Ya (
hiragana
is a Japanese language, Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''.
It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' means "common" or "plain" kana (originally also "easy", ...
: や,
katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji).
The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...
: ヤ) is one of the Japanese
kana
are syllabary, syllabaries used to write Japanese phonology, Japanese phonological units, Mora (linguistics), morae. In current usage, ''kana'' most commonly refers to ''hiragana'' and ''katakana''. It can also refer to their ancestor , wh ...
, each of which represents one
mora. The hiragana is written in three strokes, while the katakana is written in two. Both represent . Their shapes have origins in the character 也.
When small and preceded by an -i kana, this kana represents a
palatalization of the preceding consonant sound with the vowel (see
yōon
The is a feature of the Japanese language in which a mora is formed with an added sound, i.e., palatalized, or (more rarely in the modern language) with an added sound, i.e. labialized.
''Yōon'' are represented in hiragana using a kana end ...
).
や can be used by itself as a
grammatical particle
In grammar, the term ''particle'' ( abbreviated ) has a traditional meaning, as a part of speech that cannot be inflected, and a modern meaning, as a function word (functor) associated with another word or phrase in order to impart meaning. Alth ...
to connect words in a nonexhaustive list (see
Japanese particles#ya).
Stroke order
Stroke order is the order in which the strokes of a Chinese character are written. A stroke is a movement of a writing instrument on a writing surface.
Basic principles
Chinese characters are logograms constructed with strokes. Over the ...
Other communicative representations
* Full Braille representation
The yōon characters ゃ and ャ are encoded in Japanese Braille by prefixing "-a" kana (e.g.
Ka,
Sa) with a yōon braille indicator, which can be combined with the "Dakuten" or "Handakuten" braille indicators for the appropriate consonant sounds.
*
Computer encodings
References
Specific kana
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