¨VOWELS AND CONSONANTS¨ CONTRAST BETWEEN

JAPANESE AND SPANISH SOUND SYSTEMS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays we all live in constant contact among several cultures and, of course,
with several languages too. Most of us think that the gap between Spanish and
Japanese is enormous because of the different writing system, grammar structure,
and above all pronunciation. So, the common generalization is to think that Korean,
Japanese and Thai are the same as Chinese; going against that belief we are
going to focus on Japanese language -which has its own grammar structure,
writing system and phonological system- comparing its consonants and vowels
pronunciation with the ones in the Spanish sound system.

Currently we are part of a period with increasing contact between our environment
and the entire world. Along with that, Spanish, specifically in La Paz- Bolivia’s one,
has reach a direct contact with Japanese language because of recent diplomatic
reasons, and thanks to that the interest for the language has increased in different
ways in people of all ages. This contact between Spanish and Japanese has
leaded us to develop a strong interest in comparing both sound systems.

Going through the Japanese teaching in Bolivian classrooms there are more and
more people every day trying to learn the language for different reasons, but also
there are more and more people quitting Japanese courses because of a
stereotype about the language, that overcomes the intention of trying to learn it.
The common conception is, “Japanese is too hard”, “Japanese is Chinese”, and “its
pronunciation is so difficult”, all of them are clear examples of prejudice towards
the Japanese language. In this work we will prove that the differences between
Spanish and one of the most iconic languages of Asia, Japanese, are not as deep
as we think.

…
JUSTIFICATION

In the social aspect:

 This research can be a start for comparing similarities and differences between
two different cultures.
 It can contribute to international relations.

In the educational aspect

 This research can contribute to the teaching of a new language, in this case,
Japanese. Because, we know that for students it is easier to acquire aspects,
like ¨similarities¨ of the target language that are related to their native language
and this facility motivates students to keep learning a new language.
 So, this descriptive research helps to students -with Spanish as their native
language- to understand more about the pronunciation of the phonologic sound
system of Japanese language.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The following research has the purpose to show a very detailed description of the
phonological sound systems (vowels; consonants) of Japanese and Spanish
languages. And by taking into account what are the similarities and differences
(through contrasting them) between them we want to prove that we can find
similarities between them in the phonological, even if Japanese is a logographic-
syllabic language and Spanish is an alphabetic-inflective language.

What are the similarities and differences within the contrast between Spanish and
Japanese sound systems?

OBJECTIVES

General Objective: To compare the vowels and consonants of Japanese and

Spanish´s sound systems in order to point out if there are more similarities or
differences between both languages.
Specific Objectives:

 To gather information about Japanese and Spanish sound systems in a

separated way.
 To analyze the manner and the point of articulation between Japanese and
Spanish´s vowels and consonants.
 To determine the similarities and differences based on the previous
analysis.

METHODOLOGY

Descriptive Method refers to the study of a concept, people, or situation that a

researcher knows something about, but just wants to describe what he/she has
found or observed. The Descriptive method also measures an independent way the
concepts or variables that is refer to, in other words its principal objective is not to
explain how the variables are related. Metodologia de la investigación (cuarta
edición) – Roberto Hernández Sampieri, Carlos Férnandez Collados, Pilar
Baptista Lucio.

Therefore this study is based on discovering new meaning, describing what exists,
determining the frequency with which something occurs, and categorizing
information. Descriptive studies most often involve quantitative research
techniques (it recollects data and then measure) or a combination of qualitative
method (recollect information). Cursos de métodos y Técnicas de Investigación
(2010) – Juvenal Espejo Dávalos.

In the following work we are going to use the descriptive method, because our
purpose is to describe the comparison between Japanese and Spanish sound
system (vowels and consonants) that involve the similarities and differences.
 CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

I. FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

A. PHONETICS

Phonetics is concerned with how sounds are produced; transmitted and perceived,
and this work only focuses at the production of sounds. According to Salcedo
(2010): ¨The goal of phonetics is to seek a comprehensive description of classes of
sounds and of the general mechanisms of speech production caused by the
respiratory system as air passes in and out of the lungs through some form of
obstruction (within the mouth, pharynx, and larynx). Articulatory Phonetics is one of
the branches of linguistics concerned with the study of sounds as produced by the
human vocal apparatus that is able to create an infinite amount of sounds¨ (p.195).

1) The activity or non-activity of the larynx in terms of voiced or voiceless sounds,

2) The place of maximum constriction in the mouth or pharynx referred to as the

point of articulation.

