"Mark J. Reed" wrote:
> CG> The syllable itself doesn't have much of an existence in Japanese
>
> Yeah, that was going to be my next question. Of what use is the
> classification of one- and two-morae chunks as "syllables"? It seems
> as though Japanese syllables are morphological rather than phonological.
Japanese DOES have syllables. Pitch-accent, in the standard dialect,
makes reference to BOTH morae and syllables. The location of the
pitch-drop cannot occur on the second mora of a syllable.
> And let's not forget gemination. Doesn't it also create an additional mora,
> so that "makka" has three morae rather than two?
Correct.
> (What's the etymology of that word, anyway? I thought it came from "ma" +
> "aka", but if so, why isn't it "maaka"?)
Who knows? Probably the same phenomenon that created itta/yutta instead
of the expected iita/yuita for the past tense of iku/yuku
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