Hi! Today is the last lesson where we will
be talking about the hiragana symbols.
We will learn:
Japanese writing system
• which of the rows we have learned can become voiced
and which – unvoiced;
N.H. Issa
Senior lector at the Department of Japan Studies,
Faculty of Asian and African Studies
• how to mark the length of vowels and consonants in
writing;
• how to type Japanese characters using a keyboard.
Dakuten (濁点 だくてん, or 濁り にごり)
Handakuten (半濁点 はんだくてん,
or 半濁り はんにごり)
゛
°
The diacritical mark called HANDAKUTEN, or
HANNIGORI is also placed in the upper right corner
in hiragana or katakana script. It shows the unvoicing
of a consonant in the syllable, and is used to replace
the unvoiced consonant syllables of the [ H ]-row with [ P ].
This symbol is made up of two small dots (commas) which
are placed in the upper right corner of the square at the
symbol of hiragana or katakana. In Japanese, it is called
DAKUTEN, or NIGORI and means that the consonant in
this syllable is voiced.
Syllables with voiced consonants and [ P ]
[ pa ]
ぱ
[ bа ]
[ dа ]
だ
ざ
[ zа ]
[ gа ]
ぴ
び
ぢ
じ
ぎ
ぷ
ぶ
づ
ず
ぐ
[ pi ]
[ pu ]
ば
[ bi ]
[ bu ]
[ ji ]
[ zu ]
[ ji ]
[ zu ]
が
[ gi ]
[ gu ]
There are 4 rows that can be
voiced: ending in KA, SA, TA and
HA.
The consonants in these syllables
change into voiced ones: GA, ZA,
DA and BA.
The row ending in HA is also
unvoiced and sounds like PA.
Syllables with voiced and unvoiced consonants (within words)
げんき
がくせい
こども
healthy
student
child
ちず
たばこ
さんぽ
cigarettes
walk
[ genki ]
ぺ
べ
で
ぜ
げ
[ ge ]
[ chizu ]
ぽ
ぼ
ど
ぞ
ご
map
[ pe ]
[ po ]
[ be ]
[ bo ]
[ de ]
[ do ]
[ ze ]
[ zo ]
[ go ]
[ gakusei ]
[ tabako ]
[ kodomo ]
[ sampo ]
The N before the voiceless
consonant P changes to M
when we pronounce the
word.
う – symbol denoting a vowel’s length
In order to show that the vowels [U], [O] (including those which are within the syllables formed
with [YU] or [YO]) are long, we use the symbol う [ U ] from the third row of hiragana. It is placed
after the vowel that we want to make longer and is written in a separate square in full size.
However, there might be some exceptions when it comes to the sound [ O ], when it is written with
the letter お and other letters from the fifth line of the hiragana alphabet. In many words, which
are etymologically not Chinese, we can find out many cases of the [ O ] prolonged with お.
すうがく
ありがとう
つ – symbol denoting a consonant’s length
けっこん
れっしゃ
[ ressha ]
みっつ
[ mittsu ]
いっぱい
[ su:gaku ]
In order to make a consonant longer, we place the
symbol つ [ TSU ] in front of it. It is also written
in a separate square, but it does not occupy it
completely, and is placed in the lower left corner.
[ kekkon ]
[ ippai ]
For further information, please check the
[ arigatо: ]
additional materials.
ん – symbol denoting a consonant’s length
おんな
[ onna ]
はんのう
[ hanno: ]
In some Japanese words sound ん (we can roughly
call it ‘nasal [ n ]’), when it comes together with the
sounds [ n ] (regular ‘dental [ n ]’), and labial [ n ],
makes these sounds longer.
Syllables with iotized vowels
In addition to voiced and unvoiced syllables in Japanese, there are
syllables with soft consonants containing iotized vowels.
In the table you will see that all the iotized vowels are attached to
the second line of each row of the hiragana ending in the vowel I.
りゃ みゃ ぴゃ ひゃ にょ ちゃ しゃ きゃ
[ rya ]
[ mya ]
[ pya ]
[ hya ]
[ nya ]
[ cha ]
[ sha ]
[ kya ]
りゅ みゅ ぴゅ ひゅ にゅ ちゅ しゅ きゅ
[ ryu ]
[ myu ]
[ pyu ]
[ hyu ]
[ nyu ]
[ chu ]
[ shu ]
[ kyu ]
りょ みょ ぴょ ひょ にょ ちょ しょ きょ
[ ryo ]
Positioning a syllable with an iotized vowel
Iotized vowels are written in the lower left corner of a separate
square in small size.
If we take a look at the syllable GYA, we will see that the first
square contains a full-sized symbol GI and the iotized vowel YA is
placed in the second square.
In case of voicing or unvoicing of the syllable, the diacritical symbol
is placed in one square with the main syllable, and only then comes
the iotized vowel.
ぎ
[ myo ]
[ hyo ]
[ nyo ]
[ cho ]
[ sho ]
[ kyo ]
Syllables with iotized vowels (words)
ひゃく
きょねん
りょかん
100
last year
Japanese-style hotel
おちゃ
でんしゃ
ちゅうい
green tea
train
attention
[ hyaku ]
[ ocha ]
や
[ pyo ]
[ kyonen ]
[ densha ]
[ ryokan ]
[ chu:i ]
Typing syllables starting with voiced
and unvoiced consonants:
• [ К ] – Row
Latin [ G ]
• [ S ] – Row
Latin [ J ], [ Z ]
• [ D ] – Row
Latin [ D ]
• [ H ] – Row
Latin [ B ]
• [ H ] – Row
Latin [ P ]
Typing characters with iotized vowels
じゃ
にゅ
ぎょ
しゃ
St Petersburg
University
[ JA ]
[ NYU ]
[ GYO ]
[ SHA ]