Rendaku
Morphophonological phenomenon in Japanese language / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rendaku (連濁, Japanese pronunciation: [ɾendakɯᵝ], lit. 'sequential voicing') is a phenomenon in Japanese morphophonology where the second (or non-initial) portion of a compound or prefixed word starts with a voiced consonant, even though the same morpheme starts with a voiceless consonant sound when used independently or as the first part of a compound. For example, kami (紙, paper) starts with the voiceless consonant /k/ when used as an independent word, but this is replaced with the voiced consonant /ɡ/ when this morpheme is used as the second portion of the compound word origami. In modern Japanese, rendaku is common but at times unpredictable, with certain words unaffected by it.
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While kanji do not indicate rendaku, it is marked in kana with dakuten (voicing mark).