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Iteration marks are characters or punctuation marks that represent a duplicated character or word.


Chinese

In
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
, (usually appearing as ) or is used in casual writing to represent a doubled character. However, it is not used in formal writing anymore, and it never appeared in printed matter. In a tabulated table or list, vertical repetition can be represented by a ditto mark ().


History

Iteration marks have been occasionally used for more than two thousand years in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. The example image shows an inscription in
bronze script Chinese bronze inscriptions, also commonly referred to as bronze script or bronzeware script, are writing in a variety of Chinese scripts on ritual bronzes such as ''zhōng'' bells and '' dǐng'' tripodal cauldrons from the Shang dynasty (2nd mi ...
, a variety of formal writing dating to the Zhou Dynasty, that ends with , where the small ("two") is used as iteration marks in the phrase ("descendants to use and to treasure").


Malayo-Polynesian languages

In Filipino,
Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...
, and
Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...
, words that are repeated can be shortened with the use of numeral "2". For example, the Malay ("words", from single ) can be shortened to , and ("to walk around", from single ) can be shortened to . The usage of "2" can be also replaced with superscript "" (e.g. for ). The sign may also be used for reduplicated compound words with slight sound changes, for example for ("commotion"). Suffixes may be added after "2", for example in the word ("Western in nature", from the basic word ("West") with the prefix and suffix ). The use of this mark dates back to the time when these languages were written with
Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it or a script directly derived from it, and the ...
, specifically the Jawi or Pegon varieties. Using the Arabic numeral , words such as (, butterfly) can be shortened to . The use of Arabic numeral was also adapted to several Brahmi derived scripts of the Malay archipelago, notably Javanese,
Sundanese Sundanese may refer to: * Sundanese people * Sundanese language * Sundanese script Standard Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Baku'', ) is a writing system which is used by the Sundanese people. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (' ...
, Lontara, and Makassaran. As the Latin alphabet was introduced to the region, the Western-style Arabic numeral "2" came to be use for latin-based orthography. The use of "2" as an iteration mark was official in Indonesia up to 1972, as part of the Republican Spelling System. Its usage was discouraged when the
Enhanced Indonesian Spelling System The Enhanced Spelling of the Indonesian Language ( id, Ejaan Bahasa Indonesia yang Disempurnakan, EYD) is the spelling system used for the Indonesian language. History The Enhanced Spelling of the Indonesian Language ( id, Ejaan Bahasa Indone ...
was adopted, and even though it commonly found in handwriting or old signage, it is considered to be inappropriate for formal writing and documents.


Japanese

Japanese has various iteration marks for its three writing systems, namely kanji, hiragana, and katakana, but only the (horizontal) kanji iteration mark () is commonly used today. In Japanese, iteration marks (, , , or ) are used to represent a duplicated character representing the same morpheme. For example, , "people", is usually written , using the kanji for with an iteration mark, , rather than , using the same kanji twice. The use of two kanji in place of an iteration mark is allowed, and in simple cases may be used due to being easier to write. In contrast, while is written with the iteration mark, as the morpheme is duplicated, is written with the character duplicated, because it represents different morphemes ( and ). Further, while can in principle be written (confusingly) as , cannot be written as , since that would imply repetition of the sound as well as the character. In potentially confusing examples such as this, readings can be disambiguated by writing words out in hiragana, so is often found as or even rather than . Sound changes can occur in duplication, which is not reflected in writing; examples include and being pronounced () or and being pronounced ( gemination), though this is also pronounced .


Kanji

The formal name of the kanji repetition symbol () is but is sometimes called because it looks like the katakana and . This symbol originates from a simplified form of the character , a variant of written in the
grass 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 scri ...
style. Although Japanese kanji iteration marks are borrowed from
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
, the grammatical function of duplication differs, as do the conventions on the use of these characters. While Japanese does not have a grammatical plural form ''per se'', some kanji can be reduplicated to indicate plurality (as a collective noun, not many individuals). This differs from Chinese, which normally repeats characters only for the purposes of adding emphasis, although there are some exceptions (e.g., , , "person"; , , "everybody"). *; *; However, for some words duplication may alter the meaning: *; *; *; Using instead of repeating kanji is usually the preferred form, with two restrictions: * the reading must be the same, possibly with sound change (as above), and * the repetition must be within a single word. When the reading is different, the second kanji is often simply written out to avoid confusion. Examples of such include: * * * The repetition mark is not used in every case where two identical characters appear side by side, but only where the repetition itself is etymologically significant—when the repetition is part of a single morpheme (discrete word). Where a character ends up appearing twice as part of a compound, it is usually written out in full: *, from + ("democracy" + "principle"); the abbreviated is only occasionally seen. One notable exception is in signs for – the name of neighborhoods often end in , which is then suffixed with yielding , which is then informally abbreviated to , despite the word break. Similarly, in certain Chinese borrowings, it is generally preferred to write out both characters, as in ( Chinese multiplication table) or (
dan dan noodles Dandan noodles or ''dandanmian'' (), literally "carrying-pole noodles", is a noodle dish originating from Chinese Sichuan cuisine. It consists of a spicy sauce usually containing preserved vegetables (often including ''zha cai'' (榨菜), lower e ...
), though in practice is often used. In
vertical writing Many East Asian scripts can be written horizontally or vertically. Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese Hán- Nôm and Korean scripts can be oriented along either axis, as they consist mainly of disconnected logographic or syllabic units, each occu ...
, the character ( Unicode U+303B), a cursive derivative of ("two", as in
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
, above), can be employed instead, although this is increasingly rare.


Kana

Kana uses different iteration marks; one for hiragana, , and one for katakana, . The hiragana iteration mark is seen in some personal names like or , and it forms part of the formal name of the car company . Unlike the kanji iteration marks, which do not reflect sound changes, kana iteration marks closely reflect sound, and the kana iteration marks can be combined with the voicing mark to indicate that the repeated syllable should be voiced, for example . If the first syllable is already voiced, for example , the voiced repetition mark still needs to be used: rather than , which would be read as . While widespread in old Japanese texts, the kana iteration marks are generally not used in modern Japanese outside proper names, though they may appear in informal handwritten texts.


Repeating multiple characters

In addition to the single-character iteration marks, there are also two-character-sized repeat marks, which are used to repeat two or more characters. They are used in
vertical writing Many East Asian scripts can be written horizontally or vertically. Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese Hán- Nôm and Korean scripts can be oriented along either axis, as they consist mainly of disconnected logographic or syllabic units, each occu ...
only, and they are effectively obsolete in modern Japanese. The vertical kana repeat marks (unvoiced) and (voiced) resemble the hiragana character , giving them their name, . They stretch to fill the space typically occupied by two characters, but may indicate a repetition of more than two characters—they indicate that the preceding word or phrase be repeated. For example, the duplicated phrase may be repeated as —note that here it repeats four characters. If a (voiced mark) is added, it applies to the first sound of the repeated word; this is written as . For example, could be written horizontally as ; the voiced iteration mark only applies to the first sound . In addition to the single-character representations and , Unicode provides the half-character versions , and , which can be stacked to render both voiced and unvoiced repeat marks: As support for these is limited, the ordinary forward slash and backward slash are occasionally used as substitutes. Alternatively, multiple single-character iteration marks can be used, as in or . This practice is also uncommon in modern writing, though it is occasionally seen in horizontal writing as a substitute for the vertical repeat mark. Unlike the single-kana iteration mark, if the first kana is voiced, the unvoiced version alone will repeat the voiced sound. Further, if is present, then no iteration mark should be used, as in . This is prescribed by the Japanese Ministry of Education in its 1981 Cabinet notification prescribes, rule #6.


Nuosu

In the
Nuosu language Nuosu or Nosu (, transcribed as ), also known as Northern Yi, Liangshan Yi, and Sichuan Yi, is the prestige language of the Yi people; it has been chosen by the Chinese government as the standard Yi language () and, as such, is the only one taug ...
, is used to represent a doubled sound, for example , . It is used in all forms of writing.


Tangut

In Tangut manuscripts the sign is sometimes used to represent a doubled character; this sign does not occur in printed texts. In Unicode this character is , in the
Ideographic Symbols and Punctuation Ideographic Symbols and Punctuation is a Unicode block containing symbols and punctuation marks used by ideographic scripts such as Tangut and Nüshu. History The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining ...
block.


Egyptian hieroglyphs

In Egyptian hieroglyphs, the signs: zp:Z1*Z1   —   , literally meaning "two times", repeat the previous sign or word.


Khmer, Thai and Lao

In Khmer, () as for
Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...
, () and Lao, () represent a repeated syllable where as it besides the word. This used to be written as numeral two () and the form changed over time. A repeated word could be used either, to demonstrate plurality, to emphasize or to soften the meaning of the original word.


Ditto mark

In English, Spanish,
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, Italian,
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
, Portuguese, Czech,
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
and
Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...
lists, the ditto mark (″) represents a word repeated from the equivalent position in the line above it; or an evenly-spaced row of ditto marks represents any number of words repeated from above. For example: * Two pounds of lettuce * Three   ″      ″ tomatoes * Four     ″      ″ onions * One pound  ″ carrots This is common in handwriting and formerly in typewritten texts. In Unicode, the ditto mark of Western languages has been defined to be equivalent to the . The separate character is to be used in the CJK scripts only. The convention in Polish handwriting, Czech,
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, and Austrian German is to use a ditto mark on the baseline together with
em-dash The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
es, for example: * * *


See also

* Japanese typographic symbols


References


External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Iteration mark Punctuation East Asian typography Kana Kanji