Phonology VI: 促音化
There is another category of euphonic sound changes (音便) in Japanese. This category pertains to the insertion of っ(促音添加) or the transformation of a mora to っ (促音便), and the category as a whole may be referred to as 促音化.
The phonetic value of っ is referred to as a moraic obstruent which manifests as gemination of the following consonant, and as we know, it constitutes itself as a contrastive phoneme in Japanese, creating countless minimal pairs – ex. 切手 (stamp) vs. 来て (て-form of “to come”).
Both types of phenomena involving っ are attest to compound word formation and/or contractions in conjugation. In the span of the entire Japanese lexicon, however, scenarios for which っ appears can be described by the following environments.
- Contractions which result in っ in verbal/adjectival conjugations.
- っ which appear at morpheme boundaries in Sino-Japanese compound words.
- っ which appears in emphatic iterations of nativ(ized) words.
- っ which appear in onomatopoeia.
- っ which appear in loanwords.
- っ at the end of an utterance, representing a glottal stop.
促音便
In Old Japanese, っ as a phoneme is not attested, but by the time Kana orthography became established in Middle Japanese, an irregular appearance of っ – albeit written as a regular-sized つ – is attested in the first three aforementioned environments.
促音便 is a phenomenon involving っ particularly familiar with native speakers due to it being a topic of study when learning about 古文 and how sound changes already present in the vernacular of Middle Japanese persisted into the present.
Whenever the 連用形 of a 五段1 verb historically2 ends in ち・ひ・り, these morae are all respectively reduced to っ when paired with the conjunctive particle て or the auxiliary verb た3 due to the dropping of the vowel /i/ in said base, resulting in consonant gemination of the following consonant.
| 取りて → 取って |
| 買ひて → 買って |
| 勝ちて → 勝って |
促音化 from Syllable-Final Applosives
Though Japanese uses Chinese characters in its script, it may seem obvious to note that Sino-Japanese words which entered the language were introduced via the Chinese pronunciations at the time. While assimilation did occur, the ON readings themselves affected Japanese phonology. At times, the irregularities in ON readings create a “chicken or the egg” dilemma. Consider the following three words:
| 化石（かせき） Fossil | 磁石（じしゃく） Magnet | 石器（せっき） Stone implement |
The ON readings of 石 utilized here are セキ and シャク. シャク is its 慣用音 (popularly accepted ON reading) which itself is based on its 呉音 (Go On’yomi) ジャク, making it the oldest of the two. セキ is its 漢音 (Kan On’yomi). 漢音 represent the wave of ON readings responsible for the majority of Sino-Japanese vocabulary. While it may seem tempting to assume that セキ is changed to セッ in compounds, the sound change at play is actually directed in the opposite direction. All of these ON readings would have followed a CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) syllabic format in their source language. As Japanese does not allow consonant-final syllables, the high vowels – /i/ or /u/4 – are added to assimilate those readings into Japanese. Yet, perhaps due to it being easier for Japanese speakers at the time to mimic, these final consonants were preserved in compounds. The final consonants preserved in this way were [p̚], [t̚], and [k̚], which as indicated by the IPA notation, were accurately pronounced as applosives (unreleased plosives/stops).
The Kana syllabaries were insufficient to spell these applosives, as each Kana only corresponded to either V or CV, and the appearance of つ was highly inconsistent until modernity. Yet, the existence of the resulting consonant gemination remained evident. As for how that was true, consider words like 節句5 (seasonal festival) which were spelled in Kana as せく without any indication of this gemination. For many centuries, the only instances in which this gemination was more explicitly denoted was through tone markings inherited from the characters’ borrowing from Chinese. These final consonants were known as being in syllables with a checked tone (入声), and whenever a syllable was marked with this, it was understood that no intervening vowel would be imposed on the first syllable and that there would be a rise in the second syllable accompanied with the gemination of the initial consonant of said second syllable.
