1.Most of the loanwords and foreign names appear in the form of katakana such as クリア, オリジナ, デジタル, プラトン(source:concrete product, Asahi.com, and wikipedia).
2.Usually brand name is written in katakana. For example, キヤノン(source: Canon company webpage).
3. In the Japanese websites or newspaper, column titles are always in katakana: トピックス,エンタメ, スポーツ, ニュース (source: yahoo.co.jp).
Why katakana?
First, I assume that the Japanese needed a new writing system to record loanwords and foreign names in order to differ them from original hiragana words and kanji. For this reason, they created katakana and used it for particular purposes.
Secondly, katakana looks more like print style, while cursive hiragana is hand-writing style. Therefore, katakana is more suitable for public medium, such as newspaper, website, commercial advertisement and so forth.
Thirdly, from the aesthetic perspective, katakana looks very neat and concise. Katakana is the style between kanji and hiragana. It is not as complicated as kanji, and it is not as casual as hiragana. Sometimes hiragana is difficult to recognize when people write it very quickly. But katakana is more legible.
Very interesting analysis!
ReplyDeleteThe font of カタカナ looks sharper and stronger so the カタカナ letters may naturally emphasize the content or the message they are conveying to audience. However, why do you think カタカナ is used for brand names even though they are originally Japanese? What kind of function do the カタカナ letters have in the PR industry? And what do you think about the use of カタカナ letters and Roman alphabets in the Japanese language system? How and why are they used differently?
TA
I liked how you said that "katakana looks more like print style". I agree with you; カタカナ does look neater than hiragana, especially with its nice, straight lines. It makes sense then that column titles will be written in this style, like you said :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting how you wrote about how カタカナ looks more formal--like print, and more suited for the public medium. I posted this in another blog already, but you can actually find カタカナ in official documents (particularly pre-WWII) acting as particles (which are now written in Hiragana, of course). Even in 漢文（かんぶん）which is primarily just comprised of 漢字 (again, often seen in official documents as well as in other mediums), you can often see this--katakana particles such as ノ（acting as an attributive particle--now の）.
ReplyDeleteおつかれさま～
四年生のテスより
As far as I know, katakana did not start out as a system to record loanwords – though that is the modern usage. It started out as a form of shorthand, as did hiragana. Unlike hiragana, which came from kanji written quickly, katakana use a part of the kanji to represent the whole. Thus they tend to look more like print style, as you pointed out.
ReplyDeleteToday they are used both to record loanwords and to increase emphasis, which I believe explains the other examples you listed, such as newspapers and company names.
~Jamie Kalliongis, 4th year
ペンさん,
ReplyDeleteあのう。。。 I know 4 other people have already said this ~ ~|| but (again) it's really smart that you considered how かたかな looks aesthetically when analyzing its usage. Definitely something I didn't think about until I read your post ^^"
じゃ、また、月曜日に！