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Is it possible to tell whether a word would be written in kanji or if it would
be written in hiragana without actually reading it, like it is reasonably easy
to tell if a word is likely to be written in katakana? (An example for
katakana would be "this is an English loanword so it's probably written in
katakana")

Background: The kana version of Japanese for Busy People 1 uses only kana - it
doesn't have kanji with furigana, and I'm wondering if not knowing which words
are really hiragana, and which are not really hiragana would be a problem.
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2011-09-02T11:36:11.210
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2011-12-25T23:23:50.240
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kanji hiragana orthography
Is it possible to tell whether a word is kanji or hiragana without reading it?
Not per se. EDICT has "uk" (usually kana) and "uK" (usually kanji)
annotations, but for the most part either is acceptable.

> 只今 ただいま  
>  (int,exp, **uk** ,abbr,n-t,adv) Here I am; I'm home!; presently; right
> away; right now; just now; (P)
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2011-09-02T13:08:14.253
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Words that perform a grammatical function can almost always be written in
hiragana without it looking strange. Hiragana is usually the preferred way to
write such words. Additionally, particles are always written in hiragana.

Giongo and gitaigo (onomatopoeic and mimetic/sound-symbolic words) will always
be written in kana of some kind, either hiragana or katakana. I don't think
I've seen kanji used for this purpose.

Depending on the situation, you can usually get by with writing honorifics in
hiragana too, though many have widely-used kanji (様, 君, etc). Others have none
(さん, ちゃん).

Can't think of anything else...
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2011-09-02T13:09:18.147
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Expanding on my comment, some word types that are likely to be written in kana
which haven't been covered so far:

  1. Cases where one or more kanji in the compound are considered rare/difficult (for the level of the text). Examples: 石鹸【せっけん】, where 鹸 is the sticking point. This is commonly written せっけん or 石けん, or if the kanji are used furigana may be provided. 

  2. Cases where the kanji are common but being used for sound rather than meaning. Examples: 沢山【たくさん】, although it is seen both ways, 薬缶【やかん】, where the kanji 薬 is in there for historical reasons but doesn't much related to the modern meaning, and 駄目【だめ】, which is also often written in katakana.

  3. Cases where there are multiple kanji options, particularly common for verbs. Example: わかる which can be written 分かる、判る、解る。 The different kanji have slightly different nuances, but if you are unsure which is best you can get around it by using kana.

  4. Cases where katakana are used by convention, such as in scientific contexts. Example, ゾウ科【か】 for the family Elephantidae, instead of 象科。

Possible combination of 1. and 2. above: 綺麗【きれい】 uses the non-jouyou 綺 so an
alternative is to write it with another, similar kanji with the same reading -
奇麗. However, 奇 doesn't fit well with the meaning of the word, and it's not
uncommon to see kana used.

In some cases the choices are down to personal preference, but also audience
(if you are writing for children or adults, for the layperson or the
specialist), and how you are writing (people tend to use more kanji when
typing than when handwriting).

Example: 歳・才【さい】, for counting ages. 才 is a grade 2 kanji, so only books for
very young children would use kana. 歳 isn't taught until much later in school,
though, so 才 is quite common, even though official documents will use 歳。 才 is
also more commonly used when handwriting - not necessarily because people
can't remember how to write 歳, it's just quicker. (see also [this
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1842/ "here") )
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2011-09-02T16:07:39.830
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