#IM JUST A COLLEGE KID WHOS IN LOVE WITH THEORETICAL LINGUISTICS

[nihongoseito]

雰囲気の正しい読み方は？  What’s the correct pronunciation of 雰囲気?

Recently I was watching some YouTube videos in Japanese when I noticed a speaker was pronouncing a word I knew, 雰囲気 (atmosphere/mood), differently from how I’d been taught. If you look up 雰囲気 on Weblio, it’ll tell you it’s pronounced ふんいき in accordance with the on’yomi of its kanji. However, if you look it up on Denshi Jisho, it’ll tell you there’s also an “irregular kana usage” ふいんき, wherein ん and い swap places. Why does this happen? Let’s see!

(Note: The following discussion is based on Tokyo Japanese and is geared toward intermediate or advanced students.)

Nasality

If you’re not a linguist, this term might sound sort of weird, but you’ve probably at least heard people’s voices described as nasal, like a cartoon nerd on TV. In English, our most obvious nasal consonants are /n/ and /m/, though there are a couple more. So, what does it mean for a consonant to be “nasal”?

This is a diagram of the speech articulators, or the organs used by humans to make sounds. As you can see, I’ve circled the “velum,” the soft part in the way back of the roof of your mouth. (Go ahead, stick your tongue back there, I’ll wait.) The velum has a couple of functions, but for our purposes the most important one is to open and close the nasal cavity from the inside. When the velum is raised, the nasal cavity is closed off from the pharynx, so air can only escape out of the mouth; that’s how we get oral consonants like /b/ and /d/. (If you say “my nose” when you’re stuffed up, it sounds like “by doze” because no air can pass through your nasal cavity.)

However, when the velum is lowered, the nasal cavity is open to the pharynx, so air can escape out of the nose and we get nasal consonants like /n/ and /m/ and, of course, ん. Let’s go back to ん now.

Nasality in (Tokyo) Japanese

Nasality is really important in Japanese, too, which you may have inferred from the very existence of ん, the only free-standing Japanese consonant. ん is suuuuper interesting in a ton of ways (just trust me on this ^^;) but right now, we’re going to look at its relationship to and effect on vowels. (For the sake of ease, I won’t discuss ん’s multiple pronunciations, only the fact that they’re all nasal—send me an ask if you want to know more!)

We’ve looked at what it means to be a nasal consonant (i.e., to be a consonant produced with a lowered velum, through the nasal cavity), but now I want to look at what it means to be a nasal vowel. Unlike oral consonants, vowels can be pronounced in the oral cavity or in the nasal cavity. Since raising and lowering the velum is actually a fairly difficult motion, the velum, once lowered, often stays there until it absolutely must close; or, in preparation for lowering, lowers early. When it “must” close (i.e., to create oral sounds) or when “early” is varies by language, but in any case, many languages experience the phenomenon whereby the presence of nasal consonants nasalizes vowels that would otherwise be oral. Lucky us—Japanese is one of those languages.

In Japanese, ん’s main effect on vowels is to nasalize them. Here are a couple of examples of words whose vowels have been nasalized by ん (nasal sounds bolded):

gaman (がまん・我慢)

shinbun (しんぶん・新聞)

honki (ほんき・本気)

As you can see, each of these examples involves an oral vowel becoming nasal when it precedes ん. This is evidence for the velum lowering earlier than you might expect, in preparation to say ん. What happens, then, when a vowel follows ん?

jun’i (じゅんい・順位)

ken’o (けんお・嫌悪)

zen’aku (ぜんあく・善悪)

Tons of nasalization here! These examples are evidence for the velum staying open because it is simply too much work to close it again. Here’s the key difference between these two sets of examples: vowel nasalization preceding ん must occur, whereas vowel nasalization following ん can occur. (The reason for this has to do with ん’s complexity—again, send an ask for more! I love to talk about phonology!!) Because vowel nasalization following ん is a possibility and not an imperative, the above examples can also be pronounced as follows:

jun’i (じゅんい・順位)

ken’o (けんお・嫌悪)

zen’aku (ぜんあく・善悪)

Ostensibly, it is possible to close the velum swiftly enough to avoid nasalization of the vowels following ん. We are now finally prepared to investigate the instigator of this treatise, 雰囲気. So, let’s get back to it!

