Re: Optimum number of symbols

Jake X wrote:
> >ka-ta-ka-na, actually.  ka-ta-ka-n-a would be romanized as katakan'a,
> >which would be a syllabic /n/ between the last two /a/'s.
> Really, for some reason I thought the only [n] in Japanese was sylabic.
[n] *is* the only syllabic consonant in Japanese, but non-syllabic [n]
exists as well.  The syllabic [n] is used in words like Nihon (Japan),
Kon'ya (today), etc.  {n'} is the usual romanization in cases where it
could be ambiguous, as {konya} could theoretically exist.  There are
minimal pairs, but I can't think of any examples (ah, I just noticed
that Philip Newton gave the example of kanen vs. kan'en).  In the word
_katakana_, syllabic _n_ isn't used (it is in _kanji_, tho - that would
be written ka-n-ji in hiragana)

For some reason, I often see romanizations like _on'na_, even tho
there's no need for the apostrophe there - syllabic _n_ is the only
thing that the first _n_ could be.

> Well, shows what I know about the language. My only knowledge of Japanese is
> from my mother, a technical translator of it, and I only briefly tried to
> learn the alphabet at one point.
It's actually a syllabry.

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