Katakana Analysis Draft

     Looking for katakana words, I found "ピカーピカー" that means sparkling, online, on some Japanese blog. This word is onomatopoeia. Another word I found was "メガネ", which means glasses. I found this word online from a picture of advertisement and Katakana is used for emphasis.
     Katakana is usually used to represent onomatopoeia and loanword, and to put emphasis on the word. The first word I found "ピカーピカー" is onomatopoeia that describes the sparkling state, thus it is written in Katakana. The second word I found "メガネ" is used as an emphasis. めがね is usually written in hiragana, but since it appeared on the advertisement, Katakana was used to emphasize the product being sold.
     I think there are such effects, because Japanese do not have space in between the words. Instead, by using the mixture of Hiragana, Kanji, and Katakana, one is able to read a sentence without difficulty. During this process, Katakana is not used often, that use of Katakana can really stand out in a sentence full of Hiragana and Kanji. Thus, it makes sense that Katakana gives the effects of emphasis.
     Each textbook is different in explaining Katakana, because Katakana was used and developed in various ways. Katakana and Hiragana were developed around similar period, but since Hiragana was invented by women, many males rejected using Hiragana and used Katakana instead. The process of Hiragana becoming the prominent character was very gradual and there are many different reasons why such thing happened. Because, there are many ways of explaining Katakana that each textbook differs from others.