0

From what I have learned, 音便 arose for the sake of easier pronunciation and they are changed from the ます form or 連用形 form.

However, I could not wrap my head around うand く. Why is that く is changed to い but う does not? Take 書く and 買う for example, if 買いて is changed to 買って because it's easier to pronounce, then why 書いて is acceptable? Why not 書って? I guess it wouldn't be a big problem for communication as Japanese has so many homophones already? (not sure)

Also, don't people find it confusing when they are used to say 買います, but then かいて is actually 書いて but not 買いて？

Improve this question
2
  • 1
    "Also, don't people find it confusing when they are used to say 買います, but then かいて is actually 書いて but not 買いて？" By people here, you mean natives? I'm quite sure no natives would be confused by this. Most likely haven't even thought about it before.
    – Leebo
    Jul 22, 2022 at 2:31
  • One could similarly point out the inconsistencies of English pronunciation. Why is do pronounced like //du//, but don't is pronounced like //doʊnt//? And then font is pronounced //fɑnt//. → Most folk who grow up with a language don't spend a lot of time thinking about how weird it is. 😄
    – Eiríkr Útlendi
    Jul 22, 2022 at 6:37

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

I think this should essentially answer you question. But anyway, the following is based on this.

What you seem to be missing is which 行 those verbs belong to.

The rules are as follows:

イ音便：標準語では、カ行、ガ行（すなわち「キ」「ギ」）において生じる。

  • 書く: かきて→かいて
  • 急ぐ: いそぎて→いそいで

促音便： 促音便はカ行、タ行、ラ行、ハ行の音（つまり「キ」 「チ」 「リ」 および 「ヒ」（現代の「イ」））に生じる現象

  • 買う: かいて→かって
  • 立つ: たちて→たって
  • 降る: ふりて→ふって
Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .