our for Japanese speakers — pronunciation and common errors

Pronunciation

Japanese speakers may neutralize the distinction between /aʊə/ and /aʊər/ due to the lack of rhoticity in Japanese and the tendency to map 'our' onto the vowel-heavy 'a-wa-a' /aɰaa/ structure, often dropping the final /r/ or lengthening the final vowel instead.

Grammar

Japanese marks possession through the particle 'no' attached to pronouns like 'watashitachi no' (our). Because Japanese does not distinguish between possessive determiners and possessive pronouns, learners often substitute 'our' with 'ours' or fail to distinguish the two in attributive positions.

Examples

• We love our new house.
• Our flight leaves at six in the morning, so we need to go to bed early tonight.