The term may refer to a number of
syllabaries
In the linguistic study of written languages, a syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) moras which make up words.
A symbol in a syllabary, called a syllabogram, typically represents an (optiona ...
used to write
Japanese phonological units,
morae
A mora (plural ''morae'' or ''moras''; often symbolized μ) is a basic timing unit in the phonology of some spoken languages, equal to or shorter than a syllable. For example, a short syllable such as ''ba'' consists of one mora (''monomoraic''), ...
. Such syllabaries include (1) the original kana, or ,
which were
Chinese characters (
kanji) used phonetically to transcribe
Japanese, the most prominent magana system being ; the two descendants of man'yōgana, (2) , and (3) . There are also , which are historical variants of the now-standard hiragana. In current usage, 'kana' can simply mean ''hiragana'' and ''katakana''.
Katakana, with a few additions, are also used to write
Ainu. A
number of systems exist to write the
Ryūkyūan languages
The , also Lewchewan or Luchuan (), are the indigenous languages of the Ryukyu Islands, the southernmost part of the Japanese archipelago. Along with the Japanese language and the Hachijō language, they make up the Japonic language family.
Al ...
, in particular
Okinawan, in hiragana.
Taiwanese kana were used in
Taiwanese Hokkien as
glosses (
ruby text or ''
furigana'') for Chinese characters in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
when it was
under Japanese rule.
Each kana character (
syllabogram) corresponds to one sound or whole syllable in the Japanese language, unlike kanji
regular script
Regular script (; Hepburn: ''kaisho''), also called (), (''zhēnshū''), (''kǎitǐ'') and (''zhèngshū''), is the newest of the Chinese script styles (popularized from the Cao Wei dynasty c. 200 AD and maturing stylistically around th ...
, which corresponds to a meaning (
logogram). Apart from the five vowels, it is always CV (consonant
onset with vowel
nucleus
Nucleus ( : nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to:
* Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom
*Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA
Nucl ...
), such as ''ka'', ''ki'', etc., or V (vowel), such as ''a'', ''i'', etc., with the sole exception of the C grapheme for
nasal
Nasal is an adjective referring to the nose, part of human or animal anatomy. It may also be shorthand for the following uses in combination:
* With reference to the human nose:
** Nasal administration, a method of pharmaceutical drug delivery
* ...
coda
Coda or CODA may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* Movie coda, a post-credits scene
* ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television
*''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...
s usually romanised as ''n''. The structure has led some scholars to label the system ''
moraic
A mora (plural ''morae'' or ''moras''; often symbolized μ) is a basic timing unit in the phonology of some spoken languages, equal to or shorter than a syllable. For example, a short syllable such as ''ba'' consists of one mora (''monomoraic''), ...
'', instead of ''syllabic'', because it requires the combination of two syllabograms to represent a CVC syllable with coda (i.e. CV''n'', CV''m'', CV''ng''), 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, C''y''V, C''w''V).
The limited number of
phonemes in Japanese, as well as the relatively rigid syllable structure, makes the kana system a very accurate representation of
spoken Japanese.
Etymology
'Kana' is a compound of and , which eventually collapsed into ''kanna'' and ultimately 'kana'.
Today it is generally assumed that 'kana' were considered "false" kanji due to their purely phonetic nature, as opposed to which were "true" kanji used for their meanings. Yet originally, ''mana'' and ''kana'' were purely calligraphic terms with ''mana'' referring to Chinese characters written in the
regular script
Regular script (; Hepburn: ''kaisho''), also called (), (''zhēnshū''), (''kǎitǐ'') and (''zhèngshū''), is the newest of the Chinese script styles (popularized from the Cao Wei dynasty c. 200 AD and maturing stylistically around th ...
(''kaisho'') and ''kana'' referring to those written in the
cursive (''sōsho'') style (see ''
hiragana''). It was not until the 18th century that the early-nationalist
''kokugaku'' movement which wanted to move away from
Sinocentric academia began to reanalyze the script from a phonological point of view. In the following centuries, contrary to the traditional Sinocentric view, ''kana'' began to be considered a national Japanese writing system that was distinct from Chinese characters, which is the dominant view today.
Terms
Although the term 'kana' is now commonly understood as hiragana and katakana, it actually has broader application as listed below:
* or : a
syllabary.
** or : phonetic
kanji used as syllabary characters, historically used by men (who were more educated).
***: the most prominent system of magana.
****: cursive man'yōgana.
*****, , , or : a syllabary derived from simplified sōgana, historically used by women (who were less educated), historically sorted in ''
Iroha'' order.
****** or : obsolete variants of hiragana.
**** or : a syllabary derived by using bits of characters in man'yōgana, historically sorted in ''
gojūon'' order.
****: hiragana and katakana, as opposed to kanji.
***: magana for transcribing Japanese words, using, strict or loose, Chinese-derived readings (''
on'yomi''). For example, would be spelt as , with two magana with on'yomi for ''ya'' and ''ma''; likewise, spelt as 比登 for ''hi'' and ''to''.
