The conversation between human and AI assistant.
Why are Kombanwa and Konnichiwa both spelled (in hiragana) with a "ha" on the end and not a "wa"?
Interesting. Is there a reason why the 'wa' character can be used for both sounds in hiragana?
Yes, there is. In the history of the Japanese language, the sounds for 'wa' and 'ha' were originally distinct, but over time they merged into a single sound. The hiragana characters for 'wa' and 'ha' reflect this historical development, which is why they can both be used to represent the same sound in certain contexts.