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Katakana
カタカナ
Type Syllabary
Spoken languages Japanese, Okinawan and Ainu
Time period ~800 A. A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent (or approximate Syllables which make up Words A symbol in a syllabary typically represents an optional is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities Okinawan (Uchināguchi 沖縄口 Japanese ja ウチナーグチ, ʔucināguci) is a Ryukyuan language spoken in Japan on the southern island of The Ainu language (Ainu ain アイヌ イタク aynu itak; Japanese: ja アイヌ語 ainu-go) is spoken by the Ainu D. to the present
Parent systems Kanji
 → Man'yōgana
  → Katakana
カタカナ
Sister systems Hiragana, Hentaigana
Unicode range U+30A0–U+30FF
ISO 15924 Kana
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with Hiragana (ひらがな 平仮名 Katakana is an ancient Writing system which employs Chinese characters to represent the Japanese language. is a Japanese Syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with Katakana and Kanji; the Latin alphabet are alternative Kana letterforms equivalent to standard kana characters Unicode ’s ISO 15924, Codes for the representation of names of scripts, defines two sets of codes for a number of Writing systems (scripts In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's

Katakana (片仮名, カタカナ or かたかな?) is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet. is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent (or approximate Syllables which make up Words A symbol in a syllabary typically represents an optional The modern Japanese writing system uses three main scripts Kanji, characters of Chinese origin, Hiragana is a Japanese Syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with Katakana and Kanji; the Latin alphabet are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with Hiragana (ひらがな 平仮名 Katakana The word katakana means "fragmentary kana," as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Kana is a general term for the syllabic Japanese scripts Hiragana (ひらがな and Katakana (カタカナ as well as the old system

Katakana are characterized by short, straight strokes and angular corners, and are the simplest of the Japanese scripts.

There are two main systems of ordering katakana: the old-fashioned iroha ordering, and the more prevalent gojūon ordering. Kana is a general term for the syllabic Japanese scripts Hiragana (ひらがな and Katakana (カタカナ as well as the old system This article refers to the Japanese poem For the video game character see Iroha (Samurai Shodown. The gojūon (五十音 is a Japanese ordering of Kana. Gojū (五十 means "fifty" and on (音 as in on'yomi

Contents

Usage

Japanese writing Japanese writing

Kanji

Kana

Uses

Rōmaji

In modern Japanese, katakana are most often used for transcription of words from foreign languages (called gairaigo). The modern Japanese writing system uses three main scripts Kanji, characters of Chinese origin, Hiragana are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with Hiragana (ひらがな 平仮名 Katakana Kana is a general term for the syllabic Japanese scripts Hiragana (ひらがな and Katakana (カタカナ as well as the old system is a Japanese Syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with Katakana and Kanji; the Latin alphabet are alternative Kana letterforms equivalent to standard kana characters is an ancient Writing system which employs Chinese characters to represent the Japanese language. is a Japanese reading aid consisting of smaller Kana printed next to a Kanji or other character to indicate its Pronunciation. are Kana suffixes following Kanji stems in Japanese written words The romanization of Japanese or ( is the use of the Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language. Transcription is the conversion into written typewritten or printed form of a Spoken language source such as the proceedings of a court hearing Gairaigo (外来語 is Japanese for " loan word " or "borrowed word" and indicates a Transliteration (or "transvocalization" For example, "television" is written terebi (テレビ?). Similarly, katakana is usually used for country names, foreign places, and personal names. For example America is written アメリカ Amerika (America also has its own kanji (ateji) Amerika (亜米利加?) or for short, Beikoku (米国?) which literally means "Rice Country"). The United States of America —commonly referred to as the are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with Hiragana (ひらがな 平仮名 Katakana In modern Japanese, are Kanji used phonetically to represent native or borrowed words

Katakana are also be used for onomatopoeia, words used to represent sounds; for example pinpon (ピンポン?), the "ding-dong" sound of a doorbell, would usually be written in katakana. Onomatopoeia (also spelled onomatopœia, from Greek: ονοματοποιΐα is a Word or a grouping of words that imitates the sound it is describing

