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LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL

Whenever you meet katakana, expect the unexpected

A word from our sponsors: The katakana syllabary, seen on some of the lanterns here, equips the Japanese language with its own special set of characters to be deployed selectively to denote foreign imports, contemporary usage and new word creation. | ISTOCK

A word from our sponsors: The katakana syllabary, seen on some of the lanterns here, equips the Japanese language with its own special set of characters to be deployed selectively to denote foreign imports, contemporary usage and new word creation. | ISTOCK

By Mark Schreiber
Special To The Japan Times

Oct 24, 2016

Second in a two-part series

Last week, using the film title シン? ゴジラ (Shin Gojira, “Shin Godzilla“) as a springboard, I dived into some of the many ways the katakana syllabary is put to use when writing Japanese: for foreign words, corporate names and logos, onomatopoeia and in personal names and aliases. What others can we find?

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