Rendaku

Rendaku was initially an automatic and predictable process in Japanese. One theory states that rendaku was originally a way to distinguish compound words from saying a word twice when comparing two words or listing things (compare ひとびと hitobito "people" – with rendaku – versus ひと、ひと hito hito "one person, another person" – without rendaku). Native Japanese words never begin with a voiced obstruent or sibilant (b, d, g, z, etc.) and so rendaku was merely an allophonic detail that did not create ambiguity.

However, after the 4th century, Japan started borrowing words and characters from Chinese, which caused the once regular process of rendaku to become less predictable. Since many Chinese words begin with voiced consonants, applying rendaku to those words would cause ambiguity (compare 試験 shiken "examination" with 事件 jiken "incident"). Therefore, compound words consisting of purely Chinese words tend not to exhibit rendaku, unlike compounds consisting of native Japanese words, but there are many exceptions.[1]

Look up Category:Japanese terms with rendaku in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Rendaku can be seen in the following words:

ひと + ひと → ひと-びと (人々) (iteration)

hito + hito → hitobito ("person" + "person" → "people")

いけ (from verb 生ける (いける)) + はな → いけばな

ike + hana → ikebana ("keep alive" + "flower" → "flower arrangement")

とき + とき → とき-どき (時々) (iteration, reduplication)

toki + toki → tokidoki ("time" + "time" → "sometimes")

て + かみ → て-がみ

te + kami → tegami ("hand" + "paper" → "letter")

おり + かみ → おり-がみ

ori + kami → origami ("fold" + "paper" → "paperfolding")

はな + ひ → はな-び

hana + hi → hanabi ("flower" + "fire" → "firework")

はな + ち → はな-ぢ

hana + chi → hanaji ("nose" + "blood" → "nosebleed")

まき + すし → まき-ずし

maki + sushi → makizushi ("roll" + "sushi" → "nori-wrapped sushi") (Rendaku is prevalent with words that end in sushi.)

やま + てら → やま-でら

yama + tera → Yama-dera ("mountain" + "temple")

こころ + つかい → こころ-づかい

kokoro + tsukai → kokorozukai ("heart" + "using" → "consideration" or "thoughtfulness")

おぼろ + つき → おぼろ-づき

oboro + tsuki → oborozuki ("haze" + "moon" → "hazy moon")

In some cases, rendaku varies depending on syntax. For instance, the suffix tōri (〜通り, "road, following"), from tōru (通る, "to go, to follow"), is pronounced as -tōri (〜とおり) following the perfective verb, as in omotta-tōri (思った通り, "as I thought"), but is pronounced as -dōri (〜どおり, with rendaku) when following a noun, as in yotei-dōri (予定通り, "as planned, according to schedule") or, semantically differently – more concretely – Muromachi-dōri (室町通, "Muromachi Street").

Rendaku occurs not only on single-root elements, but also "multi-root" elements, those that are themselves composed of smaller elements. These morphemes may be of Chinese origin (see kango) or more recent loanwords (see gairaigo) rather than strictly native.

ひら + か-な → ひら-が-な

hira + kana → hiragana ("plain" + "character", compare かた-か-な katakana, which does not undergo rendaku)

きゃく + ふ-とん → きゃく-ぶ-とん

kyaku + futon → kyakubuton ("guest" + "bedding" → "bedding for guests")

Here, futon is a kango and compound of fu + ton

ろ-てん + ふ-ろ → ろ-てん-ぶ-ろ

roten + furo → rotenburo ("outdoor" + "bath" → "outdoor bath")

ゆめ-み + ここ-ち → ゆめ-み-ごこ-ち

yumemi + kokochi → yumemigokochi ("dreaming" + "state of mind" → "dream state")

おぼろ + つき-よ → おぼろ-づき-よ

oboro + tsukiyo → oborozukiyo ("haze" + "moonlit night" → "hazy moonlit night")

Here, tsukiyo is a compound word, composed of tsuki ("moon") and yo ("night")

いろ + ちゃ-や → いろ-ぢゃ-や

iro + chaya → irojaya ("lust" + "teahouse" → "brothel teahouse")

Here, chaya is a compound word, composed of cha ("tea") and ya ("shop"); cha by itself generally doesn't undergo rendaku, but chaya frequently does

ぼん + ちょう-ちん → ぼん-ぢょう-ちん

Bon + chōchin → Bonjōchin ("Bon" + "lantern" → "Bon lantern")

Here, chōchin is a Chinese borrowing, composed of chō ("portable") and chin ("lamp")

おや + かい-しゃ → おや-がい-しゃ

oya + kaisha → oyagaisha ("parent" + "company" → "parent company")

Here, kaisha is a kango, composed of kai ("gathering") and sha ("company")

かぶしき + かいしゃ → かぶしきがいしゃ

kabushiki + kaisha → kabushikigaisha ("stock-type" + "company" → "joint-stock company")

あめ + カッパ → あま-ガッパ

ame + kappa → amagappa ("rain" + "raincoat" → "raincoat")

Here, kappa is a gairaigo, from the Portuguese word capa ("cloak; cape")

いろは + カルタ → いろは-ガルタ

iroha + karuta → irohagaruta

Here, karuta is a gairaigo, from the Portuguese word carta ("card")

みず + キセル → みず-ギセル

mizu + kiseru → mizugiseru ("water" + "pipe" → "hooka")

Here, kiseru is a gairaigo, from the Khmer word khsiə ("pipe")

For certain morphemes that begin with the morae chi (ち) and tsu (つ), their rendaku forms begin with the morae ji and zu, spelled in hiragana as ぢ and づ, which explains the use of these kana in contrast to the identically pronounced じ and ず (see yotsugana). This is not a strict rule, however, and is relaxed in certain older compounds or names, especially those that are not easily recognized as compounds.

