Katakana: Difference between revisions
imported>Daniel Mietchen m (some minor additions) |
imported>John Stephenson (this started as part of the kanji article and I feel that some of it would be better off there to avoid digression, so I am copying Daniel's contribution plus other stuff and changing the example) |
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{{Image|Shinjuku-neon Tokyo.jpg|left|300px|[[Neon]] signs light up the streets of [[Shinjuku]], [[Tokyo]]. Logos and other signs often employ the ''katakana'' script rather than ''kanji'' characters.}} | {{Image|Shinjuku-neon Tokyo.jpg|left|300px|[[Neon]] signs light up the streets of [[Shinjuku]], [[Tokyo]]. Logos and other signs often employ the ''katakana'' script rather than ''kanji'' characters.}} | ||
''Katakana'' is also used for native Japanese words from time to time, especially company logos on the streets, and for [[onomatopoeia|onomatopoeic]] expressions (e.g. in [[manga]] | ''Katakana'' is also used for native Japanese words from time to time, especially company logos on the streets, and for [[onomatopoeia|onomatopoeic]] expressions (e.g. in [[manga]]). It also serves the same purpose as bolding or italics in other [[orthography|orthographies]], i.e. to highlight words and phrases, and sometimes when the pronunciation of a ''kanji'' is explicitly written. Finally, some words are usually or always written in ''katakana'' anyway, especially some people's names. | ||
Other words, particularly grammatical particles, are written in another mora-based script, ひらがな ''hiragana''. In the past, these scripts were more widely used, and so today there are many words in Japanese that have no ''kanji'' assigned to them, or for which the characters are little-used: | Other words, particularly grammatical particles, are written in another mora-based script, ひらがな ''hiragana''. In the past, these scripts were more widely used, and so today there are many words in Japanese that have no ''kanji'' assigned to them, or for which the characters are little-used: 綺麗 ''kirei'' 'pretty' or 'clean' is usually written in ''hiragana''. Both scripts developed through simplification of Chinese characters and elimination of their meaningful components, so that ''kana'' would become phonological alone. | ||
Revision as of 08:15, 30 January 2011
'Citizendium' written in katakana, a moraic script that developed from simplified kanji characters. For example, チ comes from 千, meaning 'thousand' and still retains the reading chi. As di does not exist in native Japanese, デ de and a small イ i are used to indicate [di] instead. Katakana is typically used to write loanwords.
Japanese employs three scripts in its writing system, one of which is カタカナ katakana, which represents the moras of Japanese (units similar to syllables). One use of katakana involves new vocabulary: words that have been borrowed from other languages are usually not written in Chinese-derived characters (kanji) but phonologically in katakana. As characters usually indicate a meaning as well as a pronunciation, it can be difficult to select a combination of characters to represent a new word or phrase, and some sounds, such as di, have no characters that are read using those pronunciations. In addition, use of katakana allows an approximation of the original word's pronunciation to be retained.
Japanese has incorporated a vast number of foreign words and phrases into its lexicon, often changing the meanings and abbreviating them in the process, and users also commonly make up expressions which do not exist in the original language (和製英語 wasei-eigo, for example, is literally 'made-in-Japan English'). Frequently, being written in katakana is the only clue that these words are of foreign origin. For example, オエル oeru is derived from the English pronunciation of the letter sequence 'O.L.', short for office lady, which in turn is wasei-eigo for 'female office worker'. バイト baito is from German arbeit 'work', but in Japanese means 'part-time job'. Other are more recognisable: コミュニケーション komyunikeeshon is 'communication', and ホテル hoteru is 'hotel'.
Katakana is also used for native Japanese words from time to time, especially company logos on the streets, and for onomatopoeic expressions (e.g. in manga). It also serves the same purpose as bolding or italics in other orthographies, i.e. to highlight words and phrases, and sometimes when the pronunciation of a kanji is explicitly written. Finally, some words are usually or always written in katakana anyway, especially some people's names.
Other words, particularly grammatical particles, are written in another mora-based script, ひらがな hiragana. In the past, these scripts were more widely used, and so today there are many words in Japanese that have no kanji assigned to them, or for which the characters are little-used: 綺麗 kirei 'pretty' or 'clean' is usually written in hiragana. Both scripts developed through simplification of Chinese characters and elimination of their meaningful components, so that kana would become phonological alone.