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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.
Kun can mean different things depending on gender. Kun for females is a more respectful honorific than -chan , implying childlike cuteness. Kun is not only used to address females formally; it can also be used for a very close friend or family member.
Although not a native Japanese punctuation mark, the colon is sometimes used, especially in academic writing. As in English, the colon is commonly used in Japanese to indicate time ( 4:05 , instead of 4時5分 or 4分5秒 ) or for lists ( 日時:3月3日 4時5分 Day/time: March 3, 4:05pm).
Especially more traditional and conservative Japanese people view ojigi as a representation of the Japanese identity and find beauty in the performance of a perfect ojigi with the correct posture. Therefore, many industries in Japan will offer new recruits extensive training on correct ways to perform ojigi and other important business etiquette.
Japanese uses honorific constructions to show or emphasize social rank, social intimacy or similarity in rank. The choice of pronoun used, for example, will express the social relationship between the person speaking and the person being referred to, and Japanese often avoids pronouns entirely in favor of more explicit titles or kinship terms.
Japanese wordplay relies on the nuances of the Japanese language and Japanese script for humorous effect, functioning somewhat like a cross between a pun and a spoonerism. Double entendres have a rich history in Japanese entertainment (such as in kakekotoba ) [ 1 ] due to the language's large number of homographs (different meanings for a given ...
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