Questions tagged [orthography]
正書法. The standard way of writing the language.
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Why is 正 used for tallying instead of 五?
I feel like it would make more sense to use 五 since it literally means 5.
I know that 正 has 5 strokes and 五 has 4, but you could still tally like so:
I also know this question isn't just limited to ...
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How is "yowee" supposed to be written in japanese? (e.g. "anta wa yoweenda yo!", meaning "you're weak!")
When people are speaking crassly, things like じゃない will often be pronounced じゃねえ, with maybe a few variations (e.g. じゃねー, or using katakana, etc.). My question is, how does one usually do this for &...
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Japanese people using a "?" (question mark) after making a statement (not question) ending in "よ"?
I've encountered this a number of times, where, in Japanese, a question mark (?) is used when someone is clearly making a statement, not when posing a question or hypothetical or any such thing. It ...
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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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Does ヘカラサル mean べからざる?
I was reading about the formation of 福井 Prefecture recently and I was a bit confused about two sections quoting old texts:
南越ノ民ト加能越中ノ民トハ、常ニ軋轢シテ氷炭相容レサルノ情況
My interpretation is that this means: The ...
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About ancient pronunciation on dictionaries
In large dictionaries like 広辞苑 or 大辞林, there are some entries tagged with "ancient pronunciations" which are almost identical to the modern ones but with a voiced consonant voiceless (or ...
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Why do dictionaries differ so much in terms of spelling and is there an established standard for how a word should be written in contemporary text?
If we look at thee はまる, きこり, しじま and うつつ as three examples of many, they are spelt differently in different well known dictionaries.
はまる has 填まる first in Kenkyusha and Daijisen, while Meikyo and Shin ...
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Rules and tools for assigning furigana
It often happens that I want to supply the furigana (振{ふり}仮{が}名{な}) for some kanji-containing word, but can't figure out the right assignment of the kana to the kanji.
To be clear, the problem here ...
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Quotation marks 「」 only sometimes being used for lines that are made in the first person?
For direct quotes (e.g. He said "_____", 彼は「＿＿＿」と言った), the quotes are seemingly always used. But in Japanese, it's also quite common to voice thoughts and feelings as if they are quotes ...
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Why do some Japanese verbs have different spellings?
I have been wondering, why some japanese verb have a variety of ways to spell. Does it matter which spelling I used or does the variety of spelling serve a purpose. And if it doesn't matter, then why ...
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Why were hiragana and katakana never merged into one system?
I am familiar with the history of why these two writing systems were invented, and my question comes more from a modern practical standpoint.
In my understanding, hiragana and katakana both have same ...
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Is there a name for kanji which look very similar?
For example, 未 and 末.
I tried looking for 同じ見える漢字 and 同見漢字 but they didn't seem to be correct or to refer to what I'm looking for.
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Special Kana in Man'yōgana?
Probably a dumb question, but I'm wondering how certain sounds would be represented in Man'yōgana. Places like Wikipedia have charts that show the normal Kana and their kanji equivalents, but they don'...
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Is "入っ" still pronounced "はい" when reading it? (Okurigana question)
I am fairly new to reading kanji and grammar, and I just learned that "入る" is pronounced "はい" because it is an okurigana. My question is, are all okurigana pronounced in their &...
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Why is ゴミ箱 written in katakana usually?
I know katakana can be used for loanwords, onomatopoeia, strange plants, animals, for emphasis, and more. However, I don't understand why ゴミ箱 is written in katakana. Can anyone shed some light on the ...
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Why are there no unique voiced kana?
If one were to look at the 万葉仮名 article on Wikipedia, they would find that no specific marks were added to represent the bunch, that is, the ザダガバ 行, with there having been different representations ...
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Why is the イ段 used for 拗音, as opposed to, say, the ア段?
Is there some specific reason or logic that came behind this, or was it simply because everybody thought it was the best representation for the sounds that create the words that use ゃゅぇょ?
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How to say the vertical vowel extension line in Japanese?
I'm learning katakana these days and my book introduces the horizontal line which is use to lengthen a vowel sound as in internet inta-netto
My book says this line is called yoko bou which I can find ...
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Was the writing system used in the Empire of Japan (大日本帝国) called 真片仮名?
So, today I encountered the claim on Wikipedia
Shinkatakana (真片仮名, mana and katakana): mixed script including only kanji and katakana.
Wikipedia doesn't list a source for this claim.
This sounds to ...
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gemination orthography
In this sentence
ミサイルは高【たか】さ100kmより低【ひく】い所【ところ】を東【ひがし】に750km飛【と】びました
The missile flew 750 kilometers east at a height lower than 100 kilometers.
appearing here
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/...
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How does one write out "1km" -- in hiragana or katakana or both?
This sentence on NHK's Easy News got me wondering:
Uの字【じ】のような形【かたち】をしていて、直径【ちょっけい】は1kmぐらいです
It is shaped like a U and is about 1 km in diameter.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10013205991000/...
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Do these three words have the same meaning?「そーじ 」、「ソージ 」、「掃除」
These three words are pronounced the same, but do they also have the same meaning?
そーじ
ソージ
掃除
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Blank line in balloon
While reading manga, I noticed sometimes in a balloon there is an extra empty line, like here:
Which meaning does it carry? I'm wondering if it's meant to separate the two sentences, like saying that ...
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In which year of education is the 々 symbol taught?
A very similar question was asked here: Does 々 have a kanji grade level?
but in the end the main question haven't really been answered, and the best answer was "you don't need to know".
Well,...
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Does Japanese have characters in small size and in capital size?
