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 Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 1:03 pm
the kanji website says you never write Wa,  you always write "Ha" so if thats true, why do we even have "wa" ? poor wa crying
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 2:56 pm
What website was this? I imagine they ment that the particle "wa" is always written with the character for "ha," the reason for that, I'm not sure.
わたしはローレンです。
watashi wa(writen with a ha) rooren desu.
I am Lauren
The same thing occures with the particle e, which is actually written with the hiragana for "he"
for some reason, the particle o ended up with it's own special character, apparently because it was once pronounced "wo"
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 8:41 am
it was kanji.com, you might be right about the difference between particle and peice of word, but still, it brings up an issue on the hiragana side of things thats pretty odd.
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 10:16 am
The particles in Japanese kept their historical Japanese spelling when they updated the orthography, and are pronounced with how they have been said in the vernacular for hundreds of years. That is why the particles wa (spelled with ha), e (spelled with he) and o (spelled with wo) are written they way they are. In the past-- these particles were said with the pronunciation that is reflected in their spelling, but that's no longer the case. Particles are one issue where rekishiteki kanazukai (historical kana usage) has not been completely eradicated in modern Japanese.
Also, by keeping the historical spellings for these particles (like wo) it's easier to spot them in a sentence. A kanji followed by the hiragana ha is most likely pronounced as wa, and its dead give away that it's the topic of the sentence.
If it helps you to think of this as a spelling quirk not dissimilar to the knight/knife (originally those Ks were pronounced in those words, but have been dropped in modern pronunciation) issue in English, then think of it that way.
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Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 7:56 pm
Wouldn't you use these for watashi? If it isn't a particle?
Or maybe...since those words will probably be in kanji...they can be used in furigana... smile
I don't know. I'm just starting to learn the language
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Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 1:21 pm
MistuhFieryCat Wouldn't you use these for watashi? If it isn't a particle? Or maybe...since those words will probably be in kanji...they can be used in furigana... smile I don't know. I'm just starting to learn the language The wa in watashi would be written with the hiragana wa, NOT hiragana ha. The issue being discussed is the historical quirk involved with the pronunciation of the particle in context of the updated orthography. For more information pertaining to the details of the historical kana usage (rekishiteki kanazukai) please check the resources linked below. It should help you understand why these pronunciations still exist. http://www.answers.com/topic/historical-kana-usage
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Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 5:37 pm
doesn't wa mean harmony?atleast during the meiji era?
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Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:37 pm
新和英中辞典 第４版 （研究社） 和 [わ] 1 〈合計〉 the sum 和を求める work [figure] out the sum 《of》 2 〈平和〉 peace; 〈和合〉 harmony 和を請う sue for peace Wa, as in the character 和, means harmony; however, the person who wrote this thread had a question based off the wacky usage of wa (the particle written ha).
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