CJKV Information Processing, 2nd Edition

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Chapter 2: Writing Systems and Scripts

Hiragana characters in JIS standardsTable 2-19.

Standard Characters

JIS X 0208:1997









JIS X 0213:2004

󰘗󰘘󰘙󲙒󲙓󲙔󲙕󲙖

Note how these characters have a cursive or calligraphic look to them (cursive and cal-

ligraphic refer to a smoother, handwritten style of characters). Keep these shapes in mind

while we move on to katakana.

Katakana

Katakana ( katakana), like hiragana, is a syllabary, and with minor exceptions,

they represent the same set of sounds as hiragana. eir modern usage, however, dif-

fers from hiragana. Where hiragana are used to write native Japanese words, katakana

are primarily used to write words of foreign origin, called gairaigo ( gairaigo), to

write onomatopoeic words,

*

to express “scientic” names of plants and animals, or for

emphasis—similar to the use of italics to represent foreign words and to express emphasis

in English. For example, the Japanese word for bread is written  and is pronounced

pan. It was borrowed from the Portuguese word pão, which is pronounced sort of like

pown. Katakana are also used to write foreign names. Table 2-20 illustrates the basic and

extended katakana syllabary.

e katakana syllabaryTable 2-20.

K S T N H M Y R W G Z D B P

A

              

I

             

U

           