Abstract
This paper attempts to re-examine the phenomenon of palatalization on -e syllables in Middle Japanese through diachronic and synchronic research about -e syllables of Kyushu dialects. Regarding -e syllables in Middle Japanese, previous studies have suggested that only /e, se, and ze/ were palatalized, or that all -e syllables were palatalized. However, my research on Kyushu dialects in which characteristics of Middle Japanese survive reveals that the occurrence of palatalization on -e syllables depends on the place of articulation of consonants. This fact suggests that palatalization that changes the primary articulation of the consonant occurred on the coronal consonants (/s, z, t, d, n/), while it doesn't occur on dorsal (/k, g/) and labial (/b, m/) consonants in Middle Japanese. This suggestion is consistent with the cross-linguistic tendency of palatalization and the distribution of Roman writing of palatalized syllables (one of the yo-on syllables) in Christian literature.