The greatest headache to knowing when to expect っ is not as simple as knowing to assume that /i/ and /u/ were not initially present upon entering the language, as words like 石炭 (coal), which is read as せきたん as opposed to せったん, appear to violate the norm established above. The key here is to return back to the added condition that the second syllable be of the same articulation as the final consonant of the first syllable, making 石炭 no exception at all – [k̚] is velar while /t/ is alveolar.
For applosive [-t̚] in these Sino-Japanese compounds, this means that っ would appear when the following consonant was either /t/ or /s/, as both consonants are alveolar. Though the example words below happen to all be examples of Japanese-coined Sino-Japanese vocabulary during the Meiji Restoration, their original approximate ON readings compared to their modern readings still represent how sound changes those Kanji have undergone.
| Word | Original Approx. | Modern Reading | 促音化 |
| 発信 (dispatch) | /*pat̚-/ + /*ʃin/6 | はっしん | 〇 |
| 発達 (development) | /*pat̚-/ + /*tat/ | はったつ | 〇 |
| 発明 (invention) | /*pat̚-/ + /*meŋ/ | はつめい | X |
As for applosive /-p̚/, due to the loss of /p/ as a phoneme7, things seem a little tricky because of modern Kana spelling reform (現代仮名遣い) and how other sound changes have taken place in tandem. Take, for example, the Kanji 合 and how it is read in the following words.
| Word | Original Approx. | Modern Reading | 促音化 |
| 合体 (coalescence) | /*gap̚/ + /*tai/ | がったい | 〇 |
| 合掌 (namaste) | /*gap̚/ + /*ʃiaŋ/ | がっしょう | 〇 |
| 合戦 (fighting) | /*kap̚/ + /*ʃ8en/ | かっせん | 〇 |
| 一合 (one gō9) | /*it̚/ + /*gap/ | いちごう | X |
| 合格 (passing) | /*gap̚/ + /*kak/ | ごうかく | X |
As for the sound changes pertaining to 促音化 that can be gleamed:
1. Syllable-final applosive /-p̚/ was never maintained if not followed by a consonant. The dropping of /-p̚/ resulted in the diphthong /au/ to occur, which reduced to [ɔː] before becoming [o:] in Modern Japanese.
2. /-p̚/ is maintained but assimilated to the following consonant’s articulation.
The second sound change is of great importance, as the reverse is also true with [t̚].
| Word | Original Approx. | Modern Reading | 促音化 |
| 一票 (one vote) | /*it̚/ + /*pjep/ | いっぴょう | 〇 |
| 欠品 (stockout) | /*ket̚/ + /*pin/ | けっぴん | 〇 |
| 脱皮 (molting) | /*dat̚/ + /*pi/ | だっぴ | 〇 |
| 発表 (announcement) | /*pat̚/ + /*pjep/ | はっぴょう | 〇 |
The headache is not over, though, as newly coined Sino-Japanese words need not necessarily follow the long established conditions for 促音化 to occur. For instance,
水族館 (aquarium) has a standardized reading of すいぞくかん, but it may also be colloquially read as すいぞっかん.
For whatever reason, though the phonological environment for 促音化 to occur is present, the association of the vowel-final iteration of any given ON reading being the ‘proper’ reading has since solidified in the last few centuries, making it seem as though っ insertion were an innovation.
While it may seem ironic that older words would be overlooked like this, it is because they had been in the language so long that the nature behind their phonological past had already become incorporated into the norms of ‘nativitized’ Sino-Japanese vocabulary. Therefore, as words like 水族館 were coined, the notion that /zok/ being the compound-medial iteration of its ON reading had been lost, and seeing as how ～館 is clearly a suffix, the argument can also be made that suffixes clearly divisible from the core noun are not applicable to syllable-final applosives manifesting.
