Old Japanese - Syllable Structure

Syllable Structure

The Old Japanese syllable was CV (consonant-vowel).

  • A bare vowel does not occur except for word-initially.
  • /r/ is not found word-initially (with the exception of two foreign loans: /rikizimahi1/ and /rokuro/).
  • Voiced plosives do not occur word-initially.

Vowel elision occurred to prevent vowel clusters:

  • Second vowel is dropped: /hanare/ + /iso1/ → /hanareso1/
  • First vowel is dropped: /ara/ + /umi1/ → /arumi1/
  • Two continuous vowels merge into a separate vowel: i1 + a → e1, a + i1→e2, o2 + i1→i2
  • /s/ is inserted between the two vowels: /haru/ + /ame2/→/harusame2/ (It is possible that /ame2/ was once */same2/)

Read more about this topic:  Old Japanese

Famous quotes containing the words syllable and/or structure:

    “The Brain is just the weight of God—
    For—Heft them—Pound for Pound—
    And they will differ—if they do—
    As Syllable from Sound—”
    —Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)

    “Each structure and institution here was so primitive that you could at once refer it to its source; but our buildings commonly suggest neither their origin nor their purpose.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)