Japanese Language Stack Exchange
Japanese Language Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [punctuation]

句読法. A set of symbols and marks such as the comma and period, typically used to indicate either syntactic structure or to indicate pauses in speech.

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When should either 「」 and 『』 be used?

In what scenarios would you use 「」 quotation marks instead of 『』, and vice versa?
awesomeguy
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Is Japanese em dash equal to Latin em dash?

In Latin characters, we use — to represent the em dash (—) as follows. My home town — a small castle town in San'in ... However, if I use the same — in Japanese sentences, it looks like 一{いち} as follows. 私が生まれ育ったふるさと—山陰の小さな城下町・・・ It…
Display Name
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Middle Dot (中黒) in Non-Japanese Names

My previous question about ellipses (三点リーダー) in Japanese got me thinking about the middle dot (中黒) in foreign names. When I was in college, I learned that if you have a non-Japanese (or, rather, non-kanji) name, you should put a 中黒 in between your…
Anonymous
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What is the Japanese equivalent of English editorial brackets?

So in English, if an editor needed to add a comment or some clarification to a quote (in an article or something), they would use square brackets, so that the comment doesn't get mistaken as an actual part of the quote. "Yesterday, she was seen…
David Christy
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Usage of spaces in Japanese?

I've never seen spaces before in Japanese. The other day, however, I noticed that Shin Kubota's name in Japanese is often stylized with a space: 久保田 信 which really struck me. It isn't necessarily always written this way, as I have seen, but it…
Mou某
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What does ▲ mean in a newspaper?

I was reading this article and noticed it had some ▲…
Ringil
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Subtitle symbol

My understanding is that a subtitle is expressed with the symbol 〜 in Japanese like this: Main Title ~ Subtitle Main Title ~Subtitle~ I am not sure about whether there is supposed to be a space on either side of the ~ symbol, or whether the…
user458
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How many syllables does くの字点 affect?

It is my understanding that くの字点{じてん} (seen above) is the "double or multiple repeat marker" in vertical writing. Given that it can be used to repeat two or more syllables, how do you know how many preceding syllables to repeat? Is it just a matter…
Redbluefire
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Ellipsis Usage and Format

I'd like to ask about ellipses in Japanese. First, as I understand, ellipses in Japanese often indicate silence or trailing off at the end of a sentence in casual text communication and manga. I have three questions: What other uses does an…
Anonymous
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What are these vertical lines called in Japanese?

I was reading the newspaper and saw these vertical lines. I'm guessing it's saying that 川上尚志 is in 広州 or something along those lines. But my question is what are they called and why they are used instead of say the interpunct/中黒（・）or a black dot…
Ringil
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Can a 読点{とうてん} ("comma") join two complete sentences?

Can 、 join two complete sentences? In other words, can 、 replace 。? I thought it could, but in this answer, user1205935 seems to suggest that it cannot. (Rather than ask about it in a comment, I decided to make a separate question about…
user1478
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What's the difference between English & Japanese parenthesis?

I found this sentence while reading よだかの星: よだかは、じっと目をつぶって考えました。（一たい僕は、なぜこうみんなにいやがられるのだろう。） It seems pretty obvious that the parenthetical sentence is the Nightjar's internal monologue... but parenthesis aren't normally used like that in English…
Hyperglyph
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What does ー mean in this context?

(I'm sorry if it is a duplicate, I tried to search unsuccessfully) After 変わりつつある: 農業の現場で起きている担い手不足によって、日本人の食卓の景色も変わりつつあるー。 取材を通してそうした実感を抱きました。(source) I don't have the impression it generally appears in NHK news article...?
Jirei
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When mixing Japanese and English, should I use Japanese parentheses?

Should I use Japanese or Western parentheses when inserting a Japanese word into a sentence parenthetically? For example, Japanese uses morae (モーラ) or Japanese uses morae （モーラ） Is there any reason from Japanese typography that would suggest to use…
Lou
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Does でも mean "but" in this sentence?

「話すことができぬでも、頷くぐらいはできるだろう」 It's from a videogame, the story takes place in the past. It means "You can't talk, but you can nod at least!", am I right? I don't understand the way it's written. Why isn't it 話すことができぬが、? Or 話すことができぬ。でも、?
Haragurodanshi
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