Talk:N (kana)

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[edit] Nda

"it can never begin a word" says the article. How true is this? In Akita dialect "nda" means "yes". Jimp 17:51, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Japanese dialects are really screwy. I don't doubt it begins words, but it's really not supposed to. I don't know how not-supposed-to it is: I dunno if it's just something for sticklers or if it sounds really unnatural. I don't speak enough Japanese to answer that.

"nda" is probably some kind of contraction or ellision. I'd bet it'd get written ンデ if the intention was for any reader to arrive at "nda", but whatever it's a contraction of (no idea - ほんとうだ, maybe?) normally.

So if you were trying to capture dialectical flavor, I'd guess the way to write it would be ンデ; in formal writing it'd show up ほんとうだ (if that's what it's supposed to be) and pronounced as if んだ.

If you know the dialect, you probably know more than me. The 'no N at the beginning of the word' is probably not as hard and fast as my professors have let on. 131.216.104.179 07:36, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

I've been taught that ん/ン never starts a word, even in カタカナ, and you can't have んん or んー. It's probably true that different dialects use ん in different ways, but ～んだ is a contraction　for ～の　です. It is usually used in confirming interrogations.

I just googled "n da" on google and found this: http://japanese.about.com/blqow24.htm. Based on previous experience with about.com, I don't know if this is completely trustworthy, but then again, I'm a noob at Japanese. Hangfromthefloor 15:59, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

In response to everyone: I have always assumed that when an article mentions "Japanese", it's referring to standard Japanese (標準語), unless explicitly stating otherwise. Dialects and slang of course have their own rules that differ from standard Japanese about what is and isn't acceptable. But in standard Japanese, ん never begins a word.LeeWilson 14:48, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pronunciation before /s/

According to the source I cited in the article (a comic essay co-authored by a linguistics expert), ん is pronounced /n/ before /s/, but the Japanese phonology article says it's a nasalized vowel, so I put up the contradiction template in both articles. Is one right and the other wrong? Can it be pronounced either way? Spacecat2 00:42, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

It's pronounced as nasalization on the vowel before /s/. I've changed the article accordingly.LeeWilson 14:45, 13 April 2007 (UTC)