ABSTRACT
ANALYSIS OF JAPANESE SOUNDs.-For th e pu rpose of spelling out th eir language pho ne t ica lly th e Japanese at an ea rly date classified it s sounds into th e foll owing forty-seven syllab les:
THE GOllJON-DZU1• a, i, tt, e, 0 ; ka, ki , ku, ke, ko; sa, shi , su, se, so ; ta, chi, t su , te, to ; na, ni, nu, ne, no; ha , hi , [u , he, ho ; ma, mi, mu. me, mo ; ya , Fyi}, yu , rye} , )'0; ra , r i , ru , re, ro ;
tva, wi, lw»I. w e, too ; to which mu st be added th e followin g tw enty-five modificat ions" of th e k, s, t and h groups :
ga, g i, g u , ge, go .. za, j i3, ZU , ze, zo ; da , ji 3, deu , de, do ; ba, pa, bi, pi , bu, pu, be, pe, bo, po ;
as well w; 11 final (ph on etically identified with mu). The 72 (or 73) syllables thus evolved a re capable of writing every com-
bination of sounds belonging to th e Japanese langu a ge, diphthongs, lon g vowels and other composites being written w ith various colloca tions of th e simple elements, as expla ined below (p. 23).
