Alternative notation of words in mixed kanji-hiragana orthography in Meiji-Taisho era
FUKAZAWA Ai
Japanese Linguistics (14) 29 - 53 2003/11
[Refereed] This paper clarifies one of the causes of notational shift of loan words from kanji to katakana in Meiji-Taisho era. In this regard, I investigate an alternative notation, writing in kanji or katakana, of foreign place names in the magazine Taiyo(太陽) issued by Hakubunkan(博文館) from 1895 to 1928.
Two main results emerge from the investigation. 1) A colloquially-based written style more easily accommodates a choice of writing in katakana. (The choice in using katakana is easier to do in colloquially-based written style, than in former writing style.) 2) The notational shift of frequently used foreign place names from kanji to katakana was prevented and kept latent while former writing style was in common, and it appears more clearly, and quickened, after a colloquially-based written style became the norm.
According to these two points, I draw the following conclusion: Foreign place names formed an item of the lexical system of Japanese, and this caused the colloquially-based written style operating in the language to force the alternation of notation of foreign place names. As a result, the notation of foreign place names shifted to katakana.