In English it's normal for the sentence to start with a capital letter. In German also. Additionally, there are classes of words that are written in German with an initial capital letter.
How is it in ...
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Rules to leave spaces between words when using kanji and kana
I'm trying to understand when I should leave blanks (spaces) between Japanese words when using either kana or kanji.
My understanding is that blanks should be left when otherwise the text is confusing....
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In what unit is the length of Japanese texts measured?
In English, we measure the length of texts in words. 1,000 words for the average college essay, 50,000 for something like a fiction novel.
I’m wondering what unit is used to measure Japanese texts. I’...
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How to understand usage of ツ in words with a closed syllable?
We have words ペット、ベッド、ファックス、ピクニック.
The symbol ッ usually is indicated for doubling consonants or to indicate a closed syllable.
The question is why the word post (ポスト) was written without ッ before ト?
...
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Different writing of the kanji 誤?
Good day, I've just noticed that the kanji 誤, while displayed almost everywhere that way, when pasted in my Anki deck, suddenly changes into (see picture below)
I can't get it to display anywhere else ...
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How to write "hasami"
I've seen the word for scissors "Hasami" written in hiragana " はさみ" katakana "ハサミ" and kanji "鋏". which is the most common?
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What is the meaning of 巻ノ + number next to a book?
What is the meaning of 巻ノ + number next to a book?
I know that
巻 = volume
ノ = ?
七十二 = 72
So it's Volume [?] 72
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Seemingly random use of Katakana? [duplicate]
I've noticed sometimes, especially in video games, that some parts of sentences that would normally be written in hiragana is instead written in katakana. For example, I've seen "です" written ...
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Should the furigana go above the whole word or individual kanji?
I've seen both styles used, basically:
A = 家内{かない}
B = 家{か}内{ない}
I can see pros and cons for both styles. The rendering of A is probably better and there are words for which it may be difficult to ...
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After a Katakana word then "tto" are both Hiragana or Katakana acceptable for the Sokuon?
I have seen examples of both quite often, even for the same exact sentence, examples:
おなべの中からボワっと／おなべの中からボワッと。
This is a lyric from おどるポンポコリン（Odoru Ponpokorin)、A song for ちびまる子ちゃん（Chibi Maruko Chan)
...
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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 the ''o'' in ''osara'' (plate) an honorific o 御 or just a normal o お?
I have learned that "plate" is both sara and osara.
The fact that the o can be attached implies to me that it is an honorific o 御.
My dictionary gives the honorific o as 御 but for osara it ...
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What is this dash-like punctuation at the beginning of lines, seeming to indicate rapid-fire thoughts?
Here's a bit from a Kamoshida Hajime novel (Just Because!):
I've reviewed the Wikipedia article on Japanese punctuation as well as some related questions on this Stack Exchange but am unable to ...
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Meaning of "ー" at the end of a sentence in written Japanese? [duplicate]
I wondered if anyone could help me as I've come across this a couple of times now but don't know if it actually has any significance, but the internet has been no help.
I'm reading a text surrounding ...
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Strange usage of を-Particle inside a 俳句 (haiku)
There is a company which sells tea in teabags that have a haiku printed on one of the sides (of the teabag).
Recently I came upon the following haiku:
昼寝{ひるね}して
鳥獣{ちょうじゅう}戯画{ぎが}の
中{なか}にをり
...
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Appropriate typography for listing numbers in Japanese
I want to list some prime numbers in Japanese but I'm not if the Japanese comma should be used when it comes to numbers. On Wikipedia, the western comma is used, which has made me confused and unsure ...
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The ''is it included in the kanji or not'' phenomenon?
Some expressions can be written part kanji part hiragana.
Sometimes I'm not sure how many hiragana actually condense into the kanji.
Example:
おとうさん
Is it お父さん or お父うさん ?
ちいさい
Is it 小さい or 小いさい ?
I ...
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Using an asterisk to indicate a disclaimer
Is there a similar convention to using an asterisk in English to signify the presence of a disclaimer in Japanese? For example, in English, you might see, "Order now for $19.99*" then ...
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Do you think it's a good practice to learn writing hiragana using Gothic fonts? [duplicate]
When I was searching for a mobile app that lets you practice writing hiragana, I noticed that a lot of them uses the Gothic font, meaning that さ will be written as 2 strokes and not 3. The most common ...
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What does てよりかか mean? Found in the Shinmeikai dictionary
The Shinmeikai dictinary defines 椅子 as:
腰を掛け（てよりかか）るための家具
What does てよりかか mean there?
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Doumo or dōmo / arigatou or arigatō
this may be a silly question. However, is there a difference between the following sentences (in terms of spelling):
1) Doumo arigatou gozaimashita.
2) Dōmo arigatō gozaimashita.
Is one sentence ...
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What do these symbols in manga mean?
In the manga Shinya no Dame Koizukan (深夜のダメ恋図鑑), I spotted four different symbols (marked in red in the picture). The Ψ symbol is even repeated a few times, but I can't figure out what it means.
I've ...
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In vertical writing, what do these signs (that look like backticks) mean? [duplicate]
This is an extract from 窓ぎわのトットちゃん。
The teacher is talking about how Totto-chan ended up drawing a ふさ around her rendition of the flag of Japan. She is presumably quite astonished at this and my only ...
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How to say 一〇年 in a sentence [duplicate]
I see this structure a lot:
まるで一〇年以上.......
What does the 一〇 mean and how do I pronounce it? Is it いちまる?
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で at the beginning of a sentence
I hear native speakers using で or was it でー when speaking a lot at the beginning of a sentence. Judging by context, I think it translates to either "and" or "therefore" or "so" or "because of that", ...
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