Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound

Symbolic System
Mick Churchman
University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2012

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

Introduction
How does language work? While language predates written history, the academic field of
linguistics is relatively young. So far, scholars have described phonology and the various
methods of articulation. We have analyzed the ways in which we modify our own language use
in different social situations. We have a fair understanding of the basics of syntax. Slowly, the
mysteries of cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics are becoming less
elusive. However, the perception of language and words is still largely a mystery to linguists.
Poems which only refer to happy emotions but somehow seem bitter-sweet; taboo words
which refer to the same thing as acceptable words; product names determining the success or
failure of a product competing against almost identical products in the marketplace… It seems
that words and even sounds themselves might hold certain characteristics or perhaps trigger
certain feelings. However, whether or not it is actually the case that certain sounds or clusters
of sounds are non-arbitrarily linked to meaning across languages is up for debate. If sounds
themselves have innate properties within language it would suggest that there exists a
universal sound symbolism of some sort. If this proves false across languages, then it would
seem that we may have language-specific sound symbolism, existing only within the mind of its
speakers. Either of these cases, or maybe even a combination of the two, could be possible, but
without examining language at a level deeper than the morpheme, we can never be certain.

To make an analogy, the current state of morphology, the study of the building blocks of
words, is similar to the state of alchemy before it was developed into the scientific study of
chemistry. Alchemists observed and categorized how certain compounds reacted with other
compounds, but they did not understand the mechanics behind these reactions. Knowledge of
the structure of the atom made possible the development of the periodic table of the elements.
Without this table or the knowledge which enabled the development of it, chemical reactions
seem arbitrary. Which chemicals are noble gasses or which are alkaline metals also seem
arbitrary. There does not seem to be any pattern regarding which elements react to others or
the characteristics of each. However, to the modern chemist, who has knowledge and
understanding of electrons, valence shells and atomic weight, the patterns found in the
periodic table are evident. The fields of chemistry and physics as we know it would hardly
resemble what they are today if we had stopped investigating at the level of the atom or
molecule. Failing to notice patterns or simply dismissing them as coincidence without a deep
understanding of the topic is detrimental to the discovery of new knowledge. Should linguists
be satisfied with their current understanding of morphology? Do we already know everything
there is to know about language? Fortunately for the field of linguistics, inquisitive minds
continue to ask the question “Is there actually some truth to sound symbolism?” Evidence from
phonesthemes (Bergen, 2004), as well as trends in marketing (i.e. branding product names)

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

(Yorkson & Menon, 2004) suggest that the perception of a word might be influenced by
similarly pronounced or written words interconnected in our mental schema, regardless of
whether or not we consciously recognize such a connection (Hudson, 2000).

The claim that words are only arbitrarily related to the meaning that they represent has
been widely accepted in the field of linguistics. A rose, by any other name, would, and does,
smell as sweet. However, many scholars do not make the distinction between the above claim
and the idea that the majority of our words in use today take their current forms for specific
reasons, albeit, complex and often unknown or unknowable reasons. There is also the
difference between what a word means and how it is perceived. The fact is that the distribution
of sounds within a language and its lexemes is not quite arbitrary, nor are our words created or
adopted through entirely “random” processes.

This paper will attempt to briefly state the case for sound symbolism, followed by a
review of my own research in Japanese sound symbolism.

Sound symbolism and the development of human languages

The topic of sound symbolism is unfortunately viewed with ridicule by many modern linguists
based on its reputation created by the pseudo-scientific hypotheses formed by amateur
linguists in the early 20th century. The Bow Wow Hypothesis for example seemed to be based
almost entirely on intuition. The basic concept of this hypothesis was that the first words
created by humans were largely onomatopoeic in origin, and the names of things were created
by imitation of the thing being named. While this can never be proven and it lacks evidence,
there are other theories which offer similar explanations based on scientific speculation rather
than intuition. In the last few decades, technology has made possible significant advances in the
fields of neurology and computer science (including corpus linguistics, artificial neural
networking, and statistics) which are crucial to gaining understanding of a phenomenon which
only exists as a construct of the unconscious human mind and conscious language play such as
onomatopoeia.

Recently, linguists have gained some physiological evidence to support the argument for
sound symbolism. Within the animal kingdom, dominance is often determined by strength,
which is highly correlated with size. Evolution has often favored the strongest (i.e. largest) of a
species, however certain evolutionary tricks such as hairs standing on end triggered by the
fight-or-flight response, the mane of the lion, the humps of the gnu and bison, and human male
facial hair growth all give the illusion of greater size. Vocal pitch is also highly correlated to an
animal’s size and primates are known to adjust their fundamental frequency by lowering their

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

pitch to show aggression or raising it, despite baring their teeth to do so, to show submission
(Ohala, 1994). It is possible that the development of human languages also had roots in
processes similar to these seen in primates.

Within a neurological framework, Ramachandran and Hubbard cite cross-modal

association as an explanation for the perception of size/shape sound symbolism. They suggest
that we could be mentally linking visual and auditory perception by means of cross-modal
association, a phenomenon similar to synesthesia. When we simultaneously see and hear large
things making low pitch noises and vice versa, size and pitch may become linked within the
mind of the perceiver. When speaking, we additionally associate the feeling as we articulate
speech, linking sight, sound and touch modes (Ramachandran & Hubbard, 2001). This effect is
shown in an experiment first created by Köhler in 1929 who asked subjects to identify shapes
by name when presented with a jagged, star-like shape next to a round, cloud-like shape and
told that one of these shapes is called “takete” and the other is called “baluba” (1929) or
“maluma” (1947) in another language. The majority of subjects identified the jagged shape as
“takete” and the round shape as “baluba”/”maluma”. Ramachandran and Hubbard replicated
this experiment using the words “kiki” and “bouba” with participants of various L1 backgrounds.
They report that over 98% of subjects responded that the jagged shape was “kiki” and the
round shape was “bouba” (Ramachandran & Hubbard, 2001). These findings seem to be the
best evidence for any universal sound symbolism characteristics in human language from an
evolutionary and neurological standpoint.

Support for the general theories of sound symbolism continues to grow but the question
of whether or not any universal sound symbolism actually exists across languages is still highly
controversial and lacking in significant evidence. However, there is evidence to support the
argument for the existence of language-specific sound symbolism, which seems to supersede
the effects of universal sound symbolism, if any.

The necessity to examine each language independently when looking for evidence of
sound symbolism is due to the fact that languages are constantly changing and how exactly
they change is often unpredictable. We can see the divergence of language over space and time
when we compare American, Australian, and British English or compare Canadian and Haitian
French with the French of France. It only takes a generation for language to become noticeably
different. Over centuries, frequency of word usage changes as new words are born and other
words die out. Sometimes old words live on but change pronunciation, spelling, or meaning.
Over millennia, different dialects can become completely separate and mutually unintelligible
languages such as English and German. There are two major processes which occur over long
periods of time which can partially explain the existence of language-specific sound symbolism:
phonesthematic attraction and the related “Snowball Effect”. One example of phonesthematic
attraction is the morphing of the word “sag”. In the 16th century, the group of words “drag”,
“flag”, and “lag”, all conveying the meaning of “slow, tiring, tedious motion”, assimilated the

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

word “sacke”, which also carried a similar meaning. “Sacke” became “sag” to fit the same
sound/meaning pattern, thereby reinforcing the preexisting pattern (Hock & Joseph, 1996, p.
293).

Recently, there have been several studies on the topic of phonesthemes in relation to
sound symbolism. If sound and meaning were truly arbitrary, phonesthemes are a
morphological anomaly. Certain sound clusters in various languages often carry specific
meanings for a significantly larger proportion than should exist within a normal distribution. For
example, in English, the phonestheme ‘gl-‘, which carries meaning related to light or vision,
accounts for 39% of types and 60% of tokens of gl- onset words such as “glitter”, “glare”,
“glance”, “gloss”, etc. The next most prominent phonestheme is ‘sn-‘ /’sm-‘, having meanings
related to the nose or mouth, such as “snore”, “snout”, “smooch”, “smell”, etc. accounting for
28% / 25% types and 19% / 27% tokens, respectively (Francis & Kucera, 1982). It would seem
safe to assume that phonesthemes are for the most part language-specific. Blust, who has done
extensive research on protolanguage, describes the “Snowball Effect” as when a pattern of
sound / meaning is present, new words created often conform to the already existing pattern
and thereby strengthen it (Blust, 2003). In the following paragraphs I will show some examples
of this phenomenon.

In a study by Berlin, English speaking university students were asked to look at pairs of
Huambisa1 words and guess which word was the name of a fish species and which was the
name of a bird species without any knowledge of the language or the patterns that these words
conformed to. Their overall accuracy was 58%, however words conforming to the patterns in
the language (/i/ vowel in the first syllable in fish names, /a/ 2 in the first syllable in bird names,
as well as some patterns with consonants) had much higher accuracy rates (Berlin, 1994).

