Editing Phonetic complement (section)

==In Japanese==
{{main|Okurigana}}
As in [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]] borrowed a logographic script, [[Chinese character|Chinese]], designed for a very different language. The [[Chinese_characters#Phono-semantic_compounds|Chinese phonetic components]] built into these ''[[kanji]]'' ({{langx|ja|漢字}}) do not work when they are pronounced in Japanese, and there is not a [[bijection|one-to-one relationship]] between them and the [[wago|Japanese words]] they represent.

For example, the kanji '''生''', pronounced ''shō'' or ''sei'' in [[Sino-Japanese vocabulary|borrowed Chinese vocabulary]], stands for several native Japanese words as well. When these words have [[Inflectional ending|inflectional endings]] ([[Verb|verbs]]/[[Adjective|adjectives]] and [[Adverb|adverbs]]), the end of the [[word stem|stem]] is written phonetically:
*生 ''nama'' 'raw' or ''ki'' 'alive'
*生う [生u] ''o-u'' 'expand'
*生きる [生kiru] ''i-kiru'' 'live'
*生かす [生kasu] ''i-kasu'' 'make use of'
*生ける [生keru] ''i-keru'' 'living, arrange'
*生む　[生mu] ''u-mu'' 'produce, give birth to'
*生まれる or 生れる [生mareru or 生reru] ''u-mareru'' or ''uma-reru'' 'be born'
*生える [生eru] ''ha-eru'' 'grow' ([[Intransitive verb|intransitive]])
*生やす [生yasu] ''ha-yasu'' 'grow' ([[Transitive verb|transitive]])
as well as the hybrid Chinese-Japanese word
*生じる [生jiru] ''shō-jiru'' 'occur'
Note that some of these verbs share a kanji reading (''i,'' ''u,'' and ''ha''), and okurigana are conventionally picked to maximize these sharings.

These phonetic characters are called ''[[okurigana]].'' They are used even when the inflection of the stem can be determined by a following inflectional suffix, so the primary function of ''okurigana'' for many kanji is that of a phonetic complement.

Generally it is the final [[syllable]] containing the inflectional ending is written phonetically. However, in [[Adjectival noun (Japanese) |adjectival verbs]] ending in ''-shii'' (-しい), and in those verbs ending in ''-ru'' (-る) in which this syllable drops in derived nouns, the final two syllables are written phonetically. There are also irregularities. For example, the word ''umareru'' 'be born' is derived from ''umu'' 'to bear, to produce'. As such, it may be written 生まれる [生mareru], reflecting its derivation, or 生れる [生reru], as with other verbs ending in [[elidable]] ''-ru''.