Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The modern Japanese writing system uses a combination of logographic kanji, which are adopted Chinese characters, and syllabic kana.Kana itself consists of a pair of syllabaries: hiragana, used primarily for native or naturalized Japanese words and grammatical elements; and katakana, used primarily for foreign words and names, loanwords, onomatopoeia, scientific names, and sometimes for emphasis.
Adding these dots to the sides of characters (right side in vertical writing, above in horizontal writing) emphasizes the character in question. It is the Japanese equivalent of the use of italics for emphasis in English. ※ 2228: 1-2-8: 203B: kome (米, "rice") komejirushi (米印, "rice symbol")
Japanese punctuation marks are usually "full width" (that is, occupying an area that is the same as the surrounding characters). Punctuation was not widely used in Japanese writing until translations from European languages became common in the 19th century. [1]
The Japanese language makes use of a system of honorific speech, called keishō (敬称), which includes honorific suffixes and prefixes when talking to, or referring to others in a conversation. Suffixes are often gender-specific at the end of names, while prefixes are attached to the beginning of many nouns.
In the Edo period and the Meiji period, some Japanese linguists tried to separate kana i and kana yi. The shapes of characters differed with each linguist. 𛀆 and 𛄠 were just two of many glyphs. They were phonetic symbols to fill in the blanks of the gojuon table, but Japanese people did not separate them in normal writing. i Traditional kana
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
Although Kunrei-shiki romanization is the style favored by the Japanese government, Hepburn remains the most popular method of Japanese romanization. It is learned by most foreign students of the language, and is used within Japan for romanizing personal names, locations, and other information, such as train tables and road signs.
Baka (馬鹿, ばか in hiragana, or バカ in katakana) means "fool", or (as an adjectival noun) "foolish" and is the most frequently used pejorative term in the Japanese language. [1] The word baka has a long history, an uncertain etymology (possibly from Sanskrit or Classical Chinese ), and sociolinguistic complexities.