Technical and scientific terms, such as the names of animal and plant species and minerals, are also commonly written in katakana. In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. A mineral is a naturally occurring substance formed through geological processes that has a characteristic chemical composition a highly ordered atomic structure and specific

Katakana are also often, but not always, used for transcription of Japanese company names. For example Suzuki is written スズキ, and Toyota is written トヨタ. is a Multinational corporation headquartered in Hamamatsu Japan that specializes in manufacturing compact automobiles a full range of Motorcycles All-Terrain (pronounced) is a Multinational corporation headquartered in Japan, and is currently the world's largest Automaker. Katakana are also used for emphasis, especially on signs, advertisements, and hoardings (i. In Typography, emphasis is the exaggeration of words in a text with a font in a different style from the rest of the text&mdashto emphasise them e. , billboards). For example, it is common to see ココ koko ("here"), ゴミ gomi ("trash") or メガネ megane ("glasses"), and words to be emphasized in a sentence are also sometimes written in katakana, mirroring the European usage of italics. In Typography, italic type /ɪˈtælɪk/ or /aɪˈtælɪk/ refers to cursive Typefaces based on a stylized form of calligraphic Handwriting.

Pre-World War II official documents mix katakana and kanji in the same way that hiragana and kanji are mixed in modern Japanese texts, that is, katakana were used for okurigana and particles such as wa or o. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including are Kana suffixes following Kanji stems in Japanese written words Japanese particles, or, are suffixes or short words in Japanese grammar that immediately follow the modified noun verb adjective or sentence

Katakana were also used for telegrams in Japan before 1988, and for computer systems - before the introduction of multibyte characters - in the 1980s. Most computers in that era used katakana instead of kanji and/or hiragana for output.

Although words borrowed from ancient Chinese are usually written in kanji, loanwords from modern Chinese dialects which are borrowed directly rather than using the Sino-Japanese on'yomi readings, are often written in katakana. Sino-Japanese or Kango (ja [[wikt漢語 漢語]] in Japanese, refers to that portion of the Japanese vocabulary that originated in the are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with Hiragana (ひらがな 平仮名 Katakana Examples include:

The very common Chinese loanword ラーメン (rāmen) is rarely written with its kanji 拉麺. is a Japanese Noodle dish that originated in China. It tends to be served in a meat-based broth and uses toppings such as,, Kamaboko, green onions

There are rare cases where the opposite has occurred, with kanji forms created from words originally written in katakana. An example of this is コーヒー (kōhī), "coffee", which can be alternatively written as 珈琲. CoFFEE is an Open source Software for computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL in a digital classroom This kanji usage is occasionally employed by coffee manufacturers or coffee shops for novelty.

Katakana are sometimes used instead of hiragana as furigana to give the pronunciation of a word written in Roman characters, or for a foreign word, which is written as kanji for the meaning, but intended to be pronounced as the original. is a Japanese Syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with Katakana and Kanji; the Latin alphabet is a Japanese reading aid consisting of smaller Kana printed next to a Kanji or other character to indicate its Pronunciation.

Katakana are also sometimes used to indicate words being spoken in a foreign or otherwise unusual accent, by foreign characters, robots, etc. For example, in a manga, the speech of a foreign character or a robot may be represented by, for example, コンニチワ (konnichiwa, meaning "hello") instead of the more usual hiragana こんにちは (konnichiwa). ˈmɑŋgə is the Japanese word for Comics (sometimes called komikku コミック and print Cartoons In their modern form manga date from shortly

Katakana are also used to indicate the on'yomi (Chinese-derived readings) of a kanji in a kanji dictionary. are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with Hiragana (ひらがな 平仮名 Katakana are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with Hiragana (ひらがな 平仮名 Katakana Japanese dictionaries have a history that began over 1300 years ago when Japanese Buddhist priests who wanted to understand Chinese Sutras adapted Chinese character

Some Japanese personal names are written in katakana. in modern times usually consist of a Family name ( Surname) followed by a Given name. This was more common in the past, hence elderly women often have katakana names.

