Pronunciation of イ列 + う


It is somewhat uncommon, but some words such as 気宇{きう} and the name 霧生{きりう}
end with イ列 + う. I thought the pronunciation might be different from a simple
concatenation of the two vowels, since 言う{いう} is pronounced as ゆう, and because
in the examples I gave it is somewhat easier on the toungue for me to change
the trailing う to ゆ, resulting in either きゆ or きゅ for 気宇.

How should I be pronouncing these?




There may be rules in modern Japanese regulating this, perhaps observed by TV
announcers. However, practically, I believe it is more natural to produce the
sound `きゅ` than a forced `き-う`. The same goes for `霧生`. In fact, `霧生` is
spelled with `きりゅう` in many cases. Some people might prefer to split `イ+ウ` if
they are separate morphemes... but practically, they are just so ambiguous
when pronouncing.

From a history point of view, there was no clear difference between `きゅ` or
`きう`. Actually, the small notation of 拗音 (contracted word) is adopted after
the WWII ( _現代かなづかい_ in 1946). Before that, in old literature like _徒然草
(Tsurezuregusa)_ in the 14th century, there was あや **しう** こそ in the preface
passage, which in modern day notation (and pronunciation) would be あや **しゅう**
こそ.

For `言う` being pronounced as `ゆう`, the pronunciation existed long before this
notation of `言う`, so the rule of how to produce `イ+ウ` should not be deduced
from the notation. `言う` was written as `言ふ` in old notation.




There may be rules in modern Japanese regulating this, perhaps observed by TV
announcers. However, practically, I believe it is more natural to produce the
sound `きゅ` than a forced `き-う`. The same goes for `霧生`. In fact, `霧生` is
spelled with `きりゅう` in many cases. Some people might prefer to split `イ+ウ` if
they are separate morphemes... but practically, they are just so ambiguous
when pronouncing.

From a history point of view, there was no clear difference between `きゅ` or
`きう`. Actually, the small notation of 拗音 (contracted word) is adopted after
the WWII ( _現代かなづかい_ in 1946). Before that, in old literature like _徒然草
(Tsurezuregusa)_ in the 14th century, there was あや **しう** こそ in the preface
passage, which in modern day notation (and pronunciation) would be あや **しゅう**
こそ.

For `言う` being pronounced as `ゆう`, the pronunciation existed long before this
notation of `言う`, so the rule of how to produce `イ+ウ` should not be deduced
from the notation. `言う` was written as `言ふ` in old notation.