Exceptions to this, then, are examples of new words being further nativized to reflect this longstanding norm. More examples of this include:
| Word | 無促音 | 促音化 |
| 適格 (qualified) | てきかく ◎ | てっかく 〇 |
| 旅客機 (passenger aircraft) | りょかくき ◎ | りょかっき △ |
| 各国 (every nation) | かくこく △ | かっこく ◎ |
Reading 旅客機 as りょかっき is indicative of Western Japanese dialects, which tend to extend the traditional appearance of 促音化 in Sino-Japanese vocabulary at a higher rate than Standard Japanese onto newly coined words.
The prefix 各～, being clearly divisible from any core noun that it attaches to, is typically immune to 促音化. However, for some words such as 各国, the reading /kak-/ has reverted to being the predominant reading.
Returning briefly to the notion of checked tone syllables (平声), a handful of 促音化 found in native vocabulary happened to be noted as exhibiting a fortified pronunciation via the same notation used to represent 平声. To this day, these words are pronounced standardly with 促音化.
| Meaning | 促音化 |
| To appeal | 訴（うった）える |
| To conform | 則（のっと）る |
Emphatic 促音化
促音化 is present in many native words as a process of creating emphatic versions when the consonant of the affected mora is a voiceless stop. Though normally not used in the written language, such emphatic forms are incredibly common in the spoken language. The mora of an affected word is always its second mora.
| Meaning | 無促音 | 促音化 |
| Very | とても | とっても |
| Only/just (particle) | ばかり | ばっかり |
| To urge | 責付く10 | せっつく |
| Exclusively | 専（もは）ら11 | 専（もっぱ）ら |
| Exactly | ぴたり | ぴったり |
The same phenomenon of consonant gemination for emphatic effect is also present with voiced stops (including nasal stops). However, the end result is actually the parallel phenomenon known as 撥音化 in which ん – not っ – is inserted. Unlike 促音化, the acceptance of such examples of 撥音化 tends to differ by dialect. Those that are dialectal in the context of Standard Japanese are denoted below with (方言).
| Meaning | 無促音 | 撥音化 |
| Everyone | 皆（みな） | みんな |
| Same | 同（おな）じ | おんなじ |
| Mystery | 謎（なぞ） | なんぞ (方言) |
| Kite (bird) | 鳶（とび） | 鳶（とんび） |
| Whenever | 度（たび） | たんび (方言) |
| To become sharp | 尖（とが） | 尖（とん）がる |
Emphatic 促音化 in Compound Verbs
促音便 did not just occur with the endings ～て and ～た. In fact, the same three morae – ち・ひ・り – that compose the 連用形 of their respective 五段 verbs can be reduced to っ in an array of compound verbs, especially those created with an initial verb element more akin to a supplementary prefix that embellishes the meaning of the core verb (despite being the second element of the compound).
In the chart below, ∅ indicates uncontracted forms which are no longer present in Modern Japanese which are consequently omitted.
| Meaning | 無促音 | 促音化 |
| To cut across | 突き切る※ | 突っ切る |
| To dash | ∅ | 突っ走る |
| Scuffle | ∅ | 取っ組み合い |
| To smash | ぶち壊す | ぶっ壊す |
| To kick flying | 蹴り飛ばす | 蹴っ飛ばす |
| To discard | 打ち遣る※ | 打っちゃる※ |
※While prefixes which derive from verbal morphology still relate semantically to their original meaning(s), syntactically they function as adverbial modifiers of what follows. This sometimes creates a rift between word pairs, which can be seen between 突き切る and 突っ切る. While 突っ切る means “to cut across,” with the nucleus of the phrase being 切る, 突き切る means “to completely stab/push/strike through,” with the nucleus being 突く and 切る being a supplementary verb. Determining whether V1 is in fact an adverbial prefix or contributing to the compound as a fully functional verb requires analyzing the phrase as a whole, and at times, context along with it.
※打つ is a polysemous word, meaning it has many meanings which are all interrelated with each other, but understanding its core meaning – “to hit” – enables one to figure out said network. As far as 打ち～ is concerned, it has been a very productive prefix with several meanings since Classical Japanese. While it is rather rare for 促音化 to occur, うっちゃる may be found in various dialects with the meaning of “to discard/throw away,” which is based on the original meaning of the compound, “to neglect/let be.”
