Katakana Analysis Draft
Japanese writing system is made of three different kinds of characters:Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji and
Katakana is considered to be modified version of Kanji. When non-Japanese speakers like me think of Japanese writing, Katakana might be the first thing yet the only thing that pops up in their mind. In Japanese language, there are three major reasons to use Katakana: loanwords, emphasis, and onomatopoeia.
Loanwords are words or concepts that borrowed from other countries. Loanwords are widely used today because it can replicate the foreign pronouciation and also show an impression of sophistication and modernity.( "Japanese Writing System") For eample, "コンビニ" in Japanese means convenient store and it is pronouced "konbini". They sound very alike. 
In addition, Katakana is also used in the Japanese language for emphasis. For instance, "カッコイイ" that used in this advertisment:
In this case, jumping is given a sound effect represented as "パツ". It gives us a sense that the object jumps so fast that you can actually hear the action.
"カッコイイ" which means stylish or cool is usually written in hiragana. However, since it appeared on this advertisment, people just want to emphasize the coolness of the drink they are trying to sell, they used katakana to emphasis the word "かっこいい".
Finally, in Japanese, words are written in katakana if they are onomatopoeia words. Such as the word "パツ" that used in the "Dragon Ball" manga below:
I like your Dragonball example! Onomatopoeia is fun, especially with regards to anime. What I've heard, incidentally, is that onomatopoeia is far more prevalent in Japan than it is in America. For instance, I have heard that it is not uncommon in Japan for people to make noises that correspond to their actions, which is of course a form of onomatopoeia.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that コンビニ came into use instead of something with a 便利 in it... you could easily write that in katakana and it's about the same length as コンビニ. Perhaps this is just a weird Western perspective.
ReplyDeleteLoved your examples. Your advertising one really sparks a desire to get a hold of some Japanese magazines. I feel like if we had a collection of print ads that run in popular magazines, maybe we could really learn what motivates this "katakana for cool" paradigm we seem to have all adopted. Maybe I'll see into getting a digital copy... anyways, spot on analysis!
ReplyDeleteI like your examples because they show real-life foreign places translated into shorter, more culturally accessible katakana script. It makes sense that "air conditioning" is too long and confusing for non-English speakers, so shortening it to "air-con" is a grand solution. Same with convenient store example. It all makes sense and is practical. Nice!
ReplyDelete-Elise
I think sometimes whether to write a word in hiragana or katakana is really one's own choice, such as the example "カッコイイ", because one can always use "emphasis" as the reason.
ReplyDeleteI like the adversting. It seems real "emphasis" with the photo haha. Good work!
ReplyDeleteYou raised an interesting point with your advertising analysis, where you mentioned how katakana can be used to emphasize a particular word to catch people's attention. Why do you think advertizing companies use katakana instead of hiragana when emphasizing a word? Does it look better? Why do you think it stands out?
ReplyDeleteTA かわばた
The example of カッコイイ is interesting。 Even though the original pronunciation is still used, they use the katakana writing to show modernity and emphasis.
ReplyDelete