It is very common to write words with difficult-to-read kanji in katakana. This phenomenon is often seen with medical terminology. Medical terminology is a vocabulary for accurately describing the Human body and associated components conditions processes and process in a science-based manner For example, in the word 皮膚科 hifuka (dermatology), the second kanji, 膚, is considered difficult to read, and thus the word hifuka is commonly written as 皮フ科 or ヒフ科, mixing kanji and katakana. Dermatology (from Greek grc δέρμα derma, "skin" and grc -λογία -logia) is a branch of Medicine dealing with Similarly, difficult-to-read kanji such as 癌 gan (cancer) are often written in katakana or hiragana. Cancer (medical term Malignant Neoplasm) is a class of Diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled

Katakana is also used for traditional musical notations, as in the Tozan-ryū of shakuhachi, and in sankyoku ensembles with koto, shamisen, and shakuhachi. A Ryū (流 literally "flow" with the derived meaning of "mainstream" or ryūha (流派 literally "mainstream school (of thought" The is a Japanese end-blown Flute. Its name means "18 feet" referring to its size Sankyoku ( 三[[wiktionary 曲|曲]] often romanized sankyōku) is a type of three-member Japanese traditional musical ensemble The koto ( 琴 or 箏) is a traditional Japanese stringed Musical instrument derived from the Chinese Zither ( Guzheng The shamisen or samisen ( Japanese: 三[[wiktionary 味|味]] 線, literally "three flavor strings" also called sangen (literally

Orthography

Foreign phrases are sometimes transliterated with a middle dot called nakaguro (中黒?) or a space separating the words. An interpunct ( ·) is a small dot used for Interword separation in ancient Latin script, being perhaps the first consistent visual representation of word boundaries However, in cases where it is assumed that the reader knows the separate gairaigo words in the phrase, the middle dot is not used. For example, the phrase コンピュータゲーム ("konpyūta gēmu," or "computer game"), containing two very well-known gairaigo, is not written with a middle dot.

Katakana spelling differs slightly from hiragana. While hiragana spells long vowels with the addition of a second vowel kana, katakana usually uses a vowel extender mark called a chōon. In Linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a Vowel sound The, also known as,, or Katakana-Hiragana Prolonged Sound Mark by the Unicode Consortium is a Japanese symbol which indicates a chōon This mark is a short line following the direction of the text, horizontal in yokogaki, or horizontal text, and vertical in tategaki, or vertical text. Many East Asian scripts can be written horizontally or vertically. Many East Asian scripts can be written horizontally or vertically. However, it is more often used when writing foreign loanwords; long vowels in Japanese words written in katakana are usually written as they would be in hiragana. There are exceptions such as ローソク(蝋燭)(rōsoku)(candle) or ケータイ(携帯)(kētai)(mobile phone).

A small tsu ッ called a sokuon indicates a geminate consonant, which is represented in rōmaji by doubling the following consonant. The is a Japanese symbol consisting of a small Hiragana or Katakana tsu. In Phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken Consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short Consonant. The romanization of Japanese or ( is the use of the Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language. For example, bed is written in katakana as ベッド (beddo).

The sokuon is sometimes used in places which have no equivalent in native sounds. For example, double-h in place of "ch" is common in German names. Bach, for example, comes out as バッハ (Bahha); Mach is マッハ (Mahha). The doubling of the "h" in Bach and Mach (via use of the underlying small tsu) is probably the kana that best fits those German names.

Related sounds in various languages are hard to express in Japanese, so Khrushchev becomes フルシチョフ (Furushichofu). Ali Khamenei is アリー・ハーメネイー (Arī Hāmeneī). The Japanese Wikipedia has references to both イツハク・パールマン (Itsuhaku Pāruman) and イツァーク・パールマン (Itsāku Pāruman), Itzhak Perlman. Itzhak Perlman (born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli American Violin Virtuoso, conductor, and Pedagogue

