Kana: Difference between revisions
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'''Kana''' are the [[Syllabary|syllabic]] [[Japanese writing system|Japanese scripts]], as opposed to the [[Logogram|logographic]] [[Chinese character]]s known in Japan as [[kanji]] ({{lang|ja|漢字}}) and the [[Latin alphabet|Roman alphabet]] known as [[romaji|rōmaji]]. There are three kana scripts: modern cursive [[hiragana]] ({{lang|ja|ひらがな}}), modern angular [[katakana]] ({{lang|ja|カタカナ}}), and the old syllabic use of kanji known as [[Man'yōgana|man’yōgana]] ({{lang|ja|万葉仮名}}) that was ancestral to both. |
'''Kana''' are the [[Syllabary|syllabic]] [[Japanese writing system|Japanese scripts]], as opposed to the [[Logogram|logographic]] [[Chinese character]]s known in Japan as [[kanji]] ({{lang|ja|漢字}}) and the [[Latin alphabet|Roman alphabet]] known as [[romaji|rōmaji]]. There are three kana scripts: modern cursive [[hiragana]] ({{lang|ja|ひらがな}}), modern angular [[katakana]] ({{lang|ja|カタカナ}}), and the old syllabic use of kanji known as [[Man'yōgana|man’yōgana]] ({{lang|ja|万葉仮名}}) that was ancestral to both. |
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!style="font-size:0.5em"|''a'' |
!style="font-size:0.5em"|''a'' |
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|[[あ]][[ア]] |
|{{nowrap|[[あ]][[ア]]}} |
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|[[か]][[カ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[か]][[カ]]}} |
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|[[さ]][[サ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[さ]][[サ]]}} |
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|[[た]][[タ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[た]][[タ]]}} |
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|[[な]][[ナ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[な]][[ナ]]}} |
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|[[は]][[ハ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[は]][[ハ]]}} |
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|[[ま]][[マ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[ま]][[マ]]}} |
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|[[や]][[ヤ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[や]][[ヤ]]}} |
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|[[ら]][[ラ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[ら]][[ラ]]}} |
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|[[わ]][[ワ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[わ]][[ワ]]}} |
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|- style="font-size:2em" |
|- style="font-size:2em" |
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!style="font-size:0.5em"|''i'' |
!style="font-size:0.5em"|''i'' |
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|[[い]][[イ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[い]][[イ]]}} |
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|[[き]][[キ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[き]][[キ]]}} |
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|[[し]][[シ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[し]][[シ]]}} |
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|[[ち]][[チ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[ち]][[チ]]}} |
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|[[に]][[ニ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[に]][[ニ]]}} |
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|[[ひ]][[ヒ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[ひ]][[ヒ]]}} |
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|[[み]][[ミ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[み]][[ミ]]}} |
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|* |
|* |
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|[[り]][[リ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[り]][[リ]]}} |
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|[[ゐ]][[ヰ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[ゐ]][[ヰ]]}} |
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|- style="font-size:2em" |
|- style="font-size:2em" |
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!style="font-size:0.5em"|''u'' |
!style="font-size:0.5em"|''u'' |
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|[[う]][[ウ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[う]][[ウ]]}} |
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|[[く]][[ク]] |
|{{nowrap|[[く]][[ク]]}} |
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|[[す]][[ス]] |
|{{nowrap|[[す]][[ス]]}} |
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|[[つ]][[ツ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[つ]][[ツ]]}} |
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|[[ぬ]][[ヌ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[ぬ]][[ヌ]]}} |
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|[[ふ]][[フ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[ふ]][[フ]]}} |
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|[[む]][[ム]] |
|{{nowrap|[[む]][[ム]]}} |
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|[[ゆ]][[ユ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[ゆ]][[ユ]]}} |
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|[[る]][[ル]] |
|{{nowrap|[[る]][[ル]]}} |
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|* |
|* |
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|- style="font-size:2em" |
