why is tenpura called tempura?
any reason to substitute "n" with "m"?
any reason to substitute "n" with "m"?
thecheapest902
Favorite Answer
"n" before m, p, b, becomes "m" in Hepburn romanization.
"Syllabic n (ん) is written as n before consonants, but as m before labial consonants, i.e. b, m, and p"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepburn_romanization
Madame M
The fault lies in unmodified Hepburn romanization -- but also, when an "n" (should be hiragana) comes before a voiced consonant, it often turns into an "m" sound. Shimbun, tempura, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Curtis_Hepburn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepburn_romanization
Modified Hepburn (which junior high schools use) no longer change the n to m. People are just expected to know that this is irregular when they pronounce it.
Leftcoast USA
The technical explanation is that "n," "m," and "ng" are allophones, meaning they are multiple possible pronunciations for the same letter. In this case, this is for the letter ん in てんぷら.
The letter ん has several allophones, but there is a rule to which one is used. Before a labial consonant like "p," "b," and "m," ん is pronounced "m."
The standard romanization for ん is N, but that is not completely phonetic. Since the allophone "m" is pronunciation before "p," in Hepburn romanization, てんぷら is spelled "tempura," which matches the actual pronunciation.
I don't know if you like technical explanations, but if you do, this should light up the light bulb above your head. If you'd like to have a less technical explanation, that's possible too. It just gets five times as long, maybe 2-3 pages in length. The tradeoff is your patience to read through it.
Anonymous
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RE:
why is tenpura called tempura?
any reason to substitute "n" with "m"?
?
Tenpura