Re: shimaDzu

jwb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
aesthete8@xxxxxxxxxxx dixit:

If you search this term on Google, you will get over 2 million hits.


Is this a case of a sound that no longer exists?


"dzu" is sometimes used for the romaji version of づ. I use
it to distinguish between づ and ず (zu), for example.

In modern Japanese there is no difference in pronunciation
between the two. There may not have been a difference in
the past either.

If you go back to when つ was still pronounced much like English "too,"
then づ was a matching "doo."

As to when the distinction between づ and ず was lost (in favor of づ,
for my money), if I weren't too lazy to Google 四つ文字, I could
probably do better than guess Muromachi sometime. (I can't remember how
the Portuguese romanized it. Memory is *really* shot.)

Bart
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: shimaDzu
    ... aesthete8@xxxxxxxxxxx dixit: ... "dzu" is sometimes used for the romaji version of づ. ... In modern Japanese there is no difference in pronunciation ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
  • Re: shimaDzu
    ... "dzu" is sometimes used for the romaji version of づ. ... In modern Japanese there is no difference in pronunciation ...
    (sci.lang.japan)