Whats the difference between づ and ず, and between ぢ and じ. Were "di" and "du" are used? - Feed Post by perry98
Whats the difference between づ and ず, and between ぢ and じ. Were "di" and "du" are used?
posted by perry98
Comments 5
*where
Before I answer, I'd like to say that pronunciation wise, there only a small difference that may not be noticeable in everyday speech.
づ is pronounced with the tongue touching the upper gums, essentially making it impossible to drag the sound out. It is always pronounced in a short way. By contrast, people tend to pronounce ず in such a way as to allow a decent airflow, so that it can be dragged out (I could transcribe this as ずーーー or ずうう). As for じ and ぢ、 they both seem to be pronounced with the tongue touching the gum (in contrast to ち), so their pronunciation is similar.
Generally, there are two instances in which づ and ぢ occur.
The first is in the case that affricate consonants follow in succession (consonants that start by blocking air flow, but allow airflow afterwards. つ and ち both stop airflow like the consonant "t", then transition into a ssss and sshhh respectively).
Examples are 縮む（ちぢむ）and 続く（つづく）
The second instance is when two words are compounded into a single new word, where the second word starts with a つ or ち:
Examples are 小＋包 ＝ 小包 こづつみ、
手＋作り＝手作り てづくり
By the way:
Some words are hard to recognize as "two different words put into one" for the current generation. In cases where it's hard to think of a word as being made up of two words (even though it is), this type of voicing with づ・ぢ may be substituted for ず・じ instead.
Examples are 世界中：せかいぢゅう/せかいじゅう
and 稲妻: いなづま・いなずま- Thanks :3
- ・・)b
＠TheHardSix Your explanations about pronunciation is very excellent.
We Japanese don't think too much about the differences, but they are very slight difference. The difference between the two positions of the tongue are a few millimeters.
Wow, I thought one of the last part was wrong for the first time, but I checked them on the dictionary, they are acceptable in the dictionary.
For me, せかいぢゅう is weird, though lol
I use せかいじゅう、いなずま。
いなずま―づま0【稲妻・電】
① 〔「稲の夫（つま）」の意。古代，稲は稲妻をうけて結実すると信じられたことから〕雷雲の間，あるいは雷雲と地面との間に起こる放電現象によりひらめく火花。稲光。稲魂（いなたま）。稲交接（いなつるび）。季秋「―やきのふは東けふは西」其角
② 動きの素早いたとえ。「―のように名案がひらめく」〔現代仮名遣いでは「いなづま」のように「づ」を用いて書くこともできる〕
じゅう ぢゆう【中】
③ 集合体集団を表す語に付いて，その成員のすべてという意を表す。「学校―」「親戚―」〔現代仮名遣いでは「せかいぢゅう」などのように「ぢ」を用いて書くこともできる〕
Hmm, you teach me Japanese, too m(_ _)m 蟻が十匹
