Japanese onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia in Japanese are usually written in katakana. Vowel elongation is indicated with the em-dash ('—') instead of by glyph repetition or macron.

For this writeup, I'll use the Hepburn romanization except that I'll use a double dash ('--') to indicate vowel elongation. See E2 Japanese Conventions for further information on the usage of Japanese in E2 writeups.

Sounds that are not repeated below are usually not repeated in actual use. Sounds that are repeated below can be done so as many times as necessary in actual use, but usually it's just twice.

I've listed many of the sounds below with the lower/higher pitch distinction. In reality, the distinction is more complicated. Usually the "higher pitch" ("lower pitch") sounds also have the connotation of being softer (louder) or more feminine (masculine) as well.

Example of usage of Japanese onomatopoeia:

Gozen rokuji. Niwa ha shi--n to shite ita. Totsuzen, tori ga koe wo ageta. "kokekokko--." Gogo rokuji. Sumisu ikka wa te--buru wo kakonde yorugohan wo tabete ita. Musume tachi wa pecha kucha shabette ita. Sumisu san ha musha musha to salada wo tabete ita. "Kon kon kon" Dareka ga kita you da.

and the translation (sentence for sentence match)

Six A.M. The yard was quiet. Suddenly, the rooster raised his voice: "cock-a-doodle-doo!" Six P.M. The Smith family was eating dinner around the table. The daughers were talking incessantly. Mr. Smith was munching on his salad. "knock knock knock" Someone's seems to be at the door.

I've listed some example onomatopoeia below. This is by no means a complete list.

Animal Sounds

• "nya-- nya--" - cat
• "wan wan" - dog
• "kero kero" - frog
• "hihi--n" - horse
• "mo-- mo--" - cow
• "mi--n mi--n" - cicada
• "piyo piyo" - chick
• "kokekokko--" - cock-a-doodle-doo!
• "me-- me--" - sheep
• "ka-- ka--" - crow
• "chu-- chu--" - mouse
• "gao--" - lion

Human Motions

• "pero pero" (higher pitch) or "bero-bero" (lower pitch) - licking
• "kucha kucha" (louder, higher pitch) or "musha-musha" (softer, lower pitch) - chewing
• "gero--" or "ge--" - throwing up
• "goku" - swallowing
• "giri giri" - grinding one's teeth
• "pecha kucha" - talking incessantly
• "ha ha" or "he he" - laughter (intonation same as in English)
• "fu fu fu" - polite female laughter
• "keta keta" (higher pitch) or "geta-geta" (lower pitch) - impolite laughter
• "kya--" (higher pitch) or "gya--" (lower pitch) - screaming
• "wa--n wa--n" or "e--n e--n" - crying (loud)
• "gusu" - crying (soft)
• "koso-koso" - sneaking around
• "su-- su--" - breathing softly as you sleep
• "ga-- ga--" - snoring
• "kushun" (softer) or "hakushun" (louder) - sneezing
• "pori pori" (higher pitch) or "bori bori" (lower pitch) - scratching (a person)
• "hena hena" - when one is exhausted and cannot stand

Liquids

• "pito pito" - a faucet slowly leaking droplets of water
• "ja--" - sound of a thin stream of water hitting the water surface below. Ex. running faucet
• "sha--" (higher pitch) or "za--" (lower pitch) - sound of a large amount of water flowing - Ex. heavy rain ("za--") or a shower ("sha--")
• "pasha pasha" (higher pitch) or "basha basha" (lower pitch) - splashing in water
• "toro toro" (higher pitch) or "doro doro" (lower pitch) - a stream of liquid flowing or pouring.

Collision between hard objects

• "kacha kacha" (higher pitch) or "gacha gacha" (lower pitch) - Hard noises made by a collection of small objects - banging into each other. Usually refers to a situation in which a person is responsible for the collisions.
• "kata kata" (higher pitch) or "gata gata" (lower pitch) - Hard noises made by a single larger object - like a house or a table - when they bang into something else (table and floor) or when parts of said object bang into each other (house, car). "kata kata" is the sound made when you type at the keyboard.
• "kan kan" (higher pitch) or "gan gan" (lower pitch) - a sound of something (usually made of metal) hitting something else and possibly making a dent, but not shattering - ex. the sound made when you hit your car hood with a bat.
• "kon kon" (higher pitch) or "gon gon" (lower pitch) - a sound of something (usually not made of metal) hitting something else and possibly making a dent, but not shattering - ex. knocking on a wooden door.
• "ka--n ka--n" (higher pitch) "go--n go--n" (lower pitch) - church or temple bell ringing.
• "gassha--n" - sound of something shattering upon collision - ex. a piece of glass.
• "kari kari" (higher pitch) or "gari gari" (lower pitch) - annoying sound made by something scraping against something else - ex. a rock against concrete
• