The dissertation analyses the creative use of Japanese writing in selected text corpora. The first part contains a description of the historical development of writing in Japan and illustrates the use of creative writing in the past. This contains a description of the arrival of writing, the adaptation of the foreign script for the purposes of the native language and the development of uniquely Japanese writing syllabaries. The first part also contains an account of change of use and change of occurrence circumstances in creative writing throughout history. A description of standard use of modern Japanese script follows. This chapter includes an outline of the modern use of Japanese writing systems. Finally, tendencies of creative writing and analysis of Japanese text corpora are presented. Creative writing is most prominently noticeable in the use of katakana, where certain patterns of creative use are already evident. Katakana is used to highlight information and to convey the speaker's feelings or ideas. The syllabary is also used to express stylistic preference, signifying a sense of modernity and internationality. The stylistic use is the most prominent and widespread of the three types mentioned, followed by highlight use and lastly emotional use. It should be mentioned that all three uses can be present at the same time. The recurrence of creative use is dependent on the frequency of the term, its meaning and the context in which it is used. These characteristics have varying levels of influence depending on the word class. In certain cases creative use also became a part of the linguistic standard.
|
