Does the “T” in Tsubaki or Tsubasa have any purpose?
Yes. “tsu” refers to つ, and is pronounced differently than “su” (す).
For example, if you removed the ‘T’ from ‘tsuru’ (鶴、つる, crane), you end up with suru (する), which is the verb ‘to do.’
Does this explain it effectively? If not, let me know and I’ll explain some more!
Just to elaborate a little, the “t” isn’t silent. The sound “tsu” is pronounced exactly as it is spelled.
Most Americans pronounce “tsunami” as “sunami”. The Japanese pronunciation, as already noted, would include the “t”. I’m guessing this may be part of the confusion.
It’s not a sound that can just hang out like that in English, so it can be easy to miss, but the t is in there.
The initial “ts” is found in other languages, e.g, in the Russian “tsar”. Although it’s not a native English combination of consonants at the start of words, it should not be hard for English speakers, since the combination is common in the middle and end of English words.
And, of course, the tsetse fly. Like the “ng” sound, “ts” is used in other languages at the beginning of the word, but not in English (aside from loanwords).
If you have trouble making the [ts] sound, perhaps knowing it is an affricative will help. This means you start the sound with your tongue in the position of a t, but immediately change it to an S.
Or, perhaps using a common English word that has the sound in that position would help: pizza. The second syllable starts with the [ts] sound. [ˈpiːt tsə]
The ts in tsunami has the same sound as the ts in cats. That’s how I remembered it initially.