Small tsu (っ) at the beginning/end of a word!

Japanese Language
1

Hi everyone,

I’ve noticed this while playing a Pokemon game (in Kana only).
I don’t have a specific word to use as an example right now but I remember seeing the small tsu っ at the beginning and at the end of some words.

You would have “っ(word)!” or “wordっ!” and I never understood that. I read a couple of things on it but I didn’t quite understand what they meant (I wish I could find a video example with audio).

Japanese has so many quirks…but we gotta know them anyway!

Thanks in advance!

EDIT : I was lost at the beginning because I clicked on the Textfugu link not the one with the image :sob:

2

Hope these help!

http://www.textfugu.com/season-1/reading-writing-memorizing-hiragana/4-8/

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3

I already know how to read hiragana/katakana. What I meant was something like “って” or “あっ!”.

4

In my experience it marks a sudden stop/start of the sound indicating a sudden feeling (surprise, fear etc.) although that’s just anecdotal

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5

It’s like a sound effect, a sudden start or end of a word.

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Small%20Tsu
Small%20Tsu788×502 42.7 KB

:thinking:

To be fair, it doesn’t really address it appearing at the front, but the same principle applies.

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I am a “baka” I only read the first half and I was like nothing new…

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8

Did you click on the link?

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To take you right to it.

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@gojarappe Thank you!

@Radish8 That’s what I was going to say, so stuff like “っか” and “った” is just to kind of emphasize, the words don’t really have a meaning? I mean is there words that start with a small tsu ?

@KiwiNL Yes but I commented after reading like 50% of the page :cry:

@Borx I just finished reading that part but thanks a lot!

EDIT : I was lost at the beginning because I clicked on the Textfugu link not the one with the image :sob:

11

Please read @gojarappe 's link as it’s quite detailed. Also, you’ll find “ー” being used to extend vogals. Small letters too (see あ vs ぁ).

It makesss texxxt looook likeee thisssss. As you can seeeee, it’s nottt verrrry formaaaaal, sooo useee it with friendssssssss :ok_hand:

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12

I read it completely now. I already know how to read everything related to Kana :slight_smile:

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13

Hey, the picture example in there was from Tonari no Seki-kun. I haven’t seen that in a dog’s age. What a fun series.

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小さい"つ"って何？

Riddle :grin:

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I have a question regarding this. Is the small tsu ever used at the end in someone’s name? (particularly with non-Japanese names ported into Japanese)

For example, I have a Vietnamese friend whose name is “Ngoc”, which means gem in Vietnamese.

You can listen to google pronounce the name here: https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=auto&tl=en&text=ngoc

Of course it is difficult to transfer to Japanese since Japanese does not have the nuanced consonant and vowel sounds of Vietnamese, but in my mind, it seems like in Japanese the closest thing would be ナオッ or maybe even ノッ.

Does this happen? What do you think?

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Okinawan? 

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Sorry I’m not contributing to this thread, which I believe is solved anyway, I just wanted to say to @plantron I love your avatar! ^ _ ^

Not just for what it is, but it looks really good aesthetically. ^ _ ^

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Thanks! I wish the forum displayed it a bit larger :sweat_smile:

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