Table of katakana

This is a table of katakana together with their Hepburn romanization. The is named after James Curtis Hepburn, who used it to transcribe the sounds of the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet in the third edition of his Japanese–English Katakana with dakuten or handakuten follow the gojūon kana without them. colloquially ten-ten ("dot dot" is a Diacritic sign most often used in the Japanese Kana syllabaries to indicate that the Consonant The gojūon (五十音 is a Japanese ordering of Kana. Gojū (五十 means "fifty" and on (音 as in on'yomi Characters in red are obsolete, and characters in green are modern additions, used mainly to represent sounds from other languages. Learning to read katakana is often complicated by the similarities between different characters. For example, shi シ and tsu ツ , as well as so ソ and n ン , look very similar in print except for the slant and stroke shape. (These differences in slant and shape are more prominent when written with an ink brush. Ink brushes ( in Japanese fude) are used in Chinese calligraphy. )

vowels yōon
ア a イ i ウ u エ e オ o ya yu yo
カ ka キ ki ク ku ケ ke コ ko キャ kya キュ kyu キョ kyo
サ sa シ shi ス su セ se ソ so シャ sha シュ shu ショ sho
タ ta チ chi ツ tsu テ te ト to チャ cha チュ chu チョ cho
ナ na ニ ni ヌ nu ネ ne ノ no ニャ nya ニュ nyu ニョ nyo
ハ ha ヒ hi フ fu ヘ he ホ ho ヒャ hya ヒュ hyu ヒョ hyo
マ ma ミ mi ム mu メ me モ mo ミャ mya ミュ myu ミョ myo
ヤ ya ユ yu ヨ yo
ラ ra リ ri ル ru レ re ロ ro リャ rya リュ ryu リョ ryo
ワ wa ヰ wi ヱ we ヲ wo 1
ン n
ガ ga ギ gi グ gu ゲ ge ゴ go ギャ gya ギュ gyu ギョ gyo
ザ za ジ ji ズ zu ゼ ze ゾ zo ジャ ja ジュ ju ジョ jo
ダ da ヂ (ji) ヅ (zu) デ de ド do ヂャ (ja) ヂュ (ju) ヂョ (jo)
バ ba ビ bi ブ bu ベ be ボ bo ビャ bya ビュ byu ビョ byo
パ pa ピ pi プ pu ペ pe ポ po ピャ pya ピュ pyu ピョ pyo
イェ ye
ヴァ va ヴィ vi ヴ vu ヴェ ve ヴォ vo ヴャ vya ヴュ vyu ヴョ vyo
シェ she
ジェ je
チェ che
スィ si
ズィ zi
ティ ti トゥ tu テュ tyu
ディ di ドゥ du デュ dyu
ツァ tsa ツィ tsi ツェ tse ツォ tso
ファ fa フィ fi ホゥ hu フェ fe フォ fo フュ fyu
2 yi 2 ye
ウィ wi 2 wu ウェ we ウォ wo
(クヮ) クァ kwa クィ kwi クェ kwe クォ kwo
(グヮ) グァ gwa グィ gwi グェ gwe グォ gwo
1: ヲ ("wo") sounds the same as オ ("o"), but it's rarely used except when the corresponding hiragana has to be represented in an all-katakana environment. is a feature of the Japanese language in which a mora is formed with an added {{IPA|[j]}} sound あ in Hiragana or ア in Katakana ( romanised a) is one of the Japanese Kana that each represent one mora い in hiragana or イ in katakana ( romanised i) is one of the Japanese Kana each of which represents one mora. う in Hiragana or ウ in Katakana ( romanised u) is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora In Japanese writing, the Kana え ( Hiragana) and エ ( Katakana) ( romanised e) occupy the fourth place In Japanese writing, the Kana お ( Hiragana) and オ ( Katakana) occupy the fifth place between え and か か, in Hiragana, or カ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. き, in Hiragana, キ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. く, in Hiragana, or ク in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. け, in Hiragana, or ケ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. こ, in Hiragana, or コ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. さ, in Hiragana, or サ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. し, in Hiragana, or シ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. す, in Hiragana, or ス in Katakana is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. せ, in Hiragana, or セ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. そ, in Hiragana, or ソ, in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. た, in Hiragana, or タ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. ち, in Hiragana, or チ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. つ, in Hiragana, or ツ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. て, in Hiragana, or テ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. と, in Hiragana, or ト in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. へ, in Hiragana, or ヘ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. に, in Hiragana, or ニ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. ほ, in Hiragana, or ホ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. ね, in Hiragana, or ネ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. ま, in Hiragana, or マ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. は, in Hiragana, or ハ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represent one mora ひ, in Hiragana, or ヒ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. ふ, in Hiragana, or フ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. へ, in Hiragana, or ヘ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. ほ, in Hiragana, or ホ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. ま, in Hiragana, or マ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. み, in Hiragana, or ミ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. む, in Hiragana, or ム in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. め, in Hiragana, or メ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. も, in Hiragana, or モ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. や, in Hiragana, or ヤ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. ゆ, in Hiragana, or ユ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. よ, in Hiragana, or ヨ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. ら, in Hiragana, or ラ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. り, in Hiragana, or リ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represent one mora. る, in Hiragana, or ル in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represent one mora. れ, in Hiragana, or レ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. ろ, in Hiragana, or ロ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. わ, in Hiragana, or ワ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. ゐ, in Hiragana, or ヰ in Katakana, is an obsolete Japanese Kana, each of which represent one mora. ゑ, in Hiragana, or ヱ in Katakana, is an obsolete Japanese Kana, each of which represent one mora. ん, in Hiragana, or ン in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. か, in Hiragana, or カ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. き, in Hiragana, キ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. く, in Hiragana, or ク in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. け, in Hiragana, or ケ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. こ, in Hiragana, or コ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. さ, in Hiragana, or サ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. し, in Hiragana, or シ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. す, in Hiragana, or ス in Katakana is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. せ, in Hiragana, or セ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. そ, in Hiragana, or ソ, in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. た, in Hiragana, or タ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. ち, in Hiragana, or チ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. つ, in Hiragana, or ツ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. て, in Hiragana, or テ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. と, in Hiragana, or ト in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. は, in Hiragana, or ハ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represent one mora ひ, in Hiragana, or ヒ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. ふ, in Hiragana, or フ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. へ, in Hiragana, or ヘ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. ほ, in Hiragana, or ホ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. は, in Hiragana, or ハ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represent one mora ひ, in Hiragana, or ヒ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, which each represent one mora. ふ, in Hiragana, or フ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. へ, in Hiragana, or ヘ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. ほ, in Hiragana, or ホ in Katakana, is one of the Japanese Kana, each of which represents one mora. In Japanese writing, the Kana お ( Hiragana) and オ ( Katakana) occupy the fifth place between え and か is a Japanese Syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with Katakana and Kanji; the Latin alphabet
2: These katakana were introduced into the education system in the early Meiji period, but never became widespread. The, or Meiji era, denotes the 45-year reign of the Meiji Emperor, running in the Gregorian calendar, from 23 October 1868 to 30 July [1] [2]