***: magana for transcribing Japanese words, using
native words ascribed to kanji (native "readings" or ''
kun'yomi''). For example, would be spelt as , with three magana with kun'yomi for ''ya'', ''ma'' and ''to''; likewise, spelt as 夏樫 for ''natsu'' and ''kashi''.
* , , or : kanji used for meanings, historically used by men (who were more educated).
* : mixed script including only kanji and katakana.
Hiragana and katakana
The following table reads, in
gojūon order, as ''a'', ''i'', ''u'', ''e'', ''o'' (down first column), then ''ka'', ''ki'', ''ku'', ''ke'', ''ko'' (down second column), and so on. ''n'' appears on its own at the end. Asterisks mark unused combinations.
*There are presently no kana for ''ye'', ''yi'' or ''wu'', as corresponding syllables do not occur natively in modern Japanese.
**The (''ye'') sound is believed to have existed in pre-Classical Japanese, mostly before the advent of kana, and can be represented by the
man'yōgana kanji 江.
There was an archaic Hiragana (
)
derived from the
man'yōgana ''ye'' kanji 江,
which is encoded into Unicode at code point U+1B001 (𛀁),
but it is not widely supported. It is believed that ''e'' and ''ye'' first merged to ''ye'' before shifting back to ''e'' during the
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...
.
As demonstrated by 17th century-era European sources, the syllable ''we'' (ゑ・ヱ ) also came to be pronounced as (''ye''). If necessary, the modern orthography allows
e(''ye'') to be written as いぇ (イェ), but this usage is limited and nonstandard.
**The modern Katakana ''e'', エ, derives from the man'yōgana 江, originally pronounced ''ye'';
a "Katakana letter Archaic E" (
) derived from the man'yōgana 衣 (''e'')
is encoded into Unicode at code point U+1B000 (𛀀),
due to being used for that purpose in scholarly works on classical Japanese.
**Some
gojūon tables published during the 19th century list additional Katakana in the ''ye'' (
), ''wu'' (
) and ''yi'' (
) positions.
These are not presently used, and the latter two sounds never existed in Japanese.
They were added to Unicode in version 14.0 in 2021. These sources also list
(Unicode U+1B006, 𛀆) in the Hiragana ''yi'' position, and
in the ''ye'' position.
*Although removed from the standard orthography with the ''gendai kanazukai'' reforms, ''wi'' and ''we'' still see stylistic use, as in ウヰスキー for ''whisky'' and ヱビス or ゑびす for Japanese kami
Ebisu, and
Yebisu, a brand of beer named after Ebisu. Hiragana ''wi'' and ''we'' are preserved in certain
Okinawan scripts
Okinawan, spoken in Okinawa Island, was once the official language of the Ryukyu Kingdom. At the time, documents were written in kanji and hiragana, derived from Japan.
Although generally agreed among linguists to be a distinct language, most ...
, while katakana ''wi'' and ''we'' are preserved in the
Ainu language.
*''wo'' is preserved only as the
accusative particle, normally occurring only in hiragana.
*''si'', ''ti'', ''tu'', ''hu'', ''wi'', ''we'' and ''wo'' are usually romanized respectively as ''shi'', ''chi'', ''tsu'', ''fu'', ''i'', ''e'' and ''o'' instead, according to contemporary pronunciation.
Diacritics
Syllables beginning with the voiced consonants
and
are spelled with kana from the corresponding unvoiced columns (''k'', ''s'', ''t'' and ''h'') and the voicing mark, ''
dakuten''. Syllables beginning with
are spelled with kana from the ''h'' column and the half-voicing mark, ''
handakuten''.
* Note that the か゚, ら゚ and the remaining entries in the two rightmost columns, though they exist,
are not used in standard Japanese orthography.
*''zi'', ''di'', and ''du'' are often transcribed into English as ''ji'', ''ji'', and ''zu'' instead, respectively, according to contemporary pronunciation.
* Usually,
a i u e oare represented respectively by バ
a ビ
i ブ
u ベ
e and ボ
o for example, in loanwords such as
バイオリン (''baiorin'' "violin"), but (less usually) the distinction can be preserved by using
-with voicing marks or by using
uand a vowel kana, as in ヴァ(ヷ), ヴィ(ヸ), ヴ, ヴェ(ヹ), and ヴォ(ヺ). Note that ヴ did not have a JIS-encoded Hiragana form (ゔ) until
JIS X 0213, meaning that many
Shift JIS flavours (including
the Windows and HTML5 version) can only represent it as a katakana, although
Unicode
Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, ...
supports both.
Digraphs
Syllables beginning with
palatalized consonants are spelled with one of the seven
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced w ...
al kana from the ''i'' row followed by small ''ya'', ''yu'' or ''yo''. These
digraphs are called
yōon.
* There are no digraphs for the
semivowel ''y'' and ''w'' columns.
* The digraphs are usually transcribed with three letters, leaving out the ''i'': C''y''V. For example, きゃ is transcribed as ''kya''.
