katakanneisuus

Katakanneisuus is a term used in Finnish linguistics to describe the degree to which the katakana script is employed to render words, especially foreign or technical terms, within a text. It refers to orthographic style rather than phonology and is often discussed in relation to how texts convey foreignness, modernity, or emphasis through script choice.

In Japanese writing, many loanwords (gairaigo) are written in katakana. Katakanneisuus as a concept examines the proportion of katakana used alongside other scripts such as kanji and hiragana, and how katakana functions as a stylistic resource. A text with high katakanneisuus tends to feature frequent katakana for loanwords, brand names, and onomatopoeia, whereas a text with lower katakanneisuus shows greater use of kanji and hiragana to render everyday language or native terms.

Measurement of katakanneisuus can be qualitative or quantitative. Researchers may assess a text by counting the share of katakana tokens among non-kanji content, or by evaluating the functional role of katakana in naming, tagging, or emphasis. The score is context-dependent and can vary across genres, such as manga, advertising, news, or academic writing.

Relation to related concepts includes gairaigo (外来語), the broader phenomenon of loanword integration, and general orthography practices in Japanese. Katakanneisuus is not an official linguistic category but a useful heuristic for describing and comparing orthographic styles across texts and media. Potential limitations include genre-specific conventions and subjective thresholds for what counts as katakana usage. See also gairaigo, katakana, furigana, and Japanese orthography.