かな: Covers both Japanese syllabaries, hiragana (ひらがな) and katakana (かたかな).
35
votes
1answer
852 views
Why were ゐ and ゑ eliminated?
Sometime in the early 20th century, usage of the now-historical kana ゐ and ゑ (and their katakana equivalents) dropped off, being replaced with い and え in modern Japanese. What exactly happened here ...
25
votes
4answers
652 views
How did “little tsu” become a lengthener?
How did it come about historically that っ preceding a sound would geminate it? Is it really a little つ or are they just near homomorphs?
22
votes
3answers
1k views
What are the differences between じ and ぢ, and ず and づ?
The Japanese hiragana and katakana syllabaries can mostly be described as phonetic. But there are two exceptions, the two pairs of syllables modified to be voiced with the dakuten diacritic which ...
18
votes
3answers
1k views
What is the equivalent of “alphabetical order” in Japanese?
I know there's あいうえお, but what about at the consonant level? Also, are there any common mnemonics used by Japanese children to remember these?
18
votes
2answers
384 views
Are bookshelves in alphabetical (kana) order in Japanese bookshops and libraries?
How are fiction books such as novels sorted on the shelves at Japanese bookshops? Kana order seems to play a small part but not the whole part.
(I'm not asking about nonfiction books since those are ...
17
votes
4answers
378 views
What are the origins of ヶ?
The ヶ in e.g. 一ヶ月 is a bit of an odd character - it looks a lot like a small version of the katakana ケ, but is it derived from that katakana originally? Or is it a normal kanji? Or is it something ...
17
votes
2answers
466 views
Why is は pronounced as わ when used as a topic particle?
The particle は is pronounced similarly to わ (unlike the rest of the ハ行 kana) when used as a particle; why is this? What historical shifts went on to cause this irregularity?
15
votes
4answers
2k views
Why was both katakana and hiragana created?
Nowadays, katakana tends to be used for gairaigo and onomatopoeia, while hiragana tends to be used for native Japanese words. This is a slight simplification - more information is available here.
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13
votes
2answers
1k views
When did the “wu” character drop out of use?
In the last century, the ゐ and ゑ characters were eliminated from common use. But it seems like there used to also be a "wu" character that has since been lost. Given that it's a lot harder to find ...
13
votes
4answers
825 views
Distinguishing certain characters in handwriting and print
Japanese has some sets of characters which look very similar or even identical. Obviously, context is usually more than enough to distinguish which character is intended, but I'm wondering if there ...
12
votes
5answers
238 views
What is the origin and usage of the word いい?
According to Denshi Jisho, いい and よい share the same Kanji, and the both roughly mean "good". Why are there two different pronunciations for the same meaning, and what are some ways to be able to ...
12
votes
1answer
249 views
Why is English “ka” and “ca” sometimes rendered as キャ (kya) instead of カ (ka)?
I sometimes see that English ka and ca are rendered キャ (kya) instead of カ (ka). Why is this?
Do English ka and ca really sound more like kya than ka, at least to Japanese listeners? (I know it ...
11
votes
1answer
242 views
Use of kana iteration marks (ゝ, ゞ, ヽ, ヾ)
Kana iteration marks are are rarely used today, and hence there is not much online information on it besides this Wikipedia article, which leaves me with a couple questions.
Is there any kana that ...
10
votes
1answer
307 views
Names for strokes
What do we call the different types of strokes of kanji/kana in Japanese?
For example, in Chinese the left-downward stroke is called 撇[piě] and the right-downward stroke is called 捺[nà]. And if I ...
9
votes
1answer
980 views
What does the use of a dash (instead of a character) to extend a sound mean?
I came across the sentence 混乱する気持ちもよーくわかる in my manga. I have translated it, but the use of the dash (which was vertical in the actual vertical text) stumped me for a bit (I thought it was よう at ...
9
votes
1answer
128 views
How does the katakana lengthening mark (長音符) sort?
Usually, lists are collated using the gozyuuon order. But how does the katakana lengthening mark ー fit in?
Given the following sequence of words, what order should they be in? What are the sorting ...
8
votes
2answers
203 views
Why is「ん」the only kana without a vowel?
I've always wondered why「ん」is the only kana without having a vowel sound attached to it. The only thing I've ever heard is that 「ん」 is a special kana that can be the last kana in some words.
I've ...
8
votes
1answer
282 views
In which dialects have the sounds “ゐ” (wi) and “ゑ” (we) been preserved, and are their kana still occasionally seen?
