Colloquial Modifications
In casual, spoken Japanese, a lot of words will get altered or shortened.
Here are some examples...
消える「た」 / [disappearing 'ta']
たた ⇒ った
Full Word | Full Romaji | Meaning |
あたたかい | atatakai | warm |
Short Word | Short Romaji | Meaning |
あったかい | attakai | warm |
消える「ら」 / [disappearing 'ra']
あらな ⇒ あんな
Full Word | Full Romaji | Meaning |
つまらない | tsumaranai | boring; tedious |
Short Word | Short Romaji | Meaning |
つまんない | tsumannai | boring; tedious |
Full Word | Full Romaji | Meaning |
わからない | wakaranai | to not understand |
Short Word | Short Romaji | Meaning |
わかんない | wakannai | to not understand |
Non-Native Sounds
Sometimes, you will hear Japanese people make (and even write) sounds that, technically speaking, are not a part of the language. In my experience, elderly Japanese speakers will be less likely―and, in many cases, less able―to make these non-native sounds. For example, we have...
しい ⇒ すぃー
I've never heard an old person say this, but sometimes I hear people in their 20's saying things like "suzusii" instead of "suzushii."
Full Word | Full Romaji | Meaning |
すずしい | suzushii | cool; refreshing |
Short Word | Short Romaji | Meaning |
すずすぃー | suzusii | cool; refreshing |
However, we also have modifications to traditional Japanese sounds that are now wholly integrated into the language, used by young and old alike. For example...
ティ (ti) 、ディ (di)、etc.
There are countless examples of this, but in general, when you see a small hiragana or katakana vowel (ぁ、ぃ、ぅ、ぇ、ぉ // ァ、ィ、ゥ、ェ、ォ), it's safe to assume that the small vowel is "stealing" the spot of the vowel coming before it.
So て (te) becomes てぃ (ti), で (de) becomes でぃ (di), and so on...
This is especially common with foreign loan words, as traditional Japanese sounds are not adequate for pronouncing them.
Word | Romaji | Meaning |
ホットティ― | hotto tii | hot tea |
ディズニーランド | dizuniirando | Disneyland |
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