0

When I am watching the Japanese drama, I can always hear some abbreviations of expression. But I can not get the original expressions so how to learn them.

For example, 直んねー 、すげぇ、

9
  • As for "直んねー", how did you hear it pronounced?
    – user20624
    Oct 29, 2017 at 1:50
  • @mackygoo なおんねえ
    – Kris
    Oct 29, 2017 at 1:50
  • なおんねえ comes from [直]{なお}らない, which means "これは直らない this/it couldn't be repared!" As for すげぇ, it comes from "すごい! Wow!, Oh my god! or Awesome!
    – user20624
    Oct 29, 2017 at 2:14
  • @mackygoo where can I get those expressions?
    – Kris
    Oct 29, 2017 at 2:15
  • Everywhere in daily lives. They are commonly used in colloquial expressions by relatively young men.
    – user20624
    Oct 29, 2017 at 2:20

1 Answer 1

2

In Japanese, there are many ways in which sounds are changed when put together. Many of these conform to the rules of standard Japanese, whereas some are more colloquial. There are also many regional differences so my suggestion is that you simply try to listen to the people around you to try to learn and then mimic their usage. Anyway, to give you a base to start with, the different types of sound changes are:

  1. 連濁{れんだく} - you add dakuten 花{はな} + 火{ひ} → 花火{はなび}

  2. 促音化{そくおんか} - a small つ is added 引{ひく} + 越{こし} → 引っ越し, やはり → やっぱり

  3. 転音{てんおん} - a vowel sound is changed 白{しろ} + 川{かわ} → 白川{しらかわ}

  4. 撥音化{はつおんか} - consonant change to ん ぶつ 殴{なぐ}る → ぶん殴{なぐ}る

  5. 音韻添加{おんいんてんか} - to help connect the the two parts by adding a consonant 真{ま} + 中{なか} → 真{ま}ん中{なか}, 真{ま}っ白{しろ}, 春雨{はるさめ}

  6. 音韻脱落{おんいんだつらく} - a sound is dropped to better connect 川{かわ} + 原{はら} → 川原{かわら}

  7. 音韻融合{おんいんゆうごう} - Two sounds are fusioned 手洗{てあらい} → たらい, 胡{き} + 瓜{うり} → 胡瓜{きゅうり}

  8. 音位転換{おんいてんかん} - metathesis, change of order of two sounds 雰囲気{ふんいき} → ふいんき

Now, I might have missed something, but these should be the main types that are possible. Most of these are applied already in standard Japanese, as they simply are a natural change of the language and you could say that colloquial speech is when new applications of the above are done. All the examples I gave above (except for たらい and ふいんき) are changes that are considered the correct form nowadays. Below I'm giving examples of colloquial speech that should be avoided when you have to write standard Japanese. In colloquial speech I would say that 2, 4 and 7 are the important ones.

a few examples: わからない → わかんない 4

かもしれない → かもしんない 4

しなくては → しなくちゃ 7

しなければ → しなけりゃ 7

しなければならない → しなきゃなんない 7+7+4

たかい → たけえ 7

直らない → 直んねー 4+7

映画{えいが} → えが 7

しておく → しとく 7

するから → すっから 2

するから → すんから 4

人{ひと} → しと

In the area around Tokyo, it is common to apply 7 for vowel combinations a+i and o+i to e (not all the time though!). It is also common with changing ラ-sounds using 2 or 4.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .