How is リィ pronounced?


![Example for りぃ and リィ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/IrcNd.png)

I'm confused about `リィ`. (That's big `リ` followed by little `ィ`.)

Although this combination isn't part of the official orthography (as far as I
know), it seems to be fairly common. I asked a Japanese friend, and she said
it's pronounced similar to like English -ry, but I'm afraid I don't trust my
ear enough to hear exactly what she means by that. I think I might do better
with a more technical explanation. My guess is that it's something like /rji/,
but I'm having trouble pronouncing that.

Here are my questions:

  1. **How do I pronounce`りぃ`?** Is it the same as a "normal" kana or pair of kana, like `リ` or `リー`?

  2. Is `りぃ` one mora or two? I think one is plausible, like `りゃ`・`りゅ`・`りょ`, but I also think two is plausible, like `よぉ` or `ねぇ`. (I hope I'm not wrong about these last two being two moras long!)

I made a list of similar kana pairs, just in case it made more sense to answer
generally about all of them. (If it doesn't make sense, please ignore this
list!)

> `イィ`・`キィ`・`ギィ`・`シィ`・`ジィ`・`チィ`・`ニィ`・`ヒィ`・`ビィ`・`ピィ`・`ミィ`・`リィ`




From my experience, it's no different than `リー` as you mentioned. My name has
a `シ` in it, although it has been incorrectly guessed to be an elongated sound
by people who don't know me that well. As such, there have been occasions when
my former Japanese teacher (older woman) and 事務員's have written it as both
`シー` and `シィ`.




From my experience, it's no different than `リー` as you mentioned. My name has
a `シ` in it, although it has been incorrectly guessed to be an elongated sound
by people who don't know me that well. As such, there have been occasions when
my former Japanese teacher (older woman) and 事務員's have written it as both
`シー` and `シィ`.

