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/)

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