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The Symbolism of the Onomatopoeia Markers in Japanese

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1 The Symbolism of the Onomatopoeia Markers in Japanese
KADOOKA Ken-Ichi Ryukoku University, Kyoto, Japan

2 Introduction (1) bare stem 26 hisi (to hug firmly)
altered reduplication 41 gasa-goso (to look for something) doubled base 45 butu-kusa (voice/manner of grumbling) reduplication 716 koro-koro (something rolling) others 806 guiQ (< base gu, jerking action)

3 Items 1634 examples in Kakehi Hisao,Lawrence Schourup, & Ikuhiro Tamori Dictionary of iconic expressions in Japanese. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. OM: onomatopoeia marker /dota-bata/ /suQteN-korori/

4 Moraic and Segmental Markers
Moraic Markers: moraic nasal (N), moraic consonant (Q), vowel prolongation (R), ri, Reduplication Segmental Markers: Voicing, Palatalization, Spirantization

5 1. Systematicity of Japanese Onomatopoeia.
(2) base /C1V1C2V2/ (3) base + OM = onomatopoetic lexeme (4) moraic nasal N moraic consonant Q: duplication of the following consonant [p t k s h] or a glottal stop vowel prolongation R ri Reduplication

6 Segmental OMs (5) Voicing 433 /koro/ > /goro/ (rolling)
Palatalization /kata/ > /katya/ (clitter-clatter) Spirantization 37 /kutya/ > /kusya/ (messy)

7 2. Moraic OMs. (6) *koro (the base does not occur alone)
koroQ: something rolls only once; the rolling action does not continue for a long time koro-koro: the thing rolls more than once koroN: implies the completion of the rolling koroRQ: the rolling object is large, suggested by the prolongation of the vowel R korori: the thing rolls and then stops

8 Descriptions of each lexeme
Bare stems are not lexemes The stem /koro/ is not a lexeme. Onomatopoeia Markers are so productive that bare stems are rarely lexemes by themselves. /koroQ/ /koro-koro/ /koroN/ /koroRQ/ /koro-ri/

9 3. Segmental OMs (5) Voicing 433 /koro/ > /goro/ (rolling)
Palatalization 56 /kata/ > /katya/ (clitter-clatter) Spirantization 37 /kutya/ > /kusya/ (messy)

10 3.1. Voicing unmarked /p t k s/  /b d g z/ marked
/koro/  /goro/: a heavier thing is rolling Rendaku: sequential voicing 433 pairs of voiceless – voiced About 400 samples of /h b p/

11 C1 and C2 Voicing C1 is voiced: unmarked
/doteN/  /dodeN/: C2 is voiced C2 plays a subsidiary role Double voicing is possible

12 Double Voicing /dyaboN/ < /tyapoN/: both C1 and C2 are voiced
OCP: obligatory contour principle two or more segments sharing a single feature within a given phonological domain “the OCP is an artifact of a two-dimensional theory of phonology that does not permit a full exploitation of hierarchical (non-linear) relations “

13 /h p b/ historical change /p/ → /f/ → /h/
Orthographically, /h/ unmarked, /b/ marked, /p/ more marked /h/ はひふへほ /b/ ばびぶべぼ: two pots are added /p/ ぱぴぷぺぽ: a circle is added

14 / h p b/ samples (7) /hata-hata/: the sound of something like flag fluttering in the wind /pata-pata/: the wind is stronger than in /hata-hata/ /bata-bata/: the wind is stronger than in /pata-pata/

15 3.2. Palatalization. consonants /p b t d k g s z h n/ are palatalized
impossible to find a common articulatory feature [coronal] /r/ and [labial] /m/ are excluded Palatalization occurs before back vowels /u o a/ /beto-beto/  /betyo-betyo/ (sticky) 'roughness' or 'discontinuity'

16 Palatalization samples
(8) /katya/ < /kata/ clitter-clatter /nyu/ < /nu/ to appear suddenly /potya/ < /pota/ dripping sound of water /tyapo/ < /tapo/ splashing sound of water /zyori/ < /zori/ roughness of the surface of human skin

17 Double palatalization
OCP violation articulatory difficulty: if both C1 and C2 are palatalized, it is tongue twisting for a native speaker of Japanese Yet this is one more piece of evidence to assume that voicing is articulatorily easier than palatalization in Japanese onomatopoeia phonology.

18 3.3. Spirantization. /t/  /s/ often in palatalized syllables
Plosives are phonologically unmarked in the Japanese consonant inventory Marked: 37 occurrences in the database Restricted to the second C of the bases

19 Spirantization examples
(9) /musuQ/ < /mutuQ/ in a bad mood /gaQsiri/ < /gaQtiri/ the body strongly built /gasiQ/ < /gatiQ/ the body strongly built (10) /kusya/ < /kutya/ messy /gusya/ < /gutya/ cloth or paper crumpled /bisyo/ < /bityo/ wet, soaked to the skin /dosya/ < (/dotya/) < /dota/ sound of falling down /pesyaN-ko/ < /petyaN-ko/ < /petaN-ko/ flat

20 3.4. Summary (11) Voicing 433 > Palatalization 56 > Spirantization 37 Voicing: /p t k s h/ Palatalization: /p t k b d g s z h n/ Spirantization: /t/

21 4. Conclusion. by noting the various OMs, we can provide insight to large numbers of semantically parallel but otherwise unrelated entries It also provides regularity to the phonology, resulting in a certain amount of phonosymbolic iconicity it suggests that the onomatopoeia lexicon of Japanese should be organized on the basis of the root morpheme.

22 References Kadooka, Ken-ichi The derivation structure in Japanese onomatopoeia. Proceedings of Kansai LinguisticSociety Kadooka, Ken-Ichi Sound symbolism in English onomatopoeia word forms. Ryukoku Journal of Humanities and Sciences Kadooka, Ken-Ichi Morphological patterns in Japanese and Chinese onomatopoeia. Ryukoku Journal of Humanities and Sciences 22(1) Kakehi, Hisao, Lawrence Schourup, & Ikuhiro Tamori Dictionary of iconic expressions in Japanese. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Noma, Hideki Onomatope to on-syoutyou (Onomatopoeia and sound symbolism). Gengo 30(8) Schourup, Lawrence, & Ikuhiro Tamori Palatalization of Japanese r in relation to theories of restricted underspecification. Gengo Kenkyuu 101. Vance, Timothy An introduction to Japanese phonology. Albany: State University of New York Press. Waida, Toshiko English and Japanese onomatopoeic structures. Bulletin of Osaka Women’s University,Studies in English 36.


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