3) The type of sound-modifying mechanism in the mouth or pharynx referred to as

the manner of articulation.

Other features called secondary articulation used as modifications of the basic

speech sound offer a more precise classification. The vocal cords for example may
be either opened or closed. When these cords are brought together while air is
passing through them, the vibration resulting is the voiced sound. The pitch is then
controlled by the tension of the cords. The passage of air through a narrowly
constricted opening produces a sound known as “friction”, which unlike voice has
no pitch. Another type of sound is produced by the closure and opening of the
vocal cords called the “glottal” stop.

The various organs that shape the passageway to allow for various sounds are
known as “articulators”. Often this obstruction is caused by a movable articulator
(tongue, velum, lips, etc.), which approaches an immovable one (palate, alveolar
ridge, top teeth, etc.). The roof of the mouth is divisible into four portions: the
alveolar, the palate or hard palate, the velum or soft palate, and the uvula. The
tongue is divisible into four portions given below with the contact region for each:

1. The apex, which may articulate against the teeth, alveolar, or palate,

2. The front, which may articulate against the alveolar, palate, or velum,

3. The back (or dorsum) which may articulate against the posterior part of the
palate or any part of the velum or uvula, and

4. The root of the tongue, which forms the front wall of the pharynx and may alter
the size and shape of the pharynx.

II. SPANISH
SOUND SYSTEM

The Spanish language sound system is composed of vowels and consonants.

Most sources report that there are 19 consonant sounds and five vowels in
Spanish.

Phonemes are not established units in their phonic realization as these may have
different embodiments according to the linguistic context in which they are.
 A. VOWELS

In vowel production the air stream is not impeded and there is no contact with
upper or lower articulators, instead the position of the tongue changes the shape
of the oral cavity. Nasalization of vowels occurs when the velum is lowered and
air passes through the nasal cavity. Nasalization, lip rounding, and length of
duration are secondary articulations and do not distinguish vowels in Spanish or
change the meaning of the utterance.

Vowels are described in terms of their most significant features:

1) Tongue height and

2) Tongue position.

The vowel system showing five meaningful positions can be drawn like this:

FRONT CENTRAL BACK

HIGH

MID

LOW

1. High front [i] as in piso.

2. Mid front [e] as in peso.

3. Low central [a] as in paso.

4. Mid back [o] as in poso.

5. High back [u] as in puso.

The phonological processes depend on the syllables as the basis for a complete
description of the phonological system of Spanish. The following rules apply to the
syllabic division of words:

1) Words with more than one vowel which is separated by only one consonant
in the middle, the consonant goes with the second syllable,
2) For two consonant cluster groups; if the consonant group could begin a
word in Spanish [pl, pr, bl, br, tr, dr, cl, cr, gl, gr, fl , fr] it can begin a syllable;
ex: a-gra-da-ble. If the cluster could not begin a word the sequence must be
divided with one consonant on each syllable; ex: per-la, gran-de.
3) For three consonant cluster groups between vowels the same rule applies;
ex: com-pIe-tar.

B. CONSONANTS

The production or articulation of a consonant requires either a partial or a complete

obstruction of the airstream as it passes through the oral tract. The place at which
this obstruction occurs and the manner in which it is created are two of the main
factors in determining the nature of the consonant (its acoustic properties). Thus a
consonant can be classified in terms of its place of articulation, its manner of
articulation and whether it is voiced or voiceless.
PLACE OF ARTICULLATION

A consonants’ place of articulation is usually expressed in terms of the position of

the relevant articulators (i.e. the parts of the oral tract that are involved in
obstructing the airstream). The places of articulation that are relevant to a
description of Spanish are listed in:

Place of articulation in Spanish

Place of articulation Articulators

Bilabial Upper and lower lips

Labiodental Lower lip and upper front teeth

Dental Tongue tip/blade and upper front teeth

Alveolar Tongue tip/blade and alveolar ridge

Palato-alveolar Tongue blade and back of alveolar ridge

Palatal Front of tongue and (hard) palate

Velar Back of tongue and velum

MANNER OF ARTICULATION

As regards the second of the three classificatory dimensions, the types that are
relevant to a description of Spanish consonants are shown in the next table:

Manner of articulation in Spanish

Place of
Articulators
articulation

Complete blockage of airstream, with small burst of sound

Stop
upon separation of articulators

Close approximation of articulators, so that airstream is

Fricative
obstructed and friction is audible

Approximant Loose approximation of articulators, with no audible friction

 Complete blockage of oral tract, but velum lowered to allow
Nasal
air to escape through nose

Complete blockage at a point along the centre of mouth,

Lateral with space on one or both sides of tongue for passage of
airstream

Tap Tongue tip gives single light tap to roof of mouth

Trill Tongue tip vibrates against roof of mouth in a current of air

SONORITY

The third factor, being whether the vocal cords, is vibrating or at rest. When the
vocal cords vibrate the consonant is classified as being voiced, and if the vocal
cords are at rest it is classed as voiceless.

III. JAPANESE SOUND SYSTEM

Standard Japanese has only 15 distinct consonants and 5 vowels. In other words,
Japanese only distinguishes between 20 basic sounds, also is spoken for more
than 127 millions of people. One of the main characteristics of the language is its
syllable composition, also called MORA system:

1) Single vowel “a”

2) Consonant + Vowel “Ka”
3) Consonant + y + Vowel “Kya”

Their alphabet is not the same as the Spanish one. This means that meanwhile in
Spanish each sound is represented individually in the alphabet (A, B, C, D, etc) in
Japanese the consonants are joint with vowels according to the syllable
composition explained above, so the vowels are the only ones that are represented
as single letters. The alphabetical representation of Spanish A, B, C, D, etc in
Japanese is A, KA, SA, TA, NA, this meaning that the consonants are always
represented with a linked vowel.

The Sounds of Japanese(romaji)

 Consonants k, g, s, sh, z, j, t, ch, ts, d, n, h, f, b, p, m, y, r, w

Vowels a, i, u, e, o

A. VOWELS
The phonological system of Japanese is composed by five vowels, which written in
Spanish are: a, i, u, e, o, according the traditional way. Their pronunciation is the
same as in Spanish except for the “u”, that is pronounced with the lips extended,
being this a vowel that is not rounded. The vowels can be normal or long, in that
case their length is the double of the normal and it is considered a separate
syllable.

Manner of articulation Point of articulation

HIGH i u FRONT CENTRAL BACK
MID e o i u
LOW a e o

LONG AND SHORT VOWELS

The pronunciation of a long or short vowel is directly related with meaning with the
possibility of changing the meaning of a whole text just for the length of the vowel.
Examples:
Obasan (tía) Obaasan (abuela)
/obasan/ /oba:san/
Ningyou (muñeca) ningyo (sirena)
/ningjo:/ /ningjo/
DOUBLE VOWELS

The vowel of one MORA (syllable system) can be lengthened by adding another
vowel directly after it. The rule is as follows:

Spelling Pronunciation
aa aa
ii ii
uu uu
ei/ee ee
ou/oo oo
So 'ei' is always a long 'e', and 'ou' is always a long 'o'. Well, not quite. Whenever
these pairs are brought together from two parts of a compound word, they are
pronounced distinctly. In practice, these two cases are easy to distinguish.

VOWEL DEVOICING

In order to pronounce Japanese correctly, it is critical that you know a bit about
vowel devoicing. When the vowels 'i' and 'u' come between two unvoiced
consonants (k, s, sh, t, ch, ts, h, f, p), where the vocal cords do not vibrate or
sometimes at the end of a word, the vowel becomes devoiced. This means exactly
what it sounds like – the mouth takes the shape of the vowel, but the vocal cords
don't vibrate. The resulting vowel sounds "whispered" or non-existant to English
speakers.

There are two particular places that you should focus on as a beginner: in the
copula (to-be word) desu, which sounds like "des", and the verb suffix masu, which
sounds like "mas". The 'u' in both of these is almost always devoiced in normal
speech.

B. CONSONANTS
Japanese has fifteen basic consonants. They are k, s, sh, t, n, h, m, r, g, d, z, b, ts,
ch and j. The consonants and semi-vowels are never pronounced independently.
Make sure that they must always be accompanied by one of the five vowels in the
latter part of a syllable. This is called CV structure (consonant vowel structure).
Examples: t + a = ta
k + e = ke
s + o = so
s + o + n = son

Post-
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
alveolar
Nasal m n [ɴ]
Stop p b t d k ɡ [ː]
Affricate (t͡s)
Fricative (ɸ) s z h
Approximant j w
Flap r
*Consonants inside parentheses are allophones that will not be studied or mentioned deeply in this
research.

 Voiceless stops /p, t, k/ are slightly aspirated: less aspirated than English
stops, but more than Spanish.
 /t, d, n/ are laminal denti-alveolar (that is, the blade of the tongue contacts
the back of the upper teeth and the front part of the alveolar ridge) and /s z/
are laminal alveolar. Before /i/, the oral sounds are alveolo-palatal [tɕ (d)ʑ ɕ
(d)ʑ] and before /u/ they are alveolar [ts (d)z s (d)z].
 /ɴ/ is a syllable-final moraic (belonging to MORA system) nasal with variable
pronunciation depending on what follows.
 /z/ is pronounced [dz] by many speakers when word-initial or following the
moraic) nasal. It is [dʑ] before /i/.
 /r/ is an apical postalveolar flap undefined for laterality. The phenomenon is
called rolled tongue (巻き舌 makijita?) in Japanese.
 /h/ is [h] before /i/ and /j/, “ji”, and [ɸ] before /u/ is articulated with the labial
compression of that vowel”fu”.

DOUBLE CONSONANT
"Doubled consonants" work similarly. The mouth takes the shape of the consonant,
and holds it for an extra mora. This results in an extended sound for 's' and 'sh',
and a brief pause for the rest. Only certain consonants can be doubled:

Single Double
k kk
s ss
sh ssh
t tt
ch *tch/cch
ts tts
p pp

*tch is the typical spelling, since 'ch' starts with the tongue in the same position as
't', but the second spelling is sometimes used instead.

So, to use the example "gakkou" (school) again, the pronunciation is ga-k-ko-o.
Your breath will stop at the first 'k' and resume for the 'ko', and then the 'o' is held
for another mora.
 CHAPTER III

ANALYSIS OF DATA

This work started under the consideration of the obvious differences between
Japanese and Spanish languages, first of all, it was analyzed the location of each
language, then, the differences when writing each one of them; and in third place,
the so called “difficulty” of Japanese language over Spanish language. When
elaborating the comparison of vowels and consonants of the Spanish and
Japanese sound systems, it was observed that the differences ¨over passed¨ the
similarities among both sound systems. Finally, when developing the general and
individual analysis, it was noticed how quite different is our sound system
(Spanish) with the Japanese one, when comparing them with each other.

VOWELS

Japanese /a/ Spanish /a/

It is observed a clear resemblance between both of this vowels, in both cases, the
point of articulation is low, the manner of articulation is central. Moreover, it is open
in Spanish and Japanese. These vowels are SIMILAR.
 Japanese /e/ Spanish /e/

The point of articulation of this vowel in Spanish and Japanese is mid, the manner
of articulation is central and in both cases the vowel is half open. A clear
resemblance is shown in both cases. These vowels’ sounds are SIMILAR.

Japanese /i/ Spanish /i/

This vowels’ point of articulation is, in Japanese and Spanish, high, also their
manner of articulation is front and is closed. Both vowels are SIMILAR in those
three aspects.

Japanese /u/ Spanish /u/

Unlike the other vowels between these two languages, there is difference when
articulating the vowel /u/. In Spanish the sound is high-back-rounded, but in
Japanese it is high-central-lateral, being lateral the most remarkable characteristic
of it, so, they are DIFFERENT.
 Japanese /o/ Spanish /o/

This phoneme in Japanese and Spanish has a midpoint of articulation in Spanish

and Japanese; also its manner of articulation is back and is rounded. We can see
that they clearly share those characteristics, so, these are SIMILAR.

CONSONANTS

PLOSSIVE

Japanese /p/ Spanish /p/

In both languages, it is noticed a clear similarity, because the point of articulation is

bilabial, for that, this consonant is articulated with both the upper and lower lips
also both sounds are voiceless, so, they are SIMILAR.
 Japanese /b/ Spanish /b/

In both languages Japanese and Spanish, this sound is similar for both systems,
because the point of articulation is bilabial also both sound are voiced, so, they are
SIMILAR.

Japanese /d/ Spanish /d/

There is one obvious difference between Japanese and Spanish’ sound /d/ that is
in the point of articulation, because in Japanese Language the point of articulation
is alveolar meanwhile in Spanish Language is dental. But in both languages, the
sound is voiced, so, they are DIFFERENT.

Japanese /t/ Spanish /t/

There is one difference between Japanese and Spanish which is in the point of
articulation, because in Japanese is alveolar meanwhile in Spanish is dental. In
both languages, this sound is voiceless, so, there is a DIFFERENCE.
 Japanese /k/ Spanish /k/

In both languages Japanese and Spanish there is a clear similarity, because the
point of articulation is velar so the back of the tongue makes contact with the
central velar and also both are voiceless sound, so, they are SIMILAR.

