Looking through a novel


Was curious if the line that is highlighted in the image meant that the kana was repeated? I haven’t had much experience with novels.

Is the question about the marks next to the kana?

Do you mean, do the marks next to the kana mean they’re repeated? Those marks are just there for emphasis, similar to underlining or italics in English

Update: Kana do have an iteration/repitition mark (ゝ), though it goes after the kana just like the kanji iteration mark (々). It’s not very common though and I’ve yet to come across it

Yep, like @enbyboiwonder says, they’re like italics in an English book. They’re called 傍点 if you were curious!

edit to reply to update:

I see this all the time in old texts (ex, Aozora Bunko), but I think it has fallen out of fashion for modern writing.

In some books that are more meant for children or teens, it can also mean that the marked part is a single word, so they don’t get confused trying to understand where the words are. But seeing how there’s a very similar phrase also marked on the right, it’s probably some kind of emphasis

Oh yes, it was for the marks next to the kana. Thank you all, seems to be
for emphasis then. Appreciated. :slight_smile: