Two of Katakana words I found from my research are ドッカーン (Totkan) and カレーライス(Curry Rice)
Though both words are written in Katakana, it seems to me that the purpose of the words' usages are
somewhat different from each other.
(1) ドッカーン does not carry any specific meaning, but to represent a sound effect or Onomatopoeia.
(2) カレーライス, unlike ドッカーン, surely contains a physical meaning which indicates "Curry Rice"
It seems to me that Japanese tries to distinguish an actual writing from Onomatopoeia or even newly imported words
(Loan words). With my little Japanese knowledge, these words when written in hiragana or Kanji become pretty formal
which can not fully carry out their meanings.
The reason why many textbooks have a different definition for Katakana is that there really is no formal definition
for Katakana. Unlike math or science, a lot of languages structures in a way that a logic can not explain. It seems to me
that it is an useless effort to capture the truly meaning and usage of Katakana in a simple sentence or two.
5. Think about katakana use and write your analysis on your blog. (15 min)
にほんのだいがくせい and TAs at Columbia will read your analysis and make comments on your analysis.
- Choose at least 2 katakana words/expressions that you found and think about what kinds of effects / purposes there may be in these words/expressions writing in katakana instead of hiragana or kanji.
- Also, think why there are such effects/purposes.
- Think about why each textbook is different in explaining katakana, and why the textbooks explained katakana in the manners that they did.
