Japanese language

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!
! [[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Alveolo-palatal consonant|Alveolo-<br>palatal]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| ({{IPA link|ɲ̟|ɲ}})
|
| ({{IPA link|ŋ}})
| ({{IPA link|ɴ}})
|
|-
! [[Stop consonant|Stop]]
| {{IPA link|p}}&nbsp;&nbsp;{{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|t}}&nbsp;&nbsp;{{IPA link|d}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|k}}&nbsp;&nbsp;{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|
|
|-
! [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
|
| ({{IPA link|t͡s}})&nbsp;&nbsp;({{IPA link|d͡z}})
| ({{IPA link|t͡ɕ}})&nbsp;&nbsp;({{IPA link|d͡ʑ}})
|
|
|
|
|-
! [[fricative consonant|Fricative]]
| ({{IPA link|ɸ}})
| {{IPA link|s}}&nbsp;&nbsp;{{IPA link|z}}
| ({{IPA link|ɕ}})&nbsp;&nbsp;({{IPA link|ʑ}})
| ({{IPA link|ç}})
|
|
| {{IPA link|h}}
|-
! [[Liquid consonant|Liquid]]
|
| {{IPA link|ɾ|r}}<!-- We use /r/ because realizations vary, just as do we at [[English phonology]]. -->
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! [[Semivowel]]
|
|
|
| {{IPA link|j}}
| {{IPA link|ɰᵝ|w}}
|
|
|-
! Special moras
| colspan="7" | [[#Moraic nasal|{{IPA|/N/|cat=no}}]], [[#Gemination|{{IPA|/Q/|cat=no}}]]
|}

Some Japanese consonants have several [[allophone]]s, which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence {{IPA|/ti/}} was [[Palatalization (sound change)|palatalized]] and realized phonetically as {{IPA|[tɕi]}}, approximately {{transl|ja|chi}} {{pronunciation|Ja-Chi 2.oga|listen|(|help=no}}; however, now {{IPA|[ti]}} and {{IPA|[tɕi]}} are distinct, as evidenced by words like {{transl|ja|tī}} {{IPA|[tiː]}} "Western-style tea" and {{transl|ja|chii}} {{IPA|[tɕii]}} "social status".

The "r" of the Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an [[apical consonant|apical]] [[central consonant|central]] [[tap consonant|tap]] and a [[lateral approximant]]. The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced {{IPAblink|ŋ}}, in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects.

The [[phonotactics]] of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C),<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 January 2017 |title=Kanji and Homophones Part I – Does Japanese have too few sounds? |url=https://kuwashiijapanese.com/2017/01/08/kanji-and-homophones-part-1/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518173010/https://kuwashiijapanese.com/2017/01/08/kanji-and-homophones-part-1/ |archive-date=18 May 2021 |access-date=28 May 2021 |website=Kuwashii Japanese}}</ref> that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant, a glide {{IPA|/j/}} and either the first part of a [[Gemination|geminate consonant]] ({{lang|ja|っ}}/{{lang|ja|ッ}}, represented as Q) or a [[Japanese phonology#Moraic nasal|moraic nasal]] in the coda ({{lang|ja|ん}}/{{lang|ja|ン}}, represented as N).

The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and [[assimilation (linguistics)|assimilates]] to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including {{IPA|[ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃]}}. Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as the two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a [[homorganic]] consonant.

Japanese also includes a [[Japanese pitch accent|pitch accent]], which is not represented in syllabic writing; for example {{IPA|[haꜜ.ɕi]}} ("chopsticks") and {{IPA|[ha.ɕiꜜ]}} ("bridge") are both spelled {{nihongo krt||はし|hashi}}, and are only differentiated by the tone contour.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Bullock |first=Ben |title=What is Japanese pitch accent? |url=http://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/pitch-accent.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702173008/http://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/pitch-accent.html |archive-date=2 July 2017 |access-date=17 July 2017 |publisher=Ben Bullock}}</ref>