母音

Wasei kango (和製漢語), orthographically borrowed from Japanese 母(ぼ)音(おん) (bōn, “vowel”)

母音

1. vowel

• 元音 (yuányīn)

母 (“mother”) +‎ 音 (“sound”). From the notion of a mothering vowel mating with a fathering consonant and giving birth to an onsetted mora, according to Meiji-era linguists, as in father /k/ + mother あ (/a/) = child か (/ka/). Compare 字母 (jibo, “letter”, literally “character mother”), 声母 (seibo, “onset”, literally “sound mother”) and 韻母 (inbo, “rhyme”, literally “rime mother”), all of which compare the process of generating words, syllables, etc. from a basic set of segments to motherhood.

• (Tokyo) ぼいん [bòíń] (Heiban – [0])[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [bo̞ĩɴ]

• (Tokyo) ぼおん [bòóń] (Heiban – [0])[2]
• IPA^(key): [bo̞õ̞ɴ]

母(ぼ)音(いん) or 母(ぼ)音(おん) • (boin or boon) 

1. (obsolete, phonology) one of the five morae of the あ行 (agyō, “a-row”), that consists solely of a vowel

   Holonym: 子音 (shion)

   Coordinate term: 父音 (fuon)

   • 1893 March, 宗司 大宮, “第二章　　母音　父音　子音 [Chapter 2: Mother Sounds, Father Sounds and Child Sounds]”, in 日本辭林 [A Japanese Dictionary], Tokyo: Hakubunkan, pages 5–6:

     五十音の中、阿行の五音を母音といふ。こは、單純なる音にして、いかに延長して發音するも、（あ……ア）、（い……イ）の如く、その音聲の變ずることなきものなり。

     Gojūon no naka, agyō no goon o boon to iu. Kowa, tanjun naru on ni shite, ika ni enchō shite hatsuon suru mo, (a……a), (i……i) no gotoku, sono onsei no henzuru koto naki mono nari.

     Among the fifty sounds, the five sounds of the a-row are called ‘mother sounds’. They are simple sounds, and however long they are pronounced, as in (a……a) or (i……i), their quality does not change.

   • 1897 March, “〇母音 [〇Mother Sounds]”, in 日本文典 [A Japanese Grammar], 中等學科敎授法硏究會:

     五十音を分ちて、母音と、子音との二となす。母音は、單純なる喉音にして、その數五あり、アイウエオ是なり。

     Gojūon o wakachite, BOON to, SHION to no ni to nasu. Boon wa, tanjun naru kōon ni shite, sono kazu go ari, a i u e o kore nari.

     Dividing the fifty sounds into two groups, there are mother sounds and child sounds. Mother sounds are simple guttural sounds, and there are five of them, namely a, i, u, e and o.

   • 1897 November, Shioi, Ukō, “第一　　母音 [Number 1: Mother Sounds]”, in 中學日本文典 [A Middle-School Japanese Grammar], 六盟館, pages 2–3:

     この五音は、最も單一なる淸める音にて、これを母音と稱す。

     Kono goon wa, motto mo tan'itsu kiyomeru on ni te, kore o boon to shōsu.

     These five sounds are the simplest clear sounds, and they are called ‘mother sounds’.

   • 1902, Hirano, Hidekichi, “第十二章　　母　音 [Chapter 12: Vowels]”, in 國語聲音學 [The Phonetics of the National Language], 國光社, pages 53–54:

     母音は、吾國語音では、唯一なる喉音である。聲門帶で規律ある顫動を受けたる音が、副管部に共鳴せられて、吾人の耳に聞ゆるものを母音と云ふ。母音は、種々の音色を得るために、口腔內に共鳴されるが、決して或る局部に於て、吾等の聽き得られ、感じ得られる樣の摩擦を生ずるが如きことは無い。若し、有つたならば、其は母音では無くて父音である。此の區別法は、極めて重大おる要件である。後のヤ行ワ行が、頗る母音に近い音であるけれども、父音たることを免れないのは是が爲である。

     Boon wa, waga kuni goon de wa, yuiitsu naru kōon de aru. Seimontai de kiritsu aru sendō o uke taru on ga, fukukanbu ni kyōmei serarete, gojin no mimi ni kikoyuru mono o boon to iu. Boon wa, shuju no onshoku o eru tame ni, kōkōnai ni kyōmei sareru ga, kesshite aru kyokubu ni oite, warera no kikierare, kanjierareru yō no masatsu o shōzuru ga gotoki koto wa nai. Moshi, atta nara ba, sore wa boon de wa nakute fuon de aru. Kono kubetsuhō wa, kiwamete jūdai oru yōken de aru. Ato no yagyō wagyō ga, sukoburu boon ni chikai on de aru kere do mo, fuon taru koto o manukarenai no wa kore ga tame de aru.

     Vowels are the only guttural sounds among the sounds of our language. What are known as vowels are sounds that undergo systematic vibrations at the vocal folds, resonate in the vocal tract, and wind up being heard by our ears. A vowel resonates in the oral cavity in order to achieve its diverse tonal quality, but there must be no such thing as friction that can be heard or felt by us at certain places of articulation. Otherwise, it will not be a vowel, but a consonant. This distinction is of utmost importance. Later when we discuss the ya-row and wa-row, which sound very similar to vowels, this point must be noticed in order to explain the fact that they still contain consonants.

   • 1905 June, 黃山 片岡, “母音 [Mother Sounds]”, in 黃山著作集, Saitama: Suharaya, page 14:

     ア、イ、ウ、エ、オの五文字を、母音と云ふ、

     A, i, u, e, o no gomoji o, boon to iu,

     The five letters a, i, u, e and o are called ‘mother sounds’

   • 1912, 淸 榊原, “⑵　母音と半母音 [⑵ Mother Sounds and Semi-Mother Sounds]”, in 自習速記術 [Self-Taught Stenography], 以文館, pages 11–12:

     母(ぼ)音(おん)と云(い)ふものはアイウエオの五字(じ)、半(はん)母(ぼ)音(おん)と云(い)ふものはワヰウヱヲの五字(じ)を云(い)ふのであります。

     Boon to iu mono wa a i u e o no goji, hanboon to iu mono wa wa wi u we wo no goji o iu no de arimasu.

     ‘Mother sounds’ are the five letters a, i, u, e and o. ‘Semi-mother sounds’ are the five letters wa, wi, u, we and wo.

2. (phonetics, phonology) a vowel

   Synonym: 母韻 (boin)

   Coordinate term: 子音 (shiin)

• 子音 (“consonant”)

• → Chinese: 母音 (mǔyīn)
• → Korean: 모음 (mo'eum)
• → Vietnamese: mẫu âm

母音 • (mo'eum) (hangeul 모음)

1. Hanja form^? of 모음 (“vowel”).

母音

1. chữ Hán form of mẫu âm (“vowel”).