In the two previous courses, we saw the first two rules governing katakana and hiragana : the rule of accents and that of the pause. Now let’s see the third of these four rules, the lengthening rule.
So, beware, this rule will not be the same for katakana and hiragana. We will first see this rule for hiragana and then for katakana.
So, a lengthening, what is it ?
From time to time in Japanese we will have a syllable that will be lengthened, more precisely we will lengthen the vowel. A lengthening will therefore last an additional time, phonetically doubling the vowel of a given kana. Thus, to lengthen a く, it will suffice to slightly extend the voice on the "U", a little as if we pronounced it twice.
Thus, in the word « くうひ », we lengthen the く.
And in the word « ふうど », we lengthen the ふ.
We can also lengthen the syllables of the vowels only : あ, い, う, え, お.
So, don’t forget what we saw in previous lessons. The Japanese language works according to a rhythm. A syllable is worth a beat, an extension is also worth a beat. So, the extended syllable will take two beats in total. It is very important to indicate the lengthening of a word, whether written or oral, otherwise your interlocutor could confuse with other words, very similar but which do not have lengthening.
The lengthening also exists in rōmaji. Perhaps you have already seen them. In rōmaji, the lengthening is written by putting a line above the syllable which will be lengthened. Sometimes there is also a codification with a circumflex accent above the vowel.
Example :
OBĀSAN → mother
ABĀSAN → grandmother
If you don’t know how to draw the line, do it like most people. You put a circumflex accent, it’s much quicker to do on an AZERTY keyboard.
Each vowel of syllables will lengthen differently. Take the example of hiragana :
If we want to lengthen a syllable in « a » – that is to say the whole column of あ, か, さ, た, な, ま, や, ら… – we will write next to a あ. An example :
おかあさん → mother
We do have a lengthening on the あ of か.
Same with the other vowels :
おにいさん → oldest brother
We do have a lengthening on the い of に.
ふうど → climate, lifestyle
どようび → week-end
From there, things get complicated but very slightly, I can assure you.
To lengthen a syllable in « e », we will add the hiragana い. Attention, the い of the lengthening is pronounced well « e » and not « i ». For example :
せんせい → professor
This word is pronounced SENSÉÉ and not SENSÉI as one can often hear it from beginners. You are now warned !
To give you other examples, you have the words :
きめい → signature (registration of his name in a register)
ゆうめい → glory, famous
きれい → handsome, beautiful, pretty
There may be some exceptions but, as a general rule the い will be the lengthening of the « e » for the entire column of え, け, せ, て, ね, め, れ…
To lengthen a syllable in « o », we will add the hiragana う. Here too, the う of the elongation is pronounced well « o » and not « u ». For example :
きのう → yesterday
とうふ → tofu
さとう → sugar
Another example, the Touhou game follows the same pattern : とうほう.
Finally, an example that takes up the three rules that we have seen so far ; accent, pause, lengthening :
がっこう → school
We have an accent on が
We have the pause between the が and the こ
We have the lengthening in う on the syllable in « o ».
Now that we have seen how the five lengthenings of the five Japanese vowels are made, it is time to see the exceptions, because there are some and on fairly common words.
Below, let’s recap a little table of the lengthening :
« a » → あ
« i » → い
« u » → う
« e » → い
« o » → う
Let’s take a closer look at « e » and « o ». There are two exceptions. The vowels in « e » can also lengthen in え and the vowels in « o » can also lengthen in お. I indicate them to you below :
« e » → い or え
« o » → う or お
These exceptions can be found in a few rare words like おねえさん where the え will pronounce [i], and in おおかみ where the お will pronounce [u].
« e » → い or え
おおかみ → older sister
« o » → う or お
おおかみ → wolf
So, to sum up, lengthening in hiragana :
« a » → あ
« i » → い
« u » → う
« e » → い or え
« o » → う or お
What you should remember is that the lengthening in « u » → う, in « e » → い and in « o » → う are the most frequent. You will meet them very often.
While the lengthening in « a » → あ, in « i » → い, in « e » → え and in « o » → お are rarer.
For katakana, it is much simpler. We simply use an extension line ー which we will put after the syllable we want to lengthen. For example :
コントロール → control
We have a lengthening on the ロ.
It will be the same for all vowels in katakana.
« a » → カード → card
« i » → タクシー → taxi
« u » → グーグル → Google
« e » → テーブル → table
« o » → コントロール → control
Now I would like to give you another example with « e » to make sure you understand the difference between the hiragana’s lengthening and the katakana’s lengthening. Observe well :
« e » → ゲームプレイ → gameplay
Here, you understand that we have a lengthening on the ゲ of « gameplay » but we do not have a lengthening on プレイ. The English word « play » in katakana is spelled well プレイ. The イ is not the lengthening of the レ therefore, you pronounce well the sound « i » [i] at the end of the word.
This brings us to a special rule to remember: when you have a sound « e » [e] followed by an « i » [i] in a word of foreign origin, it is not a lengthening.
To give you another example, in the word « Spain », this is how it is written in katakana :
スペイン → Spain (lit. Supein)
Yet another example based on another language, Finnish this time, here is the name of a small Finnish city in katakana :
オウル → Oulu
Here, you understand that we do not have a lengthening on the オ. The ウ is not the lengthening of the オ therefore, you pronounce well the sound « u » [u].
So, we come back to our little rule with a small variant : when you have a sound « o » [o] followed by a « u » [u] in a word of foreign origin, it is not a question of a lengthening.
As far as you know right away. We will use the katakana to transcribe the Sino-Japanese readings of the kanji in order to clearly differentiate them from the purely Japanese readings. If you’ve never heard of Sino-Japanese readings and purely Japanese readings, don’t worry, we’ll see all of that when we start the study of kanji.
Lengthening can also be used in onomatopoeias, oral expressions. For example, when a person starts shouting or holding a word a little longer, we will use the lengthening to represent that.
To give you a more concrete example, in English, sometimes we say « Aaaaah ! » with several « a » to represent the lengthening. We often see this in comics. Well, in Japanese, it’s the same! If you have ever tried to read Japanese manga, you have certainly seen onomatopoeias like :
オーーー !
OK ! Now you know everything about lengthening with hiragana and katakana. This lesson was not very long, so do not hesitate to read it again before tackling the next lesson on combinations... which will be much more massive and complex than anything we have seen before.
With that, I leave you with your exercises. In the first, you have words in hiragana and katakana with lengthening that I ask you to write in rōmaji. And in the second, you have words in rōmaji that I ask you to write in hiragana or katakana as the case may be.
For the lengthenings, you will not have the small exceptions that I mentioned for hiragana. I explained to you that these exceptions were very rare. You will therefore not have them in these exercises.
Thus, ends this conclusion, I wish you good revisions to all and I will meet you again, very quickly I hope, for the next course.
Introduction