Katakana Analysis (Final)

The Katakana expressions that I chose to look at were コーン　フロスティand ツマラナイ. コーン　フロスティ is used as the Japanese title for a brand of cereal. It is written in Katakana rather than Hiragana because it is a loan word for “Corn Frosties.” ツマラナイis used in a Japanese advertisement for Vitamin Water. It is most likely written in Katakana rather than Hiragana in order to emphasize the word’s meaning of “boring.”

The Japanese name differs slightly from the English name of the cereal, “Frosted Flakes.” A possible reason for this difference in naming may be that “Frosted Flakes” is harder to transcribe into Japanese than “Corn Frosties.” This is primarily due to the “d” sound at the end of “Frosted” and the “fl” and long “a” sound in “Flakes.” In general, when a consonant is used without a vowel after it, it is transcribed into the “consonant + u.” However, there are certain exceptions, such as “t” and “d” becoming トandド as well as “ch” and “j” becomingチand ジ [1].  The “fl” sound is a little trickier to deal with, since it has both a double consonant and an “l” sound. Since Japanese does not distinguish between the “r” and “l” sound, the “la” portion would usually transcribed into ラ[2]. However, since the “a” is actually a long “a” sound, the transcription would actually use the long vowel marker ー(also called a chōonpu) with the レinstead [3]. The “e” sound in the “ke” portions in “Flakes” is also silent, so with the “consonant + u” guideline it becomes ク. As such, “Frosted Flakes” would transcribe into something like フロステド　フレークス, a much more difficult transcription than コーン　フロスティ. In addition to this difficulty in transcription, フロステド　フレークス seems more difficult to pronounce as well. 

As for the advertisement, the use of Katakana is a little more subjective. Despite the fact that ツマラナイ is a Japanese-origin word, it is written in Katakana to emphasize that水, the word it is describing, is particularly boring. The advertisement uses this emphasis to create juxtaposition between water and Vitamin Water, portraying water as a dull and typical choice of drink while portraying Vitamin Water as a more exciting and interesting choice of drink. Since Katakana often seems "edgier" and more eye-catching than Hiragana, it is commonly used in advertisements for this effect. This use of Katakana for emphasis is less commonly seen than its use for loan words and is actually a relatively new development that may be seen as the result of the increased Westernization in Japan, as Western culture is seen as more trendy [4]. It may be for this reason that each textbook chooses to explain Katakana differently, as it may be confusing to first-time learners of Japanese for Katakana to be used in such a variety of ways. While the textbooks all agree that Katakana is used for loan words, not all of them bring up its other uses. Since the works in which Katakana is used for emphasis are often artistic mediums such as manga or advertisements, the emphasis is mostly to express certain tones or messages that the author is trying to convey. For learners of Japanese, it is often less confusing to simply stick to the typical usage of Katakana for loan words.

1.      http://en.wikibooks.7val.com/wiki/Transwiki:Transcribing_English_to_Japanese

2.      http://www.learn-japanese.info/writing/kwriting_rules.html

3.      http://learnthekana.com/choonpu/

4.      http://www.japan-society.org/index.php?nav1=section&secid=5&subsecid=67&articleid=16