Monday, March 12, 2012

冬の風

ガチ........ガチ.........

さびし
ダンゴ兄弟
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ビュオオオオオオ...........フー.........


Monday, March 5, 2012

Katakana Analysis (Final)

First of all a big thank you to the  四年生 and 五年生 for their comments on my first draft. They have been vital in my ammendments for my analysis of the role of katakana and its development.

In my first draft I, mistakenly, believed that katakana was essentially an "Occidentally driven form". This was incorrect. It was only post-WWII that katakana was began to be associated with western ideals. For example prior to the 1950's kanji and katakana were used for official documents in a way the reflects the current usage of kanji with hiragana.  I believe that this transition or association of katakana to occidental influence post WWII is strongly linked to the cultural impacts that the western world, most importantly the United States, have made on Japan.

As per the original instructions katakana can be categorized into three different categories based on purpose and intention, onomatopoeia, loanword and emphasis. Of the three, perhaps the most obvious examples are onomatopoeia. Numerous example include stomach grumbling "ルルルルルルル" (Naruto) and laughter "キシシシ" (One Piece). Though writers have the flexibility to chose either hiragana or katakana to express onomatopoeia, in texts targeting shounen and seinen audience onomatopoeia is predominantly katakana. This raises in interesting question on the role of katakana in developing a Japanese onomatopoeia. After a little research, the use of the Japanese language to mimic symbolic meaning is rather complex. The sound system that is prescribed to create meaning is far more extensive that just onomatopoeia.
For example make unheard sounds that convey meaning such as "キラキラ" (One Piece-when Nami sees money) is not onomaetopoeia but is conveyed with katakana in a similiar fashion to westen concept of onomatopoeia.

Initially I thought that "either the concept of onomatopoeia, or at the Occidental definition of one, did not exist or alternatively the native written mediums were not compatible with present day onomatopoeia" now I see a much more complex interplay that requires much more research that what I have made. Nonetheless it proposes a fascinating topic to explore the development of language in the Occident and the Orient.

Loan words are perhaps the easiest of the three to categorize. They are words taken from other languages that have no Japanese equivalent. For example words such as,コパーブラウン and ザ・エルダースクロールズ, スカイリム, have modern origins, consequently they are written in katakana. In a way the loan words are the easiest to explain. But to do so we must return to the origins of katakana once more.

Katakana is an infusion of the Japanese aural language systems, particularity the use of the phonetic mora system, and the characteristic representation of  form from the reduction of Chinese origin kanji characters. So to an extent the katakana system itself represents a blend of foreign and local language systems. So it makes sense that these new 'foreign words' to be expressed with the katakana system that is based on the non-native Chinese characters.




Lastly are the words for emphasis . For me the most striking example were ヒップ & キレイ. Both these words have Japanese equivalents. So why were they written in katakana? In my opinion, the use of katakana for emphasis reveals, more strongly so than the other categories, the impression of katakana by the Japanese paradigm. The use of katakana post-WWII had  casual undertones that separated itself from a more traditional Japan. In a way the use of katakana embodies the flavors of modernity, informality and even a degree of cosmopolitanism. The role of katakana in modern Japanese, to a degree, represent the development and globalization of Japan since post-WWII. The use of katakana has a distinct flavor that is distance from the more tradition hiragana and like how Japanese culture has development to fit 21st century lifestyle, the use of katakana is an adaptation of the Japanese language to the rapid process Japan and the rest of the world has made in paradigmatic shifts.

The use of katakana in textbooks have been primarily limited to loanwords. As katakana for emphasis and onomatopoeia are part of the casual portion of the Japanese languagethere are no fixed rules for its structure. Hence such use of katakana would not be included in textbooks as it would imply a structure than simply is non-existent. Another point is that textbook content is much more formal hence casual use of katakana would seem reather out of place.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

バレンタインの日

 みあさんのバレンタインの日はどうでしたか。くれはマーナの男の人のMVです。


私のバレンタインの日はたのして、いそがしです。マーナの女の人は男の人にロマンチック晩御飯をつくりました。


とても美味しかった!  マーナの女の人はマスターシェフですよ!!!!


嬉しい男の子です! (Seriously it was a 3 course meal with desert, waitresses, the lot!)

AND.......

可愛いですね!

 私のバレンタインの日はよかったですよ!Hope everybody also had an awesome Valentines/Single Awareness Day!

ブラハハハハハハ!

