Yotsugana
Yotsugana (四つ仮名, literally "four kana") are a set of four specific kana, じ, ぢ, ず, づ (in the Nihon-shiki romanization system: zi, di, zu, du), used in the Japanese writing system. They historically represented four distinct voiced morae (syllables) in the Japanese language; however, today, in standard Japanese and the dialects of most Japanese speakers these morae have merged down to two sounds.
Modern sound usage in various dialects
Most of the far northern dialects (Tōhoku dialects and Hokkaidō) and far southern dialects (notably Okinawan Japanese) and the Ryukyuan languages (the other Japonic languages) have also mostly merged these down to one sound. However a few dialects, namely around Shikoku and Kyushu in the southwest, have conserved the distinction between three or all four sounds.
In the current Tokyo dialect, on which the modern standard Japanese language is based, and also in the widely spoken Kansai dialect, only two sounds are distinguished, as represented in the Hepburn (ji, ji, zu, zu) and Kunrei (zi, zi, zu, zu) romanization systems.
Podcasts:
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by Barbra Streisand
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by Heather Nova
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by Xandria
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by Hue & Cry
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by Clearlake
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by Beefy
Widescreen
by: Barbra StreisandThere are songs that sound like movies
There are themes that fill the screen
There are lines I say that sound as if they’re written
There are looks I wear the theater should have seen
But though I’ve made my life a movie
The matinee must end by five
And I must stagger out into the blinding sunlight half alive
Wishing I were back inside the picture show
There where it’s always night
Notice how the screen is wide
The second role I’ve said around too tight
Will I stay? Yes, I might
Oh widescreen wider on my eyes
Lie my mind with lies
Find the world like nothing that I’ve seen
Oh widescreen dreams are just my sighs
As we walk from out the movie
Are we acting out a scene
Does the orchestra play chords
When we start loving?
Do we move just like slow motion
On the screen?
Life’s a constant disappointment
When you live on celluloid
But my movie expectations are a dream I can’t avoid
Waiting for a man to say the things
That I heard in the film last night
But he doesn’t want to play the role
And he can’t pick his cues up right
Will I dream? Yes, I might!
Oh widescreen winding round my eyes
Blinding me with lies
Finding I’ve been fooled by what I’ve seen
No, widescreen dreams are more than you
How can lies be true?
All we have is life and mind
And love we find with a friend