dochira wrote:While I am not a linguist, it seems the ‚¢ and ‚¤ sounds are dropped if the consonant that precedes it, in some ways, makes the vowel sound implicitly. Thus to say the vowel would cause it to become elongated.
But it is difficult to explain. After you hear native speakers say the sounds, you'll just get a feel on when to drop (not emphasize) the vowels.
Hey Dochira! :)
I'm not trying to sound all high and mighty when I say this and no offense is meant so I hope you don't get mad :sweat:
I actually am a linguist (still in uni :beaten:, but we've gone over this phenomenon), and it's actually called "devoicing." I am a fluent speaker of Japanese as well, so I can tell you that even though we have all these rules, it still depends on the actual person saying the words, because there are exceptions to every rule (ie. everybody pronounces things different). It also happens in word final position after voiceless consonants (if there is no word following).
However, as you probably already know, this rule can be broken when someone wants to emphasize things, or if the speaker is trying to speak clearly. Kind of the same thing happens with the following English sentence:
I have got to go.
Someone who is speaking (Canadian West Coast English) casually would say:
[ajv gah te gow] (<- for lack of proper IPA symbols = I've gotta go).
But someone who is annunciating and trying to be clear would pronounce each sound, making it sound odd compared to everyday speech, but easily understandable.
Now I'm not saying the above example and Japanese voiceless vowel rules are alike in any way, shape, or form. I'm just saying that even though there are rules that govern how we speak, these rules are simply that: rules. They are broken all the time and should only be used as a basis on which you form your language skills.
Final Verdict:
It would be great if you can get this down to memory so that you don't have to think about it when you speak, but don't worry too much if you can't. It will come naturally eventually.
HTH,
‘‰¤š