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The , also known as , , , or Katakana-Hiragana Prolonged Sound Mark by the Unicode Consortium, is a Japanese symbol that indicates a ''chōon'', or a
The , also known as , , , or Katakana-Hiragana Prolonged Sound Mark by the Unicode Consortium, is a Japanese symbol that indicates a ''chōon'', or a long vowel
In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived length of a vowel sound: the corresponding physical measurement is duration. In some languages vowel length is an important phonemic factor, meaning vowel length can change the meaning of the word, ...
of two morae in length. Its form is a horizontal or vertical line in the center of the text with the width of one kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...
or kana
The term may refer to a number of syllabaries used to write Japanese phonological units, morae. Such syllabaries include (1) the original kana, or , which were Chinese characters ( kanji) used phonetically to transcribe Japanese, the most ...
character. It is written horizontally in horizontal text and vertically in vertical text (). The chōonpu is usually used to indicate a long vowel sound in 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 f ...
writing, rarely in hiragana
is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''.
It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contras ...
writing, and never in romanized Japanese. The ''chōonpu'' is a distinct mark from the dash, and in most Japanese typefaces it can easily be distinguished. In horizontal writing it is similar in appearance to, but should not be confused with, the kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...
character ("one").
The symbol is sometimes used with hiragana, for example in the signs of ramen
is a Japanese noodle dish. It consists of served in a broth; common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen has its roots in Chinese noodle di ...
restaurants, which are normally written /らあめん in hiragana, and ラーメン in katakana. Usually, however, hiragana does not use the ''chōonpu'' but another vowel kana to express this sound.
Ombiki may also be found after kanji as indication of phonetic, rather than phonemic, length of a vowel (as in "キョン君、電話ー").
The following table shows the usual hiragana equivalents used to form a long vowel, using the ''ha-gyō'' (the ''ha'', ''hi'', ''fu'', ''he'', ''ho'' sequence) as an example.
When rendering English words into katakana, the chōonpu is often used to represent a syllable-final sequence of a vowel letter + ''r'', which in English generally represents a long vowel if the syllable is stressed and a schwa if unstressed (in non-rhotic dialects such as Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent traditionally regarded as the standard and most prestigious form of spoken British English. For over a century, there has been argument over such questions as the definition of RP, whether it is geo ...
; in rhotic dialects (such as General American
General American English or General American (abbreviated GA or GenAm) is the umbrella accent of American English spoken by a majority of Americans. In the United States it is often perceived as lacking any distinctly regional, ethnic, or so ...
) it may additionally be an R-colored vowel). For example, both "ar" and "er" are usually represented by a long ''ā'' (aa) vowel, with the words "number" and "car" becoming (nanbā) and (kā).
In addition to Japanese, chōonpu are also used in Okinawan writing system
Okinawan, spoken in Okinawa Island, was once the official language of the Ryukyu Kingdom. At the time, documents were written in kanji and hiragana, derived from Japan.
Although generally agreed among linguists to be a distinct language, most ...
s to indicate two morae. The Sakhalin
Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh ...
dialect of Ainu also uses chōonpu in its katakana writing for long vowels.
Digital encoding
InUnicode
Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, ...
, the chōonpu has the value , which corresponds to JIS X 0208 kuten code point 01-28, encoded in Shift JIS as 815B. It is normally rendered fullwidth and with a glyph appropriate to the writing direction. The halfwidth compatibility form has the value , which is converted to Shift JIS value B0.
Other representations
Braille
Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displ ...
:
Footnotes
See also
*Sokuon
The is a Japanese symbol in the form of a small hiragana or katakana '' tsu''. In less formal language it is called or , meaning "small ''tsu''". It serves multiple purposes in Japanese writing.
Appearance
In both hiragana and katakana, ...
* Tsu (kana)
* Kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...
References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Choonpu Kana Japanese phonology Japanese writing system terms