Re: use of small kana on the increase?


Bart Mathias wrote:
Paul Blay wrote:
"infinity" <dontreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote ...

Recently I have been seeing odd spellings in use online for long vowels,
e.g. もぉすぐ which I assume is actually もうすぐ, also どぉかな which I
can only think is どうかな, is this just some sort of trendy thing or is
it pretty normal?


It is 'some sort of trendy thing' and it is on the increase (well, from
a fair few years back). Probably more common with female teenagers
but not necessarily that big a difference.


I've always (mis-?)taken a reduced-but-otherwise-phonologically-correct
kana as a sign that the vowel is noticeably not the same as a normal
Japanese long vowel. I've seen in done in transcriptions of foreign
words, mostly.

If that's the case, I find it easy to imagine that female teenagers
might be just the people to "evolve" Japanese a bit by introducing a
semi-long vowel to replace full-length ones.

It is a sad reality that it is accepted if Japanese youngsters do it,
but if a gaijin does it, he will be criticized for years. He is
expected to use Japanese more perfectly than Japanese kids do.

.

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