Questions tagged [kana-usage]
仮名遣い. usage of kana, は vs. わ, 書く vs. かく etc.
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What's the meaning of 少フシテ?
I was reading this article on 香川県 in the early 明治 period when I encountered this phrase:
山峰少フシテ平地多ク
I've seen stuff like ふ meaning う (思ふ→思う), but that doesn't seem to apply here. I'm guessing this ...
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How were specific hentaigana selected for writing?
I've been learning how to read older documents and trying to familiarize myself with hentaigana, but as I've started this, I've began to wonder if there is any rhyme or reason to the choices writers ...
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Meaning of ノッて来ん
誰か誘って遊び行こうかとおもったけど、ノッて来んの男のダチばっかりでさぁ…
I can understand the first half of the sentence just fine, but what does the character mean when he refers to his friends as "ノッて来ん"? Is it some form ...
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What fraction of Japanese words contain digraphs?
I'm curious as to what the percentage of native Japanese words that contain digraphs, or to put it another way, the average number of digraphs (or individual kana) in a Japanese word would be. I'm a ...
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Do speakers that distinguish all four yotsugana in speech preserve the non-rendaku ぢ and づ in writing?
According to Wikipedia (and some posters here), Kagoshima Japanese resists the じ・ぢ and ず・づ mergers, much in the same way that various English dialects retain differences between words like meet and ...
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How is writing with 旧字体 over 新字体, using lots of 表外漢字 and using 漢字 in place of かな in a word that is almost always written with かな perceived?
Examples:
A: 毎日、学校で桜の木を見る。（新字体）
B: 毎日、學校で櫻の木を見る。（旧字体）
A: この国の歴史を研究しています。（新字体）
B: この國の歷史を硏究しています。（旧字体）
A: 私はワニがすきです。（カタカナ）
B: 私は鰐が好きです。（表外漢字）
A: 私の好きな魚はハタハタとスズキです。（カタカナ）
B: 私の好きな魚は鰰と鱸です。（表外漢字）
A: ...
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Is this furigana a typo?
I have a set of traditional poem cards. One of the poems has the line:
嵐の庭の
雪ならで
and furigana is given for the kanji. On the 庭 kanji, the furigana is には. My dictionaries give にわ instead. Is this a ...
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かつおぶし but かつをぶし
While explaining かつおぶし via the English Wikipedia. There is a picture that has かつをぶし on a のれん:
In the dialect that I speak, we do make vocal substitutions, but we generally write with standard かな。If ...
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Is there a some general rule when to write 物/もの in kanji or hiragana?
So far my perception had been that you write もの when it is used for grammatical purposes, and 物 when an actual object is meant, but I've encountered many situation where even in the second case it is ...
user40476
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「スカッと．．．」Why is the last kana here in hiragana? [duplicate]
I am attempting to read RAW manga for this first time, and I am encontering a varigated use of カタカナ and ひらがな in sentences that leaves me puzzled.
The whole sentence is: 「勉強しなくていいさし、悪者退治なんてスカッとしそうだし」。
...
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っ(sokuon) usage
Can i use the っ to replace the ん in こんにちは, it would still be konnichiwa right? If i can't then please explain to me why.
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Changing from "S" to "Z" sound in Katakana [duplicate]
The katakana form's ジ sound comes from two bases: from "sh," as in "sheep" AND from the "ch" sound in "cheese." When I am asked to identify the character, during study, that is producing the ジ sound,...
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when should one use 支払い or 支払
In lots of contracts I see the word 支払.
When should one use 支払 instead of 支払い?
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Why do not all かな get dakuten? And why only the は ひ ふ へ ほ へ kana get handakuten?
Can anyone answer the questions above? Because this really confuses me.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Bajiru
user21858
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た ち つ て と -> だ ぢ づ で ど (ta chi tsu te to -> da dji dzu de do) - Why is it different from all the other kana that can get dakuten?
Let's take the は ひ ふ へ ほ (ha hi hu/fu he ho) kana for example. When they get dakuten, they become ば び ぶ べ ぼ (ba bi bu be bo). The た ち つ て と (ta chi tsu te to) kana become だ ぢ づ で ど (da dji dzu de do).
...
user21858
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Translation of わき in this sentence
I'm reading a beginner book with short stories and simple sentences. I'm having trouble understanding the translation of this sentence.
In the story a girl is walking down the street and then:
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Can any other characters besides は and わ be used interchangeably at the end of words?
I have noticed that こんにちわ and こんにちは can be spelled differently and have the same meaning. Does this occur with any other character combinations at the end of words?
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Is there a term for whether kanji or kana is used?
Are there any terms (preferably used in English, but Japanese is also ok) about whether a word is written in kanji or in kana?
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Is it ok if I leave kanji I don't know out?
So I want to write "I love you" but I see "aishitemasu" uses kanji characters for "ai" 愛 and I'm trying to stay away from kanji at the moment. Can I use あい instead?
