The document discusses the basic hiragana and katakana syllabaries that make up the Japanese writing system. It notes that there are 46 basic syllables and provides charts of the hiragana, katakana, and romanized versions. It also explains that additional sounds can be transcribed using diacritical marks and that contracted sounds are represented by combining small hiragana with letters from the i-vowel column.

2. 1) Basic syllables
There are forty-six basic hiragana (also katakana) syllables,
which are listed below. Once you memorize these charts, you
will have the skill to transcribe all of the Japanese sounds. The
romaji chart is given for general pronunciation reference.
*The syllables , , , and are romanized
as fu, shi, chi, and tsu, respectively, which is closer to the
English pronunciation.
** is also pronounced as “o“, however, since this is
only used as a particle, it is sometimes written and managed as
“ wo” in romanized distinctively from the basic syllable .

3. Basic syllables/ Hiragana

4. Basic syllables/ Katakana

5. Basic syllables/ Romaji

6. 2) Syllables with Diacritical Marks
You can transcribe 23 additional sounds by adding diacritical
marks.
With a pair of short diagonal strokes ( ” ), the unvoiced consonants
k, s, t, and h become voiced consonants g, z, d and b.
The consonant h changes to p with the addition of a small circle
( ° ).
* ( ji ) and ( zu ) are pronounced the same as ( ji )
and ( zu ) , respectively, and have limited use.

10. 3) Transcribing Contracted Sounds
Small , , and followed after letters in the second
column i-vowel hiragana/i-Dan ( except ) and are used to
transcribe contracted sounds. The contracted sound represents a
single syllable.

11. Transcribing Contracted Sounds/
Hiragana

12. Transcribing Contracted Sounds/
Katakana

13. Transcribing Contracted Sounds/
Romaji