Katakana
From Conservapedia
This entry makes use of Japanese characters and will require Japanese language support to be installed on your computer in order to avoid the characters being replaced by question marks, or blanked out.
Katakana (片仮名, かたかな or カタカナ - the fragmentary syllabary) is one of the three scripts used in writing the Japanese language, along with kanji and hiragana. Both katakana and hiragana are simplified Chinese characters adopted to form a phonetic syllabary.
Compared to the more flowing, cursive hiragana, katakana are characterized by angular corners and short, straight strokes. It is the simplest of the Japanese scripts.
The primary use of katakana is to transcribe new words imported from other languages, for which there are no kanji. However, as katakana, like hiragana, is a syllabary, the spelling of many Western words often has to be altered to conform to the vowel and consonant combinations. This has the result where English speakers, for example, cannot understand words that are supposed to have been derived from English. As a result, the use of katakana is extremely difficult for English speakers because they expect English words to sound like English, rather than seeing them as a word pronounced in a foreign language.
Examples of this would be the name Jessica, which is written as ジェッシカ in katakana and pronounced "Jes-shi-ka". Likewise, the popular anime and manga series "Gunslinger Girl" is written as "ガンスリンガー・ガール", which translates directly as "Gansuringā Gāru". This direct translation from the Japanese kana into roman letters is called romaji. The middle dot "・" (called a nakaguro) is sometimes used to separate foreign phrases.
Katakana is also used for onomatopoeia, such as the endearing "dokidoki (ドキドキ)" which represents the sound of a heartbeat, normally beating quickly due to excitement, fear or love. Technical and scientific terminology, such as the names of various plant and animal species, as well as minerals, are also written in katakana, as are some - but not all - Japanese company names, for example Toyota, which is written as "トヨタ".
Katakana can also be used in a sentence, to emphasise certain words, much as italics are in the roman alphabet.
Historically, katakana was used in official texts in place of manyogana, or in furigana, to show the phonetic pronunciations of Chinese characters, or hanzi. Thus, it once served the function that hiragana now serves.
Learning to read katakana is often complicated by the similarities between various characters. For example, "shi シ" and "tsu ツ" , and "so ソ" and "n ン", are very similar in appearance except for the slant and stroke shape. An example of how katakana can confuse learners is the word "gasoline", for which the katakana is "ガソリン (gasorin)". The similarity between the last three characters means it is important to note stoke shape and slant when writing by hand.
Contents |
The Basic Katakana Characters
| ア = a | イ = i | ウ = u | エ = e | オ = o | |
| カ = ka | キ = ki | ク = ku | ケ = ke | コ = ko | |
| サ = sa | シ = shi | ス = su | セ = se | ソ = so | |
| タ = ta | チ = chi | ツ = tsu | テ = te | ト = to | |
| ナ = na | ニ = ni | ヌ = nu | ネ = ne | ノ = no | |
| ハ = ha | ヒ = hi | フ = fu | ヘ = he | ホ = ho | |
| マ = ma | ミ = mi | ム = mu | メ = me | モ = mo | |
| ヤ = ya | ユ = yu | ヨ = yo | |||
| ラ = ra | リ = ri | ル = ru | レ = re | ロ = ro | |
| ワ = wa | ヲ = wo | ||||
| ン = n | |||||
The Voiced (“Muddied”) Consonants
As with hiragana, less clipped versions of the consonants are created by the addition of a dakuten (濁点), which resembles a single quotation mark ("), or handakuten (半濁点) which resembles a small circle (˚). The addition of these creates what is called a “voiced consonant” dakuri (濁り), which literally means “to become muddied.”
The effect of adding a dakuten is as follows:
- K consonants are pronounced as G
- S consonants are pronounced as Z (the exception being "shi", which is pronounced "ji".
- T consonants are pronounced as D (the exceptions being “chi” and “tsu” which are pronounced “zi” and “zu” respectively.)
- H consonants are pronounced as B
Adding a handakuten has the effect of changing the pronunciation of an H consonant to a P.
Table of Voiced Consonants
| ガ = ga | ギ = gi | グ = gu | ゲ = ge | ゴ = go |
| ザ = za | ジ = ji | ズ = zu | ゼ = ze | ゾ = zo |
| ダ = da | ヂ = zi | ズ = zu | デ = de | ド = do |
| バ = ba | ビ = bi | ブ = bu | ベ = be | ボ = bo |
| パ = pa | ピ = pi | プ = pu | ペ = pe | ポ = po |
Additional Sounds, the Small ア (a), イ (i), ウ (u), エ (e) and オ (o)
Due to the limitations of the sound set in hiragana, some new combinations have been devised over the years to account for sounds that were not originally in Japanese. Most notable is the lack of the "ti", "di", "tu" and "du" sounds (because of the "chi" and "tsu" sounds), as well as the lack of the "f" consonant sound except for "ふ".
