Page:An elementary grammar of the Japanese language.djvu/16

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2
Vowels.

2. The Vowels.

Of the above forty-seven, five ( ) are vowels; the sounds of these five letters are as follows:—

a has the sound of a in master, or mama.
i has thesound of i in inland.
u has thesound of u in queen.
e has thesound of e in echo.
o has thesound of o in month.

The rest of the letters are arranged according to these five vowels, as follows:—

a i u e o
ka ki ku ke ko
sa si su se so
ta ti tu te to
na ni nu ne no
ha hi fu he ho
ma mi mu me mo
ya yi yu ye yo
ra ri ru re ro
wa wi wi we wo