Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Hiragana, the main Japanese syllabic writing system, derived from a cursive form of man'yΕgana, a system where Chinese ideograms were used to write sounds without regard to their meaning. Originally, the same syllable (more precisely, mora ) could be represented by several more-or-less interchangeable kanji, or different cursive styles of the ...
Words for family members have two different forms in Japanese. When referring to one's own family members while speaking to a non-family-member, neutral, descriptive nouns are used, such as haha ( ζ― ) for "mother" and ani ( ε ) for "older brother".
In the Edo period and the Meiji period, some Japanese linguists tried to separate kana i and kana yi. The shapes of characters differed with each linguist. π and π were just two of many glyphs. They were phonetic symbols to fill in the blanks of the gojuon table, but Japanese people did not separate them in normal writing. i Traditional kana
It is presumed that π would have represented /βΜu/. [2] [a] Along with π and π (yi and ye respectively), the mora wu has no officially recognized kana, as these morae do not occur in native Japanese words; however, during the Meiji period, linguists almost unanimously agreed on the kana for yi, ye, and wu.
Hiragana are generally used to write some Japanese words and given names and grammatical aspects of Japanese. For example, the Japanese word for "to do" (γγ suru) is written with two hiragana: γ (su) + γ (ru). Katakana are generally used to write loanwords, foreign names and onomatopoeia. For example, retasu was borrowed from the ...
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.
In cases where a hiragana is represented by a pair of symbols each pair (or "digraph" e.g. "kyo" (γγ)) equates to a single on. When viewed this way, the term "ji" ("character") is used in Japanese. [2] In English-language discussions of Japanese poetry, the more familiar word "syllable" is sometimes used.
Wasei-eigo is distinct from Engrish, the misuse or corruption of the English language by native Japanese speakers, as it consists of words used in Japanese conversation, not an attempt at speaking English. [6] These include acronyms and initialisms particular to Japan (see list of Japanese Latin alphabetic abbreviations).