4.6. Punctuation
The Japanese period and comma are slightly different in shape from English equivalents. The Japanese period is a small circle, not a dot.
Hiragana: |  |  |  |  |
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Phonemes: | o | ha | yo | u
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Romanization: | O | ha | yô | .
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Meaning: | Good morning.
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The Japanese comma is a short line written from upper left to lower right.
Hiragana: |  |  |  |  |
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Phonemes: | ta | to' | e | ba
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Romanization: | Ta | to | e | ba | ,
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Meaning: | For example,
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Japanese periods and commas are placed near the base line in the horizontal way, while they are placed at the right side in the vertical way. The sentence below means "Good morning, Akira."
Horizontal:









Vertical:









Japanese has a question mark and an exclamation point which are the same as English ones, but you don't have to use question marks even for questions. If a sentence is clearly a question, which has a grammatical question marker, you can use a period instead of a question mark. That will be explained in a later chapter.
Hiragana: |  |  |  |  |
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Phonemes: | ho | N | to | u
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Romanization: | Ho | n | tô | ?
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Meaning: | Really?
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Hiragana: |  |  |  |
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Phonemes: | su | go' | i
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Romanization: | Su | go | i | !
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Meaning: | Great!
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