6653
Can one differentiate by pronunciation between [父]{ちち} and [乳]{ちち} (as for 雨
and 飴)?

If not, does anyone have a reasonable explanation for why 父 and 乳 have the
same pronunciation? It seems unlikely that they stem from the same word, which
was assigned two different characters, when 漢字 were imported from China...
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-30T07:01:18.603
6650
2012-09-22T05:03:57.750
2012-09-22T05:03:57.750
501
1628
question
etymology pronunciation homophonic-kanji pitch-accent
[父]{ちち} vs. [乳]{ちち} — father vs. breast
> If not, does anyone have a reasonable explanation for why 父 and 乳 have the
> same pronunciation

I do have one: the relatively limited number of words than can be made from
composing the sounds of kanas. You are doomed to have either a lot of
homophones, or a lot of _very_ long words… I believe that evolution led to
having shorter words with collisions rather than extra long words…
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-30T07:17:58.117
6651
2012-08-30T07:17:58.117
356
6650
answer
The pronunciation is the same, so no, you cannot differentiate it from there.
Context is the key in this case, and in many other cases.

The fact is that Japanese is a language with only a few sounds at its
disposal, so homophones are to be expected. This is especially true
considering that Japanese works with syllables, while other languages work
with single letters, and this allows more combinations, because consonants are
not necessarily attached to vowels: Japanese cannot have consonant clusters.

Things like **br** , **pr** , etc, are achieved by using the **う (U)** vowel,
which is half-muted, and it makes the syllables look (and above all, sound)
like consonant clusters.

I don't know about the etymology since I cannot understand Japanese well and I
don't think I could check an Etymology dictionary... Unless there are in
English.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-30T11:07:47.673
6652
2012-08-31T13:30:48.610
2012-08-31T13:30:48.610
37
37
6650
answer
父 and 乳 cannot be differentiated by pronunciation (including accentation).

While the word titi "father" is attested in Old Japanese (8th century), titi
"breasts" is not extant until the 17th century. However, it is more
complicated than that. titi "breasts" is a reduplication of ti "breasts" which
is extant in OJ. Also, titi "father" seems to be a reduplication of ti, a
suffix attached to men. This can be seen in ooZI, hikoZI, and maro ga TI. The
last one hints that ti may function as "father" on its own as well.

One possible motivation for ti > titi "father" is due to regularization with
haha "mother", which repeats the same syllable twice. The ultimate etymology
of both ti are unknown. Perhaps ti "father" is related to ti "blood" (血) as in
what links a family. Other speculation is possible.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-08-30T11:23:37.693
6653
2012-08-30T11:23:37.693
1141
6650
answer