My knowledge about ren'youkei is limited to "tabe is the ren'youkei of
taberu". I would like to know what the meaning of ren'youkei is, what
linguistic idea lies behind this term and for what it is actually used in
everyday usage.
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grammar renyōkei
What is the meaning and application of ren'youkei?
The 連用形{れんようけい} ("continuative form") is one of the various 活用形｛かつようけい}
("inflected forms") for 用言{ようげん} ("inflectable words") in Japanese.

The way I like to explain this is somewhat non-standard, but I think more
coherent than how it is usually explained. I will connect this explanation
back to the standard way at the end.

* * *

I think there are two things worth discussing:

  1. The `-I` Form
  2. The Continuative Form

# The `-I` Form

The `-I` form is `stem-I`: the stem of an inflectable word plus the -I
morpheme.

**`-I` definition:**

  * Vowel-stem verb: `∅`
  * Consonant-stem verb: `i`
  * i-adjective: `∅`

**Examples:**

  * Consonant-stem verb 思う: `omow-I -> omo(w)-i -> 思い`
  * Consonant-stem verb 行く: `ik-I -> ik-i -> 行き`
  * i-adjective 熱い: `atsu-I -> atsu-∅ -> 熱`
  * Vowel-stem verb 食べる: `tabe-I -> tabe-∅ -> 食べ`

The `-I` form feels a lot like a noun.

**Uses:**

  * The continuative form 
    * See later for examples.
  * -sou and -sugi- 
    * **熱** そう
    * **行き** そう
    * **熱** すぎる
    * **食べ** すぎる
  * Compounding 
    * **早** 起き
  * Stand-alone nouns (I can only think of verbs here) 
    * **思い**
    * **考え**
    * **感じ**

# The Continuative Form

The continuative form (a.k.a., 連用形) is `stem-I-CONT`: the stem of an
inflectable word, plus the `-I` morpheme, plus the `-CONT` morpheme.

**`-CONT` definition:**

  * Verbs: `∅`
  * i-adjectives: `ku`

**Examples:**

  * Consonant-stem verb 思う: `omow-I-CONT -> omo(w)-i-∅ -> 思い`
  * Consonant-stem verb 行く: `ik-I-CONT -> ik-i-∅ -> 行き`
  * i-adjective 熱い: `atsu-I-CONT -> atsu-∅-ku -> 熱く`
  * Vowel-stem verb 食べる: `tabe-I-CONT -> tabe-∅-∅ -> 食べ`

**Uses:**

  * Adjuncts:  

    * **間違いなく** 怒っている。
    * **優しく** 抱きしめる。
    * 君のことを **思い** 、彼を許した。
  * Conjunction (this form is known as the 中止形): 
    * 外へ **行き** 、マスコミに話す。
    * 空は **青く** 、地面は茶色。
  * -te: 
    * **熱く** て
    * **食べ** て
    * **思っ** て (omo(w)-i-te after euphonic changes, namely 促音便)
  * Various auxiliaries, e.g.: 
    * -mas-: **行き** ます
    * -tutu-: **直り** つつ

* * *

While this is hardly complete, maybe it helps give an idea of what the 連用形 is.
The way this stuff is usually taught, I think the -i form is often conflated
with the 連用形, because the surface form is the same for verbs, but I think it
makes more sense to split it out like this.
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Japanese has two main categories for standalone terms: 用言{ようげん} and 体言{たいげん}.

  * **用言** inflect: this category includes verbs, _-i_ adjectives, and _-na_ adjectives.
  * **体言** don't inflect, and this category includes nouns, pronouns, and numbers.

These two terms form the basis of the terms for two different conjugations:
the 連用形{れんようけい} and the 連体形{れんたいけい}.

  * **連用形** literally breaks down as 連 "goes with / attaches to" + 用 short for 用言 + 形 "form" -- this is the form of the word (conjugation) that attaches to other words that also conjugates.  
So when combining verbs into a compound verb, you use the 連用形. Or when using
an adjective (a part of speech that inflects) to modify another adjective or a
verb (which also inflects), you use the 連用形. Since this form (and the meaning
of the underlying term) _continues_ into the following inflected term, this is
often glossed in English as the **"continuative form"**.

  * **連体形** literally breaks down as 連 "goes with / attaches to" + 体 short for 体言 + 形 "form" -- this is the form of the word (conjugation) that attaches to other words that _don't_ conjugate.  
So when modifying a noun or other non-inflected term with a verb or adjective,
you use the 連体形. Since this form is used to describe an _attribute_ of the
following uninflected term, this is often glossed in English as the
**"attributive form"**.

Notably, the 連用形 for verbs is sometimes used as a noun: for instance, 替{か}わり
is the 連用形 for 替{か}わる, and it is also a noun meaning "replacement,
alternative".

Also, the 連体形 and the 終止形{しゅうしけい} (literally "terminal form", the form to use
when an inflected word is at the end of a sentence) used to be distinct, but
these have become the same thing in modern Japanese (except for _-na_
adjectives -- these use な for the 連体形 and だ for the 終止形).

For more about Japanese conjugation forms, see the Wikipedia article on
[Japanese grammar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_grammar),
particularly the bit on [Conjugable
words](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_grammar#Conjugable_words).

For more about older Japanese where these two forms were still distinct, see
the Wikipedia articles on [Classical Japanese
language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Japanese_language) and
[Early Middle Japanese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Middle_Japanese).
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