Re: Phonetic question

"necoandjeff" writes:

> ...
 
> And while I'm on the subject, I sometimes notice beginners
> prounouncing the desu ga or verb+masu ga combination with a 100%
> dropped u sound in combination with a 100% hard g (i.e. des ga or
> mas ga) which very strange. Unlike desu ka or verb+masu ka where it
> is ok to completely drop the u, there should be a slight nod to
> that u sound before moving on to the (slightly nasalized) ga.

Absolutely.  I had that problem over and over with my first semester
students.  I tended to hear "...-ka," where "...-ga" was intended.
This is to be expected, because English has an /sg/ vs. /sk/
distinction only across word boundaries, and there the difference is
very slight.

I can't think of an example that makes sense, but compare "ross guy"
and "ross sky."  Better yet, get another NSoE to say them and see how
often you can tell which it was.

As far as my students were concerned, I should have just trained them
to say "-kedo" instead of "-ga."

Bart