take a look at
the table below.

English Word How to Pronounce Japanese Word How to Pronounce

The /ðə/ Za /za/

Thank you /θaŋk juː/ Sankyuu /sankyuu/
Love /lʌv/ Rabu /rabu/
Switch /swɪtʃ/ Suicchi /suicchi/ or /suiҪi/

According to the table above, we can know that although Japanese does not have interdental, one of
place of articulations, it still keeps up to follow English’s interdental with the nearest place of
articulation–alveolar so that when both words (in the table above) are pronounced quickly, they will
be heard similar to common ears.
 Furthermore, the most frequent of these difficulties for Japanese who learns English lies in producing
/θ/ and /ð/ sounds, most likely because the tongue plays a significant part in their production. If the
tongue is removed from the equation, the closest sounds in Japanese for that two are /s/ and /z/,
respectively. Another common problem is the /v/ sound. Again, because it does not exist in Japanese,
Japanese user may tend to substitute /b/ for the unfamiliar /v/ in Japanese consonants system.

In addition, on Liquid section (manner of articulation), unlike English, Japanese has only /r/ so that
the words “rice” and “lice” may sound like the same word by when spoken by a Japanese speaker.
But, this does not mean that Japanese speaker cannot learn to speak /l/. Based on author’s own
experience, when listening to the Japanese song that contains some English words, the author often
hear Japanese speakers pronounce “l” when pronouncing some words with “r” either as its initial or
part of it. Due to the same liquid (retroflex and lateral), this maybe the cause of the uncertain of
being able to pronounce “l” for Japanese speakers. This means that there is a possibility for them to
learn foreign consonant (lateral liquid) which is near with the original one (retroflex liquid).

4.3 Syllable Types

Comparing several words from Japanese and English can show us some of different characteristics
on the way of respective language syllables utilization for forming a word.

Word Transcription Syllable Type (Consonant/Vowel)

See /si:/ CV
Sit /sIt/ CVC
Step /stɛp/ CCVC
Spreads /sprɛds/ CCCVCC

According to these examples, we can say that English allows both open and closed syllables: CV
(open syllable), CVC, CCVC, CCCVCC (closed syllable) which indicates that English has a wide
variety of syllable types. On the other hand, the syllable types in Japanese are a little bit restricted to
open syllable only, and close syllable only for “n” in the end of word.

Word Transcription Meaning Syllable Type (Consonant/Vowel)

Sora /sora/ Sky CVCV
Kakurenbo /kakurenbo/ Hide and Seek CVCVCVCCV
Robotto /robotto/ Robot CVCVCCV
Pen /peŋ/ Pen CVC
Kaado /kaado/ Card CVVCV

From this case (above), we can conclude that every Japanese word always has whether vowel or
consonant (only “n”) in the end of it. Both original Japanese words and foreign Japanese words will
have that rule.

Furthermore, in order to be more understood the difference of both languages on syllable type, let us
take a look at a sentence below.

English: Bird eats worm.

Japanese: Tori ha mushi wo taberu.

 When we would like to try to differentiate those sentences based on syllable matter, the English word
will be read -> Bird / eats /worm (3 syllables), while the Japanese word will be read ->
To/ri/ha/mu/shi/wo/ta/be/ru (9 syllables). This means that the pattern of English syllable and
Japanese syllable are obviously noticeable.

4.4 Intonation
Intonation patterns of Japanese and English have some common characteristics as final rising
intonation pattern as used in yes-no question or final rising-falling as used in statements, commands,
and wh-questions. The difference between the two languages is the degree of pitch changes. Japanese
is often said to use less pitch variation than English. English pitch changes occur in conjunction with
the major sentence stress which is usually placed on a stressed syllable in the final content word, to
convey the meaning of sentences, while Japanese mainly uses pitch changes to mark stress on the
word level, which results in producing a so-called “monotonous” intonation contours typical of
Japanese speech patterns.

4.4.1 Statements
In reading some statements such as reading a news or reading-loud a book, English has
variety of intonation on its each conjunction. The intonation is dynamic. On the other hand,
Japanese way of speaking is easy to be predicted because its intonation pattern is static. The
author has experienced it (by listening to the native speaker respectively on some audio-
visual media such as film, animation, and so on.). Thus, we can say that English has more
intonation style than Japanese.

4.4.2 Commands
In giving commands, both of two languages use same intonation. The author assume that
every language may use the same way when giving command because Bahasa/Indonesian has
the same intonation with both of them. To make sure about this, let us take a look at some
examples below.

