Small combining form of katakanaア(a) used to explicitly specify the vowel part of the previous katakana character, or to show a speaker's pronunciation or extension of that vowel.
Thekatakana syllabary is used primarily fortranscription of foreign language words into Japanese and the writing ofgairaigo (loan words), as well as to representonomatopoeias, technical and scientific terms, and the names of plants, animals, and minerals. It is also occasionally used in some words for emphasis, or to ease reading; katakana may be preferred for words becoming buried in the text if they are written under their canonical form inhiragana. Names of Japanese companies, as well as certain Japanese language words such as colloquial terms, are also sometimes written in katakana rather than the other systems. Formerly, female first names would often be written in katakana.
