In most textbooks, カタカナ is said to be used for loanwords, emphasis, onomatopoeia, and furigana.
1. Acuvue Oasysis is written in カタカナ on the lower left corner as アキュビューオアシス. カタカナ is used here as a loanword since Acuvue Oasys is a foreign company. By using カタカナ, the foreign-ness of the company is emphasized and gives the consumers a different, more distinctive view on the product.
2. ユニクロ is the name of a Japanese casual wear designer, manufacturer and retailer. I believe that they used カタカナ instead of ひらがな for the name of the company is to put emphasis on the name and to make stand out among other similar type of companies. By using カタカナ, the name is the company is highly emphasized and gives the shopper a sense of foreign-ness and unique feel to the store.
3. The アロエ beverage product above is written in カタカナ instead of ひらがな. カタカナis used here as a loanword because the word Aloe does not exist in the Japanese language. By using カタカナ instead of ひらがな, emphasis is placed on the foreign-ness of the product which will make it stand out more in terms of packaging among similar drinks.
Overall, the Japanese written systems consists of カタカナ, ひらがな, and 漢字. By using a different writing system than the norm, the purpose and intentions is revealed. Thus, it is wise to consider what the reason is and what you want to convey to others to determine what you should use.
6 comments:
Dear タンポポ
This is a very interesting analysis overall.
In my opinion, I think that the impact that カタカナ letters have on people's mind definitely have something to do with the feelings of 'longing' that Japanese people generally possess towards the western culture, especially British and American cultures.
However, I do feel that the English loanwords which are transcribed in カタカナ are already seen as a part of the Japanese lexical inventory and somehow have lost their 'foreign-ness' compared to the ones written in roman alphabets. I think the words written in カタカナ emphasize the acculturation of the Japanese culture into the western culture, i.e. blending aspect of the language and culture contact between the two cultures.
Moreover, the original name of UNIQLO is 'Ｕｎｉｑｕｅ Ｃｌｏｔｈｉｎｇ Ｗａｒｅｈｏｕｓｅ'. Why do you think the shortening of the words is done in this way? And why do you think the カタカナ was put aside the roman alphabets in the logo? Try to think about other factors besides 'emphasis' that might be involved in the カタカナ system:)
TA
For your "Uniqlo" example, I think that using カタカナmade the sign more aesthetically pleasing. The Uniqlo logo is kind of box-like, and the カタカナ letters are also box-like. I think that if ひらがな was used instead, the letters would be bubbly and it wouldn't look as nice.
The analysis of the word "Uniqlo" is a particularly interesting example. I remember that when I first saw the logo, I didn't even realize it was Japanese! I think katakana helps achieve this goal; it is easier to make something seem more modern and stylized using katakana. Also, for Uniqlo, katakana (to me) matches their sense of modern yet simple style with clean lines, which is interesting. However, I am not sure that the Uniqlo katakana gives a sense of foreignness, given that it is a Japanese company and that logo is used within Japan as well.
おもしろいれいですね！
四年生のケイト
カタカナ analysisはおもしろいですよ！I agree with タッミさん、ウニコロ looks very boxy and similar to the font 'UNIQLO' is in, making it a very pleasing logo to look at.
タンポポ:
I'm so glad you pointed out the use of katakana in the name for "uniqlo" the department store. I love the interaction between the geometric shapes of the katakana and the boxes that make up the cells of the logo. Whenever I see someone carrying a bag from uniqlo, the logo always reminds me that is a Japanese company even if "uniqlo" the word doesn't sound Japanese.
Elaineさん、
It's so interesting to see that the comments you've gotten so far are about uniqlo! Especially since I was going to comment on it, even before I read the other comments. So, I guess the first thing I have to say is that this is a great example! I agree with the above about the boxy design of uniqulo, and it seems as though this is fundamental to their branding. By which I mean their abbreviated choice of katakana name (see Mamiko-san's comment) naturally seems to lend itself to katakana. They take this further in their logo, by emphasizing the boxy nature--both of katakana and the number of mora in the name. おもしろいですね！
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