What is yōon?

Table of yōon sounds
	ゃ ya	ゅ yu	ょ yo
k	キャ kya	キュ kyu	キョ kyo
sh	シャ sha	シュ shu	ショ sho
ch	チャ cha	チュ chu	チョ cho
n	ニャ nya	ニュ nyu	ニョ nyo
h	ヒャ hya	ヒュ hyu	ヒョ hyo
m	ミャ mya	ミュ myu	ミョ myo
r	リャ rya	リュ ryu	リョ ryo
Dakuten (voiced) sounds
g	ギャ gya	ギュ gyu	ギョ gyo
j	ジャ ja	ジュ ju	ジョ jo
b	ビャ bya	ビュ byu	ビョ byo
p	ピャ pya	ピュ pyu	ピョ pyo

Yōon (拗音) is a feature of Japanese in which a mora (see What is the difference between a mora and a syllable?) is formed with an added y sound, known by linguists as a palatalized consonant.^[1] Yōon is represented in kana 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, yōon was not distinguished with the smaller kana, and had to be guessed by context. See What is historical kana usage?

Most of the words which now use yōon were originally derived from Chinese. The ancient version of Japanese did not have any yōon sounds. It is theorised that yōon developed because of the influence of the Chinese words.^[1]

References

Haruo Kubozono, Handbook of Japanese Phonetics and Phonology; 2015

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