雰囲気 and its phonological evolution

Alright, yes, I’ll finally say what you’ve been waiting for me to say: the “correct” on’yomi for the kanji 雰 is フン, not フ; and the “correct” on’yomi for the kanji 囲 is イ, not イン. I put correct in quotation marks because it’s an extremely problematic word in linguistics (and plenty of other academic fields, I’m sure), so I’m not going to spend any more time on it. (Yet again, any questions, please shoot me an ask!) In short, I dispute the argument that ふんいき is the categorically “correct” pronunciation of 雰囲気.

Instead, I prefer to say that ふんいき is ONE OF the OBSERVED pronunciations of 雰囲気. Another observed pronunciation of the word is ふいんき, as you can see in the data below:

This graph from NHK放送文化研究所 shows data on which age and gender demographics are more likely to use which of these two observed pronunciations. As the red line shows, 77% of people polled would only use ふんいき, whereas 22% are comfortable using ふいんき instead of or in addition to ふんいき. So how did nearly a quarter of this population find themselves in use of a pronunciation that Denshi Jisho deems “irregular”?

Well, it’s because of ん, that pesky little kana, and its tendency to nasalize its neighbors! I bet you can totally see where this is going now, but let me drive the point home. Here’s a flow chart I’ve adapted from that same NHK article into rōmaji (nasal sounds bolded, double-spaced for clarity):

f u n ’ i k i  ⇒  f u n ’ i k i  ⇒  f u u i k i  ⇒  f u i i k i  ⇒  f u i n k i

This flow chart shows common pronunciations of 雰囲気 over time. Let’s break down each of these five steps, and be warned that it gets weird:

fun’iki: What we might “expect” from the “correct” pronunciation of 雰囲気. Imperative vowel nasalization preceding ん is observed. Possible nasalization following ん is not observed. (Written ふんいき.)

fun’iki: Nasalization following ん has developed, since it is difficult to close the nasal cavity in time to pronounce い. (Written ふんいき.)

fuuiki: ん has...disappeared? Okay, this is yet another bizarre phonological feature of ん. In short, the vowel in ふ has lengthened and become ふう in order to “mimic” the sound of ん. (Still written ふんいき, or ふーいき for clarity.)

fuiiki: The vowels in ふう and い have switched lengths to become ふ and いい in a process known as quantitative metathesis! This is actually pretty common cross-linguistically. It be like that sometimes. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (Already written ふいんき, or ふいーき for clarity.)

fuinki: Step 3 is reversed (short vowel + ん changed to a long vowel; now a long vowel changes to short vowel + ん). Notably, nasality is still observed in the vowel in ふ, showing its origins as a vowel which once preceded ん as in Steps 1 and 2. (Written ふいんき.)

According to the NHK graph, 77% of people polled pronounce 雰囲気 at any of Steps 1-3 (ふんいき), and 22% pronounce it at either Step 4 or 5 (ふいんき) because of this natural, even expected phonological process. Now, those two overarching percentages are a big generalization, so I recommend you look more closely at the graph to see the disparities in pronunciation of 雰囲気 within each age group individually, and of course to listen to Japanese speakers in your own life, whether in person or online. 

And with that, this magnum opus of mine comes to an end! Whew—I sure hope this was helpful, or at least interesting. As you know by now, I’m always delighted to chat one-on-one, whether about Japanese or linguistics or niche NHK polls or anything else at all. Thanks for reading, everyone, and happy studying!

[morganapengdragon]

An English guide to fanfic 1

So I've read a lot of fic set in England lately, by writers who don't have anyone to 'brit pick' what they've written. But everyone deserves to be able to write stuff set in this hellhole of a country so if you don't have/want a brit picker but still want some general advice I'm gonna make a series of posts which might help with making your fic sound a little more natural. I'm gonna start with education because that's the one I've seen people have most problems with.

This is a long post so be warned

Education

There are 3 main parts of the school system (for comprehensive schools in England, I know it's different for rich people and people in Scotland/Ireland/Wales).

Primary school:

Primary school spans ages 4-11 and the years are

Reception: ages 4-5

Year 1: ages 5-6

Year 2: ages 6-7 (some schools make a split after this point, with the younger years referred to as 'infant' school and the older years referred to as 'junior' school)

Year 3: 7-8

Year 4: 8-9

Year 5: 9-10

Year 6: 10-11

A couple of information tidbits:

A lot of schools teach sex education in year 5 and 6. They tell you what sex is and what periods are. The year is split into boys and girls. They don't really talk about gay people, trans people or contraception.

It's not very common now but some schools will do a SATS exam in year 6. The grades go from 1-5 with 5 being the highest. They mean nothing but we all used to get stressed about them anyway.

Kids can also choose to do an 11+ exam if they want to go to grammar school. I never did it so I can't help you there. Some places in the country put more emphasis on the importance of grammar school than others (looking @@@ Kent) and some places don't have any grammar school at all.

Hard hitting insults when I was a kid were things like 'nerd' and 'weird'. We don't really use 'geek' much. 'Damn' and 'hell' aren't swear words here and kids will sometimes say them.

Most primary schools have uniforms

Secondary school:

Secondary school ages are 11-16 and the years are

Year 7: 11-12

Year 8: 12-13

Year 9: 13-14

Year 10: 14-15

Year 11: 15-16

There are 4 MAIN types of secondary school (afaik)

Comprehensive schools (like the one I went to) are your standard school. You just kind of have to live close to it to get in.

Grammar schools work kind of like comps but you have to pass the 11+ exam. Not everyone takes this exam (I never did, my closest grammar school is fuck off miles away). Apparently you get a better education there or something. Idk man but they like to make fun of the local comprehensives.

Private/public school. You have to pay to go to these types of school. I don't really know the ACTUAL difference between private and public but from what I can tell, public is more expensive and fancier. I think their version of primary school is called prep school?? All of the years work differently and every time a public school kid tries to tell me something about their education its gets more confusing. Rich people.

Boarding school. This is basically a private school but you live there and it costs more money than all of my possessions put together. There are quite a few, with some of the most famous being Eton, Harrow, Winchester etc. They are usually either all boys or all girls schools (those three are all boys schools). Rich people.

More detailed infos:

Year 7-9 is referred to as 'lower school' with 10 and 11 being 'upper school'

The exams taken in year 11 are usually GCSEs. These used to be called O-levels for some reason and lots of older people will sometimes call them that by mistake.

Kids choose which GCSEs they want to do at the end of year 9, and start learning the material in year 10.

Maths, science and English are all compulsory and make up 5/6 GCSEs (one maths, two English, two or three science).

Most people do about 10 and can pick from all of the other subjects what they want to do.

We don't really have a 'locker room' culture????

It's quite common for people to go to all girls or all boys schools.

Schools here are nowhere near as big as American schools. We probably won't have high budget theaters or particularly large sports areas.

I've never heard anyone talk about 'funding'???? Just assume nothing is funded, arts and sports alike. We do lots of fundraisers for anything expensive like rugby tours or school productions.

We still have that weird culture thing where like if you're smart then you can't be popular or play sports???? Strange.

Sitting at a specific table at lunch time isn't really a thing. Actually most people brought lunch from home and then would just sit somewhere outside. A lot of the buildings would be closed during breaks.

Not many people really drive to school.

Sixth form/college

After you finish secondary school most people go into either college or sixth form (or a sixth form college). Years are

Age 16-17: sometimes called year 12, sometimes called lower sixth, sometimes called first year

Age 17-18: year 13, upper sixth, second year

Sixth form:

Some schools have an attached sixth form. A variation of the school uniform is often worn, or students will be asked to wear smart clothing or something

There are also sixth form colleges which are a bit more informal, less of a school environment. Students usually tend to wear their own clothes and call teachers by their first names. They're usually viewed as well.

The qualifications earned at the end of year 12 are called AS levels. They count partially towards your final A level grade. Students usually do 4 and drop one at the end of the year. You can do more if you want tho (I did five and died). You can do whatever subjects you want. Like. Literally nothing is compulsory. You wanna do art, music, dance and anthropology? Fuck it why not?

The highest AS grade is an A. B and C is a pass. D and E are fail marks. U stands for ungradable i.e you got so few marks that your exam isn't even worth a grade.

At the end of year 13 you do A levels. You need 3 to get into uni. Some people do 4. They always regret it.

Grades for A levels are the same as AS but they go up to an A*.

Some schools do a thing called the International baccalaureate. I don't understand what it is and frankly it scares me. I don't know how it's graded or what you need for uni. It's a mystery.

Sixth forms can be comp/grammar/Private/boarding same as secondary school.

College:

You can do a bunch of different types of qualifications. Most popular are usually B-Techs and Diplomas.

You usually only study one subject as opposed to four.

From what I gather, the point in doing a B tech is it's more practical and less theoretical and aims to help you get the skills necessary to go straight into the work force.

Unis kind of have to evaluate B-techs fairly, but they don't like them.

