THE NIGORI.
surds.* The consonants affected chane as follows:
Surds. Sonants.^
ch
i into J-
sh
U
t d.
The broad law governing the use of the nigori is that the initial surd (ch, sh, /, h, k, s, ts, or t) of an in- dependent word, especially of a noun, changes into the corresponding sonant (j, b, g, z, or d) when the word is used as the second member of a compound. The law affects, not native words only, but likewise those borrowed from the Chinese, thus :
ryori-jaya, "an eating-house;" from ryori t "cookery," and chaya, " a tea-house."
shima-jima, "various islands ;" homshima, "island," repeated.
- In contradistinction to the sonant letters, the surd letters are
said to be sumi, i.e. " clear," t, k, s, etc., sounding purer to the Japanese ear than d, g, z, etc. The two categories together are termed sei-daku by the native grammarians, sei being the Chinese word for "clear," and daku for "muddled."
f In Western Japan, where the rules and analogies of the ancient language have been more faithfully preserved than in the Capital, the nigori of ch is pronounced like English/, and the nigori of sh like French /; but the Tokyo pronunciation ignores this delicate distinc- tion, and has English/ (but just a trifle softer) for both alike.
J In the Western provinces (following ancient usage) the nigori of s is z, while the nigori of ts is dz. But in Tokyo these two sounds are confounded. Compare the end of 11 24.
