Japanese Punctuation - Japanese Punctuation Marks - Ellipsis

Ellipsis

Main Japanese article: リーダー (記号)

Ellipses (リーダー rīdā (leaders), 点線 tensen (dotted line), or てんてん ten-ten ("dot dot")) indicate an intentional omission or abbreviation, or a pause in speech, an unfinished thought or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence (aposiopesis). Ellipsis was adopted into Japanese from European languages.

The ellipsis is often three dots or six dots (in two groups of three dots), though variations in number of dots exist. The dots can be either on the baseline or centred between the baseline and the ascender when horizontal; the dots are centred horizontally when vertical.

Other uses:

• As a substitute for dashes
• In manga, the ellipsis by itself often represents speechlessness or a "pregnant pause"