Abstract
A largely unpredictable consonant alternation phenomenon known as RENDAKU has been a feature of Japanese throughout its recorded history. A hypothesis mentioned by Unger (1975) attributes the origin of rendaku to vowel elision and nasal absorption in prehistoric Japanese. The evidence for this hypothesis is considered in detail, and the unpredictability of rendaku is attributed to irregularity in its origin. The rarity of rendaku in compound verbs is proposed as corroboration of the hypothesis.
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