
Kana
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55
e following are some notes to accompany Table 2-20:
Several katakana have smaller versions, and are as follows (the standard version is in •
parentheses): (), (), (), (), (), (), (), (), (),
(), (), and ().
Two katakana, • and , are no longer commonly used.
e katakana • is read as o, not wo.
e katakana • is considered an independent syllable, and is pronounced approxi-
mately ng.
Katakana were derived by extracting a single portion of a whole kanji, and, like hiragana,
no longer carry the meaning of the kanji from which they were derived. If you compare
several of these characters to some kanji, you may recognize common shapes. Table 2-20
lists the basic katakana characters, along with the kanji from which they were derived.
Table 2-21 enumerates the katakana characters that are included in the JIS X 0208:1997
and JIS X 0213:2004 character set standards. As shown in the table, those in JIS X
0208:1997 are in Row 5, and those in JIS X 0213:2004 are in Plane 1, but spread across
Rows 5 through 7.
Katakana characters in JIS standardsTable 2-21.
Standard Row Characters
JIS X 0208:1997 5
JIS X 0213:2004
5
6
7
Katakana, unlike hiragana, have a squared, more rigid feel to them. Structurally speaking,
they are quite similar ...