Rendaku occurs not only in compound nouns, but also in compounds with adjectives, verbs or continuative/nominal forms of verbs.

め + ふ-く → め-ぶ-く

me + fu-ku → mebu-ku ("sprout" + "to blow" → "to bud")

おとこ + きら-い → おとこ-ぎら-い

otoko + kira-i → otokogira-i ("male person" + "dislike; hatred" → "dislike for men; misandry")

おんな + す-き → おんな-ず-き

onna + su-ki → onnazu-ki ("female person" + "liking; fondness" → "fondness for women; woman lover")

お-き + さ-り → お-き-ざ-り

o-ki + sa-ri → o-ki-za-ri ("putting" + "leaving" → "deserting")

くる-い + さ-き → くる-い-ざ-き

kuru-i + sa-ki → kuru-i-za-ki ("being in disarray" + "blooming" → "unseasonable blooming")

うす- + きたな-い → うす-ぎたな-い

usu- + kitana-i → usugitana-i ("faint-; light-" + "dirty" → "dirty")

くち + きたな-い → くち-ぎたな-い

kuchi + kitana-i → kuchigitana-i ("mouth" + "dirty" → "foulmouthed; scurrilous")

た-ち + とま-る → た-ち-どま-る

ta-chi + toma-ru → ta-chi-doma-ru ("standing; starting; igniting" + "to stop" → "to stop")

In many Tohoku dialects, rendaku can be expressed in the form of prenasalized voicing.[3] This prenasalized sound production was not uniformed at all, and depending on the speakers and the words pronounced, significant variations were observed.[3]

There was a relationship between the rate of prenasalized voicing and the speakers’ age: older individuals display it at a higher rate than younger individuals.[3] On the other hand, differences in the speakers’ gender and socioeconomic status did not affect the rate of prenasalized voicing.[3]

Research into defining the range of situations affected by rendaku has largely been limited to finding circumstances (outlined below) which cause the phenomenon not to manifest.

Despite a number of rules which have been formulated to help explain the distribution of the effect of rendaku, there still remain many examples of words in which rendaku manifests in ways currently unpredictable. Some instances are linked with a lexical property as noted above but others may obey laws yet to be discovered. Rendaku thus remains partially unpredictable, sometimes presenting a problem even to native speakers, particularly in Japanese names, where rendaku occurs or fails to occur often without obvious cause. In many cases, an identically written name may either have or not have rendaku, depending on the person. For example, 中田 may be read in a number of ways, including both Nakata and Nakada.

• Consonant mutation
• Lenition
• Sandhi

• Endō, Kunimoto (1981). "Hirendaku no Hōzoku no Shōchō to Sono Imi: Dakushion to Bion to no Kankei kara". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) (Japanese citation: 遠藤邦基(1981)「非連濁の法則の消長とその意味―濁子音と鼻音との関係から―」(『国語国文』50-3))
• Irwin, Mark (April 2005). "Rendaku-based Lexical Hierarchies in Japanese: The Behaviour of Sino-Japanese Mononoms in Hybrid Noun Compounds". Journal of East Asian Linguistics. 14 (2): 121–153. doi:10.1007/s10831-004-6306-9. ISSN 0925-8558. S2CID 55842710.
• Itō, Shingo (1928). Kinsei Kokugoshi. Ōsaka: Tachikawa Bunmeidō.
• Kubozono, Haruo (2005). "Rendaku: Its Domain and Linguistic Conditions" (PDF). In Jeroen van de Weijer; Kensuke Nanjo; Tetsuo Nishihara (eds.). Voicing in Japanese. Studies in Generative Grammar. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 5–24. doi:10.1515/9783110197686.1.5. ISBN 978-3-11-018600-0. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-09-12.
• Martin, Samuel E. (1987). The Japanese Language Through Time. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03729-5.
• Shibatani, Masayoshi (1990). The Languages of Japan. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 173–175. ISBN 0-521-36918-5.
• Suzuki, Yutaka (2004). "'Rendaku' no Koshō ga Kakuritsu suru made: Rendaku Kenkyūshi". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) Japanese citation: 鈴木豊(2004)「「連濁」の呼称が確立するまで―連濁研究前史―」(『国文学研究』142)
• Jeroen van de Weijer (2005). Kensuke Nanjo; Tetsuo Nishihara (eds.). Voicing in Japanese. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-018600-0.
• Vance, Timothy J. (1987). An Introduction to Japanese Phonology. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-88706-361-6.
• Yamaguchi, Yoshinori (1988). "Kodaigo no Fukugō ni Kansuru: Kōsatsu, Rendaku o Megutte". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) (Japanese citation: 山口佳紀(1988)「古代語の複合語に関する一考察―連濁をめぐって―」(『日本語学』7-5))

• Haruo Kubozono. "Rendaku: Its domain and linguistic conditions" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2004-09-12.. In Jeroen van de Weijer, K. Nanjo and T. Nishihara (eds.) (2005). Voicing in Japanese. Studies in Generative Grammar 84. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin. 5-24.
• Suzuki Yutaka. "Exceptions to Lyman's Law" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-13.
• Vance, Timothy J.; Irwin, Mark, eds. (2016). Sequential Voicing in Japanese: Papers from the NINJAL Rendaku Project. Studies in Language Companion Series. Vol. 176. John Benjamins. doi:10.1075/slcs.176. ISBN 978-90-272-5941-7. S2CID 64058981.

Wiktionary has a category on Japanese terms with rendaku.

• The Japanese Lexicon: A Rendaku Encyclopedia – National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics