is a feature of the Japanese language

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

 in which a mora

Mora (linguistics)

Mora is a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing. As with many technical linguistic terms, the definition of a mora varies. Perhaps the most succinct working definition was provided by the American linguist James D...

 is formed with an added j sound.

Yōon are represented in hiragana

Hiragana

is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...

 using a kana ending in i, such as き (ki), plus a smaller-than-usual version of one of the three y kana, ya, yu or yo. For example kyō, "today", is written きょう, using a small version of the yo kana, よ. Contrast this with kiyō, "skillful", which is written きよう, with a full-sized yo kana. In the past, in historical kana usage

Historical kana usage

The , or , refers to the in general use until orthographic reforms after World War II; the current orthography was adopted by Cabinet order in 1946. By that point the historical orthography was no longer in accord with Japanese pronunciation...

, yōon were not distinguished with the smaller kana, and had to be guessed by context.

In earlier Japanese, yōon could also be formed with the kana wa, wi, we, and wo; for example, くゎ/クヮ kwa,　くゐ/クヰ kwi, くゑ/クヱ kwe,　くを/クヲ kwo. Although obsolete in modern Japanese, kwa and kwi can still be found in several of the Ryukyuan languages

Ryukyuan languages

The Ryukyuan languages are spoken in the Ryukyu Islands, and make up a subgroup of the Japonic, itself controversially a subgroup of Altaic....

 today, while kwe is formed with the digraph くぇ. Instead of the kana き, these are formed with the kana for ku, く/ク.

Table

Yōon (拗音)

EWLINE katakana Katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora... ャ ya ュ yu ョ yo キ ki キャ kya キュ kyu キョ kyo シ shi シャ sha シュ shu ショ sho チ chi チャ cha チュ chu チョ cho ニ ni ニャ nya ニュ nyu ニョ nyo ヒ hi ヒャ hya ヒュ hyu ヒョ hyo ミ mi ミャ mya ミュ myu ミョ myo リ ri リャ rya リュ ryu リョ ryo dakuten Dakuten , colloquially ten-ten , is a diacritic sign most often used in the Japanese kana syllabaries to indicate that the consonant of a syllable should be pronounced voiced. Handakuten , colloquially maru , is a diacritic used with the kana for syllables starting with h to indicate that they should... ギ gi ギャ gya ギュ gyu ギョ gyo ジ ji ジャ ja ジュ ju ジョ jo ビ bi ビャ bya ビュ byu ビョ byo handakuten ピ pi ピャ pya ピュ pyu ピョ pyo

EWLINE hiragana Hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora... ゃ ya ゅ yu ょ yo き ki きゃ kya きゅ kyu きょ kyo し shi しゃ sha しゅ shu しょ sho ち chi ちゃ cha ちゅ chu ちょ cho に ni にゃ nya にゅ nyu にょ nyo ひ hi ひゃ hya ひゅ hyu ひょ hyo み mi みゃ mya みゅ myu みょ myo り ri りゃ rya りゅ ryu りょ ryo dakuten Dakuten , colloquially ten-ten , is a diacritic sign most often used in the Japanese kana syllabaries to indicate that the consonant of a syllable should be pronounced voiced. Handakuten , colloquially maru , is a diacritic used with the kana for syllables starting with h to indicate that they should... ぎ gi ぎゃ gya ぎゅ gyu ぎょ gyo じ ji じゃ ja じゅ ju じょ jo び bi びゃ bya びゅ byu びょ byo handakuten ぴ pi ぴゃ pya ぴゅ pyu ぴょ pyo