Hiragana
Hiragana syllables developed from Chinese characters, as shown below. Hiragana were originally called onnade or 'women's hand' as were used mainly by women - men wrote in kanji and katakana.
By the 10th century, hiragana were used by everybody. The word hiragana means "oridinary syllabic script".
In early versions of hiragana there were often many different characters to represent the same syllable, however the system was eventually simplified so that there was a one-to-one relationship between spoken and written syllables. The present orthography of hiragana was codified by the Japanese government in 1946.
Hiraganas are divided into three groups. Shown below are three hiragana charts for 3 hiragana groups. Please note that 3rd hiragana group (3rd Hiranaga Chart) is made of combination letters.
In early versions of hiragana there were often many different characters to represent the same syllable, however the system was eventually simplified so that there was a one-to-one relationship between spoken and written syllables. The present orthography of hiragana was codified by the Japanese government in 1946.
Hiraganas are divided into three groups. Shown below are three hiragana charts for 3 hiragana groups. Please note that 3rd hiragana group (3rd Hiranaga Chart) is made of combination letters.
Hiragana Chart 1
Exceptions:
[ha] is pronounced "wa" when it is immediately follows the subject. It is usually only pronounced "ha" when it is a part of a word.[he] is pronounced "e" when it immediately follows a place or direction. Both of these are very simple to detect.
Hiragana Chart 2
Hiragana Chart 3
Katakana
Origin
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. At first there
were many different symbols to represent one syllable of spoken Japanese, but over the years the system was streamlined. By the 14th century, there was a more or less one-to-one correspondence between spoken and written syllables.
The word katakana "part (of kanji) syllabic script". The "part" refers to the fact that katakana characters represent parts of kanji.
The word katakana "part (of kanji) syllabic script". The "part" refers to the fact that katakana characters represent parts of kanji.
Characteristics and usage of katakana
The katakana syllabary consists of 48 syllables and was originally considered "men's writing". Since the 20th century, katakana have been used mainly to write non-Chinese loan words, onomatopoeic words, foreign names, in telegrams and for emphasis (the equivalent of bold, italic or upper case text in English). Before the 20th century all foreign loanwords were written with kanji.
Katakana are also used to write Ainu, a language spoken on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
Katakana are also used to write Ainu, a language spoken on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
All Katakana alphabets are divided into three groups. Shown below are three katakana charts for 3 katakana groups. Please note that 3rd katakana group (i.e. 3rd Katakana Chart) is made of combination letters
Katakana Chart 1
Kathakana Chart 2
Katakana Chart 3
