so i’m very very new to the language, all i can do is read hiragana and katakana. in both forms of writing (not sure what the proper term is) there are small letters like つ、や、ゆ and よ but i also noticed that there are small vowels as well. i know that a small つ means to emphasize the consonant that comes after it and that the small y column changes the pronunciation of the kana but what do small vowels do?
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Small vowels allow kana to better represent foreign sounds.
Forexample, Disney.
Di is not a sound in Japanese.
So, you combine で with a small ぃ, so we know they’re one sound, and get でぃ or ディ so we can have ディズニー
Same with any J sound that isn’t Ji.