The "sh", "j" and "ch" consonants are also missing for the "e" vowel sound. The decision to resolve these deficiencies was to add small versions of the five vowel sounds. In addition, the convention of using the little double slashes on the "ウ" vowel (ヴ) together with the small ア,イ, エ and オ to designate the "v" consonant has also been established but it is not often used, due to the fact that Japanese people still have difficulty pronouncing "v". For example, while "volume" would be expected to be pronounced with a "v" sound, the Japanese have opted for the easier to pronounce "bolume" (ボリューム). In the same way, vodka is written as "wokka" (ウォッカ) and not (ヴォッカ). Violin can be written as either "バイオリン" or "ヴァイオリン", but it does not matter, however, because almost all Japanese people will pronounce it with a "b" sound anyway.
The following table shows the added sounds that were previously lacking.
Table of Additional Sounds
| ファ = fa | ヴァ = va | |||
| ティ = ti | ディ = di | フィ = fi | ウィ = wi | ヴィ = vi |
| トゥ = tu | ドゥ = du | ヴ = vu | ||
| シェ = she | ジェ = je | チェ = che | ||
| フェ = fe | ウェ = we | ヴェ = ve | ||
| フォ = fo | ウォ = wo | ヴォ = vo |
The Small ヤ (ya), ユ (yu) and ヨ (yo) Sounds
These are added to consonants to create a “-ya”, “-yo”, or “-yu” sound. For example, キ is pronounced “ki”, but キヤ is pronounced “kya”, not “ki-ya”.
Table of Possible ヤ (ya), ユ (yu) and ヨ (yo) Sounds
| ヤ = ya | ユ = yu | ヨ = yo |
| キヤ = kya | キユ = kyu | キヨ = kyo |
| シャ = sya or sha | シュ = syu or shu | ショ = syo or sho |
| チャ = tya or cha | チュ = tyu or chu | チョ = tyo or cho |
| ニャ = nya | ニュ = nyu | ニョ = nyo |
| ヒャ = hya | ヒュ = hyu | ヒョ = hyo |
| ミャ = mya | ミュ = myu | ミョ = myo |
| リャ = rya | リュ = ryu | リョ = ryo |
| ギャ = gya | ギュ = gyu | ギョ = gyo |
| ジャ = ja | ジュ = ju | ジョ = jo |
| ビャ = bya | ビュ = byu | ビョ = byo |
| ピャ = pya | ピュ = pyu | ピョ = pyo |
The Small "tsu ッ"
A small “ッ” is inserted between two characters to carry the consonant sound of the second character to the end of the first character, in effect doubling the pronunciation of the consonant immediately following the “ッ”. Again, this is best explained by way of an example:
"Bed" would be written as "ベッド", which is pronounced as "bed-do".
It applies primarily to the consonants "p", "t", "s" and "k".
The Long Vowel Sound
The long vowel sound simply extends the duration of a vowel sound. You can extend the vowel sound of a character by adding either “a(ア)”, “i (イ)” or “u (ウ)” depending on the preceding vowel, as follows:
- “a”, add another “a (ア)”
- ”i” or “e”, add an “i (イ)”
- “u” or “o”, add a “u (ウ)”
However, katakana has simplified the written form of the long vowel, indicating its use by a simple dash, "ー".
To use the example at the beginning of this entry, if you wanted to create an extended vowel sound from ga (ガ), you would add an ア sound, but write is as "ガー". Hence, the "gāru" (ガール) is pronounced "ga-a-ru".
An exception to this is where "e" is followed by "(イ)". This is pronounced "ay" (as in "acorn") rather than a long "e" sound. This is as a result of the blurring between the "e" and "i" sounds.
Examples of Katakana Words
Translating English words into Japanese is a knack that requires quite a bit of practice and luck. To give you a sense of how English words become 'Japanified', here are a few examples of words in katakana. Sometimes the words in katakana may not even be correct English or have a different meaning from the English word it's supposed to represent. An example of this would be "bloomer", which most would associate with Victorian-era undergarments. However, in Japan it has become "ブルマー (bu-ru-ma-a)" and refers specifically to the shorts worn by schoolgirls during physical education classes.
Of course, not all katakana words are derived from English.
| English | Katakana | Romaji |
| America | アメリカ | A-me-ri-ka |
| Russia | ロシア | Ro-shi-a |
| Cheating | カンニング | Kan-nin-gu (actually "Cunning") |
| Tour | ツアー | Tsu-a-a |
| Company Employee | サラリーマン | Sa-ra-ri-i-man (actually "Salaryman") |
| Mozart | モーツァルト | Mo-o-tsu-a-ru-to |
| Sofa | ソファ | So-fa |
| Merry Christmas | メリークリスマス | Me-ri-i Ku-ri-su-ma-su |
| Halloween | ハロウィーン | Ha-ro-wi-i-n |
| French fries | フライドポテト | Fu-ra-i-do Po-te-to (actually "Fried Potato") |
