Dakuten and handakuten#Phonetic shifts

The dakuten resembles a quotation mark, while the handakuten is a small circle, similar to a degree sign, both placed at the top right corner of a kana character:

• {{unichar|3099|COMBINING KATAKANA-HIRAGANA VOICED SOUND MARK|cwith=◌|html=|use=lang|use2=ja}}
• {{unichar|309A|COMBINING KATAKANA-HIRAGANA SEMI-VOICED SOUND MARK|cwith=◌|html=|use=lang|use2=ja}}
• {{unichar|309B|KATAKANA-HIRAGANA VOICED SOUND MARK|html=|use=lang|use2=ja}}
• {{unichar|309C|KATAKANA-HIRAGANA SEMI-VOICED SOUND MARK|html=|use=lang|use2=ja}}
• {{unichar|FF9E|HALFWIDTH KATAKANA VOICED SOUND MARK|html=|use=lang|use2=ja}}
• {{unichar|FF9F|HALFWIDTH KATAKANA SEMI-VOICED SOUND MARK|html=|use=lang|use2=ja}}

Both the dakuten and handakuten glyphs are drawn identically in hiragana and katakana scripts. The combining characters are rarely used in full-width Japanese characters, as Unicode and all common multibyte Japanese encodings provide precomposed glyphs for all possible dakuten and handakuten character combinations in the standard hiragana and katakana ranges. However, combining characters are required in half-width kana, which does not provide any precomposed characters in order to fit within a single byte.

The similarity between the dakuten and quotation marks (") is not a problem, as written Japanese uses corner brackets (「」).

The following table summarizes the phonetic shifts indicated by the dakuten and handakuten. Literally, morae with dakuten are {{Nihongo|"muddy sounds"|濁音|dakuon}}, while those without are {{Nihongo|"clear sounds"|清音|seion}}. However, the handakuten (lit. "half-muddy mark") does not follow this pattern.

(Yellow shading indicates non-standard use.)

Handakuten on ka, ki, ku, ke, ko (rendered as {{lang|ja|か゚, き゚, く゚, け゚, こ゚}}) represent the sound of ng in singing ({{IPAblink|ŋ}}), which is an allophone of {{IPA|/ɡ/}} in many dialects of Japanese. They are not used in normal Japanese writing, but may be used by linguists and in dictionaries (or to represent characters in fiction who speak that way). This is called {{ill|bidakuon|ja|鼻濁音}} {{Nihongo||鼻濁音|||extra="nasal muddy sound"}}. Another rare application of handakuten is on the r-series, to mark them as explicitly l: {{lang|ja|ラ゚}} {{IPA|/la/}}, and so forth.{{citation|last =Yamaguchi|first=Ryusei|year=2016|title=Character Sets and Internationalization (L2 Technical Committee) Document L2/16-354 : Proposal to add Kana small letters|pages=6, 9|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2016/16354-kana-small-ltr.pdf|access-date=April 23, 2019}} This is only done in technical or pedantic contexts, as many Japanese speakers cannot tell the difference between r and l. Additionally, linguists sometimes use {{lang|ja|ウ゚}} to represent {{IPA|/ɴ/}} in cases when speaker pronounces {{lang|ja|う}} at the beginning of a word as a moraic nasal.{{Cite web|title=文部省制定発音符号 - 国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション|url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1126364|access-date=2021-04-03|website=dl.ndl.go.jp|language=ja}}

In katakana only, the dakuten may also be added to the character {{lang|ja|ウ}} u and a small vowel character to create a {{IPA|[v]}} sound, as in ヴァ va. However, a hiragana version of this character also exists, with somewhat sporadic compatibility across platforms ({{lang|ja|ゔ}}). As {{IPA|/v/}} does not exist in Japanese, this usage applies only to some modern loanwords and remains relatively uncommon, and e.g. Venus is typically transliterated as {{lang|ja|ビーナス}} (bīnasu) instead of {{lang|ja|ヴィーナス}} (vīnasu). Japanese speakers, however, pronounce both the same, with {{IPA|[b]}} or {{IPA|[β]}}, an occasional allophone of intervocalic {{IPA|/b/}}.{{cite book|last=Labrune|first=Laurence|year=2012|title=The Phonology of Japanese|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-954583-4|page=98}}

An even less common method is to add dakuten to the w-series, reviving the mostly obsolete characters for {{IPA|/wi/}} ({{lang|ja|ヰ}}) and {{IPA|/we/}} ({{lang|ja|ヱ}}). {{IPA|/vu/}} is represented by using /u/, as above; {{IPA|/wo/}} becomes {{IPA|/vo/}} despite its {{IPA|/w/}} normally being silent. Precomposed characters exist for this method as well ({{IPA|/va/}} {{lang|ja|ヷ}} {{IPA|/vi/}} {{lang|ja|ヸ}} {{IPA|/vu/}} {{lang|ja|ヴ}} {{IPA|/ve/}} {{lang|ja|ヹ}} {{IPA|/vo/}} {{lang|ja|ヺ}}), although most IMEs do not have a convenient way to enter them.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

