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How is the name 河内 pronounced, is it コーチ like 講師 = コーシ, or コウチ, like 子牛 = コウシ? I have checked this word in the 三省堂明解アクセント辞典 but cannot find it.

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    Reading かわち is more common, in which case the pronunciation is clear, but I assume that you are asking about the pronunciation in the case where the reading of 河内 is こうち. Without any additional knowledge, I would probably pronounce it as コーチ, but I do not know if it is correct in every case.
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Feb 17, 2013 at 13:50
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    @Tsuyoshi Ito: I am interested in the following instance in particular: ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B2%B3%E5%86%85%E6%A1%83%E5%AD%90
    – user18597
    Feb 17, 2013 at 14:09

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As a name, it is up to the person how they pronounce it. A 戸籍謄本 does not record a reading for a kanji name. Depending on the city hall, most 住民票 now do provide a place to record how a name is to be read. However, that can be changed at will whenever a person desires it. Also, the reading does not have to be a normal reading; it can be nearly anything they wish as long as it is in modern kana. There are no restrictions to which kana readings can be used for any kanji. (The kanji itself, though, cannot be changed without court permission.)

That said, without any special circumstances, 河内 would normally be コーチ. This is an abbreviation of かわうち. The normal phonological development went as follows: kapauti > kaɸauti > kaɸuti > ka[w]uti > kauti > kɔːti > koːti [koːt͡ɕi].

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    I disagree that “without any special circumstances, 河内 would normally be コーチ.” I think that 河内 is かわち most of the time (as I wrote in a comment on the question). I would assume pronunciation コーチ only if I know that the reading in kana is こうち but do not know the actual pronunciation.
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Feb 17, 2013 at 22:01
  • I don’t think the historical phonetic development starting from *kapa-uti is really that relevant in this case, since it’s not a word that has actually existed throughout all these historical stages. Sure, if *kapa-uti had been an Old Japanese word, we would expect that it would be kōchi [koːtɕi] in Modern Japanese… but that’s not what this is about.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Nov 26, 2016 at 13:59

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