Class Session 2a
Chapter 1
•
Pronunciation Practice
•
The Japanese Written Language (Information Only)
The Japanese Writing System
Basic Hiragana
Particles (wa, o, e)
The Diacritics ˚ (plosive) and " (voicing)
Long Vowels
Double Consonants (ā, ii, ū, ē, ō)
Palatalized Sounds (kya, myo, ryu)
Katakana
Kanji
Punctuation and Format
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
1
Pronunciation Practice – Unvoiced Sounds
あ A
い I
う U
え E
お O
か KA
き KI
く KU
け KE
こ KO
さ SA
し SHI
す SU
せ SE
そ SO
た TA
ち CHI
つ TSU
て TE
と TO
な NA
に NI
ぬ NU
ね NE
の NO
は HA
ひ HI
ふ FU
へ HE
ほ HO
ま MA
み MI
む MU
め ME
も MO
や YA
-
ゆ YU
-
よ YO
ら RA
り RI
る RU
れ RE
ろ RO
わ WA
ゐ* (W)I
-
ゑ* (W)E
を WO
んN
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
2
Pronunciation Practice – Voiced Sounds
が GA
ぎ GI
ぐ GU
げ GE
ご GO
ざ ZA
じ JI
ず ZU
ぜ ZE
ぞ ZO
だ DA
**ぢ DJI
**づ DZU
で DE
ど DO
ば BA
び BI
ぶ BU
べ BE
ぼ BO
ぱ PA
ぴ PI
ぷ PU
ぺ PE
ぽ PO
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
3
Pronunciation Practice – Palatalized Sounds
ゃ YA
ゅ YU
ょ YO
きゃ KYA
きゅ KYU
きょ KYO
しゃ SHA
しゅ SHU
しょ SHO
ちゃ CHA
ちゅ CHU
ちょ CHO
にゃ NYA
にゅ NYU
にょ NYO
ひゃ HYA
ひゅ HYU
ひょ HYO
みゃ MYA
みゅ MYU
みょ MYO
りゃ RYA
りゅ RYU
りょ RYO
ぎゃ GYA
ぎゅ GYU
ぎょ GYO
じゃ JA
じゅ JU
じょ JO
ぢゃ DJA
ぢゅ DJU
ぢょ DJO
びゃ BYA
びゅ BYU
びょ BYO
ぴゃ PYA
ぴゅ PYU
ぴょ PYO
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
4
The Japanese Writing System
Japanese writing consists of three different systems: kanji, hiragana, and katakana
Kanji
(literally, Han Chinese characters) logographic characters
Hiragana
A syllabic writing system
Katakana
A syllabic writing system
All three systems are routinely used in writing Japanese:
私は中国とアメリカに行います。
(kanji, hiragana, katakana)
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
5
Kanji Characters 漢字
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Japanese was originally not a written language
Kanji were introduced from China through Korea around the 5th Century AD by Korean
scribes who could write Chinese
In order to write Japanese, one had to learn (a form of) Chinese; writing was limited to the
educated elite
Over time, kanji were adapted to more directly represent the Japanese language
Japanese and Chinese are linguistically unrelated languages
Using Chinese characters to represent Japanese was a long and difficult process
Today, written Chinese and written Japanese are two different systems, although they use
some of the same characters
Language reforms in 1947, 1972, and 1981 resulted in a list of 2,135 “common use”
chararacters (常用漢字, jōyō kanji)
Many more characters must be learned to read older material
Kanji characters are used to represent concrete meanings conveyed by nouns, verbs,
adjectives and adverbs
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
6
Kanji
• Kanji characters were developed in China 4000-5000 years ago
• Each kanji represents meaning rather than sound
• Many kanji have both a Chinese and a Japanese pronunciation
• Most of the simple kanji were created from pictures
• More complicated kanji were created by combining two or more simple kanji into a
single character
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
7
Example Kanji Characters
食 N5154
Dictionary
reference
number
物 N2857
SHOKU JIKI eat; food
on-yomi (sound reading) and basic character meaning
ta(beru) to eat
4 different kun-yomi (native reading)
ha(mu) to eat (fodder, grass, etc) (archaic)
ku(rau) to eat or drink (vulgar)
part in ( ) written in hiragana
ku(u) to eat (vulgar)
BUTSU MOTSU thing, matter; object
mono thing; object
Normally, the native reading is using when the character is written alone; the sound reading is
normally used when two or more characters are used together (but there are many exceptions)
食物
shokumotsu – food
食物
tabemono – food (normally written 食べ物)
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
8
Hiragana 平仮名
•
Created from cursive forms of kanji characters used phonetically to represent Japanese
sounds during the Heian Period (794-1192)
•
Each symbol represents a syllable sound rather than a meaning (a syllabary)
•
Used to represent grammatical items (verb endings and particles) and words that are not
written in kanji or katakana
•
Here is a sample sentence written normally, then in only hiragana:
私は中国とアメリカに行います。
わたしはちゅうごくとあめりかにいきます。
•
There are 46 basic hiragana characters, two diacritics and a few conventions (discussed
shortly)
•
You can write anything in Japanese using hiragana
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
9
Katakana 平仮名
• Katakana are the angular-shaped syllabic characters derived from parts of kanji
characters (kata means “side”)
• The katakana syllabary was derived from abbreviated Chinese characters used by
Buddhist monks to indicate the correct pronunciations of Chinese texts in the 9th
century.