|- style="font-size:2em" |
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!style="font-size:0.5em"|''e'' |
!style="font-size:0.5em"|''e'' |
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|[[え]][[エ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[え]][[エ]]}} |
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|[[け]][[ケ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[け]][[ケ]]}} |
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|[[せ]][[セ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[せ]][[セ]]}} |
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|[[て]][[テ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[て]][[テ]]}} |
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|[[ね]][[ネ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[ね]][[ネ]]}} |
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|[[へ]][[ヘ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[へ]][[ヘ]]}} |
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|[[め]][[メ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[め]][[メ]]}} |
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|* |
|* |
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|[[れ]][[レ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[れ]][[レ]]}} |
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|[[ゑ]][[ヱ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[ゑ]][[ヱ]]}} |
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|- style="font-size:2em" |
|- style="font-size:2em" |
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!style="font-size:0.5em"|''o'' |
!style="font-size:0.5em"|''o'' |
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|[[お]][[オ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[お]][[オ]]}} |
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|[[こ]][[コ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[こ]][[コ]]}} |
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|[[そ]][[ソ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[そ]][[ソ]]}} |
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|[[と]][[ト]] |
|{{nowrap|[[と]][[ト]]}} |
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|[[の]][[ノ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[の]][[ノ]]}} |
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|[[ほ]][[ホ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[ほ]][[ホ]]}} |
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|[[も]][[モ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[も]][[モ]]}} |
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|[[よ]][[ヨ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[よ]][[ヨ]]}} |
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|[[ろ]][[ロ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[ろ]][[ロ]]}} |
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|[[を]][[ヲ]] |
|{{nowrap|[[を]][[ヲ]]}} |
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|- style="font-size:2em" |
|- style="font-size:2em" |
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!style="font-size:0.5em" title="single (end) consonants"|– |
!style="font-size:0.5em" title="single (end) consonants"|– |
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|*||*||*||*||[[ん]][[ン]]||*||*||*||*||* |
|*||*||*||*||{{nowrap|[[ん]][[ン]]}}||*||*||*||*||* |
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== See also == |
== See also == |
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*[[Gojūon]] |
*[[Gojūon]] |
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*[[Romaji]] |
*[[Romaji]] |
Revision as of 02:48, 22 May 2012
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2009) |
Kana | |
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Script type | |
Time period | ~800 AD to the present |
Direction | Vertical right-to-left, left-to-right ![]() |
Languages | Japanese, Okinawan, Ainu, Palauan[1] |
Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
ISO 15924 | |
ISO 15924 | Hrkt (412), Japanese syllabaries (alias for Hiragana + Katakana) |
Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Katakana or Hiragana |
Template:Contains Japanese text
Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji (漢字) and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji. There are three kana scripts: modern cursive hiragana (ひらがな), modern angular katakana (カタカナ), and the old syllabic use of kanji known as man’yōgana (万葉仮名) that was ancestral to both.
Katakana with a few additions is also used to write Ainu. Kana was used in Taiwanese as a gloss (furigana) for Chinese characters during the Japanese administration of Taiwan. See Taiwanese kana.
Kana syllabograms are always CV (consonant onset with vowel nucleus) or V (only vowel) with the sole exception of the C grapheme for nasal codas. This structure had some scholars label the system moraic instead of syllabic, because it requires the combination of two syllabograms to represent a CVC syllable with coda (i.e. CVn, CVm, CVng), a CVV syllable with complex nucleus (i.e. multiple or expressively long vowels), or a CCV syllable with complex onset (i.e. including a glide, CyV, CwV).
Hiragana and katakana
The difference in usage between hiragana and katakana is stylistic. Usually, hiragana is the default syllabary, and katakana is used for foreign borrowings, onomatopoeia and interjections, and transcriptions of the Sino-Japanese readings of kanji.
