Our group came up with 15 different examples of katakana, which fit into four different categories:
Names/Characters, Brands, Loan Words, and Onomatopoeia. I will choose to analyze words in the categories other than loanwords, since that category is fairly self-explanatory.
Names/Characters:
Kontan - コンタン
Nobu - ノブ
Although these names are of japanese origin, my group found that they were spelled in katakana when presented as characters in books or manga. Our TA told us that this was often the "cool" thing to do, spelling ones name in katakana rather than in hiragana or kanji. Perhaps this is also a way of setting the names apart from the text, making them stand out as an important part of the story.
Onomatopoeia
DokiDoki - ドキドキ (sound of an empty stomach)
Piruru - ピルル (sound of starting a car)
Although both these words mimic sounds, they were used differently in the examples found by my group. Dokidoki was used in a sentence, as if it were a substitute for saying "i'm hungry", where as piruru was drawn in the background of a manga, to illustrate the sounds coming from a car.
Textbooks seem to have varying definition of katakana, and although all of them agree that katakana is used for loanwords, there are some discrepancies as to any other ways in which katakana are used. One text mentions onomatopoeia, and another mentions brand names. Because katakana is used in so many different situations, it is difficult to classify a disticnt set of guidelines for use.
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Good analysis of the usage patterns of Katakana, though I would argue there are two more usages that are common, with, ironically, opposite intents.
ReplyDeleteFirst, many authors use Katakana to give a sense of "foreignness" or alien-ness to their story, by giving all character names or places in Katakana, foreign or not (as noted above). But rather than necessarily just making the character names tand out more, it also makes them more removed from the hustle and bustle of everyday japanese life- after all, there are many, many 田中健 you're likely to run across, but very few タナカ ケン。
Second, since coming to Japan, I've noticed that in line with usage for onomatopoeia, Katakana seem to be the standard for pronunciation guides. This is seen in the "reading" section of japanese mobile phone contact book entries, and in that many Japanese will opt to write their names in Katakana when filling out name tags. I believe the concept is that Katkana are frequently "easier to read", in that they're harder to mistake for one another (though this is entirely my conjecture).
Well thought out, and you touch very concisely on the differences between English and Japanese uses of onomatopoeia .
-Ben R., KCJS 21
Ben's comment reminded me of the pronunciation guides in english dictionaries, which I find just as impossible to decifer as katakana.
ReplyDeleteBut back to the origninal post. I was a little suprised that writing your name in katakana was common practice. I was trying to think of an English analougue, but the closest I could come up with were grafiti tags, where the name (nickname, initials, or whatever) can end up looking more like art than writing.
Hi, this is Ai a TA.
ReplyDeleteYes, spelling ones name in Katakana makes them cool and makes them stand out. I'm not sure if you know the story of the manga "NANA," in which you found your examples, but in the story, there are two girls named "Nana," but one who is a rock singer is spelled her name in Katakana and another who is an ordinary girl is spelled her name in Kanji. If you read the story and know their characters, you will feel the nuance in Katakana and Hiragana more.
Hi, Ai again,
ReplyDeleteI need to say that:
Doki doki ドキドキ is not a sound of empty stomach but a sound of heart beating, used when someone is falling in love or someone feels nervous.
Piruru ピルル is not a sound of starting a car but a sound of telephone ring.
Thank you all for your insightful comments! Just goes to show how little i know about the Japanese language, there is so very much to consider. I hope that sometime i can go to Japan, and I will be able to pick up on more of these nuances.
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