In Ainu texts, handakuten can be used with the katakana {{lang|ja|セ}} to make it a /t͡s/ sound, {{lang|ja|セ゚}} ce [t͡se] (which is interchangeable with {{lang|ja|ツェ}}), and is used with small fu to represent a final p, {{lang|ja|ㇷ゚}}. In addition, handakuten can be combined with either katakana {{lang|ja|ツ}} or {{lang|ja|ト}} (tsu and to) to make a [tu̜] sound, {{lang|ja|ツ゚}} or {{lang|ja|ト゚}}.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

In Miyakoan, handakuten can be used with {{lang|ja|イ}} (normally [i]) to represent the vowel {{IPA|[ɨ]}}.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

In informal writing, dakuten is occasionally used on vowels to indicate a shocked or strangled articulation; for example, on {{lang|ja|あ゙}} or {{lang|ja|ゔ}}. Dakuten can also be occasionally used with {{lang|ja|ん (ん゙)}} to indicate a guttural hum, growl, or similar sound.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

The dakuten can also be added to hiragana and katakana iteration marks, indicating that the previous kana is repeated with voicing:

Both signs are relatively rare, but can occasionally be found in personal names such as Misuzu ({{lang|ja|みすゞ}}) or brand names such as Isuzu (いすゞ). In these cases the pronunciation is identical to writing the kana out in full. A longer, multi-character iteration mark called the kunojiten ({{nihongo2|〱}}), only used in vertical writing, may also have a dakuten added ({{nihongo2|〲}}).

• Representations of Dakuten

{{Letter reps|lang=Japanese|radio={{lang|ja|に濁点}}|radio_trans=ni "Dakuten"*|morse=・・ |morse_sound=I morse code.ogg|flag_img=ICS India.svg|sign_img=|sem1=|braille_img=Japanese Dakuten Braille.svg|braille=⠐}}

• Representations of Handakuten

{{Letter reps|lang=Japanese|radio={{lang|ja|に半濁点}}|radio_trans=ni "Handakuten"*|morse=・・--・ |morse_sound=Ð Morse Code.oga|flag_img=|sign_img=|sem1=|braille_img=Japanese Handakuten Braille.svg|braille=⠠}}

{{asterisk}} Voiced morae and semi-voiced morae do not have independent names in radiotelephony and are signified by the unvoiced name followed by "ni dakuten" or "ni handakuten".

