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I recently learned the word 運輸{うんゆ}, which has ん immediately followed by ゆ.
However, seeing this made me wonder in what way this is different to にゅ. I
can't imagine that there's much of a difference in pronunciation because both
have n immediately followed by y, so I thought this might be similar to how
double consonants use ん instead of っ.

Is there a difference between んや、んよ、んゆ and にゃ、にょ、にゅ, or is it simply a
difference in how they're written?
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2017-09-07T23:56:46.647
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2017-09-08T15:28:33.860
2017-09-08T00:23:27.127
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question
pronunciation
Pronunciation of n+y consonants
ん is not really n. We romanize it as so, but it's really ŋ.

Actually, you can already pronounce it. Start by saying "sing." Then, say it
without the g. But not as seen. Finish in the position of saying g, but don't
say g. In contrast, try saying "seen guh." You can also find this sound in
ankle and a few other words.

So, にゃ is exactly as you think and one syllable. But んや is two syllables ŋ+ya.
But really, うんゆ is two syllables うん+ゆ.

Hope this clarifies everything.
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2017-09-08T01:15:24.043
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2017-09-08T01:15:24.043
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answer
There is a difference in pronunciation. Between vowels (and at the end of
words), the moraic nasal (ん) becomes a nasalized echo of the preceding vowel.
The contrast can be seen when transcribed into the IPA in the following (I
have placed the period between mora rather than syllables for the sake of
demonstrating the difference in the length of the words too):

  * うんゆ: /u.ũ.ju/
  * うにゅ: /u.nju/

うにゅ isn't a word though. For an example of real (if uncommon) words, here's
one pair:

  * 漢音（かんおん）: /ka.ã.o.õ/
  * 観音（かんのん）: /ka.n.no.õ/

While nasal vowels are fairly common across languages, English doesn't feature
them on a phonemic level, so it might take some practice to learn how to
pronounce them.
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2017-09-08T15:20:51.563
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2017-09-08T15:28:33.860
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answer