Besides fish and bird names in Huambisa, patterns have also emerged and become
strengthened over time with English given names. Regarding gender, 80% of names ending in a
consonant are Male (e.g. Michael, Eric) while 72% of vowel final names are female (e.g. Mary,

1
Huambisa is a language spoken by the people of the Huambisa tribe in Peru, belonging to the Jivaroan language
family.
2
To simplify the reading and writing of this paper, the phonetic transcriptions used herein are not in IPA but are
rather an informal gloss, referring to the closest common approximate as it would be spelled in English. Please
refer to the following key for reference: [IPA between brackets] = /shorthand between forward-slashes/
[a] = /a/ [i] = /i/ JPN [ɯ] , ENG [e] = /e/ [o] = /o/ [ʃ] = /sh/
[u] = /u/
[d͡ʒ] = /j/ ͡ = /ch/
[tʃ] [ɸ] = /f/ JPN [ɾ], ENG [ɹ] = ENG, JPN [h], ENG, JPN [j] =
/r/ JPN [ç] = /h/ /y/
[dz] = /z/ [N] = /N/ ENG, JPN [n], [ʔ]= represented by a double consonant mid-word and
JPN [ɲ] = /n/ as ‘t’ in word-final position, appearing twice in /fuffut/

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

Erica). Two syllable names tend to have initial syllable stress for male names (e.g. Arthur,
Robert) and final stress for female (e.g. Irene, Michelle). 66% of children and 70% of adults
were able to “correctly” (conforming to the existing patterns) classify a non-name word, if used
as a name, as being a man’s or woman’s name (Cassidy, Kelly, & Sharoni, 1999). Another study
shows that English verbs have more front than back vowels and nouns have more back than
front vowels, and when participants were asked to identify a word as being a noun or verb, they
were able to reply faster when the word fit the general pattern of its category (Serano, 1994). A
similar study showed that participants who were asked to read sentences containing nonce
words were more likely to pronounce the nonce words with stress on the first syllable if they
were used as nouns and on the second syllable if used as verbs, adhering to the patterns which
exist in the English lexicon (Kelly & Bock, 1988). These studies show that knowledge of these
patterns is accessible to native speakers, at least on an unconscious level. While people may
not consciously realize these patterns, their intuitions are usually fine judges of recognizing
whether or not an item conforms to an existing pattern.

In a recent corpus study, Monaghan found that patterns in the lexicon of English and
French nouns and verbs help learners identify a word’s grammatical category, similar to the
above example of noun and verb vowels except with “cues” consisting of consonant and vowel
clusters. In the same study he also used Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to “learn” artificial
languages, showing that phonological systematicity is helpful for learning the category of words,
but arbitrariness was helpful for learning the meanings of words. A combination of half
systematic properties and half arbitrary noise was the most helpful for the ANN to learn an
artificial lexicon (Monaghan & Christiansen, 2006).

In a related study by Kirby, et al., human participants were asked to learn an artificial
language, which experimenters modified between trials of different subjects to closer resemble
errors that the subjects made. The end result was a language easier to learn with built-in
systematicity without intentional design, giving a possible explanation for the social evolution
of language and existence of both random and systematic properties (Kirby, Cornish, & Smith,
2008).

When connecting the dots between the results of the studies discussed above, it is clear
that certain patterns have formed within the lexicons of various languages which continue to
strengthen over time. It seems possible that sound-meaning relationships might also be present,
having developed over the centuries within each language or perhaps existing as universal
sound symbolic tendencies from the early days of human language. To answer these questions,
much more research is needed on the topic of sound symbolism.

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

Sound symbolism in Japanese

While little research has been done regarding the existence or non-existence of phonesthemes
in Japanese, the language does have a very rich lexicon of sound symbolic words. The “Sound
Symbolic System” is a term used by Hamano to describe the three types of Japanese words
called gitaigo, giongo, and giseigo, which are used to express a situation/manner, a sound, or a
voice (Hamano, 1998). What English speakers know as onomatopoeia only covers giseigo and
giongo. Giseigo imitate animal voices such as kokekokko for a rooster, while giongo imitate the
sound of something as it is happening such as korokoro for a ball-like object rolling. Gitaigo take
the same forms and are also used in the same way as giseigo and giongo, used as adverbs and
adjectives, as in the example, pikapika, meaning “clean”/”shiny”. The most common form these
words take is reduplication of a two mora base (pikapika, sarasara, etc.) but there are also two
other common forms. The first of these is the two mora words followed by the function word to
to describe a manner (/shiNto/) while the second consists of an initial mora followed by a
glottal stop ([ʔ]) or nasal mora (/N/) and two final mora (/bikkuri/ or /fuNwari/).

The importance of these Japanese sound symbolic words cannot be understood unless
realizing their indispensability, frequency, and ease of use. Their use is much more frequent
than the use of onomatopoeia in English. Only a small fraction of sound symbolic words share
similarity with regular vocabulary items such as the pair atsuatsu and atsui , both meaning “hot”
(Gomi, 2004). The majority of these words are not Sino-Japanese nor are they likely to have
been majorly influenced by any other language. In terms of sound symbolism research,
Japanese sound symbolism is important because it shows insight into the unconscious
association of sound and meaning since these words are a separate system from the regular
lexicon. Because a large portion of these words are not mimetic of sound nor based on words in
the standard lexicon, any patterns found might be representative of how the Japanese relate
sound to meaning in general. This would of course be of interest to Japanese linguists but
perhaps there might be some aspect which proves universal across languages.

Hamano’s extensive research on Japanese sound symbolism has suggested the following
sound-meaning associations within the system. Table 1 on the following page shows her
findings.

Many of these sounds which share similar meaning/usage are made with the same
articulation with only a difference of voicing, such as /p/ and /b/ or /k/ and /g/. The general
characteristics of many of these voiced - voiceless pairs differ mainly in size, weight, strength,
or scope.

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

/a/ striking a board with a flat object (hand, book); clapping hands with fingers stretched out;
beating a quilt-like object with a board; a balloon popping loudly; fireworks exploding; a toy
gun. Also, a colorful/gaudy event
/i/ striking a string (producing high pitched sound); stretching cloth, line, rope; stiff/firm
mustache/ears; tense atmosphere; sharp sensation; jumping movement of a thin thing;
glass/ceramic cracking with one or several lines
/u/ mellow, unobtrusive sound. Small openings (nose, mouth)
/e/ inappropriateness, vulgarity of an action
/o/ inconspicuous (compared to /a/). Affected area is small or if it only effects a small part of the
object. Also, psychological reservation
palatalization childishness; excessive energy
/h/ weakness; softness; unreliability; indeterminateness
/m/ murkiness
/n/ viscosity; stickiness; sliminess; sluggishness
/y/ leisurely motion; swinging motion; unreliable motion
/w/ human noise; emotional upheaval
/p/ taut surface light; small; fine
/b/ taut surface heavy; large; coarse
/t/ lack of surface tension; subduedness light; small; fine
/d/ lack of surface tension; subduedness heavy; large; coarse
/k/ hard surface light; small; fine
/g/ hard surface heavy; large; coarse
/s/ non-viscous body; quietness light; small; fine
/z/ non-viscous body; quietness heavy; large; coarse
Table 1. (Hamano, 1998)

Research Questions
Does the voicing of consonants give words a heavier/stronger/larger size or scope than
unvoiced consonants within the Japanese sound symbolic system?

Do consonants in the Japanese sound symbolic system carry meanings of their own?

Do vowels in the Japanese Sound Symbolic system conform to the same patterns found in other
languages (/a/ represents large; /i/ represents little)?

Method
I chose to sample all the reduplicated forms from various dictionaries and lists of Japanese
onomatopoeia totaling approximately 1700 unique words (Atōda & Hoshino, 2009; Gomi, 2004;

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

“Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”; “kotobank”). The resulting list of 546 words is fairly representative of
the whole set, as there is some redundancy.3 Using this sample of reduplicated sound symbolic
words, I have analyzed the set for patterns of sound symbolism by comparing the definitions of
minimal pairs of voiced/voiceless contrast (e.g. korokoro with gorogoro) for semantic similarity,
and by grouping words together based on shared consonants or vowels and looking for above
average proportions of specific characteristics or meanings. I define “similar meaning” as both
sound symbolic words’ definitions sharing a description of the same general action or manner
(e.g. something snapping, a slow action) for adverbs or the same main characteristic in the
definition (e.g. angry) for adjectives.

Example of related meanings (definitions from kotobank):

/k/ and /g/ minimal pairs

karakara vs. garagara

karakara
1. Expresses the resonating sound of hard objects rubbing/scraping.
2. The light sound of a car or something rolling/rotating.

garagara
1. Expresses the highly resonant sound of objects crumbling or colliding.
2. The sound of the opening/closing of a sliding door or a hard wheel rotating, etc.

[English translations of dictionary definitions by author. Bold added to emphasize the

difference between definitions of pair items.]

Analysis
Distribution:

The 546 reduplicated sound symbolic words have the following distribution:

h/p/b initial words: 157

3
Many dictionary entries refer to several related words of similar forms. For example, of the related pair, kotteri
would not be sampled whereas kotekote is. The rationale for this sampling method is that by selecting all of the
smaller reduplicated set, it will also represent a portion of the excluded sound symbolic related words. Also,
selecting only reduplicated forms simplifies the analysis, as most of these words’ bases are two or three mora in
length and follow the pattern (C1)V1(C2)V2, where ‘C’ represents an optional consonant and ‘V’ represents a
vowel. The similar forms enable comparison between minimal pairs with only a consonant or vowel difference for
the majority of items in this reduplicated data set.

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

k/g initial words: 142

s/z initial words: 75
t/d initial words: 60
m initial words: 34
vowel initial words: 33
n initial words: 25
y initial words: 10
w initial words: 7
r initial words: 3

(for a distribution of the consonant voicing analysis, see Appendix 1)

Overall, of the 546 sampled items, 277 did not have a voiced/voiceless minimal pair (or
h/p/b triplet). Of the 269 which had minimal pairs, 41 items (15.24%) were completely
unrelated to their voiced or voiceless counterpart and 228 (84.76%) were related in at least one
aspect of their meaning/usage. 79 (29.37%) were only related by their usage as imitative of
sound, while the remaining 149 (55.39%) were related in their expression of a condition
independent of sound imitation or in relation to a condition and sound. While we would expect
some degree of consistency for the words (i.e. sounds) imitative of sound, a large proportion of
these words were related in their definition of a state or condition unrelated to a physical
sound.

