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月夜さん
ツクロエマセン
葉の心中

Composition 2 山田さんにたがみをかきます！

山田さんへ、
はじめまして、わたしはラモスリチャードです。コロンビアのだいがくのがくせいです。そして、日本ごのいちねんせいです。わたしのしごとはむずかしいですが、おもしろいです。コロンビアだいがくとてもちっさいです。でもたのしいです。ともかくっぎのろく月みっ日にひこうきで日本へいます。
よろしくおねがいします。そしてこれからおせわになります。
ラモスリチャード

アイヌご

                                          The Symbol of Hokkaidō


アイヌごはほっかいどうからきました。アイヌごは"moribound"です。アイヌごはおもしろいですね。So in other words, the Ainu language is one that is spoken only in the Hokkaidō area of Japan and is considered a language isolate. There are not many native speakers left and many of these do not use the language on a daily basis which leads the tounge to be thought of as moribound, or leading to extinction. Although it is classified as such, there is an ongoing attempt to revive the language by Shigeru Kayano who is an Ainu activist. The language itself is similar to Japanese but there are a few differences and even a special カタカナ system for it! Anyway for more information on the topic you can check out the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_language

                                                              

Katakana Analysis Draft

Katakana is a Japanese syllabary alongside hiragana and kanji which developed from Buddhist monks who simplified the more complex Chinese characters associated with ancient texts. Most textbooks seem to agree that katakana can be utilized to describe foreign words (or loanwords), onomatopoeia, and can be used to bestow emphasis on a word or phrase. Take, for example, the word Alaska which, in katakana, would be written as アラスカ. Obviously the katakana usage in this example correlates to the foreign word application of the syllabary but what is the purpose of this usage? Why not hiragana? One must remember that katakana was distilled over time from the original Chinese characters. These characters were also, prior to the appearance of katakana, used to express words or expressions that were alien. Once katakana developed due to the shorthand of the monks it would follow that foreign words be described by the use of this syllabary as its predecessor, kanji, once was. Another example is the onomatopoeia application of katakana. A sound such as pa-tang (rough representation of a hammer striking metal) would be written as パターン. Why not use the hiragana version of the word: ぱたーん? There is a certain employment of katakana similar to the use of italics in English. The katakana version of this onomatopoeia has a particular quality or aesthetic depiction which enhances the meaning and is able to express the sound in a more distinct fashion analogous to italics. Compare bang to bang. The italicized sound diction emphasizes the word in such a way as to make one prudent in choosing to write it in italics if one wishes garner the attention upon that word rather than its un-italicized counterpart.

Works Cited:

Et al. Katakana. Wikipedia. 3 November 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana

Ager, S. Katakana. Omniglot. 1998-2010. http://www.omniglot.com/writing/japanese_katakana.htm

Masayoshi, K. Learning Katakana. Yoshida Institute of Japanese Language. 2003-2010.http://www.yosida.com/en/katakana.html