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Katakana (片仮名、カタカナ, IPA: [katakaꜜna, kataꜜkana]) is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, [2] kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived from components or fragments of more ...
The modern Japanese writing system uses a combination of logographic kanji, which are adopted Chinese characters, and syllabic kana.Kana itself consists of a pair of syllabaries: hiragana, used primarily for native or naturalized Japanese words and grammatical elements; and katakana, used primarily for foreign words and names, loanwords, onomatopoeia, scientific names, and sometimes for emphasis.
Kungana (訓仮名, translation kana): magana for transcribing Japanese words, using Japanese translations ascribed to kanji (native "readings" or kun'yomi). For example, Yamato ( 大和 ) would be spelt as 八間跡 , with three magana with kun'yomi for ya , ma and to ; likewise, natsukashi ( 懐かし , evoking nostalgia) spelt as 夏樫 for ...
The first kana is not always the same as one used in the modern spelling, as in 今日 kyō "today", written けふ kefu. If written with three kana, the middle one will always be や ya, ゆ yu, or よ yo, and the last kana will always be う u or ふ fu, as in 丁 chō, the counter for tools, guns, etc., written ちやう chiyau.
Hiragana usually spells long vowels with the addition of a second vowel kana; for example, おかあさん (o-ka-a-sa-n, "mother"). The chōonpu (long vowel mark) (ー) used in katakana is rarely used with hiragana, for example in the word らーめん, rāmen, but this usage is considered non
Ka (hiragana: か, katakana: カ) is one of the Japanese kana, which each represent one mora.Both represent [ka].The shapes of these kana both originate from 加. The character can be combined with a dakuten, to form が in hiragana, ガ in katakana and ga in Hepburn romanization.
Japanese does not have separate l and r sounds, and l-is normally transcribed using the kana that are perceived as representing r-. [2] For example, London becomes ロンドン ( Ro-n-do-n ). Other sounds not present in Japanese may be converted to the nearest Japanese equivalent; for example, the name Smith is written スミス ( Su-mi-su ).
In the Japanese writing system kana ligatures (Japanese: 合略仮名, Hepburn: gōryaku-gana) are ligatures in the kana writing system, both hiragana and katakana. Kana such as koto ( ヿ , from 事) and shite ( 𬼀 , from 為) are not kana ligatures, but polysyllabic kana .