There are also examples of し in 連用形 undergoing 促音化, which is a general feature of Eastern Japanese dialects. As for examples that have made it into Standard Japanese, the prefix 押っ～ from 押し～ is a great example of a general emphasizer seen with a handful of verbs.
| Meaning | 促音化 |
| To start (colloquial) | 押っ始（ぱじ）める |
| To spread/unfold | 押っ広（ぴろ）げる |
| To expel | 押っ放（ぽ）り出す |
| To die (vulgar) | おっ死（ち）ぬ |
Parallel to 促音化 in this environment, we find that 撥音化 may occur instead when V2 begins with a nasal consonant. For these expressions, the verbal prefix is hardly written in Kanji, and so
| Meaning | 撥音化 | 接頭辞の連用形 |
| To wrench | ひん曲げる | ひん → 引き |
| To pitch forward | つんのめる | つん → 突き |
| To tie up | ふん縛（じば）る | ふん → 踏み |
There are also instances of 促音添加 in compound verbs, meaning that the contraction of the 連用形 of V1 does not occur. Instead, the first mora of V2 becomes geminate. One of the best examples of this is ～っ放（ぱな）す, which gave rise to the pattern ～っぱなしにする to indicate leaving something in a certain state.
| Meaning | 無促音 | 促音添加 |
| To throw/keep open | 開け放す | 開けっ放す |
促音添加 in Non-Verbal Compounds
促音添加 may even appear at morpheme boundaries within non-verbal compounds words, and these emphatic forms often end up being the predominant form.
| Meaning | 無促音 | 促音添加 |
| Miso scum/ostracized kid | みそかす | みそっかす ◎ |
| All (that there is) | ありたけ | ありったけ |
| City slicker | 擦れ枯らし | 擦れっ枯らし ◎ |
| Sickly-sweet | 甘たるい | 甘ったるい |
| Salty | 塩辛い | 塩っ辛い |
Of course, there are occasional instances of 促音化 in non-verbal compounds at the individual word level.
| Meaning | 無促音 | 促音化 |
| Thief | 盗人（ぬすびと） | 盗人（ぬすっと） |
「っ・ッ」in Onomatopoeia
オノマトペに現れる促音
The appearance of っ・ッ in onomatopoeia, which themselves are principally native in origin, is prolific. Often times, a single onomatopoeia may have various iterations, and this variation is very systematic. Consider the onomatopoeia ぴかっ（と）・ぴかぴか（と） which indicates shining/glimmering. One form clearly utilizes っ while the other form utilizes duplication of the core sound effect.
The first observation that can be made is that the appearance of っ・ッ at the end of a morpheme directly violates a norm established throughout the Japanese lexicon, that being syllables/morae not end in a stop – when っ・ッ is isolated, it is realized as a glottal stop. Yet, this is often viewed as a defining phonological characteristic of onomatopoeia as a word group.
As for the nuancing っ・ッ provides in onomatopoeia, expressions can be grouped most accurately into two categories.
・Group 1: Onomatopoeia in which っ・ッ may be viewed as an intensifying agent.
・Group 2: Onomatopoeia in which っ・ッ is intrinsic to the root and cannot be (definitively) identified as an intensifying agent.
Onomatopoeia in Group 1 are indicative of 促音化, which we have already seen with ぴたり vs ぴったり. Onomatopoeia in Group 2 such as ぴかっ are more numerous and representative of onomatopoeia as a whole, but because of all the variation – though systematic – that is present in group, we will focus solely on the appearance of っ・ッ in this group.
っ・ッ = Suddenness?
As mentioned, Group 2 is defined as っ・ッ not inherently intensifying the expression, and as a consequence should not necessarily be viewed as playing a semantic role. To native intuition, however, this at first seems questionable.