– | k | s | t | n | h | m | y | r | w | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
a | あア | かカ | さサ | たタ | なナ | はハ | まマ | やヤ | らラ | わワ |
i | いイ | きキ | しシ | ちチ | にニ | ひヒ | みミ | * | りリ | ゐヰ |
u | うウ | くク | すス | つツ | ぬヌ | ふフ | むム | ゆユ | るル | * |
e | えエ | けケ | せセ | てテ | ねネ | へヘ | めメ | * | れレ | ゑヱ |
o | おオ | こコ | そソ | とト | のノ | ほホ | もモ | よヨ | ろロ | をヲ |
– | * | * | * | * | んン | * | * | * | * | * |
- There are no kana for Ye, Yi or Wu, as corresponding syllables do not occur in Japanese natively. The [je] sound is believed to have existed in pre-Classical Japanese, mostly prior to the advent of kana, and is generally represented for purposes of reconstruction by the kanji 江, although an archaic hiragana we/ye, ゑ, does exist. In later periods, the syllabogram We came to be realized as [jɛ], as demonstrated by 17th century-era European sources, but it later merged with the vowel E and was eliminated from official orthography in 1946. In modern orthography, [je] may be written いぇ, イェ.
- Si, Ti, Tu, Hu, Wi and We are often transcribed into English with shi, chi, tsu, fu, i and e instead, according to contemporary pronunciation.
- While no longer part of standard Japanese orthography, Wi and We are sometimes used stylistically, as in ウヰスキー for whisky and ヱビス for Yebisu, a brand of beer. Hiragana Wi and We are still used in certain Okinawan writing systems, while katakana Wi and We are still used in Ainu.
Diacritics
Syllables beginning with the voiced consonants [g], [z], [d] and [b] are spelled with kana from the corresponding unvoiced columns (k, s, t and h) and the voicing mark, dakuten. Syllables beginning with [p] are spelled with kana from the h column and the half-voicing mark, handakuten.
g | z | d | b | p | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
a | が ガ | ざ ザ | だ ダ | ば バ | ぱ パ |
i | ぎ ギ | じ ジ | ぢ ヂ | び ビ | ぴ ピ |
u | ぐ グ | ず ズ | づ ヅ | ぶ ブ | ぷ プ |
e | げ ゲ | ぜ ゼ | で デ | べ ベ | ぺ ペ |
o | ご ゴ | ぞ ゾ | ど ド | ぼ ボ | ぽ ポ |
- Zi, Di and Du are often transcribed into English as ji, ji and zu instead, according to contemporary pronunciation.
Digraphs
Syllables beginning with palatalized consonants are spelled with kana from the i row followed by small Ya, Yu or Yo. These digraphs are called yōon.
k | s | t | n | h | m | r | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ya | きゃ | しゃ | ちゃ | にゃ | ひゃ | みゃ | りゃ |
yu | きゅ | しゅ | ちゅ | にゅ | ひゅ | みゅ | りゅ |
yo | きょ | しょ | ちょ | にょ | ひょ | みょ | りょ |
- There are no digraphs for the semivowel y and w columns.
- The digraphs are usually transcribed with three letters, leaving out the i: CyV.
- Si+Y* and Ti+Y* are often transcribed sh* and ch* instead of sy* and ty*.
- In earlier Japanese, digraphs could also be formed with w-kana. Although obsolete in modern Japanese, the digraphs くゎ (/kwa/) and くゐ/くうぃ(/kwi/), are still used in certain Okinawan orthographies. In addition, the kana え can be used in Okinawan to form the digraph くぇ, which represents the /kwe/ sound.
Modern usage
Hiragana is mostly used to indicate prefixes, particles, and grammatical word endings (okurigana). It is also used to represent entire words (usually of Japanese, rather than Chinese, origin) in place of kanji. See the article hiragana for details.
Today katakana is most commonly used to write words of foreign origin that do not have kanji representations. Katakana is also used to represent onomatopoeia, technical and scientific terms, and some corporate branding. See the article katakana for details.
