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I am a beginner in Japanese who is not even done learning katakana yet, so
forgive me if this is a noob question. I know that when っ comes before a
character, say the word was まって, there would be a pause before the て. (Correct
me if I'm wrong.) But I've read a few things that just start with っ and then
normal characters, so I'm wondering what it means/how to pronounce it. Also if
you couldn't tell because there is nothing to compare to, it is the little
tsu, not the normal one.
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2018-04-28T19:47:08.060
58219
2021-10-25T16:41:31.150
29734
question
grammar pronunciation
What does っ mean and how to pronounce it when it comes before a character with nothing before it? Ex. っか
Some languages, like Korean, have so-called "tense consonants" that can start
a word. These are romanized as starting with a geminate (doubled) consonant,
such as [까](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%EA%B9%8C) ( _kka_ ). Japanese has
a similar kind of phenomenon with geminate (doubled) consonants that appear
mid-word, where the geminate is indicated by a small _tsu_ , っ instead of the
full-sized つ.

Japanese doesn't have tense consonants at the start of words as a feature of
the language, which is why it may be hard to find information about this. It's
also why some folks might be confused by your question, and ask for more
context.

However, although rare, it is possible that informal texts (such as manga in
particular) might indicate a word-initial tense consonant to try to illustrate
how someone might be speaking, perhaps in surprise, or as a sound effect.

For how to pronounce it, it's hard to explain at the start of a word because
English doesn't have tense consonants either. "Tense" is a good rough idea:
try saying the consonant with your breathing more tensed up before releasing
the consonant. Imagine what it might be like to say a word like _"cat"_
normally, and then imagine what it might sound like to say _"ccat"_ with an
emphasized `/k/` sound -- a close approximation could be how people with a
stutter say words that are difficult for them to pronounce, where the breath
catches before finally releasing.

If the above doesn't fully address your question, please comment and I will
edit my post accordingly.
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2018-04-29T00:37:51.243
58223
2018-04-29T00:37:51.243
5229
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answer
so like if you were to be speaking and the sentence is like -今日もきっとこの街のどこかで.
the¨きっ¨ would sound longer. it would sound like¨kii-¨it would sound more
longer but cut off sharply at the end. for the next letter, you just speak
normally.
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2021-10-25T16:41:31.150
90888
2021-10-25T16:41:31.150
48535
58219
answer