SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This study examines the extent to which English speakers with no prior experience of learning Japanese can infer the meanings of Japanese mimetic words of pain. In so doing, we uncover both cross-linguistically shared (possibly universal) and language-specific aspects of sound symbolism present in the Japanese mimetic words. We found that English speakers interpreted reduplicated words very similarly to Japanese speakers in many semantic dimensions (aching, bothering, continuous, affecting wide areas), suggesting the potentially universal effect of reduplication. In contrast, only Japanese speakers are consistently sensitive to voiced-voiceless consonant contrasts (associating words beginning with voiced consonants as more intense, aching, suppressing, and numbing pain). It is important to distinguish between Japanese language-specific sound symbolism and sound symbolism shared between Japanese and the learners’ first language when teaching Japanese as a second/foreign language.