Shifting use of Katakana

This research involves creating a computerized database of katakana words in Japanese, in order to assess the changing role of the katakana script in modern Japanese written materials.

The ultimate aim is to chart a basic shift in direction in Japanese orthographic practices in respect to how words are written.

A schema has been developed and Oxygen is being used for the XML mark up. An eXist database generates statistics about the data, and presents it through a website.