Introductory Japanese language textbooks usually go into very little detail about the usage of katakana in modern Japanese. They tend to describe only one or a few of the possible uses of katakana, usually ranked in the following order of emphasis/priority:
- loanwords, i.e. words borrowed from another language, and transliterated in Japanese, whether it is from English, French or Chinese. (Chinese words that have been part of the Japanese vocabulary for a long time, and that have a distinct Japanese pronunciation, are not considered loanwords.) コーヒー (coffee) would be the most common example of this.
- names, especially names of foreign origin.
- onomatopoeia, i.e. words that simulate or represent through sound a particular sound, action, or even feeling. For example, ドキドキ (dokidoki) is an onomatopoeia for a heart beat.
- emphasis, i.e. using katakana to bring attention to the word, possibly because katakana is written in cleaner, squarer strokes, which are easier to read.
This last usage is only mentioned in one of the textbook definitions we looked at. It general, Japanese textbooks only focus on the use of katakana as loanwords and for foreign names – words that are only written in katakana – and do not go into detail about the many subtleties of katakana usage in other contexts. I think this is done in order to avoid confusing students when they are starting out with the language. By separating the two kana alphabets, hiragana and katakana, into two non-overlapping systems, one for Japanese words and the other for foreign words, they can teach both alphabets within a short period of time, and students may find it easier to differentiate the two kana alphabets in their minds, without getting confused about when to use which kana alphabet.
But let's look at how katakana is used in modern Japanese society. In reality, although the most frequent use of katakana is probably still for loanwords, of which there are many in Japanese, katakana is also often used for the less emphasized purposes of onomatopoeia, emphasis, and scientific formalization. Its use for names is also wider than simply for names of foreign origin: brand names also tend to be written in katakana, such as Suzuki (スズキ) for example. Why is katakana used in these ways?
What are the characteristics of katakana? Historically, katakana was used by men while hiragana was used mainly by women. (The division male/female is linked to formal/informal, and outside/inside. Formal documents, for example, were all written in kanji with katakana.) Maybe for this reason, katakana is still associated with rough, harsh, loud sounds, at least in comparison to hiragana. This may also be due to the form of the kana themselves: katakana are angular and straight-forward, hiragana are full of curves. Katakana, like hiragana, are easier to read for children (and Japanese learners) than kanji.
Since it is so commonly mentioned and taught, we tend not to ask why loanwords are written in katakana. One of my classmate has theorized that this is linked to the fact that katakana are associated with harsher sounds, and therefore are more suited to foreign sounds which are often unnatural to the Japanese speaker. I personally believe there must have been a conscious decision to apply this standard to all loanwords, and that it was probably due to historical factors surrounding the entry of foreign words into Japan. In particular, I believe that the first foreign words were mainly scientific words and appeared in formal publications, hence the use of katakana.
Katakana can be used to emphasize a word, because it looks different from hiragana. In Japanese, there are no spaces between words, so it is difficult to skim through a text with only hiragana, because there is no way to parse between particles (non-specific information) and nouns/verbs/adjectives/adverbs (elements carrying specific information). One way to indicate that a word is a word (as opposed to a particle) is by writing it in kanji. However, for words that do not have kanji, that have kanji that are not well-known, or that are too complicated (too many strokes), katakana accomplishes the same purpose of differentiating particle and word. Moreover, katakana looks neater and clearer than hiragana, due to the straight strokes, sharp angles and more empty space, so it successfully attracts attention.
In the example below, which comes from instructions on a bottle of salad dressing (ごま, イカリbrand) the katakana reads "ビンはワレモノです”. ビン means bottle, and it can also be written in kanji 瓶 or in hiragana. ワレモノmeans fragile object, and it can also be written in kanji 破れ物 or hiragana. The message ("This bottle is fragile") is obviously important, and since this is the only part of the instructions written in katakana, we can assume the katakana was used to bring attention to this sentence. In this situation, I'm not sure whether katakana was be used instead of kanji because the kanji for these words are not well-known (this would be the one sentence that you would want children to understand), or because they are too complicated and would be hard to read in such a small font (the bottle was relatively small), or simply because katakana would be more eye-catching, and therefore more successful at emphasis.
Here are two other examples of interesting use of katakana, which both come from the manga GINTAMA 銀魂. The first is an example of onomatopoeia, ザッ (zah). This function of katakana is not uncommon. What I found interesting there was the typography – in this case, the onomatopoeia was drawn in, and it is part of the image rather than the dialogue. The way it is drawn somewhat reflects the impression it is supposed to give – here, the bold strokes add to the confrontational and daring situation of the 'hero' prepared to fight alone against a group of men.
In this second example, only a part of the word is written in katakana (the ending), and it is not written in a grammatically correct way. The katakana here describes a sound – the drawling of the character's voice – just like it does in onomatopoeia. The fact that it switches halfway through the word is the most interesting there and it shows the versatility of hiragana and katakana. The use of katakana also matches with the speech style, because it is a very masculine and somewhat rough speech pattern, and adds a visual factor to the "toughness" of the character.
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