The Grammar of Japanese Mimetics: Perspectives from Structure, Acquisition, and Translation

Mimetic words, also known as ‘sound symbolic words’, ‘ideophones’ or more popularly as ‘onomatopoeia’, constitutes an important subset of the Japanese lexicon, as well as the lexicons of other Asian languages and sub-Saharan African languages. Mimetics also plays a central role in Japanese grammar and features in early utterances in children’s language. 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 extensively studied Japanese mimetics and its availability to the international audience and also aids better understanding of sound symbolism in human language from a Japanese perspective. Through linguistic accounts of morpho-syntax, semantics, language development and translsation of mimetic words, linguists and students alike would find this book particularly useful.