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6.2.6. What is the Katakana syllabary? When is "katakana" used?

The word katakana literally means, "part syllabic script". The "part" refers to the fact that katakana characters are derived from and represent parts of kanji. It was originally used by Buddhist monks in the 9th century to indicate correct pronunciations of Chinese texts. This syllabry contains 48 syllables and was considered as men's writing, as opposed to hiragana. Since the 20th century, katakana have been used mainly to write non-Chinese loan words, onomatopoeic words, foreign names and so on.

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