The Grammar of Japanese Mimetics: Perspectives from structure, acquisition, and translation (Routledge Studies in East Asian Linguistics) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1138181900 ISBN 13: 9781138181908

Publisher: Routledge, 2016

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

Noriko IWASAKI, Department of Linguistics, SOAS University of London, United Kingdom

Peter SELLS, Department of Language and Linguistic Science, University of York, United Kingdom

Kimi AKITA, Department of Japanese Language and Culture, Nagoya University, Japan

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1138181900
• ISBN 13: 9781138181908
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 252
• Editor: Iwasaki Noriko, Sells Peter, Akita Kimi