Is 宵宮 considered 3 syllables or 4 syllables?


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?




[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](https://sakura-
paris.org/dict/NHK%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E7%99%BA%E9%9F%B3%E3%82%A2%E3%82%AF%E3%82%BB%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88%E8%BE%9E%E5%85%B8/content/5624_1682).

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.




[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](https://sakura-
paris.org/dict/NHK%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E7%99%BA%E9%9F%B3%E3%82%A2%E3%82%AF%E3%82%BB%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88%E8%BE%9E%E5%85%B8/content/5624_1682).

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.