* ''si''+''y''* and ''ti''+''y''* are often transcribed ''sh*'' and ''ch*'' instead of ''sy*'' and ''ty*''. For example, しゃ is transcribed as ''sha''.
* 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 preserved 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.
* Note that the き゚ゃ, き゚ゅ and remaining entries in the rightmost column, though they exist,
are not used in standard Japanese orthography.
*''jya'', ''jyu'', and ''jyo'' are often transcribed into English as ''ja'', ''ju'', and ''jo'' instead, respectively, according to contemporary pronunciation.
Modern usage
The difference in usage between hiragana and katakana is stylistic. Usually, hiragana is the default syllabary, and katakana is used in certain special cases. Hiragana is used to write native Japanese words with no
kanji representation (or whose kanji is thought obscure or difficult), as well as grammatical elements such as
particles and inflections (
okurigana). Today katakana is most commonly used to write words of foreign origin that do not have kanji representations, as well as foreign personal and place names. Katakana is also used to represent
onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...
and interjections, emphasis, technical and scientific terms, transcriptions of the
Sino-Japanese readings of kanji, and some corporate branding.
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 or learners' books. Literature for young children who do not yet know kanji may dispense with it altogether and instead use hiragana combined with spaces.
Systems supporting only a limited set of characters, such as
Wabun code for
Morse code telegrams and
single-byte digital
character encodings such as
JIS X 0201 or
EBCDIK, likewise dispense with kanji, instead using only katakana. This is not necessary in systems supporting
double-byte or
variable-width encodings such as
Shift JIS,
EUC-JP,
UTF-8 or
UTF-16.
History
Old Japanese was written entirely in kanji, and a set of kanji called ''
man'yōgana'' were first used to represent the phonetic values of grammatical particles and morphemes. As there was no consistent method of sound representation, a phoneme could be represented by multiple kanji, and even those kana's pronunciations differed in whether they were to be read as or , making decipherment problematic. The ''
man'yōshū'', a poetry anthology assembled sometime after 759 and the eponym of ''man'yōgana'', exemplifies this phenomenon, where as many as almost twenty kanji were used for the mora ''ka''. The consistency of the kana used was thus dependent on the style of the writer.
Hiragana developed as a distinct script from
cursive ''man'yōgana'', whereas
katakana developed from abbreviated parts of
regular script
Regular script (; Hepburn: ''kaisho''), also called (), (''zhēnshū''), (''kǎitǐ'') and (''zhèngshū''), is the newest of the Chinese script styles (popularized from the Cao Wei dynasty c. 200 AD and maturing stylistically around th ...
''man'yōgana'' as a
glossing system to add readings or explanations to Buddhist
sutra
''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an ap ...
s. Both of these systems were simplified to make writing easier. The shapes of many hiragana resembled the
Chinese cursive script
Cursive script (; , ''sōshotai''; , ''choseo''; ), often mistranslated as grass script, is a script style used in Chinese and East Asian calligraphy. It is an umbrella term for the cursive variants of the clerical script and the regular sc ...
, as did those of many katakana the Korean ''
gugyeol'', suggesting that the Japanese followed the continental pattern of their neighbors.
Kana is traditionally said to have been invented by the
Buddhist priest Kūkai in the ninth century. Kūkai certainly brought the
Siddhaṃ script of India home on his return from
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
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 Siddhaṃ, but the traditional ''
iroha'' arrangement follows a poem which uses each kana once.
However, hiragana and katakana did not quickly supplant ''man'yōgana''. It was only in 1900 that the present set of kana was codified. All the other forms of hiragana and katakana developed before the 1900 codification are known as . Rules for their usage as per the spelling reforms of 1946, the , which abolished the kana for ''wi'' (ゐ・ヰ), ''we'' (ゑ・ヱ), and ''wo'' (を・ヲ) (except that the last was reserved as the accusative particle).
[
]
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 Japanese does not use word spaces (except as a tool for children), there can be no word-by-word collation; all collation is kana-by-kana.
In Unicode
The hiragana range in Unicode
Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, ...
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 code points.
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):
There is also a small "Katakana Phonetic Extensions" range (U+31F0 ... U+31FF), which includes some additional small kana characters for writing the Ainu language. Further small kana characters are present in the "Small Kana Extension" block.
Unicode also includes "Katakana letter archaic E" (U+1B000), as well as 255 archaic Hiragana, in the Kana Supplement block. It also includes a further 31 archaic Hiragana in the Kana Extended-A block.[https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1B100.pdf ]
The Kana Extended-B block was added in September, 2021 with the release of version 14.0:
See also
* Furigana
* Okurigana
* Yotsugana
* Gojūon
* Hentaigana
* Historical kana orthography
* Man'yōgana
* Romanization of Japanese
* Transliteration and Transcription (linguistics)
References
External links
Hiragana & katakana chart and writing practice sheet
Kana web translator
- Transliterate Kana to Rōmaji
Kana Copybook (PDF)
{{Authority control
Heian period
Japanese writing system
Japanese writing system terms
Nara period
de:Japanische Schrift#Kana