Q; pronouncing "Fukushima"

[Benjamin Barrett]

My accent dictionary for Japanese is old--1988--so FWIW, it says that the first syllable is devoiced and that the second mora has a higher pitch accent than the other moras.

This is the sort of reference book an NHK announcer might use to get the pitch accent and other fine details of Japanese in line with the NHK standard.

But there are caveats, of course.

The dictionary is prescriptive. If I were to pretend I spoke the NHK standard or the Tokyo dialect, I would voice the second and devoice the first and third. (People also laugh at me when I try to correct my pitch accent, so FWIW.)

Devoicing varies a great deal among speakers and dialects, and the explanatory materials in my dictionary say they minimized the devoicing notation because too much devoicing makes it difficult to understand. I take this to mean that the first mora should be devoiced and the others may.

I personally heard all three devoiced on that video cited earlier in the thread, but I think other combinations are possible. I like devoicing just the first two as well, and perhaps there is some sort of hierarchy. It seems likely that devoicing before "m" is not as common as before devoiced consonants, so perhaps the preference of devoicing would be something like M1 > M1/2 > M1/2/3 in Tokyo, which seems to match the dictionary and Lisa Galvin below.

Pitch accent varies greatly around Japan just as devoicing does. I asked my partner who typically speaks Kansai Japanese (though not natively), and he said Fukushima with a raised pitch accent just on the third mora, no devoicing. In Osaka, devoicing is not as common as in Tokyo or northeastern Japan.

HTH
Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

> Actually the third vowel is devoiced too, should have mentioned that. :)
>
> Lisa
>>
>> >
>> > Poster: Lisa Galvin <
>> > Yes=2C the first two vowels are both at least devoiced=2C not sure if they =
>> > are completely voiceless. Keep in mind=2C I did live in northeastern Japan=
>> > =2C years ago=2C so I'm relying mostly on memory here=2C not on my expertis=
>> > e in Japanese phonology.=20
>> > =20
>> > Lisa

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