I'm reading a book and the author keeps using the spelling "一つひとつ" for "one-by-one". I found this a bit curious: The word itself is just a doubled 一つ, so why not spell both parts the same? Does writing it that way convey a certain nuance which 一つ一つ or 1つ1つ do not?
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There are different factions (or style books). Some people actually like the spelling 一つ一つ.– broccoli forestJul 23, 2019 at 2:59
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1@broccoliforest Do you know a style book/guideline that formally recommends 一つひとつ?– narutoJul 23, 2019 at 4:16
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@naruto No, merely a conjecture.– broccoli forestJul 23, 2019 at 4:39
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2 Answers
This is a matter of personal taste. If the author did this intentionally, I believe they were trying to emphasize the nuance of ひとつひとつ by covering various possible spellings. Similar examples include 長いながい道 and すき、好き、大スキ. One may also argue that switching kanji/kana too much in a single word is visually displeasing, but I personally doubt that is the main reason.
Here are the hit counts of BCCWJ:
- ひとつひとつ: 604
- 一つ一つ: 1005
- 一つひとつ: 293
- ひとつ一つ: 5
EDIT: This is not limited to 一つひとつ...
- おそるおそる: 224; 恐る恐る: 193; 恐るおそる: 9; おそる恐る: 0
- おもいおもい: 2; 思い思い: 183; 思いおもい: 9; おもい思い: 0
- かさねがさね: 8; 重ね重ね: 24; 重ねがさね: 3; かさね重ね: 0
- たびたび: 823; 度々: 354; 度たび: 4; たび度: 0
Maybe the users of 度たび／恐るおそる are treating the second part somewhat like a long okurigana...? I personally do not do this, but it is true that there are writers who like this style.
According to this answer: "漢字｛かんじ｝ではじまり平仮名{ひらがな}で終｛お｝わる表記｛ひょうき｝が、日本語｛にほんご｝として読｛よ｝みやすいということのようです。"; It is because it makes Japanese easier to read.
The answer had a link to the webpage where it was explained by a professor but it seems like that page is no longer or else I would have read the page myself.
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Wayback Machine to the rescue: web.archive.org/web/20070224233912/http://www1.gifu-u.ac.jp:80/…, particularly the entry on "19990312■「日にち」". Though, looks like that explanation is for repeated kanji with different readings? Nov 4, 2019 at 4:26