1. ゴム風船は急にすーっとしぼんでしまった。
The rubber balloon suddenly deflated just like that.
2. ごそっと足元の岩が崩れた。
The rocks beneath my feet crumbled away.
3. 立ち眩みで頭がくらっとなった。
I got dizzy from vertigo.
From these examples, it appears as though っ・ッ indicates a certain suddenness.
っ・ッ + と
A more comprehensive argument, however, is that っ・ッ manifests only when accompanied with the particle と, and that by と being subsequently geminated, it allows for the resulting onomatopoeia to be four morae, which is the ideal mora count for an onomatopoeic expression in Japanese.
4. 穴がぷつっと開いていた。
There was a hole pricking (right through it).
5. あの猫は俺のほうをじろっと見ていた。
That cat was staring right at me.
Speaking of と, it is also possible to see って used instead, which hints at a deep relation between the particle’s adverbial and citation functions, which would then mean that the presence of っ・ッ in onomatopoeia is a reflection of how と functions and not the other way around. Here, we see that when と・って surpass the “four mora” limit of an onomatopoeia, it sounds all the more like its citation function.
6. 窓グラスがガタガタ｛って・と・っと｝鳴った。
The window glass made this “wobbling” sound.
「ッ」in Loanwords
カタカナ語の促音
The appearance of っ in loanwords from Western languages – primarily English – cannot be described as either 促音化 in 促音添加, yet investigating how and why it appears nonetheless brings about just as intriguing observations.
■Stressed Syllable → ッ
To reflect the stress system found in the source language (primarily English though not exclusive to it), ッ is often seen to reflect a stressed syllable, but because Japanese lacks final consonants, this is then reflected as fortification over the span of two morae, with the final mora deriving from the final consonant of said stressed syllable.
| Loanword | Katakanization | Loanword | Katakanization |
| Lock/Rock | ロック | Gap | ギャップ |
| Tap | タップ | Ghetto | ゲットー |
| Fax | ファックス | Obtaining/scoring | ゲット |
| Red Sox | レッドソックス | Bed | ベッド |
| Gogh | ゴッホ | Cotton | コットン |
| Doppler | ドップラー | Session | セッション |
| Cap | キャップ | Hit (noun) | ヒット |
| Ad hoc | アドホック | Bit | ビット |
| Staff | スタッフ | Bashing | バッシング |
| Fishing/Phishing | フィッシング | Shopping | ショッピング |
| Tissue | ティッシュ | Cup | カップ |
| Net | ネット | Glass | コップ12 |
| Top | トップ | Badge | バッジ |
| Apple | アップル | Bag/Bug | バッグ |
This tendency is so strong that it even causes geminates that do not occur elsewhere in the Japanese lexicon – バッハ (Bach) , アッラー (Allah), ポッド (pod) – such as geminate /h/, /r/, and voiced consonants in general.
Yet, perhaps due to the use of ッ in writing being unstandardized until the Showa Period (1926-1989), and perhaps also due to conflicting inputs regarding the pronunciation of the loanwords in their source language(s), many examples can be found which do not utilize ッ despite the original stress of the word.
| Loanword | Katakanization | Loanword | Katakanization |
| Half | ハーフ | Tough | タフ |
| Gag | ギャグ | Web | ウェブ |
| Bus | バス | Log-out | ログアウト |
| Capacity | キャパ（シティ） | App | アプリ |
| Duct | ダクト | Pass | パス |
| Pattern | パターン | Love letter | ラブレター |
| Goggles | ゴーグル | Hepburn | ヘボン |
| Tobacco | タバコ | Tomato | トマト |
These exceptions, though, do actually provide the unique contexts provided within loanwords as to when and when not ッ appears.
・Geminate /s/ and /f/ are uncommon, though exceptions such as レッスン (lesson) and ワッフル (waffle) exist. In these examples, the stress found in the source language does appear to blend into their Katakanization.