• Full Braille representation

The kun'yomi pronunciation of the character {{Nihongo2|濁}} (daku in on'yomi) is nigori; hence the dakuten may also be called the nigori-ten. This character, meaning "muddy", stems from historical Chinese phonology, where consonants were traditionally classified as "fully clear" ({{lang|zh|全清}}, voiceless unaspirated obstruent), "partly clear" ({{lang|zh|次清}}, voiceless aspirated obstruent), "fully muddy" ({{lang|zh|全濁}}, voiced obstruent) and "partly muddy" ({{lang|zh|次濁}}, voiced sonorant) (see Middle Chinese § Initials and w:zh:清濁音). Unlike in Chinese where "clear" and "muddy" were phonological, in Japanese, these terms are purely orthographic: a {{nihongo|"muddy sound"|濁音|dakuon}} is simply a kana with a "muddy mark", or a dakuten; a {{nihongo|"partly clear"|次清音|jiseion}}{{cite web|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%AC%A1%E6%B8%85%E9%9F%B3-282150|title=次清音|website=コトバンク}}{{cite book|url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/862342/1/6|page=3|publisher=Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture|last=Sakakibara|first=Yoshino|title=小𭓘綴字書|date=August 1874|chapter=次清音}}{{cite book|url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/864146/1/13?keyword=%E6%AC%A1%E6%B8%85%E9%9F%B3|last=Fujii|first=Tsutomu|editor-last=Ōtsuki|editor-first=Tōyō|title=日本文法書|language=Japanese|chapter=半濁音|page=6|volume=1|date=October 1877}} or {{nihongo|"half muddy sound"|半濁音|handakuon}} is simply a kana with a "half muddy mark", or a handakuten; a {{nihongo|"clear sound"|清音|seion}} is any other kana without either of these marks. In fact, the "partly clear/half muddy" consonant {{IPA|/p/}} in Japanese would be considered "fully clear" in Chinese, while "clear" Japanese consonants such as {{IPA|/m/}}, {{IPA|/n/}}, {{IPA|/ɾ/}}, {{IPA|/j/}} and {{IPA|/w/}} would be "partly muddy" in Chinese. Meiji-era descriptions of the Japanese "sound" system (either the actual phonology, or the orthography) in terms of "clear" and "muddy" always referenced the kana spelling and the two diacritics dakuten and handakuten.{{cite book|language=Japanese|year=1893|last=Ōmiya|first=Sōji|title=日本辭林|url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/863442/1/21|chapter=第三章 濁音 半濁音及その文字|page=10|quote=五十音の外に、また、一種の熟音あり。これを濁音、及び、半濁音といふ。濁音とは、本音を濁りて呼ぶものにて、子音の中、加、佐、多、波、の四行の諸音をいふ。この音を示すには別に、その文字なく、本音の假字の肩に、二個の小點を加ふ。卽ち、左の如し。|location=Tokyo|publisher=Hakubunkan}}{{cite book|language=Japanese|year=1893|last=Ōmiya|first=Sōji|title=日本辭林|chapter=第三章 濁音 半濁音及その文字|page=11|url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/863442/1/21|quote=半濁音とは、本音を半濁りて呼ぶものにて、子音の中、波行の五音のみに限れり。この音を示すには、本音の假字の肩に、圈點一個を加ふ。卽ち、左の如し。|location=Tokyo|publisher=Hakubunkan}}{{cite book|language=Japanese|year=1902|last=Hirano|first=Hidekichi|url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/991496/1/82|title=國語聲音學|chapter=第十九章 淸音濁音半濁音|page=151|quote=舊來の音韻では濁音といふものがあって、
が　ぎ　ぐ　げ　ご
ざ　じ　ず　ぜ　ぞ
だ　ぢ　づ　で　ど
ば　び　ぶ　べ　ぼ
の四行二十音を之に充てゝ居る。|publisher=國光社}}{{cite book|language=Japanese|year=1902|last=Hirano|first=Hidekichi|url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/991496/1/83|title=國語聲音學|chapter=第十九章 淸音濁音半濁音|page=152|quote=濁音がある故に、之に對して淸音をも作らねばならず、半濁音（次淸音）と云ふものもあることになる。
ぱ　ぴ　ぷ　ぺ　ぽ
の一行五音の半濁音（一名次淸音）として、アカサタナハマヤラワ十行五十音が淸音と云はれて居る。|publisher=國光社}} There is a distinction between {{nihongo|"base muddiness"|本濁|hondaku}}{{cite web|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%9C%AC%E6%BF%81-632314|script-title=ja:本濁|script-website=ja:コトバンク|lang=ja}} where a morpheme inherently contains a voiced consonant (as in the Sino-Japanese morpheme {{nihongo||我|ga}}), and {{nihongo|"new muddiness"|新濁|shindaku}}{{cite web|url=https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%96%B0%E6%BF%81-538336|script-title=ja:新濁|script-website=ja:コトバンク|lang=ja}} where a morpheme loses its original voiceless consonant and gains a voiced counterpart through rendaku (as in {{nihongo||顔|kao}} → {{nihongo||朝顔|asagao}}).

The earliest attested use of "muddy" diacritics was from the late ninth century. One of such diacritics was a superscript version of the radical {{lang|ja|氵}} from the "muddy" character {{lang|ja|濁}}, as in {{lang|ja|婆{{superscript|氵}}}} (ba rather than pa). The modern dakuten appears to have come from Chinese tone diacritics. In some documents, one dot marked pitch on a "clear sound," while two dots marked pitch on a "muddy sound." Another source was the Siddhaṃ nasality diacritic anusvāra through Buddhist sources. In Japanese writing, it was adapted into a dot placed at the top-right corner of a character to denote the "muddiness" or nasality of consonants, as well as of the nasalized vowels {{IPAslink|ĩ}} and {{IPAslink|ũ}} adapted from the Chinese {{IPAslink|ŋ}}. The use of the anusvāra suggests prenasalization in early voiced consonants.{{sfnp|Frellesvig|2010|pp=164–165}}

The handakuten is an innovation by Portuguese Jesuits, who first used it in the Rakuyōshū, to accurately transcribe the consonant {{IPA|/p/}} and its lenited form {{IPA|/f/}}, which had not been distinguished in domestic writing.{{sfnp|Frellesvig|2010|p=165}}

• Tsu (kana)
• Sokuon
• Dagesh (Hebrew diacritic)

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book

| surname = Frellesvig | given = Bjarke

| title = A History of the Japanese Language

| publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge | year = 2010

| isbn = 978-0-521-65320-6

}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Dakuten}}
• {{ill|Dakuten and handakuten|lt=Dakuten|ja|濁点|display=yes}} and {{ill|Dakuten and handakuten|lt=Handakuten|ja|半濁点|display=yes}} on Japanese Wikipedia
• [https://seesaawiki.jp/w/qvarie/d/%c2%f9%c5%c0%c9%d5%a4%ad%c8%af%b2%bb%b2%be%cc%be {{lang|ja|濁点付き発音仮名}}] (Trans.: Phonetic Kana with Dakuten) and [https://seesaawiki.jp/w/qvarie/d/%C8%BE%C2%F9%C5%C0%C9%D5%A4%AD%C8%AF%B2%BB%B2%BE%CC%BE {{lang|ja|半濁点付き発音仮名}}] (Trans.: Phonetic Kana with Handakuten)

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