Katakana Analysis Revised

Revised 3-5-13

onomatopoeia, うぎああアアあア！！, scream, Bleach vol.1 This is a very interesting use to me, because it says that not only does writing full words in katakana change the connotation, but individual characters and sounds can also be affected. This scream uses the same sound /a/ alternating in hiragana and katakana, perhaps to suggest a roughness or changing sound. Partly this is just using katakana for onomatopoeia, but because it is mixed with hiragana it seems pointedly not meant to just be read the same.

Katakana in general seems to portray a rougher sound - we've seen examples where it was used for loud or harsh noises and hiragana for quieter sound effects in the same works. So in this case, there is a tone change that causes the sound of the scream to become harsher towards the end. It also seems as though the sound is becoming less and less like actual speech - an unintelligible scream in characters most often used to transliterate foreign words. The choice of alternation here also makes the sound effect visually stand out even more from the regular dialogue.




loanwords, ホットケーキミックスておいしいワッフル, hottokeekimikkusu de oishii waffuru (delicious waffle from hotcake mix), microwave waffle maker package In this case, the katakana is used obviously for English loanwords. As foods likely brought to Japan via America, "Waffle" and "hotcake" are unlikely to have corresponding native Japanese words, so the English term was used instead. It's interesting that "mix" is also in katakana, since it seems like there might be an appropriate non-loanword, but it could be that "hotcake mix" as a phrase is used enough that the words are recognizable together. It seems likely that the use of mostly hiragana and katakana on this package was meant to make it easier to read for possible use by children who may not have a large amount of kanji.

On this packaging, katakana must be used, as there are no equivalent Japanese words for the product. It does seem like they have been used more than strictly necessary, however. It has been pointed out to me that katakana are also easier to stylize interestingly - I think this is very important here, as the straight, simple characters allow for bubble effects and styles that would be eye-catching to children. 




It seems that the textbooks in general consider loanwords to be katakana's most important use. I think that particularly for English-speaking Japanese learners, the authors wanted to make sure that the student would recognize English words when they are used (often) in Japanese text. This also seems to go along with the style factor - when katakana is used to be fashionable, it's most likely to be in English, as the "cool" language.

It seems like the use of katakana for loanwords might be related to its tonal characteristics -the harsher sound that goes along with it - as my first example implies- would suit the characters' use for writing words that are unintelligible otherwise to the Japanese-speaking reader. The sharpness of the associated sound may relate to how other languages would sound to someone not used to hearing them. Even when the word that is being written is Japanese, or an onomatopoeia, this association would carry over to how the word is meant to be read.