As mentioned above, over half of these words which have minimal pairs are related to
their voiced or voiceless counterpart, independent of sound imitation. This figure suggests that
there is a strong connection between voiced sounds and their voiceless counterparts within the
mind of the Japanese speaker. Similar sounding words (only different in consonant voicing)
actually do mean similar things within the Japanese sound symbolic system. Additionally, if a
distinction was made between definitions of the pair, the voiced item was always used to
convey a meaning which is stronger, bigger, or heavier than the voiceless item. No examples
were found to be true for the opposite. In this aspect, the relation of sound to meaning is
significantly less arbitrary than how linguists currently view the sound-meaning relationship in
the regular lexicon.

The high degree of relatedness of Japanese voiced/voiceless minimal pairs is most likely
a direct effect of the orthography, in which case this study has simply proved the obvious.
Japanese adults are conscious of the relationship of a voiced /g/ and voiceless /k/, in contrast to

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

native English speakers, since the minimal pairs t/d, k/g, h/p/b, and s/z all use the same
phonetic kana characters in writing, the voiced aspect being marked with a diacritic. 4

Patterns of sound-meaning relationships in combination/clusters

The following is a list of findings of above average proportions of certain sounds being used
with certain meanings. If these were words belonging to the regular lexicon they would be
considered to be phonesthemes, however, these are simply sound symbolic patterns within the
Japanese sound symbolic system. There were many patterns present in the data, but the
following examples show the strongest relations of sound and meaning pairings, composing a
large percentage of the total words using these combinations of sounds. While they are mostly
used to imitate sound, the patterns are still worth taking note.

“crunchy”, “hard”, “brittle”: (C1 = /k/ or /g/) + (V1 = /a/ or /o/) + (V2 = /i/).

karikari, garigari, korikori, gorigori, kachikachi, gachigachi, kachinkachin, gachingachin,

kochikochi, gochigochi, kochinkochin, gacchingacchin.

Other examples which diverge from this pattern are jarijari and paripari.

85.71% (n=12/14) of items which fit this pattern share this meaning.

“rolling”, “spinning”, “turning”, OR “looking around”: (C1 = /k/ or /g/) + (C2 = /r/)

karakara, garagara, korokoro, gorogoro, kurakura, guragura, kurukuru, guruguru, kurikuri,

guriguri, kyorokyoro, gyorogyoro, kerokero.

59.09% (n=13/22) of items which fit this pattern share these meanings.

“messy”: (C1 = /k/ or /g/ or /m/) + (V1 = /u/ or /o/) + (C2 = /sh/ or /j/ or /ch/) + (V2 =
/a/)

kuchakucha, guchakucha, kushakusha, gushagusha, kochakocha, gochagocha, goshagosha,

mojamoja, mushamusha, moshamosha.

100% (n=10/10) of items which fit this pattern share this meaning.

4
As kana is used to write either a vowel sound or a consonant and vowel combination with few exceptions, to
show an example of kana I must include a vowel. The above consonant sounds, when combined with the vowel /a/,
are written as た, だ; か,が; は, ぱ, ば; さ, ざ to represent /ta/, /da/; /ka/, /ga/; /ha/, /pa/, /ba/; and /sa/, /za/.

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

“wind” / ”moving through air”, “breathe” / “laugh”, OR “tired”, “weak”: (C1 = /h/ or /f/)

fuffut, fugafuga, funfun, furafura, fuufuu, haahaa, hatahata, hehhet, henahena, herahera,
herohero, hetaheta, hetoheto, hirahira, hisohiso, horohoro, hyuruhyuru, hyorohyoro, hyunhyun,
hyuhhyut, hyuuhyuu.

52.5% (n=21/40) of /h/ and /f/ initial items share these meanings.

Narrowing down what specifically makes up “laughter”:

(C1 = /h/ or /k/ or /g/) + (V1 = /e/) + (V2 = /a/)

ketaketa, getageta, kerakera, geragera, herehera.

62.5% (n=5/8) of items which fit this pattern share this meaning.

The only other items which refer to laughter in this sample set are the words hehhet, fuffut
(diverging from the given pattern), and kusukusu, kukkut, kutsukutsu, and kyukkyut (which tend
to be composed of the following sounds /k/, /u/, /t/, /ts/, /s/). Although they share similar
sounds, it is difficult to narrow these down to a pattern or include them in the above pattern.
Also, the proportion of words which share a similar meaning of “to laugh” which fit this last
pattern are far outnumbered by words unrelated to laughing.

“sticky”, “slimy”, OR “slow movement/progress” (C1 = /n/)

naganaga, nebaneba, nechinechi, nichanicha, nukunuku, numenume, nuranura, nurunuru,

nobinobi, noronoro, nosonoso, netoneto, nitanita, notarinotari, nosshinosshi.

60% (n=15/25) of /n/ initial items share these meanings.

“wet”, “splashing”: (C1 = /b/ or /p/) + (C2 = /ch/ or /sh/) + (V2 = /a/ or /o/)

bashabasha, bishabisha, beshabesha, bishobisho, bachabacha, bichabicha, bechabecha,

bochabocha, pachapacha, pichapicha, pechapecha, pochapocha, pashapasha, pishapisha,
peshapesha.

100% (n=15/15) of items which fit this pattern share these meanings.

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

Vowel minimal pair analysis

Using the above example for “wet”, “splashing”, I was able to compare minimal pairs between
vowels of similarly defined words for size-sound symbolism. Using the web as an informal
corpus (Kilgarriff & Grefenstette, 2003), I compared5 bachabacha, bichabicha, bechabecha, and
bochabocha, examining what these adverbs were used to modify.

(see Appendix 1 for search results)

Conclusion
The data from this study supports Hamano’s claim that voicing in Japanese sound symbolic
words tend to express large size, heavy weight, or strength in comparison to sounds which lack
voicing. The voicing-weight correlation seems to be a real phenomenon which native speakers
are aware of. From this observation, we might be able to safely assume that the voicing-weight
aspect of sound symbolism also applies to words that do not have minimal pairs. For example,
we can guess that if tobotobo (“to walk, moping”) had a voiced counterpart which it does not,
dobodobo would give a bigger or stronger impression, perhaps representing something very
large moving slowly, or perhaps something of average size moping with more energy, kicking
one’s feet or showing other signs of anger. In all likelihood, voiceless sounds which have the
option to be voiced but instead remain voiceless are left voiceless to convey a smaller, lighter,
or weaker impression than voicing would convey and vice versa. As most people mope around
lethargically, tobotobo would lack the strength that dobodobo would have. The lack of a voiced
or voiceless pair does not necessarily indicate that size/weight/strength is not an issue.

Regarding the findings of my consonant analysis, when compared to Hamano’s findings

presented in Table 1, we have agreement on the meanings of certain sounds such as with /k/
and /g/ initial words representing “hard” things, or /n/ initial words representing viscous things.
A study by Ivanova also found similar results regarding /k/, /g/, and /n/ initial sounds, although
Ivanova’s research included many non-reduplicated sound symbolic words with attention on
the mid and final regions of the words (Ivanova, 2006), whereas I have focused on the initial
consonants and voicing of them, as well as vowels. It seems possible that each sound might
independently carry meaning, which can be influenced by nearby sounds. It also seems that

5
The methodology I used for this comparison was to view the first 2 pages of Google Image Search results
(approximately 25 “hits” per page), tallying the object or action which my sound symbolic word used in the search
query described. I was careful to make sure that the word being searched for was actually describing the object or
action in the caption of the picture. If the caption did not use the word being searched for, I opened the web page
to confirm how the word was being used. The results were tallied and compared across vowels.

13
 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

certain combinations of specific consonant and vowel sounds in certain positions, as found by
myself and Ivanova, also have potential to carry specific meaning. Perhaps both of these
patterns, sound symbolism of individual phonemes and sound symbolic combinations, have
grown in numbers over the centuries through processes like Phonesthematic Attraction and the
“Snowball Effect”.

The results of my research on vowel phonosemantics are inconclusive, regarding size in

Japanese sound symbolism and its similarity to universal size-sound symbolic tendencies. This
study did not reveal a significant difference in size/scope among the collocations of /a/, /o/ and
/i/ vowels in minimal pairs. There was a slight difference in the size of the objects and scenes
described by the sound symbolic minimal pairs, fitting the general pattern that /a/ and /o/
represent large things. However, this difference was slight and there was no noticeable
“smallness” regarding /i/ results but simply a lack of “largeness”. More conclusive results might
be possible by replicating this analysis on a larger scale with a formal corpus.

This study has clearly shown that the Japanese sound symbolic system does in fact
contain patterns of sound-meaning relationships for specific sounds and meanings, similar to
the phenomenon of phonesthemes. However, it is uncertain if similar sound-meaning patterns
also exist in the regular Japanese lexicon.

It is still yet to be determined to what degree certain sounds carry certain meanings or
impressions or if other patterns also exist. Hamano’s extensive compilation and analysis found
general tendencies of relationships between sound and meaning, but the strength of these
relationships and whether it is definitively more than coincidence is yet to be determined. My
own statistical-based results support many of Hamano’s claims, however a large scale study,
including non-reduplicated words, with a sizable corpus, or a study testing the intuitions of
native Japanese speakers on the meanings of Japanese sound symbolic nonwords seem to be
the best ways to verify the findings of these patterns in actual use. Also, a study on whether or
not phonesthemes exist in the regular Japanese lexicon could be very insightful for linguists
interested in sound symbolism, especially if they share similar patterns to those in the sound
symbolic system.

