Katakana Project Final Draft

There are two uses of katakana on this train station sign:  ホテル and 江ノ島.  However, I would like to focus on 江ノ島 because ホテル is just a normal loan word usage for katakana.  This sign is very interesting because it has both versions of Enoshima on it.  What is the purpose of using katakana ノ instead hiragana の for Enoshima?  It appears that both versions are viable.  At first, I thought that the effect of using katakana ノ is to distinguish Enoshima as the name of a place, so that the reader will not confuse the の with its possessive function.  However, I found out in their tourist website that 江の島 is the official name.  The continued existence of 江ノ島 is purely historical, and possibly has to do with the history of katakana and hiragana script.  Therefore, I conclude that there is no effect/purpose for using 江ノ島, because it is a historical coincidence and government policy.  Here is the website that talks about the history of the two different names:  http://www.s-n-p.jp/enosima_hyouki.htm

My second katakana word is マ ツタケ.  I found this example from an article of the Asahi Newspaper website.  The purpose for using katakana in this case is to emphasize that マツタケ is the name of a kind of Japanese mushroom.  By using katakana, it will stand out much better in a page of texts.  The English language has something similar by using Latin words and italics when showing the binomial name (genus and species) of a plant or animal.  For example, a cat's binomial name is Felis catus.

All of the textbook examples explain the use of katakana for foreign names and loan words because it is the one most commonly seen, and most easily recognizable by starting Japanese students. Some of the textbooks also explain the use of katakana as onomatopoeia.  It is slightly more advanced, and not common in regular reading materials.  Also, a lot of them are fixed to certain actions, like the sounds made by animals, so they can be recognized students as vocabulary words.  Thus, the authors and editors of textbooks might view it unnecessary to explain this usage to the students.  Finally, katakana as emphasis is the most advanced out of the common katakana uses.  Beginning students of the Japanese language probably will not encounter this usage when they are still unable to read materials outside of the textbook.  Therefore, there is no urgency to tell the students of this usage and risk the chance of confusing the student.