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!
ジョーさんもナルトを見ますか？私はナルトファンです。
ReplyDeleteI agree that Katakana creates a sense of emphasis. However, I had a slightly different interpretation of what the purpose of Katakana is. I think your analysis that "perhaps katakana is a blend of the native japanese aural system" is really interesting.
This is a very interesting post, particularly your comment 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."
ReplyDeleteOnomatopoeia is not necessarily written in katakana, it's up to the writer. As you say later, katakana does add more emphasis and so it is up to the writer to decide what kind of impact he wants to convey. I tried looking up the history of the development of Japanese onomatopoeia and didn't get too many results, but I'd hesitate to say that the Occidental concept of onomatopoeia developed in the wake of katakana. As you'll read in the second year textbook Tobira, Japanese doesn't have many words for gradations of emotions - for example 微笑み means smile, but there aren't words for different kinds of smiles, like "grin" or "chuckle", which is where onomatopoeia comes in. I'd guess that this lack of nuance precipitated the development of onomatopoeia and that it was written in hiragana, then katakana.
But that's just a guess - like I said I couldn't find much on the subject, so maybe I'm entirely wrong!!
-J. Greene
Very interesting post! One thing to note: I don't think Katakana is necessarily an "Occidentally driven form." Just a quick search on Wikipedia tells us that before WWII when there was minimal American influence in Japanese language, they used katakana for Okurigana in government documents. Before 1988, they used them for computers and telegrams. I feel like Katakana is more of a utility alphabet than anything else.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, but I agree with Peter that "occidentally driven form". I also agree that katakana is a utility alphabet that helps the Japanese language create boundaries, categories, and clarity. But I would agree that katakana does carry a sense of modernity because of its association with foreign words, which are probably becoming more mainstream in Japanese society, but this is just a guess.
ReplyDeleteDespite katakana not strictly being an 'Occidentally driven from' (as previous posters have pointed out) I still found your analysis of katakana as a writing system to be very interesting. Though it's not necessarily only based on Western influence, I thought that your observations of what it's used for, as well as possible associations with it, to be very interesting. It certainly gave me something to think about in that regard. Other than that, you have very solid analysis with strong examples in the basic three categories of katakana words, well done.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your analysis of the word "hip" on the stockings.
ReplyDeleteYou pointed out some things about that example that helped me understand emphasis a little better.