Japanese /g/ Spanish /g/

The sound /g/ in both languages Japanese and Spanish show a clear similarity in
the point of articulation because is velar so the back of the tonghe makes contact
with the central velar and also both are voiced sound, so, they are SIMILAR.

FRICATIVE

Japanese /s/ Spanish /s/

Between Japanese and Spanish’s sound, this phoneme /s/ shows a clear similarity,
because in both cases the manner of articulation is fricative and the point of
articulation is alveolar. Moreover, they are both voiceless, so, they are SIMILAR.

Japanese /z/

This sound does not exist in Spanish sound system, just in the Japanese one.
Even though its writing is part of the Spanish alphabet, the pronunciation of it is
another, so, there is a DIFFERENCE.

Japanese /h/

This sound does not exist in Spanish sound system, just in the Japanese one and
this is because, there are no glottal sounds in the Spanish sound system, so, there
is a DIFFERENCE.
 Spanish /x/

This sound does not exist in Japanese sound system, just in the Spanish one, so,
there is a DIFFERENCE.

Japanese /f/ Spanish /f/

Even if these two sounds are the same in the manner of articulation (fricative) and
in the sonority, there is a difference in the point of articulation, because in
Japanese it is bilabial and in Spanish it is labiodentals, so, they are DIFFERENT.

Japanese /ʃ/

This sound does not exist in Spanish sound system, just in the Japanese one, so,
there is a DIFFERENCE.
AFFRICATE

Japanese /tʃ/ Spanish /tʃ/

In both languages, this phoneme shows a difference in the point of articulation. In

Japanese language is post-alveolar (weakly palatized with a domed tongue),
meanwhile, in Spanish language is palatal because is articulated with the body of
the tongue raised against the hard palate, so, they are different but both languages
are voiceless. Then, they are DIFFERENT.

Japanese /dz/

This sound does not exist in Spanish sound system, just in the Japanese one, so,
there is a DIFFERENCE.

Japanese /ts/
This sound does not exist within the Spanish sound system, just in the Japanese
one, so, there is a DIFFERENCE.

NASAL

Japanese /m/ Spanish /m/

Here, both are SIMILAR because the point of articulation is ¨bilabial¨ and their
manner of articulation is nasal; moreover, both are voiced. Then, they are
SIMILAR.

Japanese /n/ Spanish /n/

In both cases, the point of articulation of this phoneme is ¨alveolar¨ and its manner
of articulation is nasal; also their sonority is voiced. Then, they are SIMILAR.
 Spanish /ŋ/

This phoneme doesn’t exist in the Japanese language, just in Spanish Sound
system, so, there is a DIFFERENCE.

LATERAL

Spanish /l/

This phoneme, which is ¨alveolar¨ and voiced only exist in the Spanish language,
and not in the Japanese sound system. Then, there is a DIFFERENCE.

Spanish /ʎ/

Neither this phoneme, which is palatal, lateral and voiced, that just exist in the
Spanish language, and not in the Japanese Language. So there is a
DIFFERENCE. (EXISTE O NO EXISTE?)
VIBRANT

Spanish /rr/

This phoneme only exists in the Spanish language which is vibrant, alveolar,
multiple and voiced. Then, there is a DIFFERENCE.

APPROXIMANT

Japanese /r/ Spanish /r/

This phoneme in Japanese and Spanish are similar in certain ways like; in its point
of articulation (alveolar), in its manner of articulation (approximant) and is also
voiced. We can observe SIMILARITY between these consonants.

Japanese /j/
This phoneme only exists in the Japanese language and it is approximant, palatal
and it is voiced. This phoneme does not exist in Spanish sound system, so, there is
a DIFFERENCE.

Japanese /w/

This phoneme only exists in the Japanese language and it is approximant, velar
and it is voice. This sound does not exist in Spanish, so, there is a DIFFERENCE.

ANALYSIS OF VOWELS

The following Japanese and Spanish’s vowels (a, e, i, o) mostly have a similar
point of articulation, manner of articulation and sonority. On the other hand, we
have the only vowel /u/ which is different in Japanese and Spanish, because in
Spanish the sound is high-back-rounded, but in Japanese it is high-central-lateral.

ANALYSIS OF CONSONANTS

The consonants are divided into plosives, fricatives, affricates, nasal, lateral,
vibrant and approximant.

