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I was watching some anime today, and I heard "y" sounds in places I didn't
expect.

Here's a [sound clip (MP3)](http://sandwich.quarplet.com/y.mp3) and my
transcription:

> 私の世界へようこそ。 今やこの世界をコントロールできる唯一の人間だ。

There are two "y" sounds I didn't expect. I'm not sure whether they're
related.

  1. `世界へ` sounds like "sekai ye" rather than "sekai e".
  2. `世界を` sounds like "sekai yo" rather than "sekai (w)o".

Can anyone explain these "y" sounds to me? Are they standard? Common?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-20T23:05:18.260
9519
2012-11-21T01:59:07.440
2012-11-21T01:59:07.440
question
pronunciation
Insertion of "y" sound between vowels
As it turns out 今や is actually a set phrase and can mean "presently,
currently." As opposed to 今, I believe it is used more for past contrast.

For the "y" sounds you hear during dialogue, I'd like to believe it's more of
a case of individual distinction in how they speak or possibly a case of
slurring(?).
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-20T23:21:20.097
9520
2012-11-20T23:21:20.097
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answer
In cases 1 and 2, you have two vowels in succession: /ie/ and /io/.

Assuming that

  1. Your articulatory organs cannot jump from one discrete state to another.
  2. You do not generally stop/weaken your breath between words/morae (of course once in a while you have to stop to breathe in)

you will hear the mouth/tongue moving from i->e and i->o, which is what makes
it sound like "ye" and "yo".

For the same reason, I would say that you can't really tell if it's おみやげ or
おみあげ, unless you know, or you ask somebody to articulate clearly, thereby
probably breaking assumption 2 above.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-21T00:15:08.793
9521
2012-11-21T00:15:08.793
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answer