History

Katakana was developed in the early Heian Period from parts of man'yōgana characters as a form of shorthand. The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. is an ancient Writing system which employs Chinese characters to represent the Japanese language. For example, ka カ comes from the left side of ka 加 "increase". The table below shows the origins of each katakana: the red markings of the original Chinese character eventually became each corresponding symbol. A Chinese character, also known as a Han character ( is a Logogram used in writing Chinese (hanzi Japanese (

Computer encoding

In addition to fonts intended for Japanese text and Unicode catch-all fonts (like Arial Unicode MS), many fonts intended for Chinese text also include katakana (such as MS Song). In digital Typography, the TrueType font Arial Unicode MS is an extended version of the font Arial.

Katakana have two forms of encoding, halfwidth hankaku (半角?) and fullwidth zenkaku (全角?). WikipediaFootnotes for details 1 Assign your footnote a unique name for example The halfwidth forms come from JIS X 0201 originally. JIS X 0201, a Japanese Industrial Standard developed in 1969 (then called JIS C 6220 until the JIS category reform was the first Japanese Character encoding This includes halfwidth katakana in right side area of ASCII. American Standard Code for Information Interchange ( ASCII) That is, most halfwidth katakana could be represented by one byte each. In the late 1970s, two-byte character sets such as JIS X 0208 were introduced to represent hiragana, kanji, and other characters. JIS X 0208 is a Japanese Industrial Standard defining a set of Kanji indexed by a pair of integers from 1 to 94 (this is known as the kuten pair of the JIS_X_0208 has its own katakana area independently of one-byte character set such as JIS_X_0201. katakana of JIS_X_0208 takes two-byte (at least), so many (especially old) devices output these katakana as two-byte-width. This is why katakana of JIS_X_0201 is called halfwidth and JIS_X_0208, fullwidth. Therefore, most encodings have no halfwidth hiragana.

Although often said to be obsolete, in fact the halfwidth katakana are still used in many systems and encodings. For example, the titles of mini discs can only be entered in ASCII or halfwidth katakana, and halfwidth katakana were commonly used in computerized cash register displays, on shop receipts, and Japanese digital television and DVD subtitles. A MiniDisc ( MD) is a Magneto-optical disc-based Data storage device initially intended for storage of up to 80 minutes of digitized audio Several popular Japanese encodings such as EUC-JP, Unicode and Shift-JIS have halfwidth katakana code as well as fullwidth. Extended Unix Code ( EUC) is a multibyte Character encoding system used primarily for Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese. In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's By contrast, ISO-2022-JP has no halfwidth katakana, and is mainly used over SMTP and NNTP. ISO 2022, more formally ISO/IEC 2022 "Information Technology—Character code structure and extension techniques" is an ISO standard (equivalent to the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol ( SMTP) is a De facto standard for electronic mail (e-mail transmissions across the Internet. The Network News Transfer Protocol or NNTP is an Internet application protocol used primarily for reading Halfwidth katakana are commonly used to save memory space.

Unicode

In Unicode, fullwidth katakana occupy code points U+30A0 to U+30FF [3]:

    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
30A   ゠ ァ ア ィ イ ゥ ウ ェ エ ォ オ カ ガ キ ギ ク
30B   グ ケ ゲ コ ゴ サ ザ シ ジ ス ズ セ ゼ ソ ゾ タ
30C   ダ チ ヂ ッ ツ ヅ テ デ ト ド ナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ ハ
30D   バ パ ヒ ビ ピ フ ブ プ ヘ ベ ペ ホ ボ ポ マ ミ
30E   ム メ モ ャ ヤ ュ ユ ョ ヨ ラ リ ル レ ロ ヮ ワ
30F   ヰ ヱ ヲ ン ヴ ヵ ヶ ヷ ヸ ヹ ヺ ・ ー ヽ ヾ ヿ

Encoded in this block along with the katakana are the nakaguro word separation middle dot, the chōon vowel extender, the katakana iteration marks, and a ligature of コト sometimes used in vertical writing. In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's An interpunct ( ·) is a small dot used for Interword separation in ancient Latin script, being perhaps the first consistent visual representation of word boundaries Iteration marks are characters or punctuation that represent a duplicated character or word

Halfwidth equivalents to the fullwidth katakana also exist. These are encoded within the Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms block (U+FF00–U+FFEF) [4], starting at U+FF65 and ending at U+FF9F (characters U+FF61–U+FF64 are halfwidth punctuation marks):

    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
FF6   ｠ ｡ ｢ ｣ ､ ･ ｦ ｧ ｨ ｩ ｪ ｫ ｬ ｭ ｮ ｯ
FF7   ｰ ｱ ｲ ｳ ｴ ｵ ｶ ｷ ｸ ｹ ｺ ｻ ｼ ｽ ｾ ｿ
FF8   ﾀ ﾁ ﾂ ﾃ ﾄ ﾅ ﾆ ﾇ ﾈ ﾉ ﾊ ﾋ ﾌ ﾍ ﾎ ﾏ
FF9   ﾐ ﾑ ﾒ ﾓ ﾔ ﾕ ﾖ ﾗ ﾘ ﾙ ﾚ ﾛ ﾜ ﾝ ﾞ ﾟ

This block also includes the halfwidth dakuten and handakuten. The fullwidth versions of these characters are found in the hiragana block.

