Chonpu
The Chōonpu ( Japanese. 長 音符 , dt. "Extended tone character") is a Japanese character that is used as an expansion sign to indicate a long vowel. It is used with words written in katakana .
In the horizontal writing ( yokogaki ) it resembles a horizontal em dash (-) in the vertical case ( tategaki ) of the bar is vertical. However, the Chōonpu in Minchō fonts with their serifs has a coat of paint and in some cases the Chōonpu is also slightly higher than the em dash of Latin fonts and is slightly wider:
| Chonpu | Em dash |
|---|---|
| without serifs | |
| ー | - |
| with serifs | |
| ー | - |
According to the Japanese rules of orthography, the Chōonpu is only used in conjunction with Katakana. In the hiragana spelling, there is usually no elongation stroke, but a second vowel is inserted. However, there are often z. B. Ramen restaurants with the signs ら ー め ん in Hiragana with Chōonpu.
In the Hepburn transcription , the lengthened vowel is represented with a macron (¯). In the JSL Romanization, a doubled vowel is written instead, for example in Chooonpu .
The following table shows the usual substitutions, using the H-line of the 50-lute table as an example .
| Hiragana | Katakana | Hepburn |
|---|---|---|
| は あ | ハ ー | Ha |
| ひ い | ヒ ー | Hi |
| ふ う | フ ー | fū |
| へ え 、 へ い | へ ー | hē |
| ほ お 、 ほ う | ホ ー | hō |
In the JIS character set ( Japan Industrial Standard ) the Chōonpu is in position 213C, in Unicode it is in the position U + 30FC.
In colloquial texts, a tilden-like quarter stroke ( 〜 ; 波 ダ ッ シ ュ , Nami dasshu , German "wave quarter stroke") is used, which also stands for a chōonpu spoken in a humorous, chant-like tone.