Katakana Analysis Draft
Katakana is one of the three kinds of characters in Japanese: hiragana 平仮名, katakana カタカナ and kanji カンジ. All three types of characters can be presented in the same sentence without any concrete grammar rules. However, there is a convention in written Japanese. In this blog, we will talk only about katakana.
There is a consensus in many Japanese language textbooks that katakana will be used for representing sound (onomatopoeia), loanwords and foreign names (which are three majors uses of katakana).
Start off with foreign name.
Foreign names can came from any origin except the ones already exist in Japanese.
For example,
My name: Chatarin Wangsanuwat (Thai origin) チャタリン (cha-ta-ri-n) ワンサヌワット (wan-sa-nu-wat-to)
Smith (English origin) スミス (su-mi-su)
Japanese origin names are written in kanji 上田 (u-e-da)
Next is loanword.
Words that are from any other origins except Japanese's.
For example,
pizza ピザ (pi-za)
- ブラザーフッズミーティング, Brotherhood meeting, sign
The last one is to represent sound.
- ズム、Boom, Manga "Vinland Saga"
Nevertheless, there are some katakanas presented not according to this convention.
For example,
- ゴミをすてないで!、 Don't trash, Street sign
From here, you might notice that the word ゴミ (go-mi) is not quite familiar to the English speakers. According to aforementioned convention, go-mi or "trash" should be written in either hiragana ごみ (also go-mi) .
- イカの炙り焼き (Ika no Aburiyaki), Grilled Squid, Japanese menu
From this Japanese menu, イカの炙り焼き (Ika no Aburiyaki). I-ka is written in katakana meaning Squid, instead of in kanji 烏賊 (also i-ka).
Notice that in this same menu, saba, Mackerel fish, is written in katakana as ザバ instead of hiragana さば as well.
- ニッポン、 Japan, Street/advertisement sign
For the last example, towards the bottom of the sign, though there are some kanjis and hiraganas present, ni-hon (meaning Japan) is written in katakana ニッポン instead of the more common kanji 日本 (ni-hon).
From these examples, one assumption can be made. The writer decide to use some katakanas not following the convention in order to emphasize the words. In English, apart from bold, italics and underline, we can use capital letter to emphasize the word, indicating emotion attaches to the words (such as shouting)
Please don't leave the trash on the floor, THANKS! (This "THANKS!" indicates writer shouting)
The party was NOT fun AT ALL. (The writer emphasize the word "NOT" and "AT ALL").
However, we cannot use capital for Japanese characters.
Consider this sentence,
私は 昨日 日本のレストランで とんかつと チャーハンを 食べました。 There are all three types of Japanese characters in the sentence. The usage of each follows the convention.
Therefore, if the writer use katakana instead of kanji or hiragana aka not following the convention, he can emphasize that word.
From example above, ゴミをすてないで! The writer emphasize the word "trash" (ゴミ) by using katakana.
Therefore, there is flexibility within the characters used. Exposing to Japanese reading and writing will definitely help you understand more and become more comfortable using types of characters not according to the convention.