In Nate Glenn's answer to bdonlan's qestion "Why were ゐ and ゑ eliminated?" he states:
"Wi" and "we" are still in some dialects, but standard Japanese does not have those sounds.
My question is ...
8
votes
1answer
280 views
Stroke order for han-dakuten
Is there one? Or does it even matter? I personally start at the top and go clockwise. Just curious.
Update: I realized the other day that the reason I start at the 12-o'clock position and go ...
8
votes
1answer
366 views
Why has を been spared but ゐ and ゑ been deemed obsolete?
According to When is the katakana form of wo (ヲ) used?-ヲ-used, を is almost always used only for the particle, and is usually pronounced o (お).
There are some dialects where を is pronounced with a ...
5
votes
5answers
286 views
learning order for kana?
I'm trying to use some flash cards to learn the kana (hirigana first, but both in time), and there's simply too much for me to learn at once. Is there a recommended or practiced learning "order" or ...
5
votes
2answers
146 views
When writing vertically, where do small kana go?
When writing horizontally, small kana go right next to the syllable they modify as in ちょっと.
Also, when using katakana, long vowels are indicated by an horizontal dash, as in メール.
When writing ...
5
votes
1answer
157 views
Is there a standard for where to put spaces in kana-only Japanese?
I've noticed that when Japanese is written mostly or entirely in kana,
it's often written with spaces. For example, a lot of old video games had spaces. I've also seen this in children's books:
...
5
votes
1answer
230 views
Why do Japanese people read Classical Japanese with a set of weird sound shifts?
I'm learning a bit of Classical Japanese recently, and of course the spelling of words is pretty different, due to sound changes over the centuries. For example, きょう was spelled けふ. That I can ...
5
votes
1answer
115 views
What is the correct way to say 小さい『つ』?
This is a two part question.
1.) When spelling out a word in kana, what is the correct way to call the small つ (for example the small っ in ちっちゃい)?
I only have experience with my Japanese friends ...
3
votes
3answers
279 views
Correct kana for foreign name
I am Portuguese, and my name is João, which has a peculiar pronunciation that is very difficult for foreign people. It is the Portuguese equivalent to the English John, but the pronunciations are very ...
3
votes
2answers
139 views
へうげもの - Hyouge Mono?
There's this manga that is called へうげもの. However, this name is romanized as Hyouge Mono. Although I know little Japanese, I think the kana there spell something like Heuge Mono.
Why does this ...
3
votes
2answers
712 views
How and when do Japanese children learn kanas and kanji?
I wonder how exactly Japanese children learn to write. It may help a foreigner to know what is important to memorize or not. The only thing I know is that first of all, hiragana are learnt, and then ...
3
votes
1answer
169 views
Proper Terms For Representing GPS Coordinates
In another question, I mentioned using Kana to represent the GPS coordinates for:
N 43° 09.725' W 077° 26.688'
I used:
キタ シジュウ サン ジスウ ク チョボ ナナヒャク ニジュウ ゴ フン
kita shijuu san jisuu ku chobo ...
3
votes
1answer
269 views
Ruby text in Documents
Note: I know they might not strictly be interchangeable, but I might end up using "Furigana" and "Ruby text" in an interchangeable manner in this question.
Hi all,
I'm in the process of writing a ...
2
votes
2answers
185 views
Does an international OR standardized phonetic alphabet/notation system exist to depict all the Hiragana/Katakana sounds?
Are there written systems (preferably international & standardized) that you can use to depict how to pronounce any word from Japanese and any language. Something similar to Romaji but one that ...
2
votes
1answer
73 views
「七つの海商社」“7 Seas Trading Co.” as formal name for a company
wanted to ask a question re:company names in 日本語.
Would「七つの海商社」work as a name for a company? Or does this combo of kana+kanji not work in formal business names?
Greatly appreciate any help. Thank ...
2
votes
1answer
132 views
Does all kana in the う line rhyme?
I've heard many people pronounce す, つ, く, and る as if く and る rhyme, す and つ rhyme, but not any other pair. It seems as if す is sometimes pronounced [sɨ] and く is pronounced [ku]. This doesn't seem to ...
1
vote
2answers
134 views
Meaning of given character
I was just wondering the character shown in image is Japanese or not. If yes then can you please tell me the meaning of it.
1
vote
2answers
205 views
Which kana/kanji are used to write Yoshitoshi's death poem?
Browsing for art late at night, I came across this beautiful poem by Yoshitoshi, said to be his death poem:
yo o tsumete
terimasarishi wa
natsu no tsuki
translated as:
holding back ...
