June 08, 2012

Now which syllable is it that you drop?

I just noticed that Grunhilde in Mouretsu Pirates pronounces a word differently than I expected.

Being princesses, both Grunhilde and Gruier use watakushi. Usually that word is pronounced wah-tahk-shee. Grunhilde pronounces it wah-tah-koosh.

Or at least in one case she does, ep 15 06:20. She's using it with -tachi because she's talking about both her and Gruier. So it's wah-tah-koosh-tah-chee. Maybe that's the reason why; wah-tahk-shee-tah-chee seems like it's more difficult to pronounce.

Or is it a deliberate affectation by the voice actress? Or is it an attempt to make watakushi not sound like watashi?

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Japanese at 09:47 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 I think your first guess is right. It's purely a matter of what is easier to pronounce. (Subject to the understandability rule that for any leading consonant there is only one vowel that may be dropped,)

Posted by: Jonathan Tappan at June 09, 2012 05:37 AM (poC8e)

2 Interesting. Gruier uses wah-tah-koosh-tah-chee in ep 23. I know that without the pluralizer she says wah-tahk-shee.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 09, 2012 04:20 PM (+rSRq)

3 In fact, later in that same conversation she says wah-tahk-shee. I guess the pluralizer changes the pronunciation.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 09, 2012 04:44 PM (+rSRq)

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