Hi everyone!
I'm trying to figure out the correct way of pronouncing the hiragana が when it comes in the middle of a word, for example, かぎ (key).
The speakers of the course I'm doing read it [kaŋi].
Minna no Nihongo explains that the consonants of the が-row (が ぎ ぐ げ ご) at the beginning of a word are pronounced [g] and in other cases [ŋ]. However, it also says that: "Recently, some Japanese do not differentiate between [g] and [ŋ] and always use [g]".
So... which way should it be, [kagi] or [kaŋi]?
Wikipedia says that the velar nasal does exist in Japanese, but only in Eastern dialects. How does standard Japanese behave?
Another example: the word for 'right' is みぎ (pronounced [miŋi]??) and the word for 'side' is がわ [gawa]; how should みぎがわ ('right side') be pronounced? The speakers seem to read it [miŋiŋawa], but shouldn't がわ be pronounced [gawa], since が is at the beginning of a word?
ありがとう ございます!!
I'm trying to figure out the correct way of pronouncing the hiragana が when it comes in the middle of a word, for example, かぎ (key).
The speakers of the course I'm doing read it [kaŋi].
Minna no Nihongo explains that the consonants of the が-row (が ぎ ぐ げ ご) at the beginning of a word are pronounced [g] and in other cases [ŋ]. However, it also says that: "Recently, some Japanese do not differentiate between [g] and [ŋ] and always use [g]".
So... which way should it be, [kagi] or [kaŋi]?
Wikipedia says that the velar nasal does exist in Japanese, but only in Eastern dialects. How does standard Japanese behave?
Another example: the word for 'right' is みぎ (pronounced [miŋi]??) and the word for 'side' is がわ [gawa]; how should みぎがわ ('right side') be pronounced? The speakers seem to read it [miŋiŋawa], but shouldn't がわ be pronounced [gawa], since が is at the beginning of a word?
ありがとう ございます!!
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