 In the Plosives, we can see that these sounds (p, b, k, and g) are similar as
in the point and manner of articulation; also in the sonority. On the other
hand these sounds (t, d) are different, but only in the point of articulation,
regarding to the sonority these two sounds share a similar sonority
(voiceless, voiced).

 In Fricative sounds, the /s/ is the only sound that shows a similarity in both
languages as in the point and manner of articulation, and also they share
the same sonority that is voiceless. And even if the sound /f/ is present in
 the both languages, they show a different point of articulation. Otherwise,
we can see that the sounds (z, h, ʃ) are different because they do not exist in
the Spanish sound system. Moreover, the sound /x/ just exists in the
Spanish sound system.

 The Affricates also present more differences than similarities. The /tʃ/ is the
only sound that shows a difference in the point of articulation, but a similarity
in the sonority. Otherwise, the other sounds (dz, ts) are very different
because these sounds do not exist in Spanish but in Japanese exist.

 The Nasals present more similarities than differences. Because these 2

sounds (m, n) have the same point and manner of articulation and also the
sonority in both languages. Otherwise, the Spanish sound /ŋ/ does not exist
in Japanese language.

 Laterals, mostly present differences more than similarities, because these

sounds (l, and ʎ) do not exist in Japanese language.

 The Vibrant /rr/ only exists in Spanish language so there is a difference and
not a similarity.

 The Approximants show more differences than similarities, because the

sound /r/ shares the same point and manner of articulation and also the
sonority in both languages. Otherwise, the /w/ and /j/ sounds show a
difference because they only exist in Japanese language.
 CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

Through this research in which we have compared the vowels and

consonants of the Spanish and Japanese sound systems, which were analyzed
one by one taking into account the manner of articulation, point of articulation and
sonority, we have got to the conclusion that there are differences that over passed
the similarities among both sound systems.

In fact, both sound systems are very similar in the way in which the
phonemes are written (Spanish alphabet and Japanese romaji one), in the way on
how they coincide in the manner of articulation and sonority. But at the same time,
they are very different in the way on how they are pronounced and this is mainly
because of the differences within the points of articulation between one phoneme
and another, especially among consonants.

Within the vowels the similarities are very clear, because they almost exactly
the same, except for the vowel /u/ which differ in the position of the lips, making its
pronunciation weaker in Japanese than the Spanish one. Nevertheless, among the
consonants the differences among all of them are evident, but it is important to
remark that the differences are just in their point of articulation while the manner of
articulation and the sonority are exactly the same.

In summary, this research proves that there are more differences than
similarities between Spanish and Japanese sound systems. But not because the
sounds are completely different, it is because in Japanese language there are
several sound which do not exist in the Spanish one, and what makes the
difference is just the point of articulation. Nevertheless, according to several
students of Japanese language Japanese sound system is not different at all from
Spanish one, and even if there are more differences that similarities, the
pronunciation of Japanese sounds are kind of easy to gather.
 CHAPTER V

RECOMENDATION

While developing this work we were able to observe the specific

resemblances among Japanese and Spanish sound system, so we can
recommend the elision of the assumption of difficulty and difference of Japanese
over any non-Asian language.

Also a more deep research with specific focusing on the similarities between
Japanese and Spanish is recommended, this in order to encourage the study of
Japanese.

As a final recommendation the development of a comparison and contrast of

Japanese allophones with the Spanish one is also recommended.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

- Ueda, H. (1977). Estudio Contrastivo de los sonidos españoles y japoneses.

- Surie, N. & Kabushiki,K. Minna no Nihongo.

- Espejo D., J. (2010). Cursos de métodos y Técnicas de Investigación.

- PRONUNCIATION（発音 hatsu-on）. 言語編,Basic Japanese.

- Salcedo S., C (2010). “The Phonological System Of Spanish”EEUU. June, 2010.

- Moya, O. (2010). “Fonética Y Fonología”. La Paz-Bolivia. .rtes Gráficas ¨LIA¨.ed,

 UNIVERSIDAD MAYOR DE SAN ANDRES

CONTRASTIVE LINGUISTICS

VOWELS AND CONSONANTS CONTRAST BETWEEN

JAPANESE AND SPANISH SOUND SYSTEMS

Names: Butron Luna Vania Alejandra

Cáceres Conde Gabriela Isabel

Cussi Zorena Gabriela Alejandra

Rios Perez Marcela Josefina

June, 2015