Ad
related to: why hiragana and katakana are different words
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.
It is a phonetic lettering system. The word hiragana means "common" or "plain" kana (originally also "easy", as contrasted with kanji). [1] [2] [3] Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems. With few exceptions, each mora in the Japanese language is represented by one character (or one digraph) in each system.
All the other forms of hiragana and katakana developed before the 1900 codification are known as hentaigana (変体仮名, "variant kana"). Rules for their usage as per the spelling reforms of 1946, the gendai kana-zukai ( 現代仮名遣い , "present-day kana usage") , which abolished the kana for wi (ゐ・ヰ), we (ゑ・ヱ), and wo (を ...
Katakana, like hiragana, constitute a syllabary; katakana are primarily used to write foreign words, plant and animal names, and for emphasis. For example, "Australia" has been adapted as Ōsutoraria ( オーストラリア ), and "supermarket" has been adapted and shortened into sūpā ( スーパー ).
The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived from components or fragments of more complex kanji. Katakana and hiragana are both kana systems. With one or two minor exceptions, each syllable (strictly mora) in the Japanese language is represented by one character or kana in each system.
The list below shows the Japanese readings of letters in Katakana, for spelling out words, or in acronyms. For example, NHK is read enu-eichi-kē ( エヌ・エイチ・ケー ) . These are the standard names, based on the British English letter names (so Z is from zed , not zee ), but in specialized circumstances, names from other languages ...
The hiragana symbols are also ordered in a consistent way across different keyboards. For example, the Q , W , E , R , T , Y keys correspond to た, て, い, す, か, ん ( ta , te , i , su , ka , and n ) respectively when the computer is used for direct hiragana input.
The hiragana is written in three strokes, while the katakana in two. Both represent /ni/ although for phonological reasons , the actual pronunciation is [ɲi] . Notably, the katakana (ニ) is functionally identical to the kanji for two (二), pronounced the same way, and written similarly.