14
 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

References
Bergen, B. (2004). The Psychological Reality of Phonaesthemes. Language, 80(2), 290-311.
Berlin, B. (1994). Evidence for pervasive synesthetic sound symbolism in ethnozoological nomenclature. In L.
Hinton, J. Nichols & J. Ohala (Eds.), Sound Symbolism (pp. 76-93). New York: Cambridge University
Press.
Blust, R. (2003). The Phonestheme ŋ-in Austronesian Languages. Oceanic Linguistics, 42(1), 187-212.
Cassidy, K., Kelly, M., & Sharoni, L. a. (1999). Inferring Gender From Name Phonology. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: General, 128(3), 362-381.
Francis, W. N., & Kucera, H. (1982). Frequency analysis of English usage: Lexicon and grammar. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin.
Hamano, S. (1998). The Sound-Symbolic System of Japanese. Standford: Center for the Study of Language and
Information.
Hock, H. H., & Joseph, B. D. (1996). Language History, Language Change, and Language Relationship: An
Introduction to Historical and Comparative Linguistics (2nd ed.). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Hudson, R. (2000). Language as a cognitive network. In H.G.Simonsen & R.T.Endresen (Eds.), In A Cognitive
Approach to the Verb Morphological and Constructional Perspectives. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Ivanova, G. (2006). Sound-symbolic approach to Japanese mimetic words. Toronto Working Papers in
Linguistics, 26, 103-114.
Kelly, M. H., & Bock, J. K. (1988). Stress in Time. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and
Performance, 14(3), 389-403.
Kilgarriff, A., & Grefenstette, G. (2003). Introduction to the special issue on the web as a corpus.
Computational Linguistics, 29(3), 333-347.
Kirby, S., Cornish, H., & Smith, K. (2008). Cumulative cultural evolution in the laboratory: An experimental
approach to the origins of structure in human language. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences of the United States of America, 105, 10681-10686.
Köhler, W. (1929). Gestalt psychology. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation.
Köhler, W. (1947). Gestalt psychology: An introduction to new concepts in modern psychology (2nd ed.). New
York: Liveright Publishing Corporation.
Monaghan, P., & Christiansen, M. H. (2006). Why Form-Meaning Mappings are not Entirely Arbitrary in
Language. Paper presented at the 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Mahwah,
NJ.
Ohala, J. (1994). The frequency code underlies the sound-symbolic use of voice pitch. In L. Hinton, J. Nichols
& J. Ohala (Eds.), Sound Symbolism (pp. 325-347). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Ramachandran, V. S., & Hubbard, E. M. (2001). Synaesthesia - A Window Into Perception, Thought, and
Language. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 8(12), 3-34.
Serano, J. A. (1994). Phonosyntactics. In L. Hinton, J. Nichols & J. Ohala (Eds.), Sound Symbolism (pp. 263-275).
New York: Cambridge University Press.
Gomi, T. (2004). Nihongo Gitaigo Jiten [“Japanese Gitaigo Dictionary”] Tokyo: Kōdansha +α Bunko.
Yorkson, E., & Menon, G. (2004). A Sound Idea: Phonetic Effects of Brand Names on Consumer Judgments.
Journal of Consumer Research, 31(1), 43.

Dictionaries:
Atōda T. & Hoshino K. (2009). Giongo Gitaigo Tsukaikata Jiten: Tadashii Imi to Yōhō ga Sugu Wakaru ["Usage
Guide to Japanese Onomatopoeias"] (2nd ed.). Tokyo: Sōtakusha.
kotobank. The Asahi Shimbun Company, VOYAGE GROUP, Inc. : http://kotobank.jp/
Nihon Kokugo Daijiten. from Shogakukan, Inc. : www.jkn21.com
Gomi, T. (2004). Nihongo Gitaigo Jiten [“Japanese Gitaigo Dictionary”] Tokyo: Kōdansha +α Bunko.

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

Appendix 1 (analyses):

Consonant voicing analysis

h/p/b: 157 total entries. 32 do not have a voiced/voiceless minimal pair and are therefore
excluded from the calculations of percentages of related minimal pairs. Of the remaining 125
h/p/b minimal pair (or triplet) entries, 12.8 % (n= 16) are completely unrelated and 87.2% (n =
109) are related in at least one aspect to their voiced or voiceless counterparts. . 64% of
minimal pairs (n =80) were related in their expression of a condition independent of sound
imitation or in relation to a condition and sound, while 23.2% (n = 29) were related only by
imitation of sound.

k/g: 142 total entries. 46 do not have a voiced/voiceless minimal pair and are excluded in
minimal pair percentage calculations. Of the remaining 96 k/g minimal pairs, 8.33 % (n= 8) are
completely unrelated and 91.67% (n = 88) are related in at least one aspect. 52.08% of minimal
pairs (n = 50) were related in their expression of a condition independent of sound imitation or
in relation to a condition and sound, while 39.58% (n = 38) were related only by imitation of
sound.

s/z: 75 total entries. 45 do not have a voiced/voiceless minimal pair and are excluded in
minimal pair percentage calculations. Of the remaining 30 s/z minimal pairs, 33.33 % (n= 10)
are completely unrelated 66.67 % (n= 20) are related in at least one aspect. 33.33% of minimal
pairs (n = 10) were related in their expression of a condition independent of sound imitation or
in relation to a condition and sound, while 33.33% (n = 10) were related only by imitation of
sound.

t/d: 60 total entries. 46 do not have a voiced/voiceless minimal pair and are excluded in
minimal pair percentage calculations. Of the remaining 14 t/d minimal pairs, 14.29 % (n= 2) are
completely unrelated and 85.71% (n = 12) are related in at least one aspect. 71.43% of minimal
pairs (n = 10) were related in their expression of a condition independent of sound imitation or
in relation to a condition and sound, while 14.29% (n = 2) were related only by imitation of
sound.

The remaining entries (vowel, /m/, /n/, /y/, /w/, and /r/ initial words) were not applicable to
this analysis as they do not have minimal pairs regarding a voiced or voiceless consonant,
except for 2 /w/ initial items (wasawasa/wazawaza) which were included in the s/z analysis.

16
 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

Vowel analysis
presented by the search term (with gloss in parenthesis) and summary of results.

“ばちゃばちゃ” OR “バチャバチャ” (bachabacha)

whale shark; infants wading in water x7; pet turtle swimming in a tank; otters jumping in a zoo;
2 elephants in a pool; dogs running through a river; kids swimming x2; waterfront night scene
x3; birds eating x2; swan splashing x4; penguin swimming x2; playing in surf

“びちゃびちゃ” OR “ビチャビチャ” (bichabicha)

baby diaper contents; doggie bath; working in a flooded field; fish in a pond; mouse pad from a
sweaty wrist in summer; fountain; splashing in puddles x2; slushy rain; after a drinking contest
and throwing up; soaked slippers; small waterfall; wading in a kiddy pool; wet dog; spilling milk;
rained on bike; snow; rainy street scene; a cat making a wet mess on the dinner table;
schoolgirl crying; condensation on window; wet floor x2; soggy shoes; moist katsu burger; after
a bath

“べちゃべちゃ” OR “ベチャベチャ” (bechabecha)

soggy nikuman x2; umbrella in the rain x2; dough; oily food; soggy snow x7; wet hair x4;
meatballs in sauce; unadon bentō; cat with spilled milk on its fur; soggy flier on a pole outside
after rain; oily fried rice; bathmat; wet bike; kids playing with gelatin; spilled contains of a
liquid bag in luggage; dogs playing in puddles; rainy street

“ぼちゃぼちゃ” OR “ボチャボチャ” (bochabocha)

wet dog x9; sentō “public bath” x4; a ship; stepping in a puddle; a wet plant outside; rain falling
in a puddle; getting wet fishing on a boat; a stream; soggy white rice; drips of distilled sake;
fish; damp earth; stepping into a pond; as a place holder for an unknown number; wet clothes

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

Appendix 2 (database):
Explanation:

The following information contains the complete sample of 545 reduplicated Japanese sound
symbolic words, taken from various dictionaries, of approximately 1400 words. Because all
sampled words are reduplicated, only the base is given in unreduplicated form in the “item”
column. The “type” column refers to if the word is giongo (imitates sound): 音, giseigo (imitates
a voice or animal cry): 声, gitaigo (a state or condition): 態, or teido (degree or extent): 程度.
The following data was created as a spreadsheet with Microsoft Excel software so that columns
could be sorted depending on the analysis.

The “characteristics/ definitions” column does not give entire definitions, but only the
most salient aspects of each definition/usage, as previously explained. “CON” refers to the
consonants, with the exception that ‘x’ represents the glottal stop [ʔ], ‘v’ represents the
absence of a consonant in that position and only a vowel, and ‘t’ represents the equivalent /ts/
when preceding an /u/ vowel. The purpose of the “con -v” column is to easily find voiced and
voiceless minimal pairs. Data in this column represents only the unvoiced version of the first
consonant of the kana line for each mora. For example, /shi/ belongs to the s-line, consisting of
/sa/, /shi/, /su/, /se/, and /so/, while /tsu/ belongs to the t-line /ta/, /chi/, /tsu/, /te/, /to/. Data
is not given for consonants which do not have voiceless possibilities such as /m/, /r/, /y/, /w/,
or /N/. For example, karakara and garagara would both have the value “k” in this column.
“VOW” represents the vowels of the words. Long vowels such as /doodoo/ are written as they
would be in Japanese kana script as “O U”. “REL” refers to the relationship between the voiced
and voiceless consonant minimal pairs. “x” shows that the item does not have a minimal pair of
consonant voicing and is not applicable, “y” means that the words are fully related, including a
usage as gitaigo, describing a state or condition, “s” means that the words are related, but only
in their imitation of a physical sound as giongo/giseigo, and “n” designates words which have a
voiced or voiceless consonant minimal pair but are completely unrelated.