Code points 32D0 to 32FE list circled katakana. Note: A circled ン is missing

    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
32D   ㋐ ㋑ ㋒ ㋓ ㋔ ㋕ ㋖ ㋗ ㋘ ㋙ ㋚ ㋛ ㋜ ㋝ ㋞ ㋟
32E   ㋠ ㋡ ㋢ ㋣ ㋤ ㋥ ㋦ ㋧ ㋨ ㋩ ㋪ ㋫ ㋬ ㋭ ㋮ ㋯
32F   ㋰ ㋱ ㋲ ㋳ ㋴ ㋵ ㋶ ㋷ ㋸ ㋹ ㋺ ㋻ ㋼ ㋽ ㋾

Katakana uses in non-Japanese languages

Ainu

Main article: Ainu language#Writing

Katakana is sometimes used to write the Ainu language. The Ainu language (Ainu ain アイヌ イタク aynu itak; Japanese: ja アイヌ語 ainu-go) is spoken by the Ainu The Ainu language (Ainu ain アイヌ イタク aynu itak; Japanese: ja アイヌ語 ainu-go) is spoken by the Ainu In Ainu language katakana usage, the consonant that comes at the end of a syllable is represented by a small version of a katakana that corresponds to that final consonant and with an arbitrary vowel. For instance "up" is represented by ウㇷ゚ (ウプ—u followed by small pu). Ainu also requires three additional sounds, represented by セ゜ ([tse]), ツ゜ ([tu̜]) and ト゜ ([tu̜]). In Unicode, the Katakana Phonetic Extensions block (U+31F0–U+31FF) [5] exists for Ainu language support. These characters are used mainly for the Ainu language only:

    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
31F   ㇰ(ク) ㇱ(シ) ㇲ(ス) ㇳ(ト) ㇴ(ヌ) ㇵ(ハ) ㇶ(ヒ) ㇷ(フ) ㇸ(ヘ) ㇹ(ホ) ㇺ(ム) ㇻ(ラ) ㇼ(リ) ㇽ(ル) ㇾ(レ) ㇿ(ロ)

Taiwanese

Main article: Taiwanese kana

Taiwanese kana (タイ ヲァヌ ギイ カア ビェン) is a katakana-based writing system once used to write Holo Taiwanese, when Taiwan was ruled by Japan. Taiwanese kana (タイ ヲァヌ ギイ カア ビェン is a Katakana -based Writing system once used to write Holo Taiwanese, when Taiwan A writing system is a type of Symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in Language. Taiwan ( Taiwanese: Tâi-oân/Tāi-oân (historically 大灣/台員/大員/台圓/大圓/台窩灣 is an Island in East Asia. The Japanese colonial period, Japanese rule or the Imperial Japanese occupation, in the context of Taiwan 's history refers to the period between For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. It functioned as a phonetic guide to hanzi, much like furigana in Japanese or Zhuyin fuhao in Chinese. A Chinese character, also known as a Han character ( is a Logogram used in writing Chinese (hanzi Japanese ( is a Japanese reading aid consisting of smaller Kana printed next to a Kanji or other character to indicate its Pronunciation. is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities There were similar systems for other languages in Taiwan as well, including Hakka and Formosan languages.

Unlike Japanese or Ainu, Taiwanese kana are used similarly to the Zhùyīn fúhào characters, with kana serving as initials, vowel medials and consonant finals, marked with tonal marks. A dot below the initial kana represented aspirated consonants, and チ, ツ, サ, セ, ソ, ウ and オ with a superpositional bar represented sounds found only in Taiwanese.

Example transcriptions of katakana and foreign languages

Medicine

Katakana Rōmaji Source word
ビタミン bitamin vitamin (de)
ミネラル mineraru mineral (en)
カルシウム karushiumu calcium (la)
ホルモン horumon hormone (en)

Computing

Katakana Rōmaji Source word Kanji and other words
マウス mausu mouse (en)
キーボード kībōdo keyboard (en)
ディスプレイ disupurei display (en) 画面 gamen
ポインタ pointa pointer (en)
プログラミング puroguramingu programming (en)
ソフトウェア sofutowea software (en)
ハードウェア hādowea hardware (en)
オペレーティング・システム operētingu shisutemu operating system (en) 基本ソフト kihonsofuto; OS ōesu
インターネット intānetto Internet (en)
ウェブ webu Web (en)

Personal names

from English names
Katakana Rōmaji Source name
ジョン jon John (en)
ジョージ jōji George (en)
マリー marī Marie (en)
マイケル maikeru Michael (en)
ピーター pītā Peter (en)
スコット sukotto Scott (en)
from German names
Katakana Rōmaji Source name
マリア maria Maria (de)
ミハエル, ミヒャエル mihaeru, mihyaeru Michael (de)

