Abstract
This study aims to clarify when and how compound words are abbreviated to three-mora words. It turns out that a word-final long vowel tends to be maintained when it forms a morpheme on its own. When the final syllable does not constitute a morpheme, the long vowel /aː/ is shortened (e.g. sutoreːto-paːma → sutopa) more frequently than the long vowel /uː/ (e.g. roNgu-buːtsu → roNbuː). In addition, three-mora abbreviations with their final vowels shortened are more likely to be medially accented than other three mora abbreviations in the Kinki dialect. Moreover, a compound word is more frequently abbreviated to a single component when the component consists of one heavy syllable followed by one light syllable than when it contains four moras or one light syllable followed by one heavy syllable (e.g. tisshu-peːpaː → tisshu; sunoː-boːdo → boːdo).
