Japanese Language Stack Exchange
Japanese Language Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [kana-usage]

仮名遣い. usage of kana, は vs. わ, 書く vs. かく etc.

When to use kana and which kana to use? The two kana syllabaries are fairly phonetic scripts, but there are some unique or unusual spellings and uses. Small kana, lengthened vowels, kana for imported words, small-tsu, old kana (ゑびす), kana-only instead of kanji etc.

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What are the differences between じ and ぢ, and ず and づ?

The Japanese hiragana and katakana syllabaries can mostly be described as phonetic. But there are two exceptions, the two pairs of syllables modified to be voiced with the dakuten diacritic which turns them into homophones: す (su) → ず (zu); つ (tsu)…
hippietrail
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What does the little っ (tsu) signify when at the end of a word?

The small っ (tsu) is usually used before a consonant to indicate gemination, less technically known as doubled consonants, which is how they are transliterated in romaji. I have seen it at the end of some of what I call "vocal noises" where I…
hippietrail
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Does the particle "を" (wo) have a special use when at the end of a sentence?

I thought the character "を" (wo) was only used for the particle whose only job was to indicate the direct object of a verb. But today I saw it at the end of an exclamation on a sign I think on a shop: 西部に活力を!! So what job is を doing here?
hippietrail
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Why is English "ka" and "ca" sometimes rendered as キャ (kya) instead of カ (ka)?

I sometimes see that English ka and ca are rendered キャ (kya) instead of カ (ka). Why is this? Do English ka and ca really sound more like kya than ka, at least to Japanese listeners? (I know it doesn't to me.)
Petruza
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Which is correct: こんばんわ or こんばんは?

I've seen both こんばんわ and こんばんは used; which is correct here? If we interpret the は as the topic particle, は would seem correct, but it seems that わ is used quite frequently anyway...
bdonlan
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Are there general rules on when to use kanji vs. kana?

This post is inspired by Tokyo Nagoya's comment in できる vs ~えます form for “can”, “able to” asking why everyone was writing 出来る in kanji in their responses. As I mentioned in my reply to his comment, I know my personal habit is to use kanji wherever I…
Kaji
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戦前はどうやってしりとりをしていたのですか？

（日本語でもしてみむとて） 現在遊ばれている「しりとり」は基本的に終わりの一文字をつないでやるものだと思いますが、例えば「がっこう」なら（東京の発音ではガッコーですが）次は「う」、「こうてい」（コーテー）なら「い」というルールになると思います。 これを旧かな遣いで考えると「杖（つゑ）」は「ゑ」、「家（いへ）」は「へ」でないといけないと思います。そうだとすると子供の遊びにしてはやや難しいと思いますが、逆に言えば教育にはよかったのかもしれません（笑）。戦前はこのようにして遊んでいたのでしょうか。
broccoli facemask
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Do speakers that distinguish all four yotsugana in speech preserve the non-rendaku ぢ and づ in writing?

According to Wikipedia (and some posters here), Kagoshima Japanese resists the じ・ぢ and ず・づ mergers, much in the same way that various English dialects retain differences between words like meet and meat: But the gendai kanadzukai (or rather…
Foobie Bletch
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What is the meaning of dots and dashes in kunyomi readings?

I was introduced to jisho.org a few days ago and I find it a really good tool to use while using the Heisig method to learn the readings as I learn the writing and understanding of kanji. I noticed 2 different symbols used when they present the…
Moriarty
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When did 濁点 and 半濁点 come into use?

When did diacritic signs 濁点 and 半濁点 start to be used in the Japanese language?
Julia
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Why is Toyota typically written in Katakana? (トヨタ)

Presumably, as a Japanese name, it should be written in Chinese characters or in hiragana.
Brennan Vincent
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Why is たばこ written in hiragana instead of katakana?

While studying my Genki textbook I noticed that the word たばこ uses hiragana instead of katakana. I've always seen loan words to be in katakana, so this was interesting to me. I saw in this answer that this is because its an older word. I was wanting…
giraffesyo
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What does it mean if a sentence is in all-kana?

I came across this sentence in a manga: なにすんじゃこんガキャ―――！！ There is no kanji use in that speech-bubble, making it hard to work out the meaning. In fact, I haven't been able to find the meaning of anything past なに (which I already knew means…
AlbeyAmakiir
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How is writing with 旧字体 over 新字体, using lots of 表外漢字 and using 漢字 in place of かな in a word that is almost always written with かな perceived?

Examples: A: 毎日、学校で桜の木を見る。（新字体） B: 毎日、學校で櫻の木を見る。（旧字体） A: この国の歴史を研究しています。（新字体） B: この國の歷史を硏究しています。（旧字体） A: 私はワニがすきです。（カタカナ） B: 私は鰐が好きです。（表外漢字） A: 私の好きな魚はハタハタとスズキです。（カタカナ） B: 私の好きな魚は鰰と鱸です。（表外漢字） A: このページを見てください。（一つの漢字） B:…
AlligatorMoment
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Is there a some general rule when to write 物/もの in kanji or hiragana?

So far my perception had been that you write もの when it is used for grammatical purposes, and 物 when an actual object is meant, but I've encountered many situation where even in the second case it is written in hiragana. For…
user40476
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