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I think everyone can agree that 宵宮(よいみや) has 4 mora. But one side says it has 4 syllables because there are 4 vowels.

The other side says "Yoi" is similar to the かあ in 母さん and thus only have 3 syllables. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9F%B3%E7%AF%80#%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E3%81%AE%E9%9F%B3%E7%AF%80

Which side is right here?

My other car is a cadr
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  • Which part of the linked article says /oi/ is similar to /aa/ or /ii/ when it comes to counting syllables? – aguijonazo Aug 04 '21 at 09:28
  • Nowhere. The linked article says かあ is one syllable. One side contends (without evidence) that the "よい" situation is like the "かあ" situation . – My other car is a cadr Aug 04 '21 at 09:33
  • Do you have any reference? – aguijonazo Aug 04 '21 at 09:34
  • Unfortunately I don't have a public reference. This is just an online argument between two people. One guy alleges it's 3 syllables while the other guy alleges it's 4 syllables. I don't know which side is correct. – My other car is a cadr Aug 04 '21 at 09:38
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    "Syllable" is an ambiguous word in Japanese studies. Some use syllable to tell the exact English concept of syllable, where other as a synonym of "mora" because the former "syllable" has little meaning in Standard Japanese. You have to check out how they define the word. – broccoli facemask Aug 05 '21 at 04:10
  • I see you are a Genshin Impact player... – LittleWhole Aug 05 '21 at 12:31

1 Answers1

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[宵宮]{よいみや} takes four syllables.

I don’t know about the game(?) character, but as a normal word, it seems to be pronounced as よいみや{LHHH} according to NHK’s accent dictionary.

The same word is also read as よみや{HLL}, and it can be written as 夜宮 in this case.

If it is a person’s last name, I would guess it is pronounced as よいみや{LHLL}.

The /oi/ sequence could sometimes sound like it constitutes one syllable (i.e. diphthong), as in よいこ{HLL}, but I think it is generally considered a combination of two syllables.

aguijonazo
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