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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.
The difference in usage between hiragana and katakana is stylistic. Usually, hiragana is the default syllabary, and katakana is used in certain special cases. Hiragana is used to write native Japanese words with no kanji representation (or whose kanji is thought obscure or difficult), as well as grammatical elements such as particles and ...
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.
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.
Ri (hiragana: り, katakana: リ) is one of the Japanese kana, each of which represent one mora. Both are written with two strokes and both represent the sound ⓘ. Both originate from the character 利. The Ainu language uses a small katakana ㇼ to represent a final r sound after an i sound (イㇼ ir).
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.