The words オレ and カワイイ, found written as such in a manga and on a magazine cover respectively, highlight two distinctive reasons for choosing to write in katakana rather than hiragana or kanji.
The オレexample was found in a speech bubble of a manga entitled 先生, in which the character speaking was referring to himself. It was written out in katakana rather than in kanji (俺) or hiragana (おれ), because the angular, "hard" lines of katakana serve to emphasize the masculine feeling conveyed by the word. おれ is a form of the word "I", used by men, and is both more formal and more masculine than ぼく, another form of "I" most commonly used by young boys . While katakana is thought to be more masculine, hiragana on the other hand, is thought to be a more feminine form of writing.
Having been found on the front page of CanCam, a fashion magazine, it is easy to imagine why katakana was used in the case of カワイイ. In this example, katakana was used to draw immediate attention the word. Because the subject of the magazine was fashion, the editors must have wanted to emphasize keywords pertaining to the styles highlighted inside, perhaps to give a preview to those browsing magazines about what to expect in the issue from just seeing the outside cover.
The textbook definitions mentioned emphasis as a usage of katakana--this is seen in both examples--but they did not mention that katakana can be specifically used for emphasizing masculinity or femininity.
I definitely agree with Maria's explanation of the word オレ. I find it interesting that there are so many different personal pronouns, especially for the English word "I" -- watashi, watakushi, atashi, washi, boku, uchi and ore. (Source: http://cjvlang.com/Writing/writjpn/signs/pronouns.html).
ReplyDeletePerhaps giving more context as to the usage of オレ in the specific comic book might highlight better the explanation: what was going on in the dialogue? Why the harder, more angular オレ rather than the more formal わたし?
It really is interesting to me how in style katakana is given its genesis.
ReplyDeleteI want to add to Maria's original comment about the use of katakana in the fashion magazine. Since the magazine's topic is fashion, it makes sense that they would want to give a sense of modernity and sophistication. Therefore, I think the use of カワイイ is well justified, although I have yet to see it used elsewhere. I usually see it written in kanji instead.
ReplyDeleteVery thorough analysis of the examples! Like ChrisSkye said, providing more context as to the character of the man who used "ore" in the comic book might help you do further analysis of the use of Katakana. Also, have you seen instanced where "Kawaii" is written in Hiragana? Is this the word usually written in Katakana in magazines and comic books?
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading your next post!
TA: Takahashi