Rendaku

Rendaku (連濁, 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.

Rendaku can be seen in the following:

[hito] + [hito] > [hitobito] ("person" + "person" → "people")

[toki] + [toki] > [tokidoki] ("time" + "time" → "sometimes")

[te] + [kami] > [tegami] ("hand" + "paper" → "letter")

In some cases, rendaku varies depending on syntax. For instance, the suffix 〜通り ("road, following"), from 通る tōru "to go, to follow", is pronounced as 〜とおり -tōri following the perfective verb tense, as in 思った通り omotta-tōri "as I thought", but is pronounced as 〜どおり -dōri (with rendaku) when following a noun, as in 予定通り yotei-dōri "as planned, according to schedule" (or, semantically differently – more concretely – 室町通 Muromachi-dōri, "Muromachi Street").

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, a consonant sound formed by obstructing airflow. 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.

[yama] + [kaji] > [yamakaji], not *[yamagaji] ("mountain" + "fire" > "forest fire") (* indicates a non-existent form)

[hitori] + [tabi] > [hitoritabi], not *[hitoridabi] ("one person" + "travel" > "traveling alone")

[tsuno] + [tokage] > [tsunotokage], not *[tsunodokage] ("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 Kamo no Mabuchi^[1]^[2] (1765) and Motoori Norinaga^[3]^[4] (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 second example demonstrates that rendaku hardly manifests in most words of foreign origin:

[kabushiki] + [kaisha] > [kabushikigaisha] ("stock" + "company" > "corporation")

[aisu] + [kōhī] > [aisukōhī], not *[aisugōhī] ("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):

[yama] + [kawa] > [yamakawa] "mountains and rivers"

Compare this to [yama] + [kawa] > [yamagawa] "mountain river".

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:

[mon] + ([shiro + chō]) > [monshirochō], not *[monjirochō] ("family crest" + {"white" + "butterfly"} > "cabbage butterfly")

but

([o] + [shiro]) + [washi] > [ojirowashi] ({"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, 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 error: {{nihongo}}: Japanese or romaji text required (help) and error: {{nihongo}}: Japanese or romaji text required (help).

Notes

^ Itō, 1928.
^ Suzuki, 2004.
^ Endō, 1981.
^ Yamaguchi, 1988.

References

Endō, Kunimoto (1981). "Hirendaku no Hōzoku no Shōchō to Sono Imi: Dakushion to Bion to no Kankei kara". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) (Japanese citation: 遠藤邦基(1981)「非連濁の法則の消長とその意味―濁子音と鼻音との関係から―」(『国語国文』50-3))
Irwin, Mark (2005). "Rendaku-based Lexical Hierarchies in Japanese: The Behaviour of Sino-Japanese Mononoms in Hybrid Noun Compounds". Journal of East Asian Linguistics. 14 (2): 121–153. doi:10.1007/s10831-004-6306-9. ISSN 0925-8558. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
Itō, Shingo (1928). Kinsei Kokugoshi. Ōsaka: Tachikawa Bunmeidō.
Kubozono, Haruo (2005). "Rendaku: Its Domain and Linguistic Conditions". Voicing in Japanese. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 5–24. doi:10.1515/9783110197686.1.5. ISBN 978-3-11-018600-0. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)
Martin, Samuel E. (1987). The Japanese Language Through Time. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300037295.
Shibatani, Masayoshi (1990). The Languages of Japan. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 173–175. ISBN 0521369185.
Suzuki, Yutaka (2004). "'Rendaku' no Koshō ga Kakuritsu suru made: Rendaku Kenkyūshi". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) (Japanese citation: 鈴木豊(2004)「「連濁」の呼称が確立するまで―連濁研究前史―」(『国文学研究』142)
van de Weijer, Jeroen (2005). Voicing in Japanese. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-018600-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
Vance, Timothy J. (1987). An Introduction to Japanese Phonology. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0887063616.
Yamaguchi, Yoshinori (1988). "Kodaigo no Fukugō ni Kansuru: Kōsatsu, Rendaku o Megutte". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) (Japanese citation: 山口佳紀(1988)「古代語の複合語に関する一考察―連濁をめぐって―」(『日本語学』7-5))