Katakana

Katakana developed from the maneghana , apparently, it was invented by Japanese Buddhist monks at the beginning of the Heian period (VIII-IX centuries) ^[3] . Initially, the katakana performed a service role similar to cursive, later it turned into an independent writing system ^[4] .

Until 1946, kakakana was used for recording by cigarettes (after the reform, hiragana began to do this). Today, katakana write down borrowed words adapted to Japanese phonetics .

Alphabet

It is read traditionally from top to bottom and from right to left. The rules below cover most transcription cases and allow, with a certain skill, to translate any entry into the Katakana alphabet, which is based on English (European) vocabulary.

In total, there are 46 basic katakana characters and several abolished ones (ヰvi , ヱve and, possibly, another for transmitting a y-shaped sound, ). In the table, they are ordered in a manner similar to a gojuon . On the basis of the basic ones, its extension ( yoong ) and additions are constructed for transmitting the pronunciation of borrowed words ( gairaigo ) during their transliteration . Below is a complete table of Katakana characters with their transliteration according to the Polivanov system . ^[5] In the first section, a standard katakana is compiled (the characters highlighted in gray are considered obsolete and almost never used; the characters highlighted in green are modern additions to the katakana (for example, for sounds that are not in the Japanese language or to distinguish the necessary sounds from not differentiated syllables, such as tichi), used mainly to represent some sounds of other languages ; and the symbols highlighted in red are canceled).

Notes to the table.

¹ The Japanese sound “cb” ([ ɕ ]) is similar to something between the Russian “cb” ([ s ʲ ]) and “щ” ([ ɕ ː ])) ( more ... ).

² The Japanese do not distinguish between the sounds “t” ([ t ʲ ]) and “h” ([ t͡ɕ ]) ( more ... ); in the 4th and 21st lines in the syllable チ the consonant is closer in sound to the Russian sound “h”, in the 24th - the solid “t”; To align the pronunciation of foreign words by discretizing Japanese syllables (mainly for foreigners), additions to the Katakana have been created (see lines 21 and 24); to align the pronunciation with "t" and "c" - lines 24 and 26.

³ In the 4th line in the syllable フ the consonant is closer in sound to the Russian sound [ f ], in the rest - to [ x ]; additional syllables have been created to even out the pronunciation of foreign words (see line 27).

⁴ The syllables ヰvi and ヱve were discontinued to simplify kana during isolation.

⁵ A single post-syllable consonant “n”, which is characterized by the adoption of the mouth shape of a subsequent consonant, before “k” and “g” is pronounced [г], before “m”, “p” and “b” are usually pronounced and transcribed as “m” "( More ... ).

⁶ The sound [ v ] is difficult for the Japanese to pronounce, therefore syllables containing “in” - wa (ヴ ァ), vi (ヴ ィ), wu (ヴ), ve (ヴ ェ) and vo (ヴ ォ) - are usually pronounced (and sometimes recorded), as syllables are not with the sound “v”, but with the sound “y” - ya (ウ ァ) , yi (ウ ィ), y (ウ), ue (ウ ェ) and yo (ウ ォ) ^[8] .

⁷ These now unused characters were found in some textbooks during the Meiji era, but were never widespread ^{[9] [10]} .

In Unicode, the main characters of the Katakana occupy the code positions from U + 30A0 to U + 30FF:

The sign U + 30A0 ゠ katakana-hiragana double hyphen is a double hyphen . U + 30FB ・ katakana middle dot - Interpoint , U + 30FC ー katakana-hiragana prolonged sound mark - taeon . U + 30FD ヽ katakana iteration mark and U + 30FE ヾ katakana voiced iteration mark are odoriji signs. U + 30FF ヿ katakana digraph koto - double sign コ ト ( koto ).

• Hiragana
• Romaji
• Polivanov system
• Hieroglyphs
• Japanese
• Japanese calligraphy
• Japanese dictionaries

• Japanese syllable alphabet Katakana
• Why do the Japanese gairaigo?
• Japanese writing. The alphabet of Katakana (Russian) . Date of treatment December 22, 2010.