Regions

Katakana Rōmaji Source name Kanji
アフリカ afurika Africa (en) 阿弗利加 Afurika
アメリカ amerika America (en) 亜米利加 Amerika
アジア ajia Asia (en) 亜細亜 Ajia
ヨーロッパ yōroppa Europa (pt) 欧羅巴 Yōroppa
欧州 Ōshū
ラテンアメリカ raten amerika Latin America (en) 中南米 Chūnanbei
オセアニア oseania Oceania (en) 大洋州 Taiyōshū

Nations

Katakana Rōmaji Source name English name
アルゼンチン aruzenchin Argentina (en) Argentina
ブラジル burajiru Brasil (pt) Brazil
ブルガリア burugaria България, Balgariya (bg) Bulgaria
カナダ kanada Canada (en) Canada
チェコ cheko Česko (cs) Czech Republic
イギリス igirisu Inglês (pt) England
フィンランド finrando Finland (en) Finland
フランス furansu France (fr) France
ドイツ doitsu Deutschland (de) Germany
オランダ oranda Holanda (pt) Holland (The Netherlands)
インド indo India (en) India
インドネシア indoneshia Indonesia (id) Indonesia
アイルランド airurando Ireland (en) Ireland
イタリア itaria Italia (it) Italy
リトアニア ritoania Lithuania (en) Lithuania
マレーシア marēshia Malaysia (ms) Malaysia
メキシコ mekishiko Mexico (en) Mexico
フィリピン firipin Pilipinas (fil) Philippines
ポーランド pōrando Poland (en) Poland
ポルトガル porutogaru Portugal (pt) Portugal
ルーマニア rūmania România (ro) Romania
ロシア roshia Росси́я, Rossiya (ru) Russia
シンガポール shingapōru Singapore (en) Singapore

Cities

Katakana Rōmaji Source name English name
ベルファスト berufasuto Belfast (en) Belfast
ベルリン berurin Berlin (de) Berlin
ブエノスアイレス buenosu airesu Buenos Aires (es) Buenos Aires
シカゴ shikago Chicago (en) Chicago
ハノイ hanoi Hà Nội (vi) Hanoi
ホンコン honkon 香港 (zh) Hong Kong
リスボン risubon Lisbon (en) Lisbon
ロンドン rondon London (en) London
ロサンゼルス rosanzerusu Los Angeles (en) Los Angeles
マドリッド madoriddo Madrid (es) Madrid
マニラ manira Manila (en) Manila
モスクワ mosukuwa Москва, Moskva (ru) Moscow
ニューヨーク nyū yōku New York (en) New York
パリ pari Paris (fr) Paris
プラハ puraha Praha (cs) Prague
ローマ rōma Roma (it) Rome
サンフランシスコ sanfuranshisuko San Francisco (en) San Francisco
シアトル shiatoru Seattle (en) Seattle
シドニー shidonī Sydney (en) Sydney
トロント Toronto Toronto (en) Toronto
ワシントン washinton Washington (en) Washington

See also

External links

The romanization of Japanese or ( is the use of the Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language. The romanization of Japanese or ( is the use of the Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language. are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with Hiragana (ひらがな 平仮名 Katakana An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a Computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination The romanization of Japanese or ( is the use of the Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language. The romanization of Japanese or ( is the use of the Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language. The romanization of Japanese or ( is the use of the Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language. are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with Hiragana (ひらがな 平仮名 Katakana The romanization of Japanese or ( is the use of the Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language. The romanization of Japanese or ( is the use of the Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language. This article deals with the Phonology (ie the sound system of the Japanese language. is a Japanese Syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with Katakana and Kanji; the Latin alphabet The refers to a Kanazukai (system of spelling the Japanese syllabary) that is antiquated because it is no longer in accord with the Japanese pronunciation The romanization of Japanese or ( is the use of the Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language. Taiwanese kana (タイ ヲァヌ ギイ カア ビェン is a Katakana -based Writing system once used to write Holo Taiwanese, when Taiwan

Dictionary

katakana

-noun

  1. (uncountable) A Japanese syllabary used when writing words borrowed from foreign languages other than Chinese, specific names of plants and animals and other jargon, or to emphasize a word or phrase.
  2. A letter thereof
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