Example:

item type characteristics/ definitions CON con -v VOW REL

あつ 態 hot. thick. passionately in love. vt t AU x

Item: “atsuatsu”. Type: gitaigo (condition/state). Consonants: vowel only in the first mora, /ts/
in the second mora. Unvoiced consonants: /ts/. Vowels: /a/ and /u/. Relation to its
voiced/voiceless counterpart: n/a. It has no minimal pair.

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

item type characteristics/ definitions CON con -v VOW REL

あつ 態 hot. thick. passionately in love. vt t AU x
あっぷ 態 drowning, struggling vxp h AU x
いき 態 vivid. lively. vk k II x
いじ 態 hesitant. unable to be honest. reserved. vj s II x
いそ 態 eager, cheerful. excited. vs s IO x
いち 態 one by one. every one. v ch t II x
いちゃ 態 lovey dovey v ch t IA x
いや 態 unwilling. reluctant. vy IA x
finally. more and more. at the worst
いよ 態 possible time. vy IO x
いら 態 annoyed/ sun glaring down onto. prickly. vr IA x
うか 態 uncertain. careless. inattentive. vk k UA x
うき 態 excited. happy. cheerful. vk k UI x
うじ 態 hesitate. irresolute. vj s UI x
swarm, crowd. a long, drawn out
うじゃ 態 conversation. vj s UA x
うず 態 wanting/aching to. tempted. vz s UU x
うだ 態 idle. long winded and meaningless vd t UA x
UU
うつら 態 physically exhausted. sleepy. dazed. vtr t A x
うと 態 sleepy. napping. vt t UO x
うね 態 winding. meandering. vn UE x
うは 声・態 satisfied, happy, and smiling/laughing. vh h UA x
うよ 態 in swarms. crawling with. vy UO x
soft and sunny in the spring. steam rising
うら 態 gently. vr UA x
うろ 態 loafing. idle. wandering. troubled. vr UO x
うん 声・態 groaning in pain. vN U x
えっさ 態 struggling to carry something heavy vxs s EA x
おい 声 crying loudly. calling out to someone. vv OI x
おず 態 fearful. gingerly vz s OU x
caught off guard. too surprised to act
おた 態 appropriately. speechless vt t OA x
おち 態 quiet. calm. vt t OI x
おど 態 cowering. scared, shaking. nervous vd t OO x
おめ 態 shameless. vm OE x
おろ 態 confused. flustered. crying. vr OO x
おん 声 bawling. crying. vN O x
があ 音・声 caw. a person yelling. gv k AA x
がく 音・態 become loose/wiggly. body shaking gk k AU x
かさ 音・態 dry. rustle. ks ks AA y
がさ 音・態 dry. smooth to the touch. gs ks AA y
かしゃ 音 click clack. dry. k sh ks AA s

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

brittle and cracking. something metal

がしゃ 音・態 clamps shut. g sh ks AA s
態・程
かす 度 dry. tasteless. barely/just. ks ks AU x
かた 音 packed. correct. clatter. scrape. kt kt AA s
音・
態・程
がた 度 clank. rattle. shake. mad and complaining. gt kt AA s
かち 音・態 rigid. clanky. k ch kt AA y
がち 音・態 hard. smash. stubborn. g ch kt AI y
かちゃ 音 clink. clatter. clang. k ch kt AA s
がちゃ 音 clanking g ch kt AA s
かちん 音・態 very hard and stiff. tick-tock. k ch N kt AI y
がちん 音・態 cling clang. something soft becomes hard. g ch N kt AI y
かつ 音・態 barely. scraping by. clicking. kt kt AU s
がつ 態 hunger. craving. eat greedily gt kt AU s
k x ch
かっちん 音 chisel. chip away at. frozen solid/still. N kt AI y
g x ch
がっちん 音 cling clang. something soft becomes hard. N kt AI y
がっぽ 音・態 coins clinking. guzzling water. gxp kh AO x
splish splash. loose and baggy. money
がば 音・態 pouring in. gb kh AA x
がぶ 音・態 guzzle gb kh AU x
かぽ 音・態 full of water. object out of reach. kp kh AO s
がぼ 音・態 water splashing around in a container. gb kh AO s
がみ 態 nag. gripe gm k AI x
がや 音・態 noisy. hubbub gy k AA x
から 音・態 empty. hard object rolling. dry. kr k AA y
がら 音・態 empty, rolling, crumbling gr k AA y
かり 音・態 crispy/crunchy. irritable. kr k AI y
がり 音・態 carving or scraping something hard. gr k AI y
かん 音・態 rage. glowing hot. clanking kN k A s
がん 音・態 pound. throb. gN k A s
きい 声・音 squeak. creek. scrape. kv k II s
ぎい 音 squeak. creek. gv k II s
botching exercise or chores. bending and
ぎく 音・態 breaking. snapping gk kk IU x
sliding with resistance. cat scream. nails on
ぎこ 音・態 chalkboard. gk kk IO x
ぎざ 態 zig zag. a saw blade shaped edge. gz ks IA x
きし 音・態 squeak. creek. scrape. k sh ks II s
wood knocking. clunk. with resistance.
ぎし 音・態 packed tight. g sh ks II s

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

ぎす 態 lacks friendliness. thin and bony. gs ks IU x

きち 音・態 jam packed. grinding. correct. k ch kt II y
ぎち 音・態 creak, grind. squeak. packed. g ch kt II y
きちん 態 correct/properly. k ch kt II x
ぎと 態 oils. sticky. greasy. td kt IO x
きび 態 prompt. alert. businesslike kh kh II x
きゃあ 声・態 eep! yikes. monkey cry. ky v k AA s
ぎゃあ 声・態 noisy crying gy v k AA s
きゃっ 声 noisy kids. monkey cry. ky x k A s
ぎゃっ 声 intermittent honking, yelling, barking. gy x k A s
きゅう 態 packed. no slack/leeway. scraping. ky v k UU y
ぎゅう 態 squished. creaking. gy v k UU y
a shy laugh. squeak. shaking, rubbing,
きゅっ 態 pushing/pulling with energy ky x k U y
ぎゅっ 態 slide, scrape, squeak. gy x k U y
きょと 態 looking around. restless. ky t kt OO x
きょろ 態 looking around. restless. ky r k OO y
ぎょろ 態 looking around with eyes wide open. gy r k OO y
きら 態 sparkle. glisten. kr k IA y
ぎら 態 dazzling. glaring. gr k IA y
at once. right away. grinding. scraping.
きり 音・態 turning. sharp pain kr k II y
barely enough. rope wrapping around an
ぎり 音・態 object. sliding/scraping gr k II y
声・
きん 音・態 metallic piercing sound. stiff. taut. kN k I x
ぐい 態 forcefully. continuously. gv k UI x
ぐう 音・態 stomach growling. things going well. gv k UU x
depressed after something unpleasant
くさ 態 happens. bored. ks ks UA n
ぐさ 態 stabbing over and over. piercing gs ks UA n
くしゃ 態 messy. rumpled. crumpled. gloomy. k sh ks UA y
ぐしゃ 音・態 sloppy. g sh ks UA y
ぐしょ 態 soaked. g sh ks UO x
giggle. to do something quietly and
くす 声・態 covertly. ks ks UU n
sniffling. kids crying and complaining not
ぐず 声・態 fair. gz ks UU s
ぐず 音・態 grumbling. sluggish. uncertain weather. gz ks UU s
くた 音・態 withered. tired. worn out kt kt UA y
くだ 態 tedious. lengthy. wordy. kd kt UA y
ぐた 態 simmer. falling apart. physically exhausted. gt kt UA y
ぐだ 態 useless. unclear gd kt UA y
くちゃ 音・態 crunch. crumple. messy. k ch kt UA y

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

ぐちゃ 音・態 soft and soggy. messy. grumbling g ch kt UA y

ぐちょ 音・態 drenched. dripping. g ch kt UO x
くっ 声 giggle. coo. kx k U x
くつ 声 laughter. simmer kt kt UU s
ぐつ 音・態 boiling. bubbling. gt kt UU s
ぐでん 態 drunk. not oneself. gdN kt UE x
くど 態 tedious. same thing over and over kd kt UO x
くにゃ 態 soft and flexible k ny k UA y
kneading or bending something soft or
ぐにゃ 態 elastic. g ny k UA y
くね 態 curvy. meandering. wriggling kn k UE x
くび 音・態 hungry. gulp. guzzle. kb kh UI x
ぐび 音・態 hungry. gulp. guzzle. gb kh UI y
ぐびり 音・態 chug. guzzle. gbr kh UII x
くよ 態 worrying about a trivial matter. moping. ky k UO x
くら 音・態 dizzy. giddy. kr k UA s
ぐら 音・態 small object spinning. winding up. gr k UA s
くり 態 spinning or winding. kr k UI y
so big it stands out. eyes wide open looking
ぐり 態 around. etc. gr k UI y
spinning. cute. unstable plans. working
くる 態 without rest. kr k UU y
ぐる 態 spin. rotate. wind/unwind. gr k UU y
くん 音・態 a whistling breathing. sniff. kN k U n
態・程
ぐん 度 progressing rapidly. adding strength gN k U n
げえ 音 vomit. gv k EE x
けた 声 laugh. cackle. kt kt EA s
げた 声 strange, piercing laugh. gt kt EA s
けち 態 stingy. blabbing on about nothing noisily k ch kt EI x
けちょん 態 thorough. serious. k ch N kt EO x
けば 態 gaudy. garish kb kh EA x
けら 声 shrill laughter. kr k EA s
げら 声 laughing noisily. gr k EA s
けろ 態 looking around without rest croak. vanish kr k EO n
げろ 声・態 vomit. gr k EO n
ごう 音 noisy train, wind, rooster. snoring. gv k OU x
sleeping, chest heaving up and down.
こく 音・態 scraping. guzzling. kk kk OU y
ごく 声・態 gulping. chugging a drink. gk kk OU y
ごし 音・態 rub something rough with power. g sh ks OI x
ごしゃ 態 jumbled mess. complaining. g sh ks OA x
cramped/squished. bothered about little
こせ 態 details. ks ks OE x

