Talk:Hikaru Moroboshi/@comment-30862442-20161228054122/@comment-26802198-20170118052357

A tidbit for those interested in how 'h' becomes 'b'

If you take the separate kanji and write in hiragana or romanji it would read Morohoshi on paper but when you say it aloud it becomes Moroboshi. Or rather an 'h' sound that uses your lips, 'h' is usually pronounced with a wide open mouth and doesn't involve your lips.

The 'o' in front of the 'h' uses your lips and so it's easier to move your lips while expressing the 'h' sound rather than wait for your mouth to open completely before expressing the 'h' sound so you don't have a weird pause between 'moro' and 'hoshi'.

So it becomes a soft 'b' sound (slightly open mouth) which we hear as an actual 'b' sound (closed mouth).

'kawa' and 'gawa' has a similar explanation.