LANGUAGE
Onomatopoeia Overload
Why does the Japanese language have so many onomatopoeia?
When I started learning to speak Japanese, I noticed words with two repeating syllables that were used to describe the sound that something made, such as wan-wan (dog barking), zaa-zaa (heavy rainfall), and ogyaa-ogyaa (baby crying loudly). My Japanese wife informed me that these are onomatopoeias. You probably learned about this linguistic term way back in elementary school and never could spell or pronounce it correctly. I still can’t.
To refresh your memory, an onomatopoeia is a fabricated word that phonetically imitates or suggests the sound that it describes. The term originates from the classical Greek words onoma (meaning “name”) and poiein (meaning “to make”). Examples in English include honk, ruff-ruff, tick-tock, and meow. For those old enough to remember, comic books made extensive use of onomatopoeias for sound effects (bam, pow, wham, ker-splash).
Interestingly, every language around the world uses completely different onomatopoeia to mimic the same sound. English speakers use cock-a-doodle-do to imitate a rooster, whereas the Japanese say koke kokkō (pronounced koh-kay kohk-koooh). We recognize oink-oink as the sound of a pig, but in Japanese it is buu-buu (pronounced booo-booo). Instead of tick- tock, Japanese speakers use katchi-katchi. All the other languages of the world have their own versions, most of which sound nothing alike.
I decided to look into this topic further and I learned a lot from the website japanesewithanime.com, which focuses on the Japanese language through the lens of anime (animated movies). I discovered another type of onomatopoeia called ideophone, which has nothing to do with imitating sound. It is also referred to as a mimetic word. It is not common in English but a staggering number of ideophones are a part of everyday conversation in Japan.
Ideophones evoke all sorts of sensory events — such as taste, texture, the look of something, the condition or state of being, and other imagery. For example, nuru-nuru mimics something greasy, slimy, or gooey. Pika-pika mimics sparkling or sparkles and kira-kira is used for beautiful glittery things. Some ideophones represent emotion such iraira (“irritation”) and wakuwaku (“excitement”).
Ideophones in other languages tend to occur more often in spoken language; but in Japanese, they are also expressed in writing (using katakana and hiragana characters, not kanji). As mentioned earlier, a lot of Japanese ideophones consist of words that have repeating syllables. This usually implies that the state or condition that it describes continues indefinitely. Below are a few more examples.
● Bara-bara reflects a state of disarray or separation
● Jiro-jiro mimics someone staring
● Pera-pera mimics a mouth moving fluently, without stuttering
● Zaa-zaa represents the sound of “white noise” (in manga)
● Niko-niko mimics the look of somebody smiling
● Hira-hira mimics something fluttering down — but not straight down
● Peko-peko is the state of being hungry
Manga authors have created a large number of ideophones and onomatopoeias. Manga is the term for Japan’s hugely popular comics and graphic novels. For example, the creator of the Astro Boy and Black Jack manga series created the ideophone shiin for the sound of silence (at least that’s how it’s been interpreted) and another author created gogogogo to evoke the idea of a plot getting tense.
It’s been said that there are thousands of ideophones and onomatopoeias in Japanese (but who’s counting?), and they can be used grammatically in different ways (as nouns, adjectives, adverbs) even though they don’t belong to a specific grammatical class.
It is logical that onomatopoeias, in any language, were created to imitate natural or unnatural sounds. The word “moo” was created in English to mimic the sound of a cow. But why have so many ideophones been created in Japanese to convey movement, feelings, state of being, etc.?
One reason is that there is a shortage of verbs. In English, there are dozens of verbs to describe how a person might walk: stumble, stride, amble, limp, saunter, stroll, stagger, swagger, strut, stalk, trudge, ramble, totter… However, there is only one verb used in Japanese (aruku), regardless of the manner of walking.
The same is true for adverbs, which modify a verb. In English, the person could walk fast, quickly, slowly, hurriedly, lazily, speedily, swiftly, leisurely, ploddingly, heavily, at full tilt, with all possible haste, in his own good time…Whereas, in Japanese, there are basically two options: hayai (fast) and yukkuri (slow).
So, ideophones were created, over time, to enhance meanings, provide nuance, add subtlety, and so on. Notice how the ideophones listed below are linked with the basic verb (aruku) to provide a clear image of how the person walks.
● Tobo-tobo aruku (walk in a depressed/sad way)
● Fura-fura aruku (to stagger)
● Toro-toro aruku (taking time to reach destination)
● sah-sah to aruku (stride quickly)
● pura-pura aruku (to stroll with no plan, such as window shopping)
● dara-dara aruku (following a leader in a relaxed way as a group, such as a school field trip)
Another beneficial and intriguing aspect of ideophones is that they allow the Japanese speaker to economize. It is not necessary to use long descriptions containing many explanatory words. Notice how the English phrases below are reduced to one Japanese onomatopoeia.
● Pata-pata (cloth lightly flapping in the wind)
● Pyuu-pyuu (strong, continuous, and cold wintry winds)
● Gami-gami (being lectured or nagged by someone above you)
● Pecha-kucha (chatting about frivolous things)
● Pacha-pacha (water scattering, splattering forcefully)
In my never-ending quest to learn Japanese, I have compiled a very long list of vocabulary. However, my list contains only a handful of onomatopoeias/ideophones. I pick up new ones only if I can identify them when watching a Japanese drama or by listening closely to everyday conversations. A true test of someone’s Japanese fluency is whether or not they can communicate using the multitude of onomatopoeias and ideophones.
An illuminating website called tofugu.com describes the unique and essential role of ideophones this way:
“like sprinkling some delicious spice into your language. They don’t just add emphasis or color, they add a sense of native understanding to your speech (if you know how to use them)”.
