Katakana Analysis Final

Having taken Japanese for a semester and having learned the rudimentary basics of the language, it's time that I start analyzing the construction and style of the language in more depth.  One interesting element of Japanese is its use of an entirely different writing system, Katakana, for certain words and phrases.  Katakana is explained in a variety of ways, but most textbooks state that it is primarily used for foreign names and loan words.  Words such as ハンバーガー (hamburger) or アレックス (Alex), which obviously don't have an existing Japanese translation, are almost always written in Katakana.  In addition, a number of textbooks mention that Katakana is also used to express onomatopoeia.  For example, a cow makes the sound モーモー (Moo Moo).  

http://www.oike.co.jp/moomoo/img/top03.jpg

Finally, those textbooks that discuss more of the cultural side of the Japanese language recognize that Katakana is often used to emphasize specific words or to make the writing look sophisticated, modern, or cool.  The differences in the textbook explanations probably stem from differences in the authors' perspective on the Japanese language, or differences in opinion on what is important to teach beginning Japanese students.  Those that do not specifically reference the connection to popular culture probably assume that students will discover this for themselves, learning about the intricacies of Japanese in a more organic setting.

     To show specifically how Katakana is used in actual Japanese writing, I'll now give a couple of examples.  First, the March 3, 2008 cover of ViVi Magazine contains the Katakana word ガールボヘミアン, which is presumable translated as Girl Bohemian.  

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/I/61FxoBkHxgL._SS500_.jpg

     While it is true that these are both loanwords from English, and so would be written in Katakana anyway, it seems that another significant purpose in using this Katakana rather than a different name that could be written in Hiragana or Kanji was to make the model seem more modern and fashionable.  In addition to their connection to Western culture and fashion, with which many younger Japanese are fascinated, the Katakana characters themselves are sleeker and look more forceful than those of Hiragana, giving the words a more powerful look.  This further adds to the appeal of using Katakana, especially in popular culture media.  

http://www.sharp.co.jp/corporate/report/smartphone/images/lineup1.jpg

For a second example, I analyzed an online article from Asahi Shinbun from February 12, 2012.  The article uses the Katakana スマートフォン (smart phone) as it discusses new technology.  The same Katakana is also found in the Sharp advertisement above.  In this case, the use of Katakana is motivated purely by the fact that there is no logical existing translation for smart phone in Japanese.  Despite Japan's role a world leader in technology and gadgets, they do often import ideas that were originally created elsewhere.  The author of the article used Katakana to discuss new technology that was popularized in the West and so was given an English name.  While this second example of Katakana is perhaps more straightforward than the first, it represents a much more common usage of Katakana, and so is also worth analyzing.  There are obviously innumerable examples of Katakana throughout the Japanese language, but hopefully these two examples serve to foster discussion on the interesting and changing role of Katakana.