The Changing Role of Katakana in the Japanese Writing System: Processing and Pedagogical Dimensions for Native Speakers and Foreign Learners by Yuko Igarashi B.A., University of Victoria, 2001 M.A., University of Victoria, 2004 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of Linguistics © Yuko Igarashi, 2007 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopying or other means, without the permission of the author. ISBN: 978-0-494-41190-2 ii The Changing Role of Katakana in the Japanese Writing System: Processing and Pedagogical Dimensions for Native Speakers and Foreign Learners by Yuko Igarashi B.A., University of Victoria, 2001 M.A., University of Victoria, 2004 Supervisory Committee Dr. Joseph F. Kess, Supervisor (Department of Linguistics) Dr. Hua Lin, Departmental Member (Department of Linguistics) Dr. Tadao Miyamoto, Departmental Member (Department of Linguistics) Dr. Hiroko Noro, Outside Member (Department of Pacific and Asian Studies) Note: Type or print full names (first and last) and department NO SIGNATURES iii Supervisory Committee Dr. Joseph F. Kess, Supervisor (Department of Linguistics) Dr. Hua Lin, Departmental Member (Department of Linguistics) Dr. Tadao Miyamoto, Departmental Member (Department of Linguistics) Dr. Hiroko Noro, Outside Member (Department of Pacific and Asian Studies) ABSTRACT [Contemporary Japanese possesses three major types of words, (1) kango (Sino-Japanese words), (2) wago (Japanese native words), and (3) gairaigo (loanwords), and each word type is associated with three types of scripts, (1) kanji (Chinese characters), (2) hiragana, and (3) katakana. Kanji are a set of logographic/ideographic scripts, and both hiragana and katakana are phonetic syllabaries. Kanji are used for presenting kango and wago, while some wago are written only in hiragana. Katakana are used for presenting gairaigo. Moreover, katakana are unconventionally used to write kango and wago for the purposes of emphasis and so forth. This paper extensively examines katakana words including gairaigo as well as kango and wago written in katakana unconventionally. Many observers have commented that katakana words are increasing in Japanese writings. However, there is little empirical data to prove their increase in such writings. This dissertation pursues this question by hypothesizing that katakana words have been increasingly used in Japanese writings. Together with providing evidence of their increase, this dissertation captures differences in katakana word usage between different publication outlets, namely, magazines and newspapers as well as television commercials. In order to investigate these issues, a research project is conducted where vocabularies from the three types of media are collected on computer databases. iv The increase of katakana words in Japanese writings poses a problem to foreign learners of Japanese whose L1 is English. As reported in various research including Chikamatsu (1996), the learners generally experience difficulty in processing and comprehending katakana words. From the learners’ perspective, the increase of katakana words in Japanese writings means that the learners need to know more katakana words than ever before to read Japanese writings. Meanwhile, native readers of Japanese also express some difficulty with katakana words, as illustrated in the recent survey results by the National Institute for Japanese Language and the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. Both governmental agencies found that many Japanese had the experience of being unable to understand the meaning of some gairaigo. Their difficulty seems to partially be caused by the increase of gairaigo in Japanese writings. From the native readers’ perspective, the increase of gairaigo means that new gairaigo are continuously introduced in such writings, some of which are not deeply rooted in Japanese gairaigo inventory but have been introduced relatively recently, with the ensuing result that many people do not know the meaning of such words. Although it is clear that both foreign learners and native readers of Japanese have difficulty with katakana words due to the increase of such words, to date no linguistic analysis has been conducted to account for reasons of their difficulty. Thus, this dissertation examines such reasons, and then offers some suggestions as to how to make gairaigo more comprehensible from the point of view of script policy and pedagogical practice. And ultimately, some conclusions regarding the role of katakana in the Japanese orthographic system will be discussed in the light of the history of the Japanese language and its writing system.] v Table of Contents Abstract ..............................................................................................iii Table of Contents ................................................................................. v List of Tables ...................................................................................... ix Acknowledgments ............................................................................xiii Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................ 1 1.1. Katakana, Gairaigo, and Internationalization of the Japanese Language . 1 1.2. The Increase in Gairaigo ......................................................................... 3 1.3. Potential Problems Caused by Gairaigo .................................................. 5 1.4. The Goal of This Dissertation ................................................................. 9 1.5. Structure of This Dissertation ................................................................ 13 Chapter 2 History of Written Language and Script Policy in Japan ... 15 2.1. Introduction ........................................................................................... 15 2.2. A Brief History of the Japanese Writing System .................................... 16 2.2.1. Kanji (Chinese Characters) ........................................................... 16 2.2.2. Katakana ....................................................................................... 20 2.2.3. Hiragana ....................................................................................... 21 2.3. The Writing Style From the Nara Period (710-794) to the Edo Period (1603- 1867) .................................................................................................... 22 2.4. Script Policy From the Meiji Period (1868-1912) to the Present ............. 25 2.4.1. The Period of Establishing a Modern State, From the Meiji Period to the 1930s .................................................................................. 25 2.4.1.1. Adoption of Vocabulary Items From European Languages .. 26 2.4.1.2. Reduction of Kanji ............................................................... 27 2.4.1.3. Colloquialilzation of the Written Form (Genbun Icchi 言文一致) .................................................... 30 2.4.1.4. The Kana Spelling Reform (Kanazukai 仮名遣い) .............. 31 2.4.2. The Ultra-Nationalist Period, From the 1930s to 1945 .................. 32 2.4.3. The Democratic Period, From 1945 to the 1950s .......................... 34 2.4.4. The Conservative Period, From the 1950s to Present .................... 37 2.5. Discussion .............................................................................................. 39 Chapter 3 Literature Review for Research Questions and Methodology ...................................................................................................... 43 3.1. Introduction .......................................................................................... 43 vi 3.2. Previous Research Which Examines How Many Katakana Words Occur in Japanese Writings .................................................................................44 3.2.1. Research Counting Katakana Words Together With Wago ‘Native Japanese Words’ and Kango ‘Sino-Japanese Words’.....................44 Words’ 44 3.2.2. Research Counting Gairaigo Together With Wago and Kango......48 3.2.3. Research Counting Characters According to Script Types .............54 3.3. Research Questions ................................................................................58 3.4. Research Methods ..................................................................................59 3.4.1. Advantages and Disadvantages of the Counting Words Method and the Counting Characters Method ...................................................60 3.4.2. Methodology Employed in This Dissertation ................................61 Chapter 4 Research on Katakana Word Use in Writings in Contemporary Japan and Its Results ........................................................ 63 4.1. Introduction .......................................................................................... 63 4.2. Outline of This Dissertation Research Project ....................................... 64 4.2.1. Research Materials ....................................................................... 64 4.2.2. Research Method .......................................................................... 65 4.3. Research Results .................................................................................... 70 4.3.1. The Study Results of Words With ß Units .................................... 70 4.3.2. The Study Results of words With α Units ....................................