Katakana Analysis

...a little late.
It makes me a little さみしい that we are changing our ブログ groups, but rest assured that I will go on drawing and failing as always!　<3
Now, onto analysis...

One source I drew from was the Japanese children's show Kogepan, about a burnt bread bun and his struggles to fit in with the other パン. I kind of sympathize with him:



...up to a point. Anyway, こげパン　often interacts with キレイパン, "pretty bread," on the show. But why is "kirei" written in katakana? I thought maybe for emphasis--the katakana stands out because it is more angular and blunt than the other characters--because the artist/writer is trying to emphasize that these are non-burnt, pretty bread, since こげぱんはきれいじゃありません ;_; But once ユジンさん said キレイパン　is a character name, I thought maybe the emphasis was because they were introducing a new character? Maybe it's both!

Another source I looked at were tanka by a modern poet, Machi Tawara. The translation of one of them is:

Suddenly it's there, and in the end it makes a stain across your heart:
like a streak of lily pollen is the mark of jealousy.

Jealousy, in the poem, is written "ジェラシー". But the word "jealousy" in Japanese is しっと, so Google tells me. So why use the katakana--and indeed this word at all? One would think in something beautiful like たんか　you wouldn't want some word in English cluttering things up. Well, I'm not one to interpret poetry, but maybe her point is that jealousy is something foreign, something strange, especially after the benign image of "a streak of lily pollen." And the way that the poem suddenly ends with this strange word, in bold katakana, goes along with the "suddenly it's there" line. Does that make sense?

Let's...not answer that last question, and think instead about the different ways textbooks describe katakana! "For writing loan words and foreign names."　"For words borrowed from other languages." "To write foreign names and loan words." "Loanwords, onomatopoeic words, and words the writer wishes to emphasize." That last one just had to break the mold, didn't it?...

I guess how you describe katakana just depends on how deep you want to go into it. "Loan words and foreign names" pretty much covers how we've been using katakana in class so far, and it would make sense for that to be the description in a textbook. Then, one textbook went into onomatopoeia and emphasis, which went a little further. But there are other uses we went over too: for slang words and for being "fashionable." There may be more as well. As the writer of a textbook, you just have to make the executive decision of what to include...

And as the writer of a blog, you just have to know when to stop writing. じゃあまた。