Counters and 連濁 (Rendaku)

Hello everyone,

I have a question regarding counters and 連濁. Do counters undergo Rendaku?
In particular, one noun + counter combination is giving me trouble. I'm not sure whether to pronounce 数通り as すうとおり or すうどおり. I know that 一通り is definitely ひととおり.

So does 数 + Counter cause the counter to undergo 連濁? And how about cases with Number + Counter? Does the counter undergo 連濁 then or do they never undergo 連濁 like 一通り?

Is 通り even acting as a counter in this case? Or is it a regular noun? I'm not quite certain how to use 数 either. If someone could explain this as well I would be very grateful.

Sincerely,
ForestBird

As a general rule, 連濁 doesn't occur on Japanese origin(= 和語) counters. 通り is Japanese origin, therefore 数通り, 二通り, 五通り and 十通り is pronounced すうとおり, ふたとおり, ごとおり and じゅっとおり/じっとおり, respectively.
連濁 occurs on some Chinese origin(= 漢語) counters when a number/word preceding a counter ends with ん such like 三, 千, 万 or 半 (e.g. 三匹[さんびき], 千本[せんぼん]), so counters are never voiced in "数[すう] + counter" anyway.
When 通り is used as a noun, 連濁 occurs, as in 人通り[ひとどおり], 普段通り[ふだんどおり] or 大通り[おおどおり].

OK. So, Japanese counters would seldom get the 連濁 treatment (if at all), whereas Chinese counters only get it when counters end with ん. That really helps a lot, thank you very much.

I, however, still have a question about an example on the JGram site, which does not seem to fit what you described.

http://www.jgram.org/pages/viewOne.php?tagE=toori
ex #6258 天気予報とおり、午後から雨になった。 Just as predicted , it started raining in the afternoon.

Should it not be 天気予報どおり since 通り is being used as a noun?

On a slightly unrelated note, can 数 as a prefix only be used with counters?

Note that "Japanese/Chinese origin counters" refer to "counters of Japanese/Chinese origin words", not "Japanese/Chinese counters". For instance, a Chinese origin word counter 体 is never used as a Chinese classifier (量詞) in Chinese. You can roughly think kun'yomi and on'yomi are equivalent to Japanese origin and Chinese origin.

ForestBird said:

So, Japanese counters would seldom get the 連濁 treatment (if at all), whereas Chinese counters only get it when counters end with ん.

Click to expand...

Japanese origin counters never get the 連濁 treatment, and not all (or more likely relatively few) Chinese origin counters get it even when counters end with ん.

ForestBird said:

Should it not be 天気予報どおり since 通り is being used as a noun?

Click to expand...

In some words, 連濁 sometimes occurs and sometimes doesn't occur depending on the speaker. For instance, さんかい and さんがい are both possible for 三階. Although I do believe 天気予報どおり is more common.
Google search result
天気予報とおり: 73,500
天気予報どおり: 129,000

ForestBird said:

On a slightly unrelated note, can 数 as a prefix only be used with counters?

Click to expand...

Yes.

すう【数】
６ 数をかぞえる語の上に付いて、2、3か5、6ぐらいの数量を漠然と表す。「―組」「―ページ」「―メートル」

Click to expand...

http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/116988/m0u/すう/