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Prosodic size and rendaku immunity

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Abstract

Research has shown there to be a strong relationship between the mora and prosody in Modern Japanese. Recently proposed, although not as yet independently evaluated, has been a prosodic size rule governing the well-known allomorphic phenomenon of rendaku, by which the initial consonants of non-initial elements in compounds may be voiced under certain conditions. It is claimed that this prosodic size rule flags a native Japanese noun as being rendaku immune, a condition for which no empirical verification has hitherto existed. In this paper the author will demonstrate that, although slight modifications are necessary, a prosodic size rule for flagging rendaku immunity is indeed a reality.

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  1. Faculty of Literature and Social Sciences, Yamagata University, Kojirakawa-machi 1-4-12, Yamagata-shi, 990-8560, Japan

    Mark Irwin

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Irwin, M. Prosodic size and rendaku immunity. J East Asian Linguist 18, 179–196 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-009-9044-1

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