Our Nakama textbook, and others like it, tend to emphasize that katakana is used for the large number of loan words in the Japanese vocabulary, as well as for onomatopoeias in writing. I find it surprising that Japanese has integrated so many more foreign loanwords than a language such as Chinese. For example, the word “earring” does not seem much like a “modern” recently-imported concept. But why has Japanese adopted the western pronunciation - イヤリング - while Chinese has found a way to account for the meaning of “earring” with traditional words - “耳环” (literally ‘ear ring’)? I wonder what in Japanese history or the Japanese way of thinking has made it so globalized and open to international influence?
While browsing through Japanese media, I ran across many stylistic uses of katakana. For example, フレンチガール, or “french girl” from the cover of fashion magazine “Pinky” is used stylistically. There is a Japanese word for “girl,” so why not use that instead? I think that this is a stylistic choice, depending upon the context of the katakana, in this case a fashion magazine.
Also, many technical terms, such as species names and medical terminology are written in katakana. For example, when referring to the species of 人, one may use katakana ヒト. Many other scientific terms are also written in katakana. I think that the purpose of this is to set these names apart from other usages of the word, and also to make words more readable by the general public.
Many company/brand names are written in both katakana AND English, and I think that this is to make the brand more internationally marketable but still readable by the Japanese general public at the same time. For example, on the cover of fashion magazine “SPUR” is displayed the English titled in large pink letters. In smaller letters, one can see the katakana transliteration - ”シュプール.” Other examples are Toyota and Honda, and other well-known car manufacturers.
Perhaps this use of katakana in conjunction with English names may also explain why Japan is one of the world’s most modern, top economies.
リサーチは本当によくできたね！It´s very interesting that you picked up on the stylistic use of katakana, particularly in youth culture. If you are interested, there´s actually a paper by Laura Miller that was published in the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology that has some information on the subject, specifically as it relates to Gyaru culture and use of katakana-ized slang. I also liked your point connecting Japan's success as a global market with its ability to incorporate foreign ideas. Best of luck with the rest of your project!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Michaela (and you too), the use of Katakana definitely seems to relate to the promotion of elements of foreign and popular culture. Perhaps it is in some way an effort to converge the two. I especially think so in light of the fact that some words that are imported from chinese are expressed in katakana form whilst others have more or less been maintained as hiragana.
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis on the different uses of katakana.
ReplyDeleteI think the high concentration of loanwords in the Japanese lexicon can be owed to its historical tradition of isolationism which did not end until the 1850s, and the Japanese embrace of Western culture did not happen until even later (the Meiji Restoration). For a country that developed largely in isolation, it's possible that many things taken for granted in other countries with higher levels of cross-cultural exchange, like earrings, were never conceptualized until introduced by foreign influences. It's interesting to ask why later on a Japanese term wasn't used in place of the katakana-term, but I think might be simply be attributed to the Japanese way of borrowing and fully incorporating things from outside cultures.
Like you've pointed out, many uses of katakana in Japanese culture are done for the sake of style. This might be an effort to make something seem "cooler" and more "trendy."
In the case of Spur, I guess Katakana may have been used to teach the new users about the right pronunciation?
ReplyDeleteI love the use of フレンチガール on the cover of the magazine. What a great find! I guess it's used to really emphasize the foreignness of the concept in order to market fashion.
ReplyDelete