• Also consists of 46 basic characters, two diacritics, and some different conventions
than are used with hiragana
• Used for foreign words, words that mimic sounds, scientific names of plants and
animals, and to put emphasis on words
• Some new conventions have been developed to better represent foreign sounds
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
10
Basic Hiragana
Unvoiced Sounds
あ
A
い
I
う
U
え
E
お
O
か
KA
き
KI
く
KU
け
KE
こ
KO
さ
SA
し
SHI
す
SU
せ
SE
そ
SO
た
TA
ち
CHI
つ
TSU
て
TE
と
TO
な
NA
に
NI
ぬ
NU
ね
NE
の
NO
は
HA
ひ
HI
ふ
FU
へ
HE
ほ
HO
ま
MA
み
MI
む
MU
め
ME
も
MO
や
YA
ゆ
YU
よ
YO
ら
RA
り
る
RU
RE
ろ
RO
わ
WA
ゐ (W)I
(W)E
を
WO
ん
N
RI
-
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
-
れ
ゑ
11
Particles (wa, o, e)
Convention used in the syllabaries (hiragana and katakana) include the use of the following
symbols for particles:
ha (は and ハ) is used for the particle wa
(w)o (をand ヲ)is used for the particle o
he (へ and ヘ) is used for the particle e
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
12
The Diacritics " (voicing) and ˚ (plosive)
Two diacritic marks are added to the right, upper corner of some of the basic kana
characters to represent sounds added to Japanese speech:
The voicing marker ″ changes the initial voiceless consonant of the syllable to its
voiced counterpart. For example:
ka か becomes が ga
ki き becomes ぎ gi
ku く becomes ぐ gu
ke け becomes ge げ
ko こ becomes go ご
The plosive mark is added to ha, hi, fu, he or ho to convert them to syllables with
The consonant ‘p’
ha は becomes pa ぱ
hi ひ becomes pi ぴ
fu ふ becomes pu ぷ
he へ becomes pe ぺ
ho ほ becomes po ぽ
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
13
Hiragana Long Vowels
Two hiragana characters are used to represent long vowels:
Putting a あafter ka か represents kā かあ
Putting u う after o お represents ō (sometimes romanized as ou or oo)
Putting i い after e え usually represents ē (ええ may also be used)
A long i sound is usually represented by ii (rather than ī )
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
14
Double Consonants
Double consonants are represented by a small tsu つ (hiragana) or ツ (katakana)
Kitte (stamp) and kekkon (marriage) include a double consonant and are written in hiragana
as
き って
けっこん
The tsu is not pronounced but represents the brief pause (a glottal stop) before
the next consonant
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
15
Palatalized Sounds (kya, myo, ryu)
Palatized sounds (such as kya, kyu, kyo ) are represented by the kana character
that represents the initial consonant plus the vowel i and a small-sized character
ya, yu, or yo (hiragana や ゆ よ and katakana ヤ ユ ヨ)
hiragana
katakana
kyō (today) is written as
きょう
(キョウ)
kaisha (company) is written as
かいしゃ
(カイシャ )
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
16
ア
a
カ
ka
サ
sa
タ
ta
ナ
na
ハ
ha
マ
ma
ヤ
ya
ラ
ra
ワ
wa
ン
n
Katakana Unvoiced Sounds
イ ウ エ オ
u e o
i
キャ キュ
キ ク ケ コ
kya kyu
ki ku ke ko
シャ シュ
シ ス セ ソ
sha shu
shi su se so
チャ チュ
チ ツ テ ト
cha chu
chi tsu te to
ニャ ニュ
ニ ヌ ネ ノ
nya nyu
ni nu ne no
ヒャ ヒュ
ヒ フ ヘ ホ
hya hyu
hi fu he ho
ミャ ミュ
ミ ム メ モ
mi mu me mo mya myu
ヨ
ユ
----yo
yu
リャ リュ
リ ル レ ロ
rya ryu
ri ru re ro
ヲ
---- -- -(w)o
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
キョ
kyo
ショ
sho
チョ
cho
ニョ
nyo
ヒョ
hyo
ミョ
myo
-リョ
ryo
--
17
Punctuation and Format
• Japanese is written vertically, top-to-bottom and right-to-left
• Japanese is also written horizontally, left-to-right
• No spaces are used between words
• Common punctuation marks include:
。 period
、comma
「 」 quotation marks
• No question mark is needed (but ? is sometimes used)
• Except for the period, there are no strict rules on using punctuation
Japanese 1100-L02a-07-08-2012
18