Katakana Project
The Ainu （アイヌ）are a group of people who live in Northern Japan. They are thought to be indigenous to Japan, and have their own language and culture. The population of the Ainu has declined, but there are still people who identify themselves as Ainu living in Japan. They write entirely in katakana. This could be because perhaps they did not have a writing system before the Japanese came to Japan, and after the Japanese derived their hiragana and katakana, the Ainu adopted part of their writing system as well. In this case, the Ainu usage of katakana fits the concept of writing foreign words in katakana. Their language/culture is different from Japanese so they while the words aren't foreign to them, they are foreign to the Japanese language. Therefore, instead of adopting both hiragana and katakana, they only adopted katakana. Perhaps, over the years when the Ainu regions were taken over by more japanese, the japanese started writing ainu words in katakana because they were foreign words, and from there after, the language was written in katakana.
On a suntory energy drink called "dakara," in katakana is written フレッシュなスタート. Or, "Fresh Start." There is a way to say "fresh start" in japanese, but for some reason, the marketing company decided to write fresh start in katakana instead. While the usage of this katakana falls under the "loan words" category, there is something behind the fact that they decided to use loan words in this particular instance. It is likely to make the product look "cool." Many japanese have embraced western culture and by having foreign words on a bottle or in an ad, it will appeal to those who like western culture.
The text books describe katakana very simply. Two state that katakana is used for writing loanwords and foreign names. Another one says it is used mainly for words borrowed from other languages, and for sounds. The last description also states that it is for loanwords, onomatopoeic words, and words the writer wishes to emphasize. This last description is the most accurate, for the other ones did not say that they can also be used for emphasis, and only one other mentioned onomatopoeia. These are probably introductory japanese text books that are outlining the most basic usages of katakana, thus they only mention the most common usage of katakana, which is for foreign words. It seems that perhaps katakana was initially only used for foreign/loan words, and then as Japanese culture became more in touch with western culture, they adopted more foreign words to the point where people started replacing japanese words with foreign words in an effort to sound more sophisticated or "cool." Thus in many advertisements you see foreign words written in katakana, even though they have japanese words. A writer may use katakana to write a japanese word for emphasis. If a word that is normally written in hiragana or kanji is changed to katakana, then this will draw the attention of the reader to the word, enhancing the meaning of the word. In both advertisements and emphasis, katakana thus is used to call attention to the viewer/reader. In all usages, foreign words, sounds, emphasis, it is used to convey something that could not be conveyed by other Japanese scripts.
Katakana was initially invented by buddhist monks as a short hand for various chinese characters, and hiragana, katakana, and kanji were all three used independently into the 1800's. After the Meiji restoration, the government modernized the system into what is used today. Therefore, it seems that katakana was not initially invented only for loan words, but adapted to that role. Now that it does serve that function, it seems natural that in order to draw a readers attention to a word, the writer only need write it in katakana. If the writer writes a word in katakana that would normally be written in kanji or in hiragana, the reader would stop and ask, "why is this in katakana?" and thus will spend more time on the word.
The text books could spend more time on the history of katakana and how it evolved into what it is today. It would be interesting to know why Japanese feel a necessity to separate loan words and japanese words. And more could be said in the text books about how katakana can be used for emphasis, and why it is used in that way.
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