単語リスト（アイヌ語・日本語）―カラフト―(Tango List Ainu-go Nihon-go - Karafuto,“Word List (Ainu / Japanese) - Karafuto River”)[1] (in Japanese),Sapporo,Hokkaidō:公益財団法人アイヌ文化振興・研究推進機構(Zaidan Hōjin Ainu Bunka Shinkō / Kenkyū Suishin Kikō,“Foundation for the Advancement, Research, and Promotion of Ainu Culture”),2014(Sakhalin)
Thekatakana syllableワ(wa). Its equivalent inhiragana isわ(wa). It is the forty-fourth syllable in thegojūon order; its position isワ行ア段(wa-gyō a-dan,“rowwa, sectiona”).
Thekatakana syllabary is used primarily fortranscription of foreign language words into Japanese and the writing ofgairaigo (loan words), as well as to representonomatopoeias, technical and scientific terms, and the names of plants, animals, and minerals. It is also occasionally used in some words for emphasis, or to ease reading; katakana may be preferred for words becoming buried in the text if they are written under their canonical form inhiragana. Names of Japanese companies, as well as certain Japanese language words such as colloquial terms, are also sometimes written in katakana rather than the other systems. Formerly, female first names would often be written in katakana.