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Why ī is the only romaji that can be spelled as a double ii
I am learning Japanese, and need to enter romaji into my keyboard to enter Japanese into documents and tables on my smartphone.
My textbook shows ī as the only romaji that can be spelled as a double ...
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（花よりもなほ) What does もなほ mean here?
I would like to know what もなほ here means and what it exactly did to the phrase?
I came across it twice and stuck with it, because I don't actually know if it's verb or noun or even adverb.
The other ...
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What is the meaning of dots and dashes in kunyomi readings?
I was introduced to jisho.org a few days ago and I find it a really good tool to use while using the Heisig method to learn the readings as I learn the writing and understanding of kanji. I noticed 2 ...
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Why small version of katakana ヵ is used in a word 二ヵ国語
Why do they use sometimes small version of katakana ヵ 'ka' in a word 二ヵ国語
(nikakokugo -bilingual)?
For me, more intuitive form could be 二か国語. Katakana characters in small forms other than ya, yu, yo, ...
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戦前はどうやってしりとりをしていたのですか？
（日本語でもしてみむとて）
現在遊ばれている「しりとり」は基本的に終わりの一文字をつないでやるものだと思いますが、例えば「がっこう」なら（東京の発音ではガッコーですが）次は「う」、「こうてい」（コーテー）なら「い」というルールになると思います。
これを旧かな遣いで考えると「杖（つゑ）」は「ゑ」、「家（いへ）」は「へ」でないといけないと思います。...
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Why is it that Neptune's name is written as ネプテューヌ and not ネプチュヌ?
The title of Hyperdimension Neptunia game in Japanese is written as 超次元ゲイム ネプテューヌ. My question is, why Neptune is written as such? Shouldn't the "tu" in Neptune be be written as "tyu" （チュ）since it is ...
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Why is たばこ written in hiragana instead of katakana?
While studying my Genki textbook I noticed that the word たばこ uses hiragana instead of katakana. I've always seen loan words to be in katakana, so this was interesting to me. I saw in this answer that ...
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When did 濁点 and 半濁点 come into use?
When did diacritic signs 濁点 and 半濁点 start to be used in the Japanese language?
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Is なんとか なる さ meant to be written in Hiragana and not Katakana?
Good day, I have tattooed the words "nantoka naru sa" in Kana on my right arm and a while ago I was reading some Japanese lessons where it explains that Katakana is used only when you're translating a ...
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Why is Toyota typically written in Katakana? (トヨタ)
Presumably, as a Japanese name, it should be written in Chinese characters or in hiragana.
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Why words such as しばらく are almost always written in kana while words such as 石鹸 are usually in kanji?
"Almost" and "usually" here means that while "alternative" is definitely used, vast majority of people is still using the mentioned version. Just look at google results count!
Also, note that kanji ...
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Are there general rules on when to use kanji vs. kana?
This post is inspired by Tokyo Nagoya's comment in できる vs ~えます form for “can”, “able to” asking why everyone was writing 出来る in kanji in their responses.
As I mentioned in my reply to his comment, I ...
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Unusual dakutens and つ instead of っ
As I read 「ノルウェイの森」 by 村上春樹, I noticed some words that are probably mistyped.
しかしそのおかけでクラスの中で僕の立場はもっと孤立したものになった。
Shouldn't it be そのおかげで?
A few more examples:
「...」と彼は黒いボストン・バックに衣類やノートを詰めこみながら言った。
...
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Why is つきあう typically written in kana?
The kanji version 付き合う contains only elementary characters with their usual readings. Is there a reason why it's still usually written in kana? Is there a difference in nuance when written in kanji?
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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 ...
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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 doesn'...
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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 nanahyaku ...
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Sokuon Diacritic and Wabun Morse Code
I have created a geocache puzzle based on Japanese Morse Code (Wabun Code).
The final coordinates that I translated are: N 43° 09.725 W 077° 26.688
I broke this down as follows:
N 4 3 ° ...
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What does it mean if a sentence is in all-kana?
I came across this sentence in a manga:
なにすんじゃこんガキャ―――！！
There is no kanji use in that speech-bubble, making it hard to work out the meaning. In fact, I haven't been able to find the meaning of ...
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What does the little っ (tsu) signify when at the end of a word?
The small っ (tsu) is usually used before a consonant to indicate gemination, less technically known as doubled consonants, which is how they are transliterated in romaji.
I have seen it at the end of ...
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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 ...
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Does the particle "を" (wo) have a special use when at the end of a sentence?
I thought the character "を" (wo) was only used for the particle whose only job was to indicate the direct object of a verb.
But today I saw it at the end of an exclamation on a sign I think on a shop:...
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Which is correct: こんばんわ or こんばんは?
I've seen both こんばんわ and こんばんは used; which is correct here? If we interpret the は as the topic particle, は would seem correct, but it seems that わ is used quite frequently anyway...
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