The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Japanese language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. Sounds occurring only as allophones are included for narrow transcription.
See Japanese phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Japanese.
Examples in the charts are Japanese words transliterated according to the Hepburn romanization system.
| Consonants | | IPA | Japanese example | English example | | b | basho | bog | | ç | hito | human | | ɕ | shita, shugo | show | | d | dōmo | dome | | dz, z | zazen | zen, rods | | dʑ | jibun, jōzu | gelatin | | ɸ | fugu | food
(lips don't touch teeth. more like blowing out a candle) | | ɡ | gakusei | gape | | h | hon | hone | | j | yakusha, kyū | yak | | k | kuru | skoot | | m | mikan | much | | n | nattō | not | | ɴ | nihon | lawn or long | | ŋ | ringo | finger | | p | pan | span | | ɽ[1] | roku | close to /t/ in auto in American English; or between lock and Scottish rock, thus between [l] and [ɾ]. | | s | suru | sue | | t | taberu | table | | ts | tsunami | cats | | tɕ | chikai, kinchō | itch | | w | wasabi | was | | z | zazen | zen | | | Vowels | | IPA | Japanese examples | English examples | | a | aru | Spanish or French a or English aye | | e | eki | between met and mate | | i | iru | need | | i̥ | yoshi, shita | (almost silent) | | o | oniisan | Spanish or French o | | u, ɯ[2] | unagi | closest to boot | | u̥,ɯ̥[2] | desu, sukiyaki | (almost silent) |
| Suprasegmentals | | IPA | Japanese examples | English examples | | ː | long vowel:
ojiisan | | | double consonant:
seppuku | big gram (compare big ram) | | ꜜ | tone drops: kaꜜki (oyster), kakiꜜ (fence)[3] | |
- ^ There is no exact symbol in the IPA for Japanese r, which is neither central [ɽ] nor lateral [ɺ], but indeterminate.
- ^ a b There is no simple symbol in the IPA for Japanese u, which is neither rounded [u] nor unrounded [ɯ], but compressed [ɯ͡β̞].
- ^ The position of this downstep, which does not occur in all words, varies between dialects, and frequently is not indicated. The downstep is a drop in pitch; the word rises in pitch before the ꜜ. When ꜜ occurs after the final syllable of a word, any attached grammatical particles will have low tone.
