Penggunaan Katakana dalam Majalah Weekly Shonen Sunday

Abstract

Manga as Japanese comics, plays animportant role in learning the Japanese. Reading is an effective activity to improve Japanese comprehension, including mastering the scripts. However, Learners often face challenges with the unconventional writing system, such as the use of katakana beyond gairaigo. This study aims to identify and understand the use of katakana in a collection of sh?nen manga from Weekly Sh?nen Sunday No.1, 2024. The research method is qualitative, using content analysis approach to identify categories of katakana usage. Triangulation is applied to ensure data accuracy by using the same katakana usage from three different theory as common categories. The common categories include the use of plant and animal names, onomatopoeia, gairaigo, emphasis, colloquial language and slang, place names and foreign names, and interjections. Additionally, this study identifies other less common uses of katakana, such as for kanji substitution, company or brand names, female names, personal pronouns, furigana, ateji, wasei eigo, konshugo, male names, nicknames, numeral auxiliaries, long vowel sounds, and coined terms. This study provides insights into the varied use of katakana in manga that Japanese language learners may encounter.