Dictionary of Iconic Expressions in Japanese

Book excerpt: The lexicon of Japanese contains a large number of conventional mimetic words which vividly depict sounds, manners of action, states of mind etc. These words are notable for their distinctive syntactic properties, for the strikingly patterned way in which they exploit sound-symbolic correspondences, and for the copiousness of their use in conversation as well as in many written registers of Japanese. This dictionary is a comprehensive resource for linguists, language teachers, translators, and others who require detailed information about this important sector of the Japanese vocabulary. Examples created by the editors are accompanied by thousands of contextualized, referenced examples from published sources to illustrate the alternative meanings of each mimetic form. All examples appear in Japanese orthography, in romanization, and in English translation. Concise information is provided concerning the varieties of syntactic usage appropriate for each mimetic. An extensive English index facilitates comparison of English and Japanese vocabulary.