Matsuda

[Wilson Gray]

It's been over fifty years since I took two quarters of Japanese at
UCLA from a native of Tokyo, but, if memory serves - and it very well
may not - ç”° spells [ta] and not [da]. It has the meaning, "field," and
is the first syllable of the name, _Tanaka_, "field middle," reputedly
the most common Japanese name.

IAC, according to the rule by which /i u/ are devoiced between or, in
word-final position, after voiceless consonants, /matuta/ > [mats ta].

Of course, there may be other peculiarities of the phonology of
Japanese here relevant, of which I have not the slightest knowledge.

-Wilson

On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 9:58 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
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> Poster: Â  Â  Â  "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: Matsuda
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 2/26/2010 09:49 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>At 2/26/2010 01:07 AM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>>>n contrast, the Mazda name appears to be a novel alteration of the
>>>founder's name Matsuda 松田, I suppose adapted for an eye-catching
>>>exoticism. The frequent surname Matsuda (usually "ma tsu da") apparently
>>>has some alternative pronunciations (e.g., "ma tsu ta") but Mazda (= "ma
>>>zu da") doesn't seem to be one of them. In Japanese the company name is
>>>written plain "ma tsu da" and at least sometimes so spoken [in (e.g.)
>>>home-market Mazda TV ads (some can be seen on YouTube)]. I deny any
>>>expertise.
>>
>>Is "Matsuda" ever elided to "mats-da"? Â That
>>might have led someone choosing a name for international use to "mas-da".
>
> As I now see Rhino1515 and Martin said on Language Log.
>
> Joel
>
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--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

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