The Grammar of Japanese Mimetics : Perspectives from structure, acquisition, and translation

Mimetic words, also known as ‘sound-symbolic words’, ‘ideophones’ or ‘onomatopoeia’, constitute an important subset of the Japanese lexicon as well as that of other Asian languages and sub-Saharan African languages. It plays a central role in Japanese grammar and feature in children’s early utterances. Through accounts of mimetics from the perspectives of morpho-syntax, semantics, language development and translation of mimetic words, this book aims to bridge the gap between the research on Japanese mimetics and its availability to an international audience, and provides a better understanding of grammatical and structural aspects of sound-symbolic words from a Japanese perspective.

Mimetic words, also known as ‘sound-symbolic words’, ‘ideophones’ or more popularly as ‘onomatopoeia’, constitute an important subset of the Japanese lexicon; we find them as well in the lexicons of other Asian languages and sub-Saharan African languages. Mimetics play a central role in Japanese grammar and feature in children’s early utterances. However, this class of words is not considered as important in English and other European languages. This book aims to bridge the gap between the extensive research on Japanese mimetics and its availability to an international audience, and also to provide a better understanding of grammatical and structural aspects of sound-symbolic words from a Japanese perspective. Through the accounts of mimetics from the perspectives of morpho-syntax, semantics, language development and translation of mimetic words, linguists and students alike would find this book particularly valuable.