Kawai, kawaii, and Kaua'i
Language Log 2020-08-01
Summary:
What's your instinct? How many syllables do you think there are in the following words? kawaii かわいい (Japanese for "cute") Kawai カワイ (the Japanese piano manufacturer) Kauaʻi (name of one of the Hawaiian islands) In English, it's our habit to treat diphthongs consisting of two vowels as one syllable, but that's not the way they […]