じゃあ、またみんなさん !
ジョーさん









         

中休み

みんなさん! こんにちは!中休はどうでしたか。何をしましたか。

私は中休みにマーナの友達とヴァーモントにウィンタレトリートをしに行きました。五十人いきました。月曜日から金曜日まであります。

火曜日と木曜日にスキーをしました。でも、私は スノーボードをしました。スノーボードはたくさん難しくて、私ぜんぜんスノーボードをすらないから、たくさんフォールがありました(とても落ちます)。
 痛み!!!!!!!!(いま私はスノーボードわかりません)

 そして、毎日プレイヤをして、うたをうたいます。とても楽しかったです。


Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Katakana Analysis

Katakana, unlike hiragana and kanji is essentially a Occidentally driven form. Its style, appearance and purpose is intrcably linked to the permeation of Western ideals into Oriental Culture (and by Orient , here we mean Japanese). Perhaps katakana is a blend of the native japanese aural system constructed by components of kanji characters-a simple google search will demonstrate how most katakana character were derived for kanji. Thus katakana is a reflect on Japanese aural culture, with the stylistic corruption of foreign ideas. Consequently the presence of katakana is undoubtdly linked with Occidental themes such as modernity, radical, reformational etc...

Ok back on track. We classified katakana into categories (onomatopoeia, loanword, emphasis), some of which were rather obvious. In onomatopoeia, for example, the sound of a stomach grumbling "ルルルルルルル",presents an interesting case. As most, if not all, onomatopoeia are expressed through katakana, this implies that prior to the introduction of katakana either the concept of onomatopoeia, or at the Occidental definition of one, did not exist or alternatively the native written mediums were not compatible with present day onomatopoeia.

Loan words are perhaps the easiest of the three to categorize. They are words taken from other languages that have no japanese equivalents. For example words such as,コパーブラウン and ザ・エルダースクロールズV:スカイリム, are rather modern, consequently they are written in katakana to better convey this sense of modernity (the association of the Occident with modernity is due to the power landscapes in the past four-ish centuries).

Lastly are the words for emphasis. For me the most striking example were ヒップ & キレイ. Both these words have Japanese equivalents. So why were they written in katakana? In my opinion, the use of katakana for emhasis reveals, more strongly so than the other categories, the impression of katakan by the Japanese paradigm. The katakana for hips perhaps is linked to the source of the katakana, namely advertising for stockings. Now, stockings are distinctly a western clothing, and, especially during the modern age, embodied a degree of physical aesthetics. It appears that the use of katakana creates a western flavor into a particular object, and, consequentially, when the consumer reads katakana, the producer attempts to induce a Western mindset to influence judgement.


And just because its Valentines Day


And for those of you who chose to celebrate Singe Awareness Day instead here's a tip from Naruto!
じゃあまた!

Friday, October 28, 2011

PE: Goal Statement for Cycle 2

PE: Reflection Statement
Truthfully my first PE cycle was very disappointing. Whilst I was able to following my goals in the first two weeks, due to the tidal wave(つなみ) of homework(しゅくだい) that followed I did not have time to watch any anime/do shadowing at all.
In lieu of the oral exam, I didn't believe it went well. The variety of language used was limited, thus the sentences seemed really mechanical. Furthermore there were instances where what I said and what I wanted to say were different, especially once it came to tenses (でした) and questions (I always forget the か).
I guess right now it seems like a sob story. But hopefully after the second cycle my reflect will be more positive. 


PE: Goal Statement for Cycle 2:

Considering what I identified  in my reflection. I believe the biggest problem was lack of (consistent) practice. So to be more definite. Every Saturday afternoon(どようびのひる) I will do the textbook shadowing AND upload it on the voiceboard. Optional shadowing will take place during the week when there's spare time. Considering the due dates of my homework and psets this will normally be Monday night.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

(;´ρ`)グッタリ + 八(^□^*) タノム!! + ((T.T; )(; T.T))おろおろ・・・

いまごぜんにじじゅうさんぷんです。でも私はしゅくだいをします。
きのう ろくじごろおきました。そしてローキであさごはんをあべました。
くじからくじごじゅうぷんに にほんごのじゅぎゅうごありました。
そしてコンピュータ・サイエンス の クラスがありました。
そしてこずくとニュージーランドのともだち Skype をしました。

そしてしゅくだいとしゅくだいとしゅくだいとしゅくだいをしました!
きょうぜんぜんねません!きのうぜんぜんねませんでした!

いま...
 ("~") むにゃむにゃ