12081
It is somewhat uncommon, but some words such as 気宇{きう} and the name 霧生{きりう}
end with イ列 + う. I thought the pronunciation might be different from a simple
concatenation of the two vowels, since 言う{いう} is pronounced as ゆう, and because
in the examples I gave it is somewhat easier on the toungue for me to change
the trailing う to ゆ, resulting in either きゆ or きゅ for 気宇.

How should I be pronouncing these?
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2013-06-07T04:27:04.557
12077
2013-06-07T12:25:21.260
878
question
pronunciation
Pronunciation of イ列 + う
Pronounce them separately in general. The examples you cite have /i.u/
occuring across a "word" boundary, and the sound change that converted /iu/ to
/juː/ did not operate across "word" boundaries. Put it another way, 言う is
pronounced as if it were spelled ゆう, but only because its spelling is
irregular! All other examples (e.g. 友人、有限、優秀) are now spelled as pronounced
(cf the historical spellings いうじん、いうげん、いうしう).
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2013-06-07T07:27:05.943
12080
2013-06-07T07:27:05.943
578
12077
answer
There may be rules in modern Japanese regulating this, perhaps observed by TV
announcers. However, practically, I believe it is more natural to produce the
sound `きゅ` than a forced `き-う`. The same goes for `霧生`. In fact, `霧生` is
spelled with `きりゅう` in many cases. Some people might prefer to split `イ+ウ` if
they are separate morphemes... but practically, they are just so ambiguous
when pronouncing.

From a history point of view, there was no clear difference between `きゅ` or
`きう`. Actually, the small notation of 拗音 (contracted word) is adopted after
the WWII ( _現代かなづかい_ in 1946). Before that, in old literature like _徒然草
(Tsurezuregusa)_ in the 14th century, there was あや **しう** こそ in the preface
passage, which in modern day notation (and pronunciation) would be あや **しゅう**
こそ.

For `言う` being pronounced as `ゆう`, the pronunciation existed long before this
notation of `言う`, so the rule of how to produce `イ+ウ` should not be deduced
from the notation. `言う` was written as `言ふ` in old notation.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-06-07T07:38:45.860
12081
2013-06-07T12:25:21.260
2013-06-07T12:25:21.260
3559
12077
answer