3 ms·
きゃ is not きや as in "kiya" but きゃ as in "kya" - the i in き becomes silent, きや would be something else. For example, 東京 isn't pronounced「とうきよう」but 「とうきょう」.
by Nadya 9y ago
きゃ is not きや as in "kiya" but きゃ as in "kya" - the i in き becomes silent, きや would be something else. For example, 東京 isn't pronounced「とうきよう」but 「とうきょう」.
- lhorie 9y agoRight, Japanese has both /iˈ/ and /j/ sounds. Another example that happens outside the や column is イェス (yes).
- chadlavi 9y agothis is just because of the shift of historical "ヱ" ("ye") getting pronounced as "エ" ("e") then just not used anymore. They're using "イ" as a semivowel here, /j/, not as the vowel /i/.
- amyjess 9y agoOddly enough, it's been my observation that in きゃ and ぎゃ, the /a/ sound is considerably fronted compared to other syllables. It's usually realized as the central vowel [ä], but in these two, it's often fronted to [a]. This is why these syllables are used to render English words containing /kæ/ into Japanese, such as "cannon" (キャノン kyanon) or "cat" (キャット kyatto). Contrast with "cut" (カット katto) or "car" (カー kā). Japanese has some interesting allophones. I also find the allophones in the Z-row fascinating as well ([z] and [d͡z] are allophones in free variation).