Phonesthenes

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Phonesthenes

• Basic units in sound symbolism which lies
  between phonemes and morphemes.
• Linguists, in order to study onomatopoeia, need
  not only know the phonemes, syntax, and
  morphology of the language, but also understand
  psychology, sensory cognition and metaphor.

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Affective Features
Word form
syllables
Consonantclusters
Synthetic Metonymical Metaphorical Extensions
Morae
vowels
consonants
Phonological features
Kinetic Sense Features
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• Mimetics and onomatopoeic words have strong bonds
  with specific verbs or nouns. The lexical meaning
  of these mimetics are provided by these bonds.

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Example

• The English word ramble can be translated to
  bura bura aruku
• -? while the verb aruku understates the idea of
  a ramble (aruku mean to walk) the mimetic term
  bura bura when placed before aruku makes the
  word effective and helps us understand the
  concept.

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• Bura bura--? affecto imagistic
• Aruku--? analytic dimension

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Remember

• Sound symbolism is productive. Many new Japanese
  onomatopoeic words are created by sound
  symbolisms such as new trends and expressions,
  products in the market etc.

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Just to clear a few things out

• Mimetics and Onomatopoeia DO NOT refer to the
  same type of sound.
• Onomatopoeia is the representation of sound (the
  barking of a dog, the sound of falling rain)
• Mimetics refer to either a psychological state,
  or an external environment.

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• Onomatopoeia? limited as an adverb
• Mimetics? can function as an adj, verb etc. (when
  attached with the pseudo verb suru and the adj.
  affix na)
• Doa wo gangan tataku
• ?Knock on the door hard.
• Atama ga gangan itamu
• ?My head is throbbing painfully.

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• Japanese dont have a wide variety of verbs to
  accommodate different English meanings.
• Noro-noro yota-yota tobo-tobo are all mimetic
  varietions corresponding to the verb aruku (to
  walk)
• These words can be seen as the counterparts for
  the English words to walk, to skip, to straddle
  etc.

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Other Special Features

• All Onomatopoeic and mimetic sounds are formed in
  a C-V-C-V pattern.
• Sequential Voicing, (Rendaku) is a rare
  occurrence in mimetics and onomatopoeic sounds.
• Most of the onompatopeic sounds are written in
  Katakana

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• The use of the dakuten (ten-ten) or the maru Can
  harden or soften the sound or meaning of a phrase
  
• (zuke zuke- means to speak ones mind in a more
  direct way than tsuke tsuke)

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• ( e.g. gun, gûn, gu-ûn, gun to and gutto, all
  describe with slightly different nuances, the use
  of effort or marked change)

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• g,z,d and b are muddy sounds suggesting big,
  heavy, or dirty
• (like gasshito, -strongly built and botteri,
  large or fat)

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• k,s,t, and h are clean sounds suggesting sharp,
  light, small and pretty
• (hakkiri, -clearly, soyo-soyo-, light breeze
• H is a dignified sound
• (hou, hokekyo- the call of a nightingale)

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• P suggests something undignified
• (pota pota-, to plop, and paku paku -to gobble)
• K and T are hard (kochi kochi hard, tsun-
  pointed)
• S suggests a feeling of friction, of sliding or
  slipping along (sarari-, slide)

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• N suggests a feeling of stickiness (neba neba -
  sticky)
• H suggests lightness, b heaviness, p something in
  between (hara hara -water streams soundlessly,
  bara bara -rain down and para para -sprinkle
  lightly)

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• As for vowels
• /i/- straightness, high pitch
• (piyo-piyo? cheep cheep (sound of a small bird)
• /u/- heat, tiredness, negativity
• (muka-muka? nauseous, very angry)
• /o/- small area, modesty
• (dosshiri? dignified, impressive)

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• /a/- large area, conspicuousness
• (chara-chara? dress up too much, flirty)
• /e/- vulgarity
• (dere dere?mess around, flirt heavily, be turned
  to putty by someone)
• (neto, neto? warm, sticky and wet)

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• When a word is repeated to form a phrase, it
  suggests repetition, continuation or things
  happening one after another.

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Examples of Onomatopoeic and Mimetic Words
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Wildlife

• Streets in Japan, especially in Tokyo are filled
  with the sounds of traffic, construction work and
  booming music, but after the hubbub finally dies
  down in the evening, stray cats, peoples dogs,
  crows

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• Wan wan ?woof woof, bowow
• Children often refer to dogs as Wan-chan
• Shiranai hito ga niwa ni hairu tabi ni inu ga wan
  wan to hageshiku hoemashita.
• Whenever a stranger entered the garden, the dog
  barked furiuously.

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• Nyaa Nyaa ? meow
• Ofuro ni ochita neko wa kawaisoo ni nyaa nyaa
  naite imashita.
• The cat had fallen in the bath tub and was crying
  pitifully.

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• Jii jii miin miin? cicadas chirp
• Summer days are signalized by the onset of the
  heavy droning of the sound of cicadas as often
  depicted in anime and cartoons.
• Ichinichijuu semi ga jii jii miin miin to naite
  imasu
• All day long the cicadas chirrup in the trees.

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WEATHER

• In Japanese style houses, there are no air cons
  and central heating systems so it could become
  very damp after a rainy stretch that people used
  to worry about finding mushrooms growing and
  springing up in their shoes.

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• Gusho gusho -? soaking/ sopping wet
• Niwaka ame ni atte, kasa ga nakatta no de, kaisha
  ni gusho guhso ni nurete tsukimashita
• The rain suddenly fell and because I didnt have
  an umbrella with me, I arrived at the office
  sopping wet.

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• Zaa zaa ? Sound of a downpour, sound of a lot
  of water flowing (e.g. a waterfall)
• This phrase could also be translated to the
  English idiom raining cats and dogs
• Hanami ni iku yakusoku o shita ji wa, ainiku asa
  kara ban made ame ga zaa zaa furimashita.
• Unfrotunately, on the day we had agreed to go
  cherry blossom viewing, it rained cats and dogs
  from morning to evening.

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• Jime jime ? damp dark gloomy, depressed,
  melancholy
• ....In the heart of the rainy season, no other
  word seems to describe the atmosphere as well,
  especially since jime jime can also mean gloomy
  and dark.

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• Maitoshi rokugatsu ni hairu to Nihon no jime jime
  shita kisetsu ga hajimaru node watashi wa
  nigetaku narimasu
• Every year, when June comes around, I know
  Japans rainy season is about to begin and I
  start wanting to escape
• Kanojo wa itsumo kurai kime jime shita hyoujou o
  shite iru
• She always has a dark melancholic look

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• Zoku zoku-? shiver due to the cold shiver with
  excitement or pleasure, shiver in fear, things
  happening one after another
• Japanese have traditionally associated fear with
  feeling cold so much so that horror f films used
  to be shown in the summer to induce a cold shiver
  in the audience. Ghost stories are also told for
  the same reason.
• Kibishii samusa no tame karada zenta ga zoku zoku
  shita
• In the fierce cold, a chill crept all over my
  whole body

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• Kira kira -? twinkle, glitter shine
• Tanbo o oou yozora wa kira kira to kagayaku hoshi
  de ippai deshita
• The night sky over the paddy fields was full of
  brightly twinkling stars

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FOOD

• Foreigners have always had ambivalent feelings
  when it comes to food and it is so unlikely what
  we are accustomed to at home. Nevertheless, we
  still think the Japanese wants us to like their
  food.

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• Guu Guu-? stomach rumbles, gurgle
• Asagohan o taberu jikan ga nakatta node juuivhiji
  goro kara hara guuguu naridashita.
• I didnt have time to eat breakfast so from 11
  oclock, my stomach started grumbling.

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• Peko-peko? Ravenously hungry
• Okaasan! Onaka peko peko yo!
• Mom! Im starving!

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Grab bags

• There are always a few leftovers and misfits in
  any carefully worked out schemeso here are some
  phrases that we couldnt bear leave out, but
  couldnt put anywhere else.

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• Zuki zuki? heartache, throbbing
• Sono mukashi no koibito o omidasu tabi nu zuki
  zuki to iu kokoro no uzuki o oboemasu
• Whenever I think of an old flame, I remember my
  heartache.

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• Chu? kiss
• Dare mo mite inai toki ni kawaii kanojo ga boku
  ni chutto shite kureta
• While no one was looking, the cute girl gave me a
  kiss on the cheek

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• beta beta? A couple falling all over each other,
  pasted, sticky
• Hitomae de beta beta shite iru kappuru wa chotto
  hatameiwaku da.
• Young couples falling all over each other in
  public are a little annoying

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• Hera hera ? laugh embarrassedly
• kare wa uso ga wakatta toki, hera hera to waratta
• When his lie was discovered, he laughed
  embarrassedly.
• Pera pera ? fluency in speaking
• Ano hito wa Nihonggo gap era pera da ne.
• That guys Japanese is fluent.

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• English school advertisement
• Kotoshi hera hera, Rainen pera pera!

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• Waku waku? Excitedly, anxiously
• Kaigai yokou no keikau o tatenagara mune ga waku
  waku shita
• I felt excited while I was planning my trip
  abroad.

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• Niko niko? smile warmly, grin, laugh
• Minnasan wa genki ni niko niko to waratte iru.
• Everyone is in good spirits and smiling happily.

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References

• Millington, Suan
• Nihongo Pera Pera!/ Susan Milington. Tokyo
  Charles e. Tuttle Company, C,1993
• http/www.sedl.org/lotced/scenarios/japanese_onomat
  opoeia.html
• Toshihiko Amemiya and Satohime Mizutani/Proceeding
  s of the First Intl Workshop on Kansai. Html
  file.(PDF)