Katakana Analysis Draft （final）

Katakana is mainly used as Onomatopoeia - Emphasis - Loanwords.


- Onomatopoeia:　ワンワン(bowwow)、ブ-ン(zoom)、ドキドキ(heart beat)、パタパタ(the sound of falling rain or leaves)
       Katakana is used to imitate the sound. Similar situation exists in kanji, but the Chinese characters used as onomatopoeia are mostly very difficult to read and write. So, it is a smart choice to use katakana to record the voice. In addition, the use of onomatopoeia can make the words and expressions more vivid.  Let's take a look at this manga:

Here, in order to show the surprising shout fromのび のびた , katakana word  ワッis used. 
 
- Loanwords: サラダ(salad)、スタンプ(stamp)、サーモンカルパッチヨ(salmon carpaccio)、 ネギトロ(toro with scallion)、ユニクロ(UNIQLO)、テラ(tiger)、マツダ(Mazda)
       I think this group may be the largest one in these three categories. When entering a Japanese restaurant, it is easily to discover many loanwords in katakana on their menu. These words are mainly loaned from Western languages. Sometimes, we use katakana to refer to typical species or brand, because they are kind of prescribed expressions, such asテラ(tiger). Brand names are also expressed in katakana:

- Emphasis: コウテイペンギン(emperor penguin or "aptenodytes forsteri")、ネコ(cat)、ココ (here)、イマ(now)
       This category is really special in that they are not so fixed. Sometimes, people just use it to make things more attractive. For example, in magazines, we can find イ マ(now) written down together with commercials (such as discount in limited time). This way of using katakana is random, which shows the personal inclination of typical expressions. I myself use katakana as an emphasis in my experimental poem はなのうみ. The first time I use はなのうみ to describe the beautiful "sea" of cherry blossom, while in another paragraph, I do not want to repeat the same phrase, so I change it into ハナノウミ.