・Misplaced stress during the borrowing process blocks ッ from appearing. In the cases of タバコ (tobacco), トマト (tomato), ホテル (hotel), ポテト (potato →French fries), despite the stress following on the second syllable in the original language, the stress (high pitch) is placed on the first mora in Japanese.
・While some abbreviations of loanwords such as キャパ (capacity) and アプリ (app) are void of ッ, the opposite is true for many others.
| Abbreviated Form | Unabbreviated Form |
| キャップ (captain of a team) | キャプテン (captain) |
| ファックス (fax) | ファクシミリ (facsimile) |
| サックス (sax) | サキソフォン (saxophone) |
| リラックス (relax) | リラクセーション (relaxation) |
・There are also instances of mistaken transliteration which caused the appearance of ッ in some loanwords, which is the opposite phenomenon to it being blocked by misplaced stress. The most famous example of this is the word ウォッカ, which if regularly transliterated into Japanese ought to be rendered as ウォトカ instead.
・Italian loanwords are most likely to exhibit free use or lack thereof of 促音 in their transliterations depending on whether the speaker wishes to preserve the word’s original cadence (in which ッ would appear) or not. An example of this is the phrase カフェラッテ, which is more authentically rendered as カッフェラッテ.
っ ＝ Glottal Stop
As has been mentioned throughout this lesson, っ may also be used to indicate a glottal stop, which naturally occurs at the end of vowel-final utterances in Japanese. While expressing it in writing is not obligatory, its appearance does indeed give off an emphatic effect, which is also reminiscent of its appearance in onomatopoeic expressions.
7. あっ、いいこと思いついた！
Ah, I just came up with something good!
参照
漢字音の促音化について by 加納千恵子.
オノマトペに現れる促音について by 那須昭夫.
- Out of technicality, the five-grade conjugation class of 五段 was actually only four-grade 四段 in Classical Japanese due to オ having not yet appeared in the 未然形. ↩︎
- 五段 verbs in modernity whose 連用形 end in い historically ended in ひ, the pronunciation of which also changed over time – starting as /p/ in Old Japanese, transitioning to /ɸ/ in Middle Japanese, then ultimately being reduced to [Ø] in word-medial position. ↩︎
- The Classical Japanese iteration of the auxiliary verb ～た is ～たり. ↩︎
- In earlier iterations of ON readings, /o/ – a mid vowel – also appeared, but all instances have since merged to /u/ – ex. 消息（せうそこ） meaning “correspondence.” ↩︎
- 呉音 typically exhibited /i/ insertion after applosive final consonants, whereas 漢音 typically exhibited /u/ insertion after them. As such, the 呉音 of 節 is セチ, which explains its occasional appearance in Modern Japanese, such as in お節. ↩︎
- ʃ is the IPA symbol for the /sh/ found in languages like Chinese and English. ↩︎
- The transitioning of /p/ to /h/ is true for when it is mora-initial; otherwise, word-medial occurrences are all rendered as [Ø] in Modern Japanese. ↩︎
- The phoneme /s/ is believed to have been pronounced as [ʃ] throughout the Classical Japanese period, only depalatizing in recent centuries, with /e/ having only gone from [ʃe/] to [se] in the late 1800s. ↩︎
- A 合 = ~180 ml. ↩︎
- 責付く is a rare example of its emphatic form having become the predominant iteration. ↩︎
- Though its outdated kana spelling appears to indicate an original lack of 促音化, the opposite is true. When spelled as もはら, the pronunciation [mowara] is expected as medial /p/ had become [w] in Middle Japanese; however, prior to this, it would have been /p/, and an intensification of said consonant would be expected for its emphatic form, indicating that this practice of creating emphatic forms via 促音化 far predates its representation in writing. This same phenomenon also explains the relation between あはれ (alas) and あっぱれ (bravo). ↩︎
- コップ is a borrowing from the Dutch word “kop” which refers to a drinking glass. ↩︎