Kana can be written in small form above or next to lesser-known kanji in order to show pronunciation; this is called furigana. Furigana is used most widely in children's books. Literature for young children who do not yet know kanji may dispense with it altogether and instead use hiragana combined with spaces.
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/FlowRoot3824.png/300px-FlowRoot3824.png)
The first kana was a system called man'yōgana, a set of kanji used for their phonetic values, much as Chinese uses characters for their phonetic values in foreign loanwords today. Man'yōshū(万葉集), a poetry anthology assembled in 759, is written in this early script. Hiragana developed as a distinct script from cursive man'yōgana, whereas katakana developed from abbreviated parts of regular script man'yōgana as a glossing system to add readings or explanations to Buddhist sutras. Hiragana was developed for speed, whereas katakana developed to be small.
Kana is traditionally said to have been invented by the Buddhist priest Kūkai in the 9th century. Kūkai certainly brought the Siddham script home on his return from China in 806; his interest in the sacred aspects of speech and writing led him to the conclusion that Japanese would be better represented by a phonetic alphabet than by the kanji which had been used up to that point. The modern arrangement of kana reflects that of Siddham, but the traditional iroha arrangement follows a poem which uses each kana once.
The present set of kana was codified in 1900, and rules for their usage in 1946.
a | i | u | e | o | =:≠ | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
- | ≠ | ≠ | = | ≠ | = | 2:3 |
k | = | = | = | ≠ | = | 4:1 |
s | ≠ | = | ≠ | = | = | 3:2 |
t | ≠ | ≠ | = | = | = | 3:2 |
n | = | = | = | = | = | 5:0 |
h | ≠ | = | = | = | = | 4:1 |
m | = | ≠ | ≠ | = | = | 3:2 |
y | = | = | = | 3:0 | ||
r | = | = | ≠ | = | = | 4:1 |
w | = | ≠ | = | ≠ | 2:2 | |
n | ≠ | 0:1 | ||||
=:≠ | 6:4 | 5:4 | 6:4 | 7:2 | 9:1 | 33:15 |
Collation
Kana are the basis for collation in Japanese. They are taken in the order given by the gojūon (あ い う え お … わ を ん), though iroha (い ろ は に ほ へ と … せ す (ん)) ordering is used for enumeration in some circumstances. Dictionaries differ in the sequence order for long/short vowel distinction, small tsu and diacritics. As the Japanese do not use word spaces (except for children), there can be no word-by-word collation; all collation is kana-by-kana.
Kana in Unicode
The Hiragana range in Unicode is U+3040 ... U+309F, and the Katakana range is U+30A0 ... U+30FF. The obsolete and rare characters (WI and WE) also have their proper codepoints, except for hentaigana, as hentaigana are considered glyph variants of more common kana.
