Yotsugana

Yotsugana

nihongo|Yotsugana|四つ仮名|extra=lit. "four kana" refers to the four kanaジ, ヂ, ズ, ヅ (Nihon-shiki: ji, ji, zu, zu; Kunrei: zi, di, zu, du) of the Japanese language. Traditionally four distinct phonemes, currently they are either one, two, three, or four distinct phonemes depending on dialect. In the current dialect of Tokyo, it is two phonemes as represented in Hepburn romanization.

Modern kana usage

Historically, spelling differences between the four kanas remained even after the pairs of kanas were pronounced indistinguishably in Tokyo dialect. Shortly after the end of World War II, however, a new rule enforced the modern kana usage, or Gendai Kanazukai. The new kanazukai unified spellings to just two kanas, zi (ジ) and zu (ズ) with the exceptions of when there is rendaku (e.g. "kannaduki") and when a second duplicate kana is voiced (e.g. "tuduku", when an iteration mark may be used). An exception to this unification of spelling was permitted for regions that pronounced the four kanas as three or four phonemes. After a 1986 update to the Gendai Kanazukai, this exception was replaced with a statement that the unified spelling were to be primarily used, while still permitting etymologically correct spellings.

Modern regional dialects


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Modern kana usage — The modern kana usage (現代仮名遣い, Gendai Kanazukai?) is the present official kanazukai (system of spelling the Japanese syllabary). Also known as shin kanazukai (新仮名遣い, new kanazukai ), it is derived from the historical kana usage. Contents …   Wikipedia

  • Japanese dialects — Japanese Geographic distribution: Japan Linguistic classification: Japonic Japanese Subdivisions: Hachijō Eastern Japanese Western Japanese Kyūshū Satsugū …   Wikipedia

  • Kansai dialect — A label in Kansai ben. The advertisement, Iwashi o tabena akan!, translates as You must eat sardines! …   Wikipedia

  • Japanese language — Japanese 日本語 Nihongo Nihongo (Japanese) in Japanese script Pronunciation …   Wikipedia

  • Kanji — This article is about the Chinese characters used in Japanese writing. For other uses, see Kanji (disambiguation). Kanji (漢字;  listen) are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi[1] that are used in the modern …   Wikipedia

  • Kunrei-shiki romanization — Kunrei shiki rōmaji (訓令式ローマ字?, Cabinet ordered romanization system) is a Japanese romanization system, i.e. a system for transcribing the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet. It is abbreviated as Kunrei shiki. Its name is rendered… …   Wikipedia

  • Nihon-shiki romanization — Nihon shiki or Nippon shiki Rōmaji (Japanese: 日本式ローマ字, Japan style ; romanized as Nihon siki or Nippon siki in Nippon shiki itself) is a romanization system for transliterating the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet. In discussion about… …   Wikipedia

  • Man'yōgana — 万葉仮名 Type Syllabary Languages Japanese and Okinawan Time period ca 650 CE to ? …   Wikipedia

  • Japanese sound symbolism — An example of Japanese sound symbolism jaan! This article describes sound symbolic or mimetic words in the Japanese language. Most languages have such words; for example, bang , zap , ding , slither , pop , etc. in English. Sound symbolic words… …   Wikipedia

  • Okurigana — (送り仮名, accompanying letters?) are kana suffixes following kanji stems in Japanese written words. They serve two purposes: to inflect adjectives and verbs, and to disambiguate kanji with multiple readings. Okurigana are only used for kun yomi… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”