6 ms·

Not a native speaker, but this is still wrong, Hiragana is just like Katakana, each character is a syllable (more or less, n is a bit special in both sets). The

Not a native speaker, but this is still wrong, Hiragana is just like Katakana, each character is a syllable (more or less, n is a bit special in both sets). There's a 1:1 mapping between Hiragana, Katakana and syllables that exist in Japanese. Kanji (Chinese-style characters) aren't phonetic on the other hand, they map to several different sounds, and several Kanjis may map to the same sound (not necessarily a single syllable).

xigency 10y ago
To contest your point of a 1:1 mapping, there are hentaigana which are older than the obsolete characters in both hiragana and katakana. Interestingly enough, these are not supported in Unicode. Additionally, depending on context, hiragana might not have a phonological reading. See the object marker 'wo'. Katakana is usually phonological, except for the same usage of object marker. In summary, someone who says "Hiragana can form pictures but Katakana can only form sounds" is either a philosopher who practices calligraphy or misinformed.
- TazeTSchnitzel 10y ago
  > To contest your point of a 1:1 mapping, there are hentaigana which are older than the obsolete characters in both hiragana and katakana. Technically yes, but they don't matter. The modern hiragana and katakana syllabaries have intentional symmetry. Anything written in one can be written in the other, and is (stylistic unorthodox choices of syllabary, old or limited computers where only one set is available, Japanese Braille which makes no such distinction, etc.) > Additionally, depending on context, hiragana might not have a phonological reading. This can also be true of katakana in some situations.
  - kobeya 10y ago
    They're not strict character-level substitutions for each other (see: katakana long syllable marker), but non-pedantically your point does stand.
    - TazeTSchnitzel 10y ago
      The chōonpu (long vowel marker) can be used for hiragana too, but it's not how words are usually spelled. Likewise, you can use hiragana-style long vowels in katakana.

xigency 10y ago

To contest your point of a 1:1 mapping, there are hentaigana which are older than the obsolete characters in both hiragana and katakana. Interestingly enough, these are not supported in Unicode. Additionally, depending on context, hiragana might not have a phonological reading. See the object marker 'wo'. Katakana is usually phonological, except for the same usage of object marker. In summary, someone who says "Hiragana can form pictures but Katakana can only form sounds" is either a philosopher who practices calligraphy or misinformed.

TazeTSchnitzel 10y ago
> To contest your point of a 1:1 mapping, there are hentaigana which are older than the obsolete characters in both hiragana and katakana. Technically yes, but they don't matter. The modern hiragana and katakana syllabaries have intentional symmetry. Anything written in one can be written in the other, and is (stylistic unorthodox choices of syllabary, old or limited computers where only one set is available, Japanese Braille which makes no such distinction, etc.) > Additionally, depending on context, hiragana might not have a phonological reading. This can also be true of katakana in some situations.
- kobeya 10y ago
  They're not strict character-level substitutions for each other (see: katakana long syllable marker), but non-pedantically your point does stand.
  - TazeTSchnitzel 10y ago
    The chōonpu (long vowel marker) can be used for hiragana too, but it's not how words are usually spelled. Likewise, you can use hiragana-style long vowels in katakana.