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | ||
304x | ぁ | あ | ぃ | い | ぅ | う | ぇ | え | ぉ | お | か | が | き | ぎ | く | ||
305x | ぐ | け | げ | こ | ご | さ | ざ | し | じ | す | ず | せ | ぜ | そ | ぞ | た | |
306x | だ | ち | ぢ | っ | つ | づ | て | で | と | ど | な | に | ぬ | ね | の | は | |
307x | ば | ぱ | ひ | び | ぴ | ふ | ぶ | ぷ | へ | べ | ぺ | ほ | ぼ | ぽ | ま | み | |
308x | む | め | も | ゃ | や | ゅ | ゆ | ょ | よ | ら | り | る | れ | ろ | ゎ | わ | |
309x | ゐ | ゑ | を | ん | ゔ | ゕ | ゖ | ゙ | ゚ | ゛ | ゜ | ゝ | ゞ | ゟ | |||
30Ax | ゠ | ァ | ア | ィ | イ | ゥ | ウ | ェ | エ | ォ | オ | カ | ガ | キ | ギ | ク | |
30Bx | グ | ケ | ゲ | コ | ゴ | サ | ザ | シ | ジ | ス | ズ | セ | ゼ | ソ | ゾ | タ | |
30Cx | ダ | チ | ヂ | ッ | ツ | ヅ | テ | デ | ト | ド | ナ | ニ | ヌ | ネ | ノ | ハ | |
30Dx | バ | パ | ヒ | ビ | ピ | フ | ブ | プ | ヘ | ベ | ペ | ホ | ボ | ポ | マ | ミ | |
30Ex | ム | メ | モ | ャ | ヤ | ュ | ユ | ョ | ヨ | ラ | リ | ル | レ | ロ | ヮ | ワ | |
30Fx | ヰ | ヱ | ヲ | ン | ヴ | ヵ | ヶ | ヷ | ヸ | ヹ | ヺ | ・ | ー | ヽ | ヾ | ヿ |
Code points U+3040, U+3097, and U+3098 are unassigned as of Unicode 4.1. Characters U+3095 and U+3096 are hiragana small ka and small ke, respectively. U+30F5 and U+30F6 are their katakana equivalents. Characters U+3099 and U+309A are combining dakuten and handakuten, which correspond to the spacing characters U+309B and U+309C. U+309D is the hiragana iteration mark, used to repeat a previous hiragana. U+309E is the voiced hiragana iteration mark, which stands in for the previous hiragana but with the consonant voiced (k becomes g, h becomes b, etc.). U+30FD and U+30FE are the katakana iteration marks. U+309F is a ligature of "yori" (より) sometimes used in vertical writing. U+30FF is a ligature of "koto" (コト), also found in vertical writing.
Additionally, there are halfwidth equivalents to the standard fullwidth katakana. These are encoded within the Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms block (U+FF00–U+FFEF), starting at U+FF65 and ending at U+FF9F (characters U+FF61–U+FF64 are halfwidth punctuation marks):
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | ||
FF6x | 。 | 「 | 」 | 、 | ・ | ヲ | ァ | ィ | ゥ | ェ | ォ | ャ | ュ | ョ | ッ | ||
FF7x | ー | ア | イ | ウ | エ | オ | カ | キ | ク | ケ | コ | サ | シ | ス | セ | ソ | |
FF8x | タ | チ | ツ | テ | ト | ナ | ニ | ヌ | ネ | ノ | ハ | ヒ | フ | ヘ | ホ | マ | |
FF9x | ミ | ム | メ | モ | ヤ | ユ | ヨ | ラ | リ | ル | レ | ロ | ワ | ン | ゙ | ゚ |
There is also a small "Katakana Phonetic Extensions" range (U+31F0 ... U+31FF), which includes some extra characters for writing the Ainu language.
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | ||
31Fx | ㇰ | ㇱ | ㇲ | ㇳ | ㇴ | ㇵ | ㇶ | ㇷ | ㇸ | ㇹ | ㇺ | ㇻ | ㇼ | ㇽ | ㇾ | ㇿ |
Unicode version 6.0 also includes "Katakana letter archaic E" (U+1B000) and "Hiragana letter archaic YE" (U+1B001) in the Kana Supplement block.[2]
0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | ||
1B00x | 𛀀 | 𛀁 |
See also
![]() |
Japanese writing |
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Components |
Uses |
Transliteration |
References
- ^ Thomas E. McAuley, Language change in East Asia, 2001:90
- ^ http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/Unicode-6.0/U60-1B000.pdf
External links
- KanaQ Kana flashcard tool that runs on mobile phones.
- Real Kana Practice hiragana and katakana using different typefaces.
- Origin of Hiragana
- Origin of Katakana
- Change Kanji into Romaji and Hiragana
- Kana web translator - Transliterate Kana to Rōmaji
- Kana Copybook (PDF)
- Kana no quiz Free/libre and cross-platform educational software to memorize Japanese kana pronouncing & transcription.
- KanaQuest Memorize Japanese words and kana with multiple quizzes.