What is RENDAKU?
連濁[RENDAKU](lit. "sequential voicing") is a phenomenon in Japanese morphophonology that governs the voicing of the initial consonant of the non-initial portion of a compound or prefixed word.
In modern Japanese, RENDAKU is common but unpredictable.
The "voicing" is not a strict change from voiceless to voiced sounds, but rather the action of adding a "濁点[dakuten](Dot marks for voiced sound)" to the first kana of the portion being altered.
It is also known as "sequential voicing".
RENDAKU example in Japanese
RENDAKU can be seen in the following.
1.
人[hito] + 人[hito] > 人々[hitobito] ("person" + "person" → "people")
手[te] + 紙[kami] > 手紙[tegami] ("hand" + "paper" → "letter")
Properties blocking RENDAKU
Research into defining the range of situations affected by RENDAKU has largely been limited to finding circumstances which cause the phenomenon not to manifest itself.
<Lyman's Law>
The most famous of the conditions affecting RENDAKU is known as Lyman's Law, which stated that RENDAKU does not occur if the second consonant of the second element is a voiced obstruent.
This was later modified to state that RENDAKU does not occur when the second element of the compound contains a voiced obstruent in any position (see third example below).
This is considered to be one of the most fundamental of the rules governing RENDAKU.
2.
山[yama] + 火事[kaji] > 山火事[yama kaji], not [yama gaji] ("mountain" + "fire" > "forest fire") ( indicates an unacceptable form)
一人[hitori] + 旅[tabi] > 一人旅[hitori tabi], not [hitori dabi] ("one person" + "travel" > "traveling alone")
角[tsuno] + トカゲ[tokage] > 角トカゲ[tsuno tokage], not [tsuno dokage] ("horn" + "lizard" > "horned lizard")
While this law is named after Benjamin Smith Lyman, who independently discovered it in 1894, it is really a re-discovery.
The Edo period linguists 賀茂真淵[Kamo no Mabuchi (1765)] and 本居宣長[Motoori Norinaga (1767--1798)] separately and independently discovered the law during the 18th century.
<Lexical properties>
Similar to Lyman's Law, it has been found that for some lexical items, RENDAKU does not manifest itself if there is a voiced obstruent near the morphemic boundary, including preceding the boundary.
Some lexical items tend to resist RENDAKU voicing regardless of other conditions, while some tend to accept it.
RENDAKU also occurs infrequently in Sino-Japanese words (Japanese words of Chinese origin) especially where the element undergoing RENDAKU is well integrated ("vulgarized").
The third example demonstrates that RENDAKU hardly manifests in most words of foreign origin.
3.
株式[kabushiki] + 会社[kaisha] > 株式会社[kabushiki gaisha] not [kabushiki kaisha]("stock" + "company" > "corporation")
アイス[aisu] + コーヒー[kÔ-hii] > アイスコーヒー[aisukÔ-hii], not [aisugÔ-hii] ("ice" + "coffee" > "iced coffee")
<Semantics>
RENDAKU also tends not to manifest itself in compounds which have the semantic value of "X and Y" (so-called dvandva or copulative compounds):
4.
山[yama] + 川[kawa] > 山川[yamakawa] "mountains and rivers".
Compare this to 山[yama] + 川[kawa] > 山川[yamagawa] "mountain river".
The pronunciation of "Yamakawa" as a general noun is "Yamagawa", and the meaning is "River that flows in the mountain."
The pronunciation by a Japanese family name has the family name with the pronunciation such as "山川[Yamagawa]" and "山川[san gawa]" though "山川[Yama kawa]" is general.
This might be very confusing for you, but RENDAKU is important in the pronunciation of words in Japanese.
<Branching constraint>
Finally, RENDAKU is also blocked by what is called a "branching constraint".
The process is blocked in the second element of a right-branching compound:
5.
もん[mon] + しろちょう([shiro + cho-]) > もんしろちょう[mon shiro chou], not もんじろちょう[mon jiro chou] ("family crest" + {"white" + "butterfly"} > "cabbage butterfly")
尾([o] + 白[shiro])+ 鷲[washi] > おじろわし[o jiro washi] ({"tail" + "white"} + "eagle" > "white-tailed eagle")
<Further considerations>
Despite a number of rules which have been formulated to help explain the distribution of the effect of RENDAKU, there still remain many examples of words in which RENDAKU manifests in ways currently unpredictable.
Some instances are linked with a lexical property as noted above but others may obey laws yet to be discovered.
RENDAKU thus remains partially unpredictable, sometimes presenting a problem even to native speakers (the Japanese), particularly in Japanese names, where RENDAKU occurs or fails to occur often without obvious cause.
In many cases, an identically written name may either have or not have RENDAKU, depending on the person.
For example, 中田 may be read in a number of ways, including both "Nakata and Nakada".
I made these images based on information on the RENDAKU page of Wikipedia.
At the end.
How do you think the Japanese is learning a lot of RENDAKU phrases?
We (the Japanese) don't learn the rule of RENDAKU but learn each RENDAKU phrase one by one.
Therefore, almost all the Japanese not know even word "RENDAKU".
Hararie
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