Heikana

Heikana (平仮名, 'Simple kana') is a syllabary, derived from  Hyōkana, which is used primarily to write the East Yashimic languages of Shirakawan, Kitahashinese and Geusyoan. It has also been adapted for writing various non-Yashimic languages, such as Saramosiri and Uraani.

Hyōkana was first introduced to Chisei in the early 10th century, but the writing system would not take hold among literati in Geusyo, Kitahashi and Shirakawa until the establishment of the Hino-Yamataian Yashiman Empire on the mainland in the late 16th century. Since then, Chiseian and West Yashiman kana systems have diverged, as a result of varying standardisation, spelling reforms and linguistic differences.

Differences from Hyōkana
Although broadly similar to Hyōkana, the differences between the Insular and Mainland Yashimic languages, as well as the seperate development of the two scripts over the centuries has led to divergent orthographic standards. For example, certain standard characters in hyōkana are considered (variant/non-standard kana) in heikana, and vice versa.

Final Nasal
The hyōkana syllabic n (ん) derives from a cursive form of the character 无, and originally signified mu, the same as む. The Hyōkana spelling reforms that followed the 1866 Sakura Revolution separated the two uses, declaring that む could only be used for mu and ん could only be used for syllable-final n. Previously, in the absence of a character for the syllable-final n, the sound was spelled (but not pronounced) identically to mu, and readers had to rely on context to determine what was intended. In Heikana, む was maintained as the character for both n and mu, but the ambiguity was removed through the use of a small kana ( む ) to represent the syllable-final n, a convention already adopted in the Saramosiri kana orthography of 1845.

In western Chisei a small ん ( ん ) is commonly used instead of む, mostly as a result of Yamataian influence within the former New Territories.

Ye, Wi, We, Wo
The characters (and sounds) wi (ゐ) and we (ゑ) are essentially obsolete in modern Yashiman, while wo (を) is preserved only as a particle; they have largely been supplanted by i (い), e (え) and o (お) in both pronunciation and orthography. However in Shirakawan (and other mainland Yashimic languages) all three characters remain distinct phonemes and are in common usage.

Similarly, ye is phonemically distinct from e in Shirakawan, however both were historically written with え. 𛀁 for ye, previously a hentaigana used occasionally by linguists, was adopted during the 1827 heikana reform to differentiate the sounds. However 𛀁 and え continue to be used somewhat interchangeably. The city of Eito (永都 Yeito [jeito]) is variably written in heikana as えいと and 𛀁いと; the former is the source of the common Anglian name.

𛀁 is entirely absent in modern hyōkana, and is usually transcribed as え.

Chōonpu
In Heikana, long vowels are indicated with a horizontal (or vertical, depending on writing orientation) line (ー) known as a (長音符, lit. "long sound symbol"). In Hyōkana it is more common to repeat or add a vowel kana, as in おお / おう (о̄), with the chōonpu used mainly in nishikana.

Hu/Fu
The kana ふ, though present in both hyōkana and heikana, has differing pronunciations in modern Yashiman (fu [ɸɯ]) and Shirakawan (hu [hu]). The /ɸ/ phoneme has been entirely replaced by /h/ in Shirakawan, but is preserved in the Standard Yashiman ふ. /ɸ/ in Shirakawan is now only found in loanwords.

Kw/Gw
Shirakawan retains the labio-velar consonants [kʷ] and [ɡʷ]. As with the /j/ glide, these are written as a consisting of a く (ku) or ぐ (gu) kana, followed by a small version of わ (wa), ゑ (we), ゐ (wi) or を (wo). A small え ( え ) is sometimes used instead of ゑ for readability. See the table below.

Gozoxugana
Gozoxugana (五族仮名), meaning "Five Tribes Kana", is an umbrella term for the various scripts for non-Yashimic languages which have been derived from Heikana, and in particular the kana orphographies of Saramosiri and Uraani. These orphographies employ various adjustments and additions to the basic system of Heikana.

Heikana was adopted in Saramosir in 1667, and the modern system of Saramosiri kana, known as Cupkana, was adopted in 1845. The adoption of kana orphographies by non-Yashimic languages in Chisei, such as the Tsaharic languages, was encouraged by 19th century cultural reformers, who sought to break down barriers to multilingualism and encourage a pan-Chiseian national identity. Uraani adopted a modified cupkana orphography in 1898, though the system would not entirely replace the traditional in official use until the 1950s.