Orthography#

The [[index|Japanese]] language makes use of three different scripts - two [[Writing Systems#Syllabaries|syllabaries]] and one [[Writing Systems#TODO|logographic]] script. The syllabaries, however, do not represent individual syllables. Instead, each character in them represents a single [[Orthography and Phonology#Moras|mora]].

All three scripts are used simultaneously when writing but they usually serve different purposes. Japanase may be written either horizontally (left-to-right and top-to-bottom) or vertically (top-to-bottom and right-to-left).

Kana#

Kana is the collective name used for the two [[Writing Systems#Syllabaries|syllabaries]] used in the [[index|Japanese]] writing system - hiragana and katakana. Each symbol in these syllabaries representes a single [[Orthography and Phonology#Moras|mora]] and both syllabaries represent the same set of sounds. However, they serve different purposes. Below are tables of both hiragana and katakana symbols, written together with their pronunciation and romanization.

Voiced kana are obtained by adding the diacritic ゛(濁点(だくてん, dakuten)) to the respective voiceless kana.

Additionally, Smaller-sized versions of や, ゆ and よ for hiragana and ヤ, ユ and ヨ for katakana can be used in combination with other hiragana / katakana to form digraphs representing palatalized sounds. Each such digraph still corresponds to exactly one [[Orthography and Phonology#Moras|mora]].

Hiragana is primarily used to represent grammatical elements such as particles, suffixes and inflectional endings. It is also used for certain native Japanese words.

Katakana is primarily used when writing words of foreign origin and onomatopoeias. It can also be used to emphasize a word (similar to using italicizing it). Company names, plant and animal names as well as slang words are usually written in katakana, too.

Long Vowels#

Writing long vowels in [[Orthography and Phonology#Kana|hiragana]] is done in the following ways:

Writing long vowels in [[Orthography and Phonology#Kana|katakana]] depends on the word's origin. In loanwords, the symbol "ー" is used to represent any long vowel depending on the katakana symbol which precedes it. When native or Sino-Japanese words are written in katakana, the same conventions are used as with hiragana.

Consonant Gemination#

Consonant [[TODO|gemination]] is achieved by placing a smaller version of the kana for "tsu" (っ for hiragana and ッ in katakana) before a kana which starts with a consonant. This smaller symbol is called 促音(そくおん, sokuon) and is counted as a separate mora.

Usually, only unvoiced consonants can be geminated. However, the consonants /n/ and /m/ are geminated when preceded by ん (hiragana) or ン (katakana). In these situations, ん / ン assimilate to /n/ or /m/, respectively.

Kanji#

Kanji ((漢字(かんじ))) are the symbols which comprise the [[Writing Systems#Logographies|logographic]] script used by the Japanese writing system. Historically, these symbols were adapted from the [[TODO|Chinese]] script and, in contrast to [[Orthography and Phonology#Kana|kana]], they mostly represent meaning instead of sound.

Each kanji has a correct way of writing (stroke order) and memorizing it is crucial to being able to read and write handwritten kanji, although it is not necessary if you only plan on reading printed Japanese.

Readings#

Kanji can have multiple pronunciations, called readings, depending on the context. These readings are divided into two categories:
- 音読み(おんよみ, on’yomi, ON readings) - these readings derive from Japanese approximations of pronunciations from earlier stages of various Chinese languages;
- 訓読み(くんよみ, kun’yomi, KUN readings) - these are native Japanese readings.

Most kanji have at least one reading from each category. In dictionaries, kun'yomi are written in hiragana and on'yomi are written in katakana. Contextual cues are needed to decide which reading to use for a given kanji.

Moreover, kanji are sometimes used in a way similar to kana, i.e. for their pronunciation instead of their meaning. In such cases, the kanji are known as ateji (当て字, 宛字, あてじ) and this practice has largely fallen out favor and has been replaced by katakana. Nevertheless, some common words are still written like this.

Radicals#

Kanji are composed of smaller graphical elements known as radicals. Some radicals also function as standalone kanji. If you recognize the radicals which compose a given unknown kanji, then you can often guess both what meaning the kanji has, how it should be pronounced and what the correct stroke order for it is. However, radicals often have an altered appearance in various kanji, so it is often not optimal.

Furigana#

Kanji may sometimes be written alongside either [[Orthography and Phonology#Kana|hiragana]] or [[Orthography and Phonology#Kana|katakana]] to indicate their reading such as 漢かん字じ. This is usually done in educational contexts or when the reading of a kanji is ambiguous. Kana written in this way is known as furigana.

Phonology#

Vowels#

[[index|Japanese]] has five [[TODO|vowel]] [[TODO|phonemes]].

These [[TODO|phonemes]] are realized by the following [[TODO|allophones]]:
- /a/ by either [ä] or [ɑ̟];
- /i/ by [i];
- /u/ by [ɯ];
- /e/ by [e̞];
- /o/ by [o̞].

The vowels /i/ and /ɯ/ are often devoiced when they are between or after the consonants /k/, /s/, /t/, /p/. The movement of the lips and tongue are essentially the same, but the vocal cords do not vibrate.

Consonants#

Moras#

The [[TODO|phonological]] system of [[index|Japanese]] is based on moras, not [[TODO|syllables]]. One can think of spoken Japanese as being accompanied by a regular pulse with a constant tempo. Each beat corresponds to exactly one mora. Unlike syllables, which can be either short or long, moras always have the same length. This means that a single syllable can be comprised of one or more moras.

Pitch Accent#

English has a stress accent system in which each word has one syllable which is emphasized more than the rest by slightly increasing its length and volume. By contrast, [[index|Japanese]] has a pitch accent ((高低アクセント, kōtei akusento)) system. A [[Orthography and Phonology#Moras|mora]] is accented by pronouncing it with a high pitch followed by a drop in pitch on the next mora in the word. This drop in pitch is known as a downstep.

Each word has either no moras accented (unaccented words) or exactly one mora accented (accented words), which means that once tone falls from high to low, it cannot go back to high within the same word.

There are four fundamental patterns for the pitch accent which words may follow:

Sources#

1. Japanese Writing System - Wikipedia
2. Japanese Phonology - Wikipedia
3. Hiragana - Wikipedia
4. Katakana - Wikipedia
5. Kanji - Wikipedia
6. Furigana - Wikipedia
7. Ateji - Wikipedia
8. Pronunciation I: Vowels - IMABI
9. Pronunciation II: Consonants - IMABI
10. Pronunciation III: Pitch Accent & Devoicing - IMABI
11. Hiragana ひらがな - IMABI
12. Katakana カタカナ - IMABI
13. Kana III: Orthography - IMABI
14. Kanji Intro I - IMABI
15. Kanji Intro II - IMABI