Page:An elementary grammar of the Japanese language.djvu/17

Rh When the sign or  is marked on the head of a letter, as  or, it changes its sound;  (') becomes ガ ('), and  ('), パ ('). These changes will be seen in the following table:— ヱ and エ, イ and 井, オ and ヲ, are distinguished by ancient usage, but at the present time the distinction is no longer observed.

In most parts of Japan, ヂ di and ジ zi, ヅ du and ズ zu, are distinguished from one another in their pronunciation, although they are pronounced alike in some parts of the country.

Words are divided into eight classes, that is, parts of speech—Nouns, Adjectives, Pronouns, Verbs, Adverbs, Postpositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections.