Are there means (formal rules or conventions) of use-mention distinction in Japanese writing?


With English, when writing and looking to mention a word (as a word vs wanting
to use the word as its semantic referent), writers have at their disposal
quotation marks (punctuational) and italicized font (typographical) with which
to make clear their intention.

As examples:

> _The_ is the definite article of the English language.

and

> 'The' is the definite article of the English language.

both make clear, via typographic and punctuational devices respectively, that
the first _the_ they contain is being used differently and means something
different than the two other instances of _the_ that follow.

Is there anything (typographical or punctuational —as with English— or
otherwise —I know Japanese often employs [平仮名]{ひらがな} marker words to indicate
things that English would via typographical effects or punctuation) afforded
to writers writing in Japanese which can be leveraged to similar effect?

I ask 'cause, as someone learning Japanese, much of what I write in Japanese
is meta; I'm usually asking about Japanese itself —about vocab, aspects of
grammar like particles, _et cetera_. As such, in terms of mention vs use, many
parts of my writing are mention and I worry that, without some sort of
annotation, the distinction may be less than clear.

Here's the Wikipedia
[article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use%E2%80%93mention_distinction) on
use-mention distinction in English writing for reference.




「鉤【かぎ】括弧【かっこ】」 is probably what you're looking for. Example:

> 「は」は係助詞です。

These are used like quotes in English.

There's also a doubled-up form that can be used if the text is already quoted.

> 教師は微妙な表情をして、「『は』は係助詞です。」と言いました。




「鉤【かぎ】括弧【かっこ】」 is probably what you're looking for. Example:

> 「は」は係助詞です。

These are used like quotes in English.

There's also a doubled-up form that can be used if the text is already quoted.

> 教師は微妙な表情をして、「『は』は係助詞です。」と言いました。