Nobody thinks very highly of B-Techs unfortunately bc they're considered to be less academic and easier. Idk if that's the case but there you go. People will sometimes refer to shit versions of other things as 'B-Tech'. For example, Pepsi is just B-Tech Coca Cola. Boris Johnson is a B-Tech Donald Trump.

I know nothing about the grading system for either of these qualifications im sorry.

In a sixth form college there will be people doing A levels and also people doing B techs all in the same building.

University:

I won't go too much into detail but basically you get a degree at the end of it and degrees usually take 3 years to complete. Years are first year, second year, third year etc.

Some courses are longer and some people will do a year in industry in their third year, making their overall degree time 4 years.

Tuition is currently £9,250 per year. I have never met anyone who hasn't gotten a loan for this.

Most people also apply for a maintenance loan. You get money proportional to your family income. The highest is about £8,500 per year. Idk what the lowest is. Some people choose not to take out this loan and their parents give them financial support instead.

The pay back plan for these loans is super lenient, doesn't affect your credit score and is wiped clean after 35 years. Most students think of their loan as more of a tax than a debt (tho we all still cry about it).

People don't live in dorms. We call them halls of residence (or halls for short).

Most people don't live in halls after first year, they leave and find shared housing.

Most halls aren't catered.

Most halls don't have shared rooms.

Because we study so few subjects at A level, we do have this system in the UK where you take a bunch of different unrelated subjects in your first year and then decide on your major later. Instead you apply for a programme already knowing your major. So when I applied to university I applied to the BA French and German Linguistic Studies course at a number of universities.

Different courses have different entry requirements. So it's easier to get into uni to study History than it is to study Maths.

Each 'class' is referred to as a module, and all of your modules are usually related to your main degree title.

Stereotypically STEM students think that humanities students are dumb. Humanities students think STEM students are arseholes who don't know how to read so if you wanna have that kinda jock/nerd type rivalry but in uni then humanities/STEM is quite a good one.

We call all of our lecturers by their first names. Sometimes we go to the pub with them. I watched a documentary about gay porn with one of them. It's chill.

I've never seen anyone show up to a lecture in pyjamas. People would think it's weird.

We refer to clubs as 'societies'. I love being part of the Musical Theatre Society. It's sounds so much more impressive than club.

The English version of Ivy League is Russel Group. The most prestigious Unis outside of Oxford and Cambridge tend to be: Durham, St Andrews (Scotland), Imperial, LSE and Warwick.

Slang and Groups

We don't really use the word 'jock'. In my school we called those guys the 'Rugby Lads' because they all played rugby.

We don't really use the word preppy/peppy whatever because I literally don't know anybody who is like that.

Try 'Drama kids' instead of Theater kids.

The kids who do drugs and don't come to school are called road men. Even the girls. To do road is to deal drugs but you don't really hear people say that much.

If we can't be bothered to say a teachers full title we will usually call them 'sir' or 'miss' but not really ma'am.

'Hall Pass' isn't a thing.

Our school did have prefects but fuck if I know who they were. They didn't really have any extra responsibility or power.

School uniforms are a thing in most schools. The things people did to make themselves seem cool were things like rolling their skirts up super short, wearing the rugby ties on match days, trying to get away with shoes that don't TECHNICALLY break the rules but are deffo not allowed, wearing as much make up as they could get away with, without teachers noticing. Our school was p strict on uniform tho in comparison with a lot of schools in my area.

If your accent doesn't fit the standard for your area it will affect you in some way (depending on your accent).

Homeroom is called registration

Gym is sometimes called the sports hall

People don't really go to school matches unless they're dating sb bc we don't have bleachers.

Home ecenomics was called Food Tech and Textiles in my school

Woodshop or whatever is called DT (design and technology)

People don't get as involved in extracurriculars in school (but they do at uni).

We DO have houses and we get points given to out houses like in Harry Potter but unlike Harry Potter literally nobody gives a fuck. In my school they added a whole new house and moved everyone into new houses and literally nobody noticed and nothing changed.

There is a BIG difference between comp schools and all of the other kinds in terms of culture. I didn't know this until I went to uni and started joking about the time some kid started throwing chairs in RE (religious education) or when so and so tried to set our French teacher on fire and literally all of the grammar school kids were like O.O WTF.

Slang and school culture will also vary a lot depending on where you live. I live in East London which is not a very well off area but it IS in london so my experiences would match with that.

Everything is completely different in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland so like.... Sorry.