かたかな or カタカナ is a japanese syllabary and is also a component of the Japanese writing system along with ロマジ、ひらがな and かんじ。The word katakana means "fragmentary かな", as the かたかな
scripts are derived from components of more complex かんじ.
Katakana are characterized by short, straight strokes and angular corners, and are the simplest of the Japanese scripts.
e.g: ア(a) イ(i) ウ(u) エ(e) オ(o)
In modern Japanese, katakana are most often used for transcription of words from foreign languages. katakana is also used for country names, foreign places, and personal names. For example, France is written as フランス。
Katakana are also used for onomatoepia (words that represent sounds).
e.g: in the manga below "ズォ” is used to represent the sound of paper being torn apart. Onomatopoeia in manga probably adds liveliness, action and emotion to the art. Perhaps this is why in japan Mangas are more popular among adults than among children. Because adults having a more profound knowledge of Japanese and its onomatopoeia words, can enjoy the overwhelming complexity behind the static images on paper. It's through use of good onomatopoeia that a manga truly stands out and appeals to its readers.
Of course this is not where the use of onomatopoeia ends in manga and anime. Satou sensei in class today made me think about something worth looking into, Are Pokemon in fact onomatopoeia? After all Pokemon names are written in Katakana, so it is worth taking a look at.
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| ahahaha. this is a treat. |
PIKACHU (ピカチユウ) translates for ピカ (sound of electric sparking in cables) and チユウ represents the sound of a squeaking mouse. Therefore PIKACHU is simply an onomatopoeic representation of an electric mouse. SO ADORABLE! To think that an entire Legacy of onomatopoeia words has been left behind in a single manga/game! We can only say thanks to Ken Sugimori the original creator of the series for introducing us to this yellow fur-ball who drives us all NUTS! It is amazing how a simple onomatopoeia turned out into such a huge phenomenon that is still alive today. Our little pikachu is so famous that it is even seen in adds. A publicity campaign even used Pikachu to encourage kids to drink milk! (Make your Pikachu stronger. Give him plenty of milk~! nom nom nom.) How amazing is that? :O Pokemon was even at the Macy's thanksgiving day parade! An amazing tribute to the best combination of onomatopoeia ever. I come to think of onomoatopoeia now as sounds and syllables that can be added together for creativity and marketting of the product. After all, this mash up makes the series still very much alive today. If you want to know more about it, here's a link:Why have pokemon not died yet? Other counterparts of pokemon that have onomatopoeia names are:
With charmander we see a different kind of approach. The onomatopoeia name is in fact combined with a real word! The species of fire blasting cute orange pokemon was named "Charmander", a combination of "char", an onomatopoeia meaning burnt, and "salamander", a lizard!
In the case of our small pink friend its name mew is based on the onomatopoeia of a cat's cry,
ミユウ! Therefore we see 3 main types of onomatopoeia use in Pokemon: onomatopoeia combinations with words, combination with other onomatopoeia and also just a name by itself in Mew's case. What an interesting concept!
Now let's go back to the technical stuff:
Technical and scientific terms, such as the names of animal and plant species and animals are also commonly written in katakana.
Katakana are also often, but not always, used for transcription of Japanese company names. For example Suzuki is written スズキ, and Toyota is written トヨタ. Katakana are also used for emphasis, especially on signs, advertisements, and hoardings (i.e., billboards). Words the writer wishes to emphasize in a sentence are also sometimes written in katakana, mirroring the European usage of italics.
On the above billboard, one can see the Japanese metal band "The Gazette" with its katakana translation "ガゼット”。The idea is to market the band as a brand name in itself while at the same time creating emphasis.
"フルーツバスケット" is the title of the Japanese Manga by Natsuki Takaya Fruits Basket. The shoujo manga is very popular in Japan and has been translated in English, French and Spanish. The Katakana word is a loan word from English used by the author to express the genre of the manga. The reason why the author decided to use an English title instead of simply using the direct Japanese translation of "Fruits Basket" is because the author wanted to emphasize the importance of the title in the plot. In fact, the fruits basket game (apparently popular in Japan) introduces the heroine of the manga, Tohru. Often bullied by her classmates she was once called "rice cake" or "おにぎり” by her friends instead of being given the name of the fruit in the fruits basket game. while different fruit names would be called so that each player could in turn join the game, "おにぎり” was never called out. This represents the fact that Tohru is the odd one out - the rice ball in a game of fruits. The emphasis in Katakana of this title represents the author's desire to express Tohru's stigma and thus esposing the major dilemma she faces.
The use of Katakana here also makes her manga stand out since not many manga's in Japan have titles in Katakana. Perhaps this gives it an edge over others, because it sounds more foreign. More and more mangas in Japan are adopting Katakana titles. The popular manga "Naruto" for example is also written as ”ナルト” probably because the manga by itself is a worldwide phenomenon and brandname that sells incredibly well in most fields i.e. entertainment, games, toys...etc.
Japan's products ( beverages, tea and even candy) never cease to amaze me. Like this one below:
An ice cucumber flavored pepsi drink? WOW!
The creativity of the drink itself I believe is expressed in the use of the katakana itself. Because Katakana reflects modernity and perhaps the "cool factor", hence the presence of "アイスキューカンバー" on the Pepsi bottle. Also since pepsi in itself is an American brand, by writing the flavor in katakana, it emphasizes its foreign nature, thus enticing more interest on the Japanese market.
Now books. Why do books have different ways of explaining Katakana? Well... I believe it is because there is no distinct way to describe it! The reason why a person uses Katakana can be for different reasons from naming a pokemon, to trying to make a manga page more lively for the reader, to translate proper emotions like in Haiku or simply to market a product, a brand, a band, an artist or a video game. Katakana is abstract in itself and also ambiguous. It is not meant for a sole purpose ( e.g. emphasis, marketting.... etc) but rather for a combination of all of those. On the case of loan words, it would be incorrect to believe that Katakana is a translation in Japanese of the western world. Because Japan's use of Katakana goes beyond simple reliance on foreign words from the western culture. They have shaped Katakana into a very personal masterpiece that makes of Japanese language a complex, interesting and beautifully expressive language. I believe that textbooks all give a fundamental notion of what Katakana represents but they will never be able to define a specific use for Katakana. Because Katakana is used to mean whatever the person creating/using it has in mind at the time he decided to use Katakana. As with Japanese names where one can be named in Kanji, hiragana or Katakana no one knows, textbooks also cannot be constant because there is NO constant use of Katakana. Katakana evolves because Japanese as a language ( and as a culture) evolves and changes perpetually. Therefore Katakana uses will continue to get complex such that people will have to dedicate entire encyclopedias on them to analyze their change over time.
Sources: wikipedia, googling pictures on the internet ( the links to the pokemon sources are in the text above)
Because I am a big fan of manga in general, here is a list of common onomatoepia words found in popular mangas: http://www.japansugoi.com/wordpress/common-japanese-onomatopoeia-word-sounds-found-in-manga/
