Spaces in children's books


Written Japanese ordinarily doesn't use any spaces to separate words. But
Japanese children's books do.

For example, the opening of Tomi Ungerer's _The Three Robbers_ (すてきな 三にんぐみ)

> あらわれでたのは、
>
> くろマントに、 くろい ぼうしの さんにんぐみ。
>
> それはそれは こわーい、 どろぼうさまの おでかけだ。

Are there general rules by which spaces would be inserted? (For example,
always after particles, always at "word boundaries" (suitably defined).) Or do
editors/authors just insert spaces at "natural" reading pauses? (Natural for
small children at least.)

For example, in the same book きがついた is written without spaces (which would be
fine if the rule were "no spaces in phrases which are a unit"), but then だれも
かれも is written _with_ space, but I think of the phrase as a unit.




There's a quick way to know this. The place where a space can be inserted is
roughly the same place where ね can be naturally inserted.

> あらわれでたのは **ね** 、  
>  くろマントに **ね** 、くろい **ね** 、ぼうしの **ね** 、さんにんぐみ。  
>  それはそれは **ね** 、こわーい **ね** 、どろぼうさまの **ね** 、おでかけだ。

Actually this structure is known as
[文節](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%96%87%E7%AF%80). Basically, a 文節 starts
with a noun/adjective/verb/adverb/etc, optionally followed by one or more
subsidiary verbs and particles.

Inserting spaces between all words (i.e. `あらわれ で た の は`) is overkill in most
cases.

But this rule is not strict, and you will find a lot of exceptions in
children's books and old video games. Don't worry too much.




There's a quick way to know this. The place where a space can be inserted is
roughly the same place where ね can be naturally inserted.

> あらわれでたのは **ね** 、  
>  くろマントに **ね** 、くろい **ね** 、ぼうしの **ね** 、さんにんぐみ。  
>  それはそれは **ね** 、こわーい **ね** 、どろぼうさまの **ね** 、おでかけだ。

Actually this structure is known as
[文節](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%96%87%E7%AF%80). Basically, a 文節 starts
with a noun/adjective/verb/adverb/etc, optionally followed by one or more
subsidiary verbs and particles.

Inserting spaces between all words (i.e. `あらわれ で た の は`) is overkill in most
cases.

But this rule is not strict, and you will find a lot of exceptions in
children's books and old video games. Don't worry too much.