22
 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

こそ 態 stealthily. sneakily. ks ks OO n
ごそ 音・態 rummaging sound. jarring sound. gs ks OO n
ごた 態 messy. complaining. trivial. gt kt OA x
hard objects clanking or scraping. tense.
こち 音・態 stubborn. k ch kt OI y
ごち 態 hard and crunchy. g ch kt OI y
こちゃ 態 small things all mixed up. k ch kt OA y
ごちゃ 態 jumbled mess. complaining. g ch kt OA y
こちょ 態 tickling. speaking while running around. k ch kt OO x
something dries or freezes and hardens.
こちん 音・態 tense. k ch N kt OI x
tap. click. grinding away at work.
こつ 音・態 disappointed. delayed progress. kt kt OU s
ごつ 音・態 something hard and heavy bumping. gt kt OU s
ごった 態 messy. jumbled. gxt kt OA x
こて 程度 thick/ heavy. rich. over the top. kt kt OE y
ごて 程度 thick. persistent. gt kt OE y
こてん 態 to beat until black and blue. ktN kt OE x
simmer. light bubbling. click/scrape
こと 音・態 something hard. kt kt OO s
ごと 音 something heavy sliding. rattle. clatter gt kt OO s
ごにょ 声・態 mumbling. g ny k OO x
ごほ 音 cough. a drum or thunder echoing gh kh OO x
ごほん 音 cough. ghN kh OO x
こり 音 crunchy. firm. kr k OI s
ごり 音・態 scratch or nibble something hard gr k OI s
ころ 声・態 small, round, rolling. kr k OO y
thunder. something big rolling. lazing. very
ごろ 音・態 common. 違和感 gr k OO y
ごわ 態 stiff (paper or cloth). gw k OA x
cough. snow or rain falling hard. hard
こん 音・態 things colliding. a fox's cry. kN k O s
ごん 音・態 bang. bam. hitting metal. gN k O s
calling someone to come. water flowing.
さあ 音 rain falling. wind blowing. sv s AA y
ざあ 音 sound of rain, static. zv s AA y
crispy. crunchy. walking on
さく 音・態 sand/gravel/snow. sk sk AU y
lots of coins or jewels. chopping veggies.
ざく 音・態 walking on gravel. zk sk AU y
さば 態 relieved. or candid. sb sh AA x
ざぶ 音・態 splashing. slurping. zb sh AU x
さや 音 rustling. shaking. sy s AA x
さら 音・態 rustle. murmur. fluent. dry. not sticky. sr s AA y

23
 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

ざら 音・態 rough texture. things going well, smoothly. zr s AA y

ざわ 音・態 noisy. unresting. feeling cold from a fever. zw s AA x
じい 音 sizzle. frying grease. cicada sound. jv s II x
しお 態 low spirits. dejected. soft sh v s IO x
weeping sound. dull pain. (toothache,
しく 音・態 stomachache) sh k sk IU n
じく 態 soggy/wet. slowly making progress. jk sk IU n
しげ 態 frequent. many. crying in a low voice. sh g sk IE x
しこ 態 chewy. slow but steady. masturbation. sh k sk IO x
しず 態 things going on quietly. sweaty. sh z ss IU x
しっ 声 wiping or rubbing with a moist cloth. sh x s I x
しと 態 drizzling. moist. sh t st IO y
じと 態 hot and damp. sweaty. soaked. jt st IO y
しな 態 soft and elastic. un-genki. sh n s IA x
しぶ 態 reluctant. unwilling. sh b sh IU x
じめ 態 damp. humid. gloomy. no energy. jm s IE x
しゃあ 音 shameless. without batting an eyelash. sh v s AA s
じゃあ 音 noisily water gushing, pouring. jv s A s
音・程
じゃか 度 noisy racket. small hard things colliding. jk sk AA x
しゃき 音・態 chopping sound. crisp. crunchy. sh k sk AI x
しゃなり 態 to walk quickly with agile. sh n r s AAI x
しゃぶ 音 simmer. sh b sh AU s
じゃぶ 音 splashing jb sh AU s
じゃら 音・態 jingle jangle. clink. blabbing on and on. jr s AA x
しゃり 音・態 2 hard, thin objects rubbing sh r s AI y
じゃり 音・態 crunchy, gritty. jr s AI y
jingle. clap. water bubbling and boiling.
しゃん 音・態 healthy and work hard. sh N s A s
音・程 clanging bell, alarm. finishing one after
じゃん 度 another quickly jN s A s
silk rustling. steam, air or water rushing out
しゅう 音・声 of a crack. sh v s UU x
sound of intermittent steam coming out of
しゅっ 音 a hole or crack. sh x s U x
sound of puff of steam, especially from a
しゅっぽ 音 steam locomotive. sh x p sh UO x
しゅる 音・態 grind. sh r s UU x
じょき 音 scissors cutting. snip. jk jk OI
drizzling. weakly. sparse hair growth (head,
しょぼ 態 beard, etc.). squinting. sh r sh OO x
scorching sun. drawing closer. run out of
じり 音・態 patience. oil boiling. jr s II x
じろ 態 staring rudely. jr s IO x

24
 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

じわ 態 advancing slowly but steadily jw s IA x

moving smoothly and easily through
すい 態 something sv s UI x
wind wheezing through a crack. lightly
すう 音・態 breathing in or out. sv s UU x
すか 態 clean cut. sniffing. without delay. sk sk UA n
ずか 態 making an entrance boldly or rudely zk sk UA n
ずき 態 throbbing pain, including heartbreak zk sk UI x
すく 態 growing healthily and steadily sk sk UU x
ずけ 態 speaking bluntly zk sk UE x
すご 態 leaving a place in low spirits. down. sg sk UO x
ずし 音・態 thump. ground-shaking. z sh ss UI x
すた 態 brisk. quick. st st UA n
ずた 態 torn. ragged. zt st UA n
すっ 態 smoothly. easily. heavy breathing sx s U x
すぱ 音・態 puffing a cigar. easy sp sh UA s
straightforward. using a blade to cut
ずば 態 without mercy. zb sh UA s
sinking in water or mud. piercing into
ずぶ 音・態 something soft. zb sh UU x
すべ 態 smooth. silky. sb sh UE x
things going well. things easily going into
すぽ 音・態 place or coming out. sp sh UO x
すや 態 sound asleep. sy s UA x
すら 態 proceeding smoothly. without a hitch. sr s UA n
ずら 態 in succession. making progress smoothly. zr s UA n
する 態 smoothly. swiftly. sr s UU y
ずる 音・態 dragging. slurping food. loose. dragging on. zr s UU y
すれ 程度 extremely close. near the limit. sr s UE x
rapidly. throb with pain. persevering
ずん 態 without help/cooperation. zN s U x
ぜえ 音 difficult to breathe. zv s EE x
せか 態 acting hastily. sk sk EA x
chilly. excited and trembling from cold or
ぞく 態 fear. zk sk OU x
そよ 態 breeze. smooth. sy s OO x
ぞり 音・態 the sound of shaving a beard. zr s OI x
そろ 態 slowly and quietly. near time to go home. sr s UO n
lined up. a long trailing skirt or dress. in
ぞろ 態 succession. zr s OO n
そわ 態 nervously excited sw s OA x
だく 態 blood or sweat pouring out. dk tk AU x
たじ 態 overwhelmed. recoiling. tj ts AI x
だし 態 flinch or recoil from pressure d sh ts AI x

25
 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

heavy thing drumming/hitting. huge thing

だっ 音 looming, attacking. dx t A x
たぷ 態 soft. flabby. filled with liquid. tp th AU y
だぶ 態 loose, baggy clothing db th AU y
dripping liquid. endlessly complaining or
たら 態 boasting tr t AA y
streaming liquid. something going on and
だら 態 on. long gentle slope. dr t AA y
ちか 態 flickering light. sparkling. ch k tk IA x
ちく 態 prickly ch k tk IU x
ちび 程度 sipping. little by little. ch b th II x
ちびり 程度 sipping. little by little. ch b r th III x
ちま 態 small and round. ch m t IA x
glass, ceramic clanking. careless and un-
ちゃか 音・態 calm ch k tk AA x
ちゃぷ 音 splashing in a small amount of water ch p th AU x
ちゃぽ 音 splashing in a small amount of water ch p th AO x
ちゃら 音・態 2 or 3 small metal pieces clinking. ch r t AA x
ちゅう 音 slurping. sucking. ch v t UU x
ちゅっ 音 strongly sucking (out poison, etc.). ch x t U x
ちょい 態 over and over quickly. again and again. ch v t OI x
ちょき 音 scissors cutting. snip. ch k tk OI x
ちょく 態 infrequently repeated. ch k tk OU x
restless. walking with short steps. finishing
ちょこ 態 easily ch k tk OO x
ちょび 程度 little by little. ch b th OI x
ちょぼ 態 sparse. few. ch b th OO x
ちょろ 音・態 a small bit of water flowing/pouring out ch r t OO x
ちら 態 fluttering. flickering. ch r t IA x
small bells ringing. oil boiling. scrunched
ちり 音 and wrinkled. ch r t II x
ちろ 音・態 a small bit of water flowing/pouring out ch r t IO x
boiling water. sound of metal scraping,
ちん 音 jingling. ch N t I x
walking briskly. marching. speaking or
つか 態 doing things without reserve tk tk UA y
つけ 態 speaking frankly. acting without reserve. tk tk UE y
つや 態 shiny. glossy surface. slick ty t UA x
smooth surface. polished. noodle slurp
つる 音・態 sound. tr t UU x
knock or tap. things going well. equal
つん 音・態 things. unsociable. sharp smell tN t U y
てか 態 shiny. gleaming. tk tk EA n
でか 態 boast. talk big. brag. showy. dk tk EA n
てく 態 walking a distance at a steady pace tk tk EU x

26
 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

でこ 態 piled up big. unmatching fashion. dk tk EO x

でぶ 態 fat db th EU x
てら 態 shiny. glistening. tr t EA x
でれ 態 loose attitude or appearance. dr t EE x
どう 音・態 a huge amount of water splashing. dv t OU x
lots of foot traffic. commotion. coming and
どか 音・態 going in a hurry dk tk OA x
どき 音・態 heart beating fast dk tk OI x
pouring. drizzling. walking slowly but
とく 音 steadily. tk tk OU s
どく 音 pouring. drizzling. dk tk OU s
とこ 態 toddle. small steps. tk tk OO x
heavy things falling. a crowd swarming in
どさ 音・態 and making noise. ts ts OA x
どし 音・態 plop. something big existing, falling. d sh ts OI x
どしゃ 音 water splashing and hitting a flat surface. d sh ts OA x
big things falling or bumping into each
どす 音 other ds ts OU x
big things falling or bumping into each
どすん 音 other dsN ts OU x
stomping feet. objects falling in disorder,
どた 音 chaos. dt tt OA x
とぼ 態 walking wearily. trudging. tb th OO x
どや 音・態 noisy and crowded. dy t OA x
melty. sticky. loose and weak. dozing.
とろ 態 simmering. oily. tr t OO y
どろ 音・態 covered in mud. sticky. mixed emotions. dr t OO y
どん 音・態 beating a drum. proceeding steadily. dN t O y
doing something through collusion or
なあ 態 compromise nv AA x
なが 態 long. drawn out. nk g AA x
なよ 態 delicate. weak. ny AO x
にこ 態 smiling nk k IO x
moist. sticky. laughing without using your
にた 態 voice. nt t IA x
にちゃ 音・態 sticky. n ch t IA x
smiling in a faintly. grinning. chewing with
にや 態 your mouth closed. ny IA x
にゅる 態 slither. ny r UU x
long, skinny things (buildings, etc.) shooting
にょき 態 up one after another. ny k k OI x
にょろ 態 long and thin. wriggling. slithering ny r OO x
slimy and slippery. carefree. warm and
ぬく 態 snug, nk k EU x
ぬけ 態 shameless. dimwitted. deceitful. nk k UE x

27
 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

ぬめ 態 slimy. slick. soft. nm UE x

ぬら 態 sticky. slow progress. nr UA x
ぬる 態 slimy. slippery. nr UU x
ねち 態 sticky. tenacious. persistent. n ch t EI x
ねと 態 soft and sticky. sluggish movements nt t EO x
ねば 態 sticky. nb h EA x
のう 態 carefree. calling someone "moshimoshi" nv OU x
shameless. casual. appearing nonchalantly
のこ 態 out of place. nk k OO x
のそ 態 moving slowly. clumsily. ns s OO x
のたり 態 slow movements. gentle swells. ntr t OAI x
walking heavily. lumbering. big and
のっし 態 spacious. n x sh s OI x
のび 態 carefree. procrastinate. stretch. nb h OI x
のろ 態 moving slowly. sluggishly. nr OO x
はあ 音・態 to worry. gasp. pant. hv h AA n
disappearing. saying a word you don't
ぱあ 態 understand. pv h AA n
ぱか 音・態 horse trotting. mouth or eyes open wide. pk h AA x
はき 態 behaving or speaking clearly. lucid. hk hk AI y
ぱき 態 crackling. snapping pk hk AI y
ぱく 態 opening and closing mouth many times. pk hk AU n
ばさ 音・態 dry things rubbing. bs hs AA y
ぱさ 音・態 dried out. refreshing. ps hs AA y
ばしゃ 音 splashing. camera shutter sound. b sh hs AA s
ぱしゃ 音 splashing. camera shutter sound. p sh hs AA s
はた 音 flutter. flap. bumping. high speed action. ht ht AA s
ばた 音・態 flapping or fluttering bt ht AA s
ぱた 音 flap. pitter patter. pt ht AA s
hands clapping sound. popcorn. fire
ぱち 音・態 crackling/burning p ch ht AI x
ばちゃ 音 splish splash b ch ht AA s
ぱちゃ 音 splashing. p ch ht AA s
"ok, ok". "got it" mistrust and be
はっ 音・声 doubtful/careful. hx h A x
ぱっ 態 in puffs/whiffs/flashes px h A x
ぱっか 音 horse trotting. mouth or eyes open wide. pxk hk AA x
ばった 態 knocking down or cleaning up, one by one. bxt ht AA x
はら 態 anxious about how things will turn out hr h AA y
ばら 音・態 scattered. in disorder. br h AA y
tearing, chewing, or crunching. hard or stiff.
ばり 音・態 energetic action br h AI y
crunchy. fire crackling. ripping or tearing
ぱり 音・態 cloth. frozen solid pr h AI y

28
 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

ばん 音・態 bang. bam. clank. bN h A s

ぱん 音・態 bang. slap. clap. break. pN h A s
ひい 声・態 baby crying. hv h II s
声・
びい 音・態 a child crying. a whistle. bv h II s
声・ whistle or chirp. poor. starving. have
ぴい 音・態 diarrhea pv h II s
ぴか 態 sparkling. glittering. pk hk IA x
ひく 態 twitch. hk hk IU x
びく 態 trembling. shaking gently. afraid. bk hk IU x
びし 音・態 branches snapping. gunshots b sh hs II y
ぴし 音・態 crack a whip. snap. slap. p sh hs II y
びしゃ 音・態 splashing b sh hs IA y
ぴしゃ 音・態 a light slap/hit. splash. p sh hs IA y
びしょ 音・態 wet. soaked. submersed in liquid. b sh hs IO x
whispering. speaking quietly so others can't
ひそ 声・態 hear hs hs IO x
lapping water. just enough. submerse.
ひた 音・態 smoothly/promptly. ht ht IA s
びた 音・態 light slap. bt ht IA s
ぴた 音・態 walking quickly. splashing pt ht IA s
ぴち 音・態 healthy. energetic. lively. p ch ht II x
びちゃ 音・態 splish splash b ch ht IA y
ぴちゃ 音・態 slurp. splash. clap. p ch ht IA y
ひや 態 terrified. scared half to death hy h IA x
ひゅう 音・態 strong wind sound. hy v h UU y
びゅう 音・態 wind rushing. by v h U y
ぴゅう 音・態 whistling, wheezing sound py v h UU y
ひゅっ 音・態 shoot/squirt water hy x h U y
びゅっ 音・態 something flying out intermittently by x h U y
ぴゅっ 音・態 squirt. py x h U y
ひゅる 音・態 (bullets) whistling through the air. whoosh hy r h UU x
ひゅん 音・態 moving quickly, whizzing passed. hy N h U y
something moving fast. whizzing through
びゅん 音・態 the air. by N h U y
ぴゅん 音・態 whoosh/swoosh. py N h U y
ひょい 態 casually. going here and there. hy v h OI y
ぴょい 態 lightly bouncing, moving. py v h OI y
ひょこ 態 bouncing. nodding. walking with joy. hy k hk OO y
bounce/hop. lower your head. appear one
ぴょこ 態 after another py k hk OO y
bounce/hop. lower your head. appear one
ぴょこん 態 after another py k N hk OO x
ひょろ 態 lanky. shaking. long and frail. unsure hy r h OO x

29
 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

footing.
ぴょん 態 hopping. skipping, jumping py N h O x
ひら 態 fluttering petals, paper, cloth. hr h IA y
びら 態 fluttering. br h IA y
ぴら 態 fluttering cloth or paper. burning fire pr h IA y
ひり 態 stinging pain. spicy. hr h II y
tearing. ripping. rattling from shock. electric
びり 音・態 shock. br h II y
tingle. sting. spicy. ripping cloth/paper. light
ぴり 音・態 shaking. excited. pr h II y
(glass) cracking. pull string or cloth tight.
びん 音・態 anxious. bN h I y
ぴん 音・態 lively. conveying a strong message. pN h I y
ふう 音・態 blowing on something. panting. fv h UU s
ぶう 音・態 complaining. unsatisfied. bv h UU s
ぷう 音・態 steam or smoke. blowing. pv h UU s
ふか 態 soft, elastic. fk hk UA n
hard to hear speech when air leaks out
ふが 声・態 nose and mouth. sniffing. fg hk UA n
ぶか 音・態 hollow bk hk UA y
puffing a cigar. something light floating in
ぷか 態 water pk hk UA y
ぶく 音・態 fat. flabby. bubbling sound. bk hk UU y
ぷく 音・態 foamy. cute and fat. pk hk UU y
ふさ 態 flowing (hair). in tufts. fs hs UA x
ぶす 態 piercing something soft and thick. smolder. bs hs UU y
smolder and burn. poking something soft.
ぷす 態 chewing something hard. ps hs UU y
ふっ 音・態 snicker. huff and puff. fx h U x
ふつ 音・態 simmer. bubble. flow out. snip/cut. ft ht UU s
muttering. complaining. small pieces.
ぶつ 音・態 steaming. lots of holes. bt ht UU y
bumpy. pimply. bubbly. grainy. many little
ぷつ 音・態 holes. cut up. pt ht UU y
ふにゃ 態 soft. limp. mumbling with food in mouth. f ny h UA x
ぶよ 態 plump, fat. soft. by h UO x
unstable. shaking. weak. wander.
ふら 態 undecided. fr h UA y
heavy object dangling. walking without
ぶら 態 purpose. drifting. br h UA y
upset. grouchy. something taught and
ぶり 態 elastic jiggling. br h UI y
ぷり 態 angry. elastic. pr h UI y
ぷりん 態 bounce. jiggle firmly. prN h UI x
ぶる 音・態 shaking. trembling. br h UU y

30
 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

ぷる 音・態 soft. jiggly. pr h UU y

ぶるん 音・態 rotating. sound of a motor. brN h UU s
ぷるん 音・態 jelly-like. jiggling. prN h UU s
ふわ 態 soft, light fluffy. fw h UA n
ぶわ 態 dry. shriveled. bw h UA n
ふん 音 sniffing. "uh-huh" fN h U n
ぶん 音・態 a motor turning. wings flapping. bN h U n
ぷん 態 angry. a strong smell hanging over a place. pN h U n
ぺか 音・態 thin and easy to bend/warp pk hk EA x
hungry. bowing humbly repeatedly. thin
ぺこ 音・態 sheet being bent. pk hk EO x
べしゃ 音・態 plop. something wet hitting something. b sh hs EA y
about to cry. plop. something wet hitting
ぺしゃ 音・態 something. p sh hs EA y
へた 態 too weak to stand. bendy. ht ht EA n
べた 態 sticky. bt ht EA y
stamping. clapping. pasting or gluing.
ぺた 音・態 walking barefoot pt ht EA y
べちゃ 態 soggy. watery. b ch ht EA y
talking energetically. splash. walking
ぺちゃ 音・態 sluggishly p ch ht EA y
へっ 声 laugh. chuckle. hx h E x
ぺっ 音 spitting saliva or phlegm. px h E x
べったん 音 hitting something sticky. bxtN ht EA s
flatten. crush. sound of hitting and sticking
ぺったん 音 to something pxtN ht EA s
へと 態 exhausted. tired and without strength. ht ht EO n
べと 態 sticky bt ht EO n
へな 態 curving or bending. weak. loss of strength. hn h EA x
へら 態 laughing. frivolous or ambiguous. hr h EA y
べら 態 wagging one's tongue. speaking endlessly. br h EA y
chattering. fluent. leafing through a book.
ぺら 態 thin cloth or boards. pr h EA y
べり 音 ripping br h EI s
ぺり 音 tearing/ripping cloth/paper. pr h EI s
へろ 態 weak. without influence. hr h EO y
べろ 態 sticking tongue out. drunk. br h EO y
ぺろ 態 licking. pr h EO y
giddy up. drive a mule, ox, horse. invite
ほい 態 someone near casually. hv h OI n
ぽい 態 discard. toss. throw away pv h OI n
ほか 態 warm, delicious-looking food hk hk OA y
ぽか 態 feeling warm. thumping. pk hk OA y
ぼき 音 thin, hard, dry object snapping, crunching bk hk OI s

31
 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

snapping, breaking or cutting. using

ぽき 音 abbreviated speech. pk hk OI s
can't hide your joy. warm and soft.
ほく 態 stroll/walk. hk hk OU x
ぼこ 音・態 bubbling, frothing. bk hk OO y
banging on hollow thing. foaming or
ぽこ 音・態 bubbling. slow footsteps. pk hk OO y
ぼさ 態 unkempt hair, broom, brush. bs hs OA x
ぼた 音・態 dripping. dropping. bt ht OA s
ぽた 音・態 dripping water. pt ht OA s
ぼち 態 speckled. spotted. b ch ht OI y
ぽち 態 speckled. spotted. p ch ht OI y
ぼちゃ 音・態 splish splashing about. b ch ht OA y
plump and fat. water droplets hitting
ぽちゃ 音・態 something p ch ht OA y
dripping. dropping. bubbling. things
ぼつ 音・態 popping up. bt ht OU y
speckled. starting to rain. little by little
ぽつ 音・態 progress. pt ht OU y
ぽつん 音・態 little by little. isolated and alone. separated ptN ht OU x
ぼて 態 fatty. meaty. brawny. bt ht OE x
ぼど 音・態 sound of rain/water droplets, etc. falling bd ht OO y
ぽと 音・態 rain/sweat trickling down in thick drops. pt ht OO y
ほや 態 new or fresh. hy h OA n
ぼや 態 distracted not paying attention by h OA n
ぼり 態 crunchy br h OI y
ぽり 態 munching. crunching. pr h OI y
quietly falling (leaves, tears). go as a group.
ほろ 態 object breaks apart. hr h OO y
badly damaged. worn out. falling grains.
ぼろ 態 exposing lies. br h OO y
small grains or powder spilling. dry and
ぽろ 態 flaking/cracking. br h OO y
ぼん 音・態 banging a drum. a small rip or explosion. bN h O y
slapping or hitting. using up or throwing
ぽん 音・態 away, one after another. pN h O y
まご 態 confused. at a loss what to do. mg k AO x
まじ 態 staring. long, hard look. mj s AI x
まだ 態 much more. not yet. md t AA x
まち 態 varied. diverse. m ch t AI x
みえ 態 obvious. transparent. mv IE x
みし 音・態 creek. groan under stress. m sh s II x
むか 態 feeling sick. queasy. surge of anger. mk k UA x
(smoke, bubbles, clouds) rising up.
むく 態 suddenly get an idea. soft mk k UU x

32
 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

むし 態 hot and humid. upset and complaining. m sh s UI x

むしゃ 音・態 munch. crunch. messy hair. m sh s UA x
むず 態 itchy. ticklish. impatient. mz s UU x
むち 態 plump. thick. fat. squeak. m ch t UI x
muttering something meaningless. sleep
むにゃ 態 talking. m ny UA x
irresistibly. suddenly. to be sexually
むら 態 aroused. mr UA x
stuffy or crowded. sultry. nauseous. group
むん 態 of loving women mN U x
めき 程度 progressing rapidly, visibly. mk k EI x
uncontrolled weeping. effeminate man
めそ 態 crying. ms s EO x
めた 態 beyond repair. mt t EA x
態・程
めちゃ 度 totally. completely. messy. disorderly. m ch t EA x
めら 態 on fire. aflame. mr EA x
めり 音・態 on fire. aflame. mr EI x
madly in love. falling down drunk.
めろ 態 cowardly. paint peeling off mr EO x
soft. fat. (smoke, bubbles, clouds)
もく 態 gather/amass. mk k OU n
もぐ 態 mumble. mg k OU n
もこ 態 to bunch up. soft. lumpy. mk k OO n
mumble. to not open one's mouth when
もご 態 speaking. mg k OO n
もじ 態 behaving nervously or bashfully. hesitant. mj s OI x
もしゃ 態 shaggy. scraggly. m sh s OA y
もじゃ 態 shaggy. unkempt. messy. mj s OA y
もそ 態 insects circling about. stirring. squirming. ms s OO x
もた 態 clumsy. slow and inefficient. mt t OA x
hazy. misty. gloomy. sad. to grow a patch of
もや 態 hair. feeling down. my OA x
もり 態 powerful rise. swell. full of zest. gusto. mr OI x
worrying for a while but unable to find a
もん 態 solution. mN O x
やす 態 calmly. peaceful. easy. ys s AU x
ゆう moist. confident behavior. calm. yv UU x
ゆさ 態 something large swaying ys s UA x
ゆら 態 slow swaying. rolling. yr UA x
ゆる loose. slow. leisurely. soft yr UU x
よた 態 unsteady. tottering. yt t OA x
よち 態 tottering. taking baby steps. t ch t OI x
よぼ 態 old and weak. unsteady. yb h OO x

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 Patterns of Phonosemantics in the Japanese Sound Symbolic System

よれ 態 worn out. shabby. yr OE x

よろ 態 unsteady. unstable. tottering. yr OO x
bell ringing. oil boiling in a pot. voice
りん 音 echoing/reverb. rN I x
unintelligible speech. baby playing with its
れろ 態 tongue, making noise rr EO x
ろう ？ clear, resonant voice. rv OE x
わあ 声・態 crying. making a lot of noise. wv AA x
わい 声・態 a crowd behaving boisterously wv AI x
わく 態 thrilled. busting with excitement. wk k AU x
わさ 態 wander aimlessly. excited. ws s AA n
わざ 態 take the trouble. bothered to do v wz s AA n
わな 態 trembling with fear, cold, excitement. wn AA x
声・
音・程
わん 度 a dog or its bark. wN A x

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