Its late and I can't find an example right now, but Ive seen it in several books. There will be a string of hiragana with a comma after each letter for maybe 3-6 characters.

My guess was the commas indicate some kind of vocal effect, maybe stuttering, but then I think I've seen them in history books too. I just wanted to ask if anyone knows because I haven't been able to find any answer googling in english. Thanks

I was wondering about this too!

ひ・み・つ

It's for emphasis, where they say out each kana instead of saying the word normally.
Also heard in real life.

Jarvik7 Wrote:ひ・み・つ

It's for emphasis, where they say out each kana instead of saying the word normally.
Also heard in real life.

DUDE jarvik, Must I ask again! is your icon kanji a real one?

It's a real character, but it's a hanzi.

Jarvik7 Wrote:ひ・み・つ

It might just be me, but these dots don't look like commas. It doesn't seem あ・と・で♥ or ひ・み・つ would appear in history books either.

I thought he meant something like 日本語の母音には，あ，い，う，え，お，の５つがあります．or あ、い、う、の順に並べて下さい。If manga and stuff counts as books, it could be こ、こ、これは！and the like. But without examples, we never know what the OP means.

I didn't notice the bit about history books.

Perhaps they are the marks to the side of the characters in 縦書き? Those are also just emphasis markers, but don't imply inter-kana pauses.

If it's "A Japanese Reader" there are some words in kana with commas on the side, and it means it's usually written in Kanji.

Jarvik7 Wrote:I didn't notice the bit about history books.

Perhaps they are the marks to the side of the characters in 縦書き? Those are also just emphasis markers, but don't imply inter-kana pauses.

You mean something like this?

こ・
れ・
の
こ
と
か
な
？

If the OP is confusing dots with commas, then probably he meant this. But who knows?

Yonosa Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:ひ・み・つ

It's for emphasis, where they say out each kana instead of saying the word normally.
Also heard in real life.

DUDE jarvik, Must I ask again! is your icon kanji a real one?

http://forum.koohii.com/showthread.php?tid=105

First thread here I think that mentions it. If you ever get a moron that wants a suggestion for a tattoo, show him this one.

magamo Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:I didn't notice the bit about history books.

Perhaps they are the marks to the side of the characters in 縦書き? Those are also just emphasis markers, but don't imply inter-kana pauses.

You mean something like this?

こ・
れ・
の
こ
と
か
な
？

If the OP is confusing dots with commas, then probably he meant this. But who knows?

I have seen texts which use a tick mark type symbol which resembles a comma, but who knows if that is what the OP meant.

magamo Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:I didn't notice the bit about history books.

Perhaps they are the marks to the side of the characters in 縦書き? Those are also just emphasis markers, but don't imply inter-kana pauses.

You mean something like this?

こ・
れ・
の
こ
と
か
な
？

If the OP is confusing dots with commas, then probably he meant this. But who knows?

What does that mean anyway? I see it all the time in manga.

It's kinda like speaking in ALL CAPS! It's difficult in real life, though :/

blackmacros Wrote:What does that mean anyway? I see it all the time in manga.

Depends on context. Most of the time, it indicates the speaker is implying something, e.g.,

B: A:
あ　　あ
あ　　れ
`　 は
ア・　ど
レ・　う
ね　　な
　　　っ
い　　た
い　　？
か
ん
じ
だ
よ

A: How is that going?
B: Ah, that thing? Everything is going well.

Katakanafication also has similar meanings:

*looking at IceCream's avatar* あれってアレ？ (Is that it?)

Yonosa Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:ひ・み・つ

It's for emphasis, where they say out each kana instead of saying the word normally.
Also heard in real life.

DUDE jarvik, Must I ask again! is your icon kanji a real one?

Yeah, it's "biang" or "bian." A kind of noodle dish.

Here's a store sign with one variation:



and another one:

Thats one ugly/messey hanzi. Someone must have made it up for a joke to see if it would catch on.

Yeah, but doesn't it make you curious about those noodles! They must be some amazing noodles to deserve a word that complicated! でしょう？

They actually had the balls to simplify that character?

Evil_Dragon Wrote:They actually had the balls to simplify that character?

Hey man, it used to look like this, ok?

There can't be anything thats confusable with that surely?

TheTrueBlue Wrote:

Evil_Dragon Wrote:They actually had the balls to simplify that character?

Hey man, it used to look like this, ok?

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8112/11...471845.gif

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/4041/evillaugh.gif

Oh come on, this would even make Taiwanese people cry like schoolgirls.

If I remember correctly, biang is the currently most complex hanzi in use (that is, the most strokes). The most complex kanji in use is taito, used by some people on this forum as an avatar. 84 strokes, but easy to remember since it's just cloud three times and the "old version" of dragon 3 times.

TheTrueBlue Wrote:

Yonosa Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:ひ・み・つ

It's for emphasis, where they say out each kana instead of saying the word normally.
Also heard in real life.

DUDE jarvik, Must I ask again! is your icon kanji a real one?

Yeah, it's "biang" or "bian." A kind of noodle dish.

Here's a store sign with one variation:

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/2968/18164419.jpg

and another one:

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/6558/dsc02077k.jpg

Did they simplify this in mainland china? or is the bottom one the simplification? because that is not like most mainland simplifications I know!
Also, dude that's just retarded, who would care to spend that long writing that character out just for that noodle dish, I would just go my whole like a-thatnoodledish. Forget that!

Also if you are trying to handwrite that I would just write the outside part of it and scribble something in the middle, and simply remember that as my version of that kanji, not that it would be difficult to remember, but its just an inefficient behemoth that needs to be slayed.

magamo Wrote:You mean something like this?

こ・
れ・
の
こ
と
か
な
？

If the OP is confusing dots with commas, then probably he meant this. But who knows?

Sometimes these ones look like commas, don't they?

yukamina Wrote:Sometimes these ones look like commas, don't they?

In the books I've read, yes.

So far, the moral of the story seems to be 'Give us examples, damnit'.