言う

/ipu/ → /iɸu/ → /*iwu/ → /iu/ → /juː/

From Old Japanese,^[1] from Proto-Japonic *ipu. Compare Korean 입 (ip, “mouth”).

Medial /p/ regularly changed from → → . Japanese never distinguished between /wu/ and /u/, so that automatically becomes . The /w/ only surfaces in the negative form of iwanai, where the phoneme sequence /wa/ exists. Surface forms /iwimasu/ and /iwemasu/ automatically became /iimasu/ and /iemasu/ since Japanese no longer distinguishes /wi, we/ from /i, e/.

• (Tokyo) ゆう (Heiban – )^[2]
• IPA^(key):

• Audio:

  (file)

(careful speech):

• (Tokyo) いう (Heiban – )^[2]
• IPA^(key):

言(い)う or 言(ゆ)う • (iu or yuu) ^{←いふ (ifu)?}transitive godan (stem 言(い)い (ii), past 言(い)った (itta))

1. to say, to tell somebody
   • c. 762, Shōsōin Man'yōgana Monjo:

     和可夜之奈比乃 可波利爾波 於保末之末須 美奈美乃末知奈流奴乎 宇氣與止 於保止己可都可佐乃比止伊布 之可流可由恵爾 序禮宇氣牟比止良 久流末毛太之米弖 末都利伊禮之米太末布日 與禮良毛伊太佐牟 之可毛己乃波古美於可牟毛 阿夜布可流 可由恵爾 波夜久末可利太末布日之 於保己可ツ可佐奈比氣奈波 比止乃太氣太可比止 □己止波宇氣都流

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 890, Taketori Monogatari (page 7)

     「おのが生(な)さぬ子(こ)なれば、心(こころ)にも従(じゅう)はずなんある」と言(い)ひて、月(つき)日(ひ)過(す)ぐす。

     “Onoga nasanu ko nareba, kokoro ni mo jū hazu nan aru” to ihite, tsukihi sugusu.

     ‘Since I am not the one who birthed the child, I cannot do whatever I wish,’ he said as days went by.

   • c. 905, Ise Monogatari (chapter 6, page 84)

     「あなや」といひけれど、神鳴(かみな)るさはぎにえ聞(き)かざりけり。

     “Anaya” to ihi keredo, kami naru sahagi ni e kikazarikeri.

     He called ‘Anaya,’ but it resounded like the gods crying out.

   アリスは私(わたし)に休(やす)みたいと言(い)った。

   Arisu wa watashi ni yasumitai to itta.

   Alice said to me that she wants to rest.

   私(わたし)が言(い)うようにしなさい。

   Watashi ga iu yō ni shinasai.

   Do as I tell you.

   彼(かれ)は変(へん)だと言(い)われた。

   Kare wa hen da to iwareta.

   He was told that he was strange.

   一(ひと)つ言(い)っていい？

   Hitotsu itte ii?

   Can I just say one thing?

2. to call, to name, to give a name
   • c. 890, Taketori Monogatari (page 3)

     いまは昔(むかし)、竹取(たけとり)の翁(おきな)といふもの有(あり)けり。

     Ima wa mukashi, Taketori no Okina to iu mono arikeri.

     Long ago now, there was one known as Taketori no Okina.

   この動(どう)物(ぶつ)は日(に)本(ほん)語(ご)で何(なん)と言(い)いますか。

   Kono dōbutsu wa nihongo de nan to iimasu ka.

   What do you call this animal in Japanese?

   ピリオドは、stop(ストップ)やfull(フル) stop(ストップ)ともいい、平(へい)叙(じょ)文(ぶん)・命(めい)令(れい)文(ぶん)の終(お)わりに付(つ)ける。

   Piriodo wa, sutoppu ya furu sutoppu to mo ii, heijobun meireibun no owari ni tsukeru.

   A period, also called a stop or full stop, attaches to the end of a declarative or imperative sentence.

3. to cry, to call, to make a noise (such as an animal)

   ニャーニャー言(い)う猫(ねこ)

   nyānyā iu neko

   a mewing cat

As a transitive verb, this can take the usual accusative particle を (o) after the object of the verb. However, it is much more common to see this with the quotative particle と (to) instead.

Compared to other verbs such as 喋(しゃべ)る (shaberu), 話(はな)す (hanasu) and 語(かた)る (kataru), which refer specifically to speaking, this verb is abstract, and sometimes used like a copula, as in そういう, ああいう, こういう, っていうこと.^[3]

• The perfective may also be 言(ゆ)うた (yūta).
• The conjunctive may also be 言(ゆ)うて (yūte).

• 語(かた)る (kataru)
• 述(の)べる (noberu)
• 話(はな)す (hanasu)

• Horiuchi, Hideaki with Ken Akiyama (1997) Taketori Monogatari, Ise Monogatari, Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN
• Takeuchi, Rizō (1962) Nara Ibun: Volume 3 (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Tōkyōdō Shuppan, →ISBN.