Differences in knowingness, comprehension, and impressions of katakana loan words and kanji words: Comparison of yes/no and writing vocabulary tests

Abstract

In this study, university students were given yes/no and writing vocabulary tests and an impression evaluation task of phonographic katakana loan words and ideographic kanji words. The results of the vocabulary tests showed that for words with high familiarity, the katakana words scored higher on the yes/no test than on the writing test, and vice versa for the kanji words. The results were similar for words with low familiarity, in addition, kanji words with kun (native Japanese) readings outperformed kanji words without kun readings in both tests. The results indicate that katakana words are not well understood even if they are known, and it is difficult to guess the meaning of unknown words, while kanji words are easy to guess the meaning, especially when they have kun readings. In the impression evaluation task, the katakana words gave the participants newer and softer impressions than the kanji words. The advantages of kanji and the disadvantages of katakana in written communication were discussed.