Japanese Command English Command

Kore ha kudasai! (Falling intonation I order this one, please! (Falling

with emphasizing on “kudasai” word) intonation with emphasizing on
“please” word)
Hon o akete! (Falling intonation with Open your book! (Falling intonation
emphasizing on “akete” word) with emphasizing on “book” word)
Suwatte kudasai! (Falling intonation Have a seat, please! (Falling intonation
with empashizing on “kudasai” word) with emphasizing on “please” word)
4.4.3 Questions
In making question, both Japanese and English have the same way to pronounce it. But, we
cannot avoid the the Japanese “monotonous” matter on any type of question.

In English, there are several types of intonation in giving/asking a question:

- Falling Intonation

- Rising Intonation

In Japanese, there is only one type of intonation when giving/asking a question. The formal
question is related to the rising intonation, and the informal question is related to falling
intonation. This monotonously happens in both types of Japanese question manner.

- The Formal Questioning Intonation (Rising Intonation)

Every question in Japanese will be “desuka” in the end of the word. “Desuka” matter
is the substitution of question mark. Thus, when we meet Japanese sentence with
“desuka” ending, it means that we are facing a question. And, on every Japanese
question, the intonation will always be heard rising.

Japanese Question Meaning (English)

Anata ha dare desuka. (Flat Who are you? (Falling Intonation on

Intonation - Rising Intonation on
“desuka” Word)
Ibasho ha koko desuka. (Flat
Intonation – Rising Intonation on
“desuka” Word)
Naze desuka. (Flat Intonation –
Rising Intonation on “desuka” Word)
“you” Word)
The place is here? (Rising Intonation
on “here” Word)
Why? (Both Falling Intonation and
Rising Intonation are Acceptable)
 - The Informal Questioning Intonation (Falling Intonation)
Unlike the formal thing, the informal question will be ended with “ka” or “da”,
instead of “desuka”. The same with the previous one: the intonation of formal
questioning intonation will go rising up, the intonation of informal question will go
falling down.

Japanese Question Meaning (English)

Kimi ha dareda. (Flat Intonation – Who are you? (Falling Intonation on

Falling Intonation on “dareda”
Word)
Ibasho ha kokoka. (Flat Intonation –
Falling Intonation on “kokoka”
Word)
Nazeda. (Flat Intonation – Falling
Intonation on “nazeda” Word)
“you” Word)
The place is here? (Rising Intonation
on “here” Word)
Why? (Both Falling Intonation and
Rising Intonation are Acceptable)

By concerning the difference intonation matter between Japanese and English in

giving/asking a question on tables above, we can know that there are several
intonation variety on English, while Japanese has monotonous intonation.

5. Conclusion
Although Japanese has lack of vowels and consonants, unlike English, it does not mean that Japanese
speakers cannot learn English. Many of Japanese words are originally from English such as konpyuuta
(from ‘computer’), eakon (from ‘air conditioner’), suupaa (from ‘supermarket’), basu (from ‘bus’), booru
(from ‘ball’), dansu (from ‘dance’), doa (from ‘door’), and many others. These are Japanese words. In
Japanese, there are no substitution for those words originally from Japanese (language). Thus, even
though the differences of Japanese number of vowels and consonants are so far from English, Japanese
speakers still can keep up to pronounce English words similarly. Plus, if they are learning English
patiently, there is a big chance of Japanese speakers to speak English because there are many Japanese
native speakers who can speak English fluently such as Joe Inoue and Michelle Yamamoto.

On the other hand, English speakers also cannot learn Japanese easily, even though their language has
rich of vowels and consonants. But, it does not rule out the possibility that they can speak Japanese. I bet
English speakers will learn Japanese quickly rather than the opposite due to the number of vowels and
consonants matter.

The structure (way of forming a sentence) and intonation matter on every language is just the same. But,
indeed, there are certainly several differences among them. God has created the same human’s mouth
(device for speaking or producing language). Thus, inspite of difference vowels and consonants, every
human can learn any language because if a human can use a language (produce unique sounds), other
humans can do so either. It means that when there are many English native speakers who can speak
Japanese fluently or the opposite, there is a possibility for anyone to be able to use (speak) other
languages such as Japanese and English, by learning it patiently. Plus, there are no barriers (or other
things) that can prevent people to learn other languages.
References

Chomsky and Halle. The Sounds of English. Consonants and Vowels. An Articu-latory
Classification and Description. Acoustic Correlates. Journal.

Jäger, Gerhard (2010). Languages of the World. Germany: University of Tübingen Press.

National Taipei University Press. The Consonants of English.

Ohata, Kota (2004). Phonological Differences between Japanese and English: Several Potentially
Problematic Areas of Pronunciation for Japanese ESL/EFL Learners. ASEAN EFL Journal.

Trujillo, Fernando. English Phonetics and Phonology. Journal.

University of Technology Sydney Press. Intonation – Pronunciation.