From: tgpedersen
Message: 39668
Date: 2005-08-19
> David:That's how I hear it.
> > Are you sure that they disappear? They're devoiced
> > between two voiceless consonants, or between a
> > voiceless consonant and a pause, but even in those
> > positions they still make for separate syllables,
> > do they not?
>
> That's right. A word like 'desu', meaning "to be",
> has two syllables or 'morae'. It may be pronounced
> either with a devoiced "u" or with a long s-sound
> through compensatory lengthening. Newbie Anglophone
> Japanese students, not understanding the importance
> of morae, will either pronounce /desu/ as /'dEsu/
> (eek!!!) or as /dEs/ (double eek!!!).
>
> Either way, the word is understood to be two morae by
> native speakers. Each syllable is pronounced with
> equal duration, as in French.
>
> Surprisingly for English speakers, 'san' is also
> considered two morae: sa-n.
>