4.2. Hiragana table


A table of the hiraganas is called (go)(zi)(small yu)(u)(o)(n)(zu) /gozyuu o'nzu/, which means a fifty-sound chart in Japanese. It contains all the hiraganas except for ones with voiced sound marks, ones with semi-voiced sound marks, and small hiraganas (/Q/ and double hiraganas). Since Japanese characters are ordinarily written vertically from top to bottom, the table items are written in that way. The lines are written from right to left.

Each hiragana is shown with its pronunciation, which may be different from its phoneme.

nwarayamahanatasakaa
(n)
n		(wa)
wa		(ra)
ra		(ya)
ya		(ma)
ma		(ha)
ha*1		(na)
na		(ta)
ta		(sa)
sa		(ka)
ka		(a)
a		a
(wi)
i*2		(ri)
ri		(mi)
mi		(hi)
hyi		(ni)
nyi		(ti)
chi		(si)
shi		(ki)
ki		(i)
i		i
(ru)
ru		(yu)
yu		(mu)
mu		(hu)
fu		(nu)
nu		(tu)
tsu		(su)
su		(ku)
ku		(u)
u		u
(we)
e*2		(re)
re		(me)
me		(he)
he*1		(ne)
ne		(te)
te		(se)
se		(ke)
ke		(e)
e		e
(wo)
o*1		(ro)
ro		(yo)
yo		(mo)
mo		(ho)
ho		(no)
no		(to)
to		(so)
so		(ko)
ko		(o)
o		o

*1: There are special single-syllable words with these kanas.
*2: These two kanas are not used in modern Japanese.

This is an additional table that contains hiraganas with voiced sound marks and semi-voiced sound marks:

pabadazaga
(pa)
pa		(ba)
ba		(da)
da		(za)
dza		(ga)
ga		a
(pi)
pi		(bi)
bi		(di)
ji		(zi)
ji		(gi)
gi		i
(pu)
pu		(bu)
bu		(du)
dzu		(zu)
dzu		(gu)
gu		u
(pe)
pe		(be)
be		(de)
de		(ze)
dze		(ge)
ge		e
(po)
po		(bo)
bo		(do)
do		(zo)
dzo		(go)
go		o


Consonant groups are called (gi)(small yo)(u) (/gyo'u/), which means lines in Japanese, and vowel groups are called (da)(n) (/da'n/), which means columns. So the hiragana (si) (/si/) is the hiragana of (sa)(gi)(small yo)(u) (i)(da)(n) (/sa'gyou i'dan/ = /sa/ line, /i/ column). The hiragana (n) (/N/) is the only exception; it doesn't belong to a vowel column because it has no vowel.

Voiced sound marks and semi-voiced sound marks have no effect on the order of characters in dictionaries. So (ha), (ba), and (pa) have the same order. Small hiraganas also have the same order as ordinary ones. So (ya) and (small ya) have the same order.

As you know, some of the hiraganas have different pronunciations from what you might expect them to have. You may think the vowel /i/ works almost like /yi/. Linguists call it palatalization. That's why /si/ becomes "shi", /ti/ becomes "chi", etc. In fact, the hiragana (ki) /ki/ is pronounced like "kyi". I don't use the spelling "kyi" as its pronunciation because it is not so different from "ki".


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