3

weird hiragana? weird hiragana?

Came across these while reading a novel.

How do you read this?

3
  • 1
    I'm not sure about the あ, but the latter is definitely ゔ, pronounced 'vu' for imported words. It usually is in katakana though. Here is a little bit more information.
    – Blavius
    Commented Apr 11, 2015 at 21:40
  • 2
    Outside of ゔ (which is /vu/), they seem to be associated with screaming and yelling and such things. but I'm not sure enough of the specifics.
    – Sjiveru
    Commented Apr 11, 2015 at 22:12
  • Can you give more context?
    – user1478
    Commented Apr 12, 2015 at 1:28

1 Answer 1

5

The letter あ゛doesn't exist indeed in Japanese. But あ゛is rarely used in manga to emphasize the letter あ. The letter ゔ exists. But it is normally written in katakana.

Pronunciation: ゔぁ => va ゔぃ => vi ゔ => v or vu ゔぇ => ve ゔぉ => vo

3
  • 2
    The "v" sound does not even exist in our language. How do you expect us to produce it?
    – user4032
    Commented Apr 12, 2015 at 0:58
  • 1
    Because that's technically how it's supposed to be pronounced. Whether people do pronounce it like that or not is a different story.
    – Blavius
    Commented Apr 12, 2015 at 3:00
  • Actually, we don't use う゛ for the purpose of representing "vu" any longer.
    – user4092
    Commented Apr 12, 2015 at 13:15

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .