19226
I know about the ["standard" special
katakana](http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/katakana), like ファ _fa_
, ディ _di_ , ヴ _vu_ , etc. However, I keep running into others I can't find on
any list, including the ones in _[What special kana are used to write foreign
words?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/15119/what-special-kana-
are-used-to-write-foreign-words)_

For example, on [this Wikipedia
page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Escape:_Virtue%27s_Last_Reward#Main_characters),
one character has the name:

> **Quark** (クォーク Kwōku)

I've never seen クォ _kwo_ in any katakana list.

Another example is フュ _fyu_ , as in the new movie [X-MEN:
フューチャー&パスト](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-MEN:_%E3%83%95%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BC%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3%E3%83%BC%26%E3%83%91%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88).

So, **what are all the "non-standard" katakana in regular use?**
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-21T20:40:57.250
19201
2016-02-27T16:52:16.553
2017-04-13T12:43:44.157
-1
6786
question
katakana
What "non-standard" katakana are commonly used?
I think that there may not be any answer to this question - at least not a
good one that includes objectively defining "regularity" without any context.
Surely, some words including some combination(s) are especially common,
looking at Japanese as a whole, and I'd hazard (from a subjective standpoint)
that combinations with "ウ + small version vowel" as well as ティ are among
those, but beyond that? Well, according to
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana):

> Small versions of the five vowel kana are sometimes used to represent
> trailing off sounds (ハァ haa, ネェ nee), but in katakana they are more often
> used in yōon-like extended digraphs designed to represent phonemes not
> present in Japanese; examples include チェ (che) in チェンジ chenji ("change"),
> and ウィ (wi) and ディ (di) in ウィキペディア Wikipedia.

I believe that this phenomenon could easily (but roughly) be categorized into
two usage cases. The first would then be loanwords, where パーティー is a good
example.

Slightly off topic, I think it's worth mentioning that while English phonemes
not present in Japanese can be rather easily identified, the "rules" for
spelling in katakana may be harder to discern. Looking at how "party" becomes
パーティー with katakana, an unknowing student may be tempted to write "ticket" as
ティケット, but alas, it's チケット. Certainly, there are tendencies (is it a leading,
trailing, middle, surrounding phonemes etc.), but there is also some amount of
discretion involved. (Why is a word beginning with [ˈka] or [ˈkæ] that could
arguably be spelled カ as in カメラ, suddenly キャ, as in キャンパス?)

The second usage case I was thinking about is proper names. Naturally, there
are many "fixed" spellings of given names for people, countries and such, for
example ウィリアム, or スウェーデン to name but a few. The desired pronunciation, and
hence katakana spelling, in the case of people may however be a matter of
individual preference.

And by the way, not all loanwords are English in origin, of course. Even some
that are easily mistaken for "English" are not, like タバコ (Portuguese), ビール
(Dutch) and アレルギー (German). Sounding rules of the source language may also
affect how a word is transcribed.

For example, my own middle name is Knut. In my native language the "k" is
"hard", and the "n" is pronounced separately, giving roughly [kn'ʉːt] (in
contrast to words like "knight" in English). When having this name transcribed
for my Japanese student's ID (many years ago), they went with the English
sounding rules, in this case giving ナット, which to me was... Not perfect.

Anyway, if you were to construct a list of foreign words in Japanese that
included "extended digraphs", then took it upon you to study their frequency,
then you'd probably find that some are rather more common then others, but as
I've been saying, that's not all to consider. E.g. in the context of mahjong,
where most loanwords are Chinese, you'd find both high frequencies and a
practical use for one set of "extended digraphs" different from what is common
in another.

Absent a context, "anything goes". If your question would have been "which
extended katakana are there", many dictionaries and such include lists.
Googling, I found this one on-line, that contains I think all combinations
that I've ever seen, and some that I haven't seen before:

[Katakana (including List of extended
katakana)](http://nihongoichiban.com/home/katakana/)

I hope this helps.

**Edit** : Note that the chart in the list linked above, and others linked in
other answers, may change from time to time.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-22T09:31:24.510
19213
2014-10-23T09:23:35.577
2014-10-23T09:23:35.577
7519
7519
19201
answer
[Here](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hepburn_romanization&oldid=629229554#For_extended_katakana)
is a list of extended katakana color coded based on usage. In my personal
experience, I have seen the orange ones and most of the blue ones in actual
use multiple times. The beige and purple ones I have never seen used before
(except maybe スィ), so don't bother learning them.

Here's a list with example words I made based on the link, roughly ordered by
commonality based on my experience and the amount of noteworthy dictionary
hits:

**Common extended katakana:**

  * ティ (ti) ― パーティー (party), セキュリティー (security)
  * ディ (di) ― ディスク (disk), メロディー (melody)
  * ファ (fa) ― ファッション (fashion), アルファベット (alphabet)
  * フィ (fi) ― フィクション (fiction), プロフィール (profile, pronounced more like profeel)
  * シェ (she) ― シェルター (shelter), ポルシェ (Porshe)
  * ジェ (je) ― ジェスチャー (gesture), ジェット (jet)

**Uncommon extended katakana:**

  * ウィ (wi) ― ハロウィーン (Halloween), ウィルス (virus, pronounced more like weerus)
  * ウェ (we) ― ソフトウェア (software), ウェイトレス (waitress)
  * フォ (fo) ― フォーク (fork), イヤフォン (ear phone)
  * フェ (fe) ― フェア (fair), カフェ (café, coffee house)
  * チェ (che) ― チェス (chess), チェック (check, cheque)
  * デュ (dyu) ― デュエット (duet), プロデューサー (producer)
  * ウォ (wo) ― ストップウォッチ (stopwatch), キャットウォーク (catwalk)

**Rare extended katakana:**

  * イェ (ye) ― イェイ (yay!)
  * トゥ (tu) ― タトゥー (tattoo)
  * クォ (kwo) ― クォーツ (quartz), クォーク (quark)
  * ツァ (tsa) ― モーツァルト (Mozart), ピッツァ (pizza - more commonly ピザ)
  * ツェ (tse) ― プレッツェル (pretzel), ヘルツェゴビナ (Herzegovina)
  * ツォ (tso) ― インテルメッツォ (intermezzo)
  * フュ (fyu) ― フューチャー (future)

  * ヴァ (va) ― ヴァイオリン (violin), ヴァンパイア (vampire) (more commonly バイオリン and バンパイア)

  * ヴィ (vi) ― ヴィーナス (venus) (more commonly spelled ビーナス)
  * ヴ (vu) ― ラヴ (love) (more commonly spelled ラブ)
  * ヴェ (ve) ― ベートーヴェン (Beethoven) (more commonly spelled ベートーベン)
  * ヴォ (vo) ― ヴォーカリスト (vocalist) (more commonly spelled ボーカリスト)

  * ドゥ (du) ― シルク・ドゥ・ソレイユ (Cirque du Soleil), ドゥーイットユアセルフ (do-it-yourself)

(even when spelled with ヴァ, ヴィ, ヴ, ヴェ or ヴォ, the words are often still
pronounced with a B sound rather than a V. They just look more fancy or
foreign or whatever.)

**Almost exclusively in foreign names:**

  * クァ (kwa) ― エスクァイア (Esquire)
  * クィ (kwi) ― クィントゥス (Quintus)
  * クェ (kwe) ― クェンティン (Quentin)
  * グァ (gwa) ― グァンタナモ (Guantanamo)
  * ツィ (tsi) ― ツィンメルマン (Zimmermann)
  * テュ (tyu) ― テューリンゲン (Thüringen)

Other combinations such as スィ (si) and ホゥ (hu) also exist, but unlike the ones
listed above they are often substituted for other katakana. For example,
simple is シンプル and hood is フード. But they can at times be used for portraying
foreign sounds more accurately. Most often in names of people and places, or
transcriptions of foreign words that are not used as loan words in a Japanese
sentence. (Very similar to the ヴァ row, except those are much more commonly
used for alternate spellings of loan words)

Lastly, as mentioned by OP in the comments, it's worth mentioning small vowel
kana (ぁ, ぃ, ぅ, ぇ, ぉ) can be used for long vowels, a practice that I believe is
actually more common in hiragana. It's almost a different matter entirely, but
for completion's sake I'll explain it anyway.

If a small vowel kana is used after a kana with the same vowel (e.g. きぃ, ねぇ,
ハァ, ルゥ) it means it's a long vowel (similar to きい, ねえ, ハー, ルー). I have a hard
time finding a source that explains the nuances implied by use of a small
vowel kana, but from personal experience I know four uses:

  1. Just a long vowel, nothing more. i.e. ああ, あー and あぁ are completely identical, and a long vowel is just used for variation or looks. (Or there _is_ something behind it, but I just can't figure out what. That's another explanation.) For example using ワァド as a variation of ワード. I believe this use is most common in popular fiction, where a character name in a fantasy novel might be spelled with a small vowel kana instead of a ー to make it look more unique or foreign or whatever. I believe エル・プサイ・コングルゥ (L-Ψ-congrue) mentioned by OP falls under this category.
  2. At the end of a sentence or interjection a small vowel kana is sometimes used to imply a long vowel that decreases in volume and/or pitch. This is because as opposed to ああ, あぁ looks like the vowel is getting "smaller". For example, a sigh is often transcribed as はぁ. I believe this usage is most common in manga
  3. For lengthening the vowel in a word without changing its meaning. A ー or a regular double vowel (e.g. それはなーに or それはなあに) could also be used, but as opposed to a small vowel these are most often used for words with a completely different meaning (e.g. すじ means line, but すうじ means number). A small vowel (それはなぁに) can be used to avoid this ambiguity. This usage is also very common in dialects. For example, in Kansai dialect they say せぇへん and けぇへん (pronounced せーへん and けーへん) instead of しない and こない, and [気]{き}ぃつけて (pronounced きーつけて) instead of [気]{き}をつけて. These are used because etymologically they used to be words with a short vowel. E.g. せぇへん comes from せ (an Old Japanese mizenkei conjugation of the verb する) + へん (Kansai variant of ない). So logically speaking the word _should_ be せへん, but it's pronounced せえへん. Thus you could say せぇへん is a compromise between grammatically correct spelling and actual pronunciation. The same is true for 気 pronounced きい but spelled 気ぃ, and, for that matter, also それはなぁに in standard Japanese.
  4. In manga and other popular fiction ですぅ and ますぅ is used for characters that pronounce です and ます without a silent vowel at the end. It can be pronounced with a short vowel, a long vowel, or somewhere in between, depending on what the voice actor deems appropriate for the character or situation. For your enjoyment (or annoyance), [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfwoLBNyDUc) is a compilation of Souseiseki from Rozen Maiden saying ですぅ about 200 times.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-23T02:27:33.223
19226
2016-02-27T16:52:16.553
2016-02-27T16:52:16.553
7571
7571
19201
answer
I'm a Japanese student (so, I am not good at speaking in English, sorry for my
broken English)

Historical, people used to regard Katakana as Men's words. and Hiragana was
seemed as Women's words.

above is a part of Old Japanese Constitution "大日本帝国憲法" announced in 19century

```

    第１章　天皇
    第１条大日本帝国ハ万世一系ノ天皇之ヲ統治ス
    
```

There isn't any Hiragana because there was thought that publish writings
should not be use women's words.

NOWADAYS, there is no difference in gender between Hiragana and Katakana.  
so, Is there difference between Hiragana and Katakana? Answer is "Yes"

At present, Hiragana is used in Japanese ordinal words like
"sashimi","Tsunami","Kawaii" (Japanese ordinal words are called "Wago"「和語」 in
Japanese)

and, Katakana is used in expressing foreign language, expect for archaic
Chinese words like Wikipedia(from English) as ウィキペディア, Chocolat(from French)
as ショコラ in Japanese.

10/24 PM6:00(in Japan Time) added It is difficult for "non-standard katakana"
to define. Nowadays, new non-standard katakana is created. But there is a
rule.

Standard Katakana

(a consonant)+ya→ャ ex. キャラ(kyara)  
(a consonant)+yu→ュ ex. キュート(kyuto)  
(a consonant)+yo or ho→ョ ex.ショック(syokku/shokku)

Non Standard Katakana

(a consonant)+wa→ｧ ex.かぁちゃん(kwachan) (It means a mother. but informal
expression)  
(a consonant)+(weak)i→ィ ex.カービィ(ka-b (weak)i) ,フレンドリィ(furendor(weak)i) but ｨ
sometimes replace - instead of i, except for a proper noun.

(a consonant)+(weak)fu→ｩ this is a sound of wind for Japanese ex.フゥーと(fuu-to)  
(this ONOMATOPE is sound of blowing candles out)  
But Words from foreign languages isn't used ｩ, generally use ｭ ex.フュージョン(fu-
zyon/fyu-zyon)

(a consonant)+we or he→ｪ ex.クウェート(kwe-to), シェパード(shepa-do)  
(a consonant)+wo→ｫ ex.クォーク(kwo-ku)

Thank you for reading
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-23T14:03:50.863
19230
2014-10-24T09:13:03.410
2014-10-24T09:13:03.410
7575
7575
19201
answer