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Originally Posted by hitotsz
Thank you.
I have another question. Can 'kirei' be pronounced like 'kire-'? I'm confused which words ending in 'ei' is pronounced like 'e-' and 'ou', 'o-'.
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Yes, it is. A good rule of thumb that will be accurate almost every time (there may be a few examples I can't think of offhand) is: (1) えい＝ええ、おう＝おお;
unless (2) the え and い (or お／う) are conceptually "divided."
For example, imagine one kanji that ends with お and the next begins with う. This is the conceptual division I'm speaking of. In that case, it's pronounced おう, not おお. For example, in お歌, the お is the honorific prefix, and 歌 is a separate noun, so they are conceptually distinct things. Thus, they are pronounced おうた and not おおた.
Further, to quote Japanese Wikipedia:
Quote:
「えい」「おう」と書かれる文字は、発音上は「ええ」 「おお」と同じく長母音 [eː] [oː] として発音されることが一般的である（「けい」「こう 」など、頭子音が付いた場合も同様）。すなわち、「衛 星」「応答」は「エーセー」「オートー」のように発音 される。ただし、九州や四国南部・西部、紀伊半島南部 などでは「えい」を [ei] と発音する[32]。また軟骨魚のエイなど、語彙によって二重母音になる ことがあるが、これには個人差がある。一文字一文字丁 寧に発話する場合には「えい」を [ei] と発音する話者も多い。歌詞として2拍で歌う場合はた� �てい「い」をはっきり発音する （i.e. 「えーいーえーんにー」といった風）。
My rough translation:
In general, the written forms "ei" and "ou", when pronounced, are "ee" and "oo" with the same elongated vowel "e:" and "o:" ("kei" "kou" etc. with some consonant at the beginning [of the vowel pairs] is the same). That is, "eisei" and "outou" are pronounced "eesee" and "ootoo."
However, in Kyuushuu, the S. and W. parts of Shikoku, and the S. part of Kii peninsula "ei" is pronounced "ei." Also, there are diphthongs in the lexicon such as the chondrichthyes [a taxonomic class of sea animals] "rei" [in English, "ray" or "sting ray" or "manta ray"], but this is based on personal preference.
There are also many people who pronounce "ei" as "ei" to sound more polite. Also, when singing a song, the "e/i" distinction might be clearly sung. [The Japanese then illustrates by showing how 永遠（えいえん） may be sung えーいーえーん in a slow song).
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