Yes, the are two different kana. But, are there any differences in sound? If not, is there a way of telling which one should be used in a particular word?
Thanks, good people.
There is a slight difference in sound, but most Japanese themselves don't even recognize it.
ず is pronounced [zu] where as づ is pronounced [dzu]. You can even hear it sometimes when Japanese people say the English word 'zoo.' Most pronounce it as ヅー. Basically, ず is the same sound as the English word 'zoo,' whereas for づ you need put your tongue in the same place as you would when you make a 'd' sound and push out some air.
Sorry for the complicated explanation, hopefully it makes some sense.
Not complicated at all. If you've got anything else on the topic, I would appreciate it. Thank you.
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13 years ago
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Are you familiar with the English pronunciation of the word [kudzu] (/ˈko͝odzo͞o/)? Notice how if you leave the "d" sound out, it sounds a little different. That's pretty much the difference between 「づ」 and 「ず」 (it's a slight one).
ok, I actually had an "argument" with one of my teachers over this - he was making me put katakana for the lyrics to 'Silent Night' when he made the whole school learn it haha. I wrote 'shepherds' as シェパーヅ and he said it was ズ because there was no difference. Then I said the two kana with the difference above - as zu and dzu, and he was all 'you just said the same sound!' So... at least in Miyagi, there is apparently no difference :P :-[
So it seems that there are no lexical or semantic strategies to figure out how to spell(katakanize?) an unknown word. Best guess and memorization, then?
I was taught that you should assume ず unless a) there is a つ preceding it, like つづく, or b) it is voiced in a compound word but would be つ in the root form, like こづつみ or きづく. Otherwise, generally ず! I'm sure there are some exceptions to this, but I can't think of any at the moment.
The ず for English "dz" drives me crazy too, mystic! :-[ I guess シェパーズ makes about as much sense as グッズ... does seem weird that they can distinguish す and つ but not their voiced counterparts, though!
I've been told that there is no difference in the sound (although I think I can hear it sometimes, too). I.e. that the voiced counterparts are actually the same. Phonetics textbooks usually say the same thing.
The main difference between ず and づ, as well as じ and ぢ is that like できるだけ says the one that's used in the root form is used in the conjugated form/compound form.
So ちゃくぢ for 着地 and はなぢ for 鼻血. じ and ず are more common than their t- counterparts but even Japanese people make mistakes here.
Has anyone seen that game show/trivia show on Japanese TV where they have to as quickly as possible write out the kanji compound in ひらがな? This is what always stumps the contestants.
