Hiragana
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Hiragana is one of the systems used to write Japanese, along with Katakana and Kanji. Hiragana is an almost completely phonemic syllabary, consisting of 46 syllables. With the use of diacritics and special rules, a greater number of sounds can be represented.
Hiragana originated from cursive hand Chinese characters which were simplified until they became the forms curently in use. Hiragana were developed for use by women, who were not taught Kanji.
It is possible to write Japanese completely in Hiragana. This practise is common in books for children and foreign learners. However, preference is given to using Kanji whenever possible, so Hiragana is basically used for particles and grammatical endings. Sometimes small hiragana characters are used along with Kanji to show the pronunciation of rare Kanji. These small characters appear above or at the side of the Kanji. In this case, these characters are called Furigana (振り仮名).
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Basic Hiragana syllables
The table below lists the basic Hiragana syllabary, consisting of 46 symbols:
| A | I | U | E | O | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| あ | い | う | え | お | |
| K | か | き | く | け | こ |
| S | さ | し* | す | せ | そ |
| T | た | ち* | つ* | て | と |
| N | な | に | ぬ | ね | の |
| H | は* | ひ | ふ* | へ | ほ |
| M | ま | み | む | め | も |
| Y | や | ゆ | よ | ||
| R | ら | り | る | れ | ろ |
| W | わ | (ゐ)* | (ゑ)* | を* | |
| N | ん* | ||||
Notes:
- し (si) is pronounced ɕi (and often written "shi" in roman letters).
- ち (ti) is pronounced tɕi (and often written "chi" in roman letters).
- つ (tu) is pronounced tsɯ (and often written "tsu" in roman letters).
- ふ (hu) is pronounced ɸɯ (and often written "fu" in roman letters).
- は (ha) is used to represent the topic marker particle, which is actually pronounced [wa]. In all other cases, it is pronounced as [ha].
- ひ (hi) is pronounced çi.
- ゐ (wi) and ゑ (we) are no longer used. Words which used to include them now use い (i) or え (e), respectively.
- を (wo) is often pronounced o. It is only used in the direct object indicator particle, and often this is written as "o".
- ん (n), despite its position in the table, does not represent "na", but rather the sound "n" alone. It does not appear the the beginning of words. The phonetic realization varies based on the position in a word; for example, in 信号 (shingou) "traffic light" it is pronounced [ŋ]; in 本田 (honda) "family name Honda" it is pronounced [n].
Diacritics
Two diacritics change allow other sounds. Here is the table of the syllables with diacritics:
| A | I | U | E | O | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | が | ぎ | ぐ | げ | ご |
| Z | ざ | じ* | ず* | ぜ | ぞ |
| D | だ | ぢ* | づ* | で | ど |
| B | ば | び | ぶ | べ | ぼ |
| P | ぱ | ぴ | ぷ | ぺ | ぽ |
As you may have noted, the two strokes ゛, called dakuten, tend to make the consonant voiced (except for "h", which becomes "b"). The circle ゜, called handakuten is only applied to "h", and makes it change into "p".
Notes:
- Both じ (zi) and ぢ (di) are pronounced ʑi (and often written "ji" in roman letters). じ is much more common, and in some cases has replaced a prior ぢ (for example, in 世界中 (sekaijuu) "the whole world," a compound made of 世界 (sekai) "world" and 中 (chuu) "center"), but the symbols are not interchangeable.
- Similarly, both ず (zu) and づ (du/dzu) are pronounced zɯ (and often written this way). ず is much more common, and in some cases has replaced a prior づ, but the symbols are not interchangeable.
Palatized consonants
To indicate a palatized consonant, a hiragana of the "-i" series is used, followed by one of the "y-" series, written smaller. The following table shows this:
| きゃ kya | きゅ kyu | きょ kyo |
| ぎゃ gya | ぎゅ gyu | ぎょ gyo |
| しゃ sha | しゅ shu | しょ sho |
| じゃ ja | じゅ ju | じょ jo |
| ちゃ cha | ちゅ chu | ちょ cho |
| にや nya | にゅ nyu | によ nyo |
| ひゃ hya | ひゅ hyu | ひょ hyo |
| びゃ bya | びゅ byu | びょ byo |
| ぴゃ pya | ぴゅ pyu | ぴょ pyo |
| みゃ mya | みゅ myu | みょ myo |
| りゃ rya | りゅ ryu | りょ ryo |
Double consonants and long vowels
Double consonats are written with a small tsu (っ) before the consonant. Thus, the city of Sapporo would be written in Hiragana as さっぽろ.
In hiragana, long vowels are written with an extra vowel sound after the syllable. (Compare with Katakana.) In the case of syllables ending in "o", the additional vowel is usually u (う); o (お) is much less frequent but does occur. In the case of syllables ending in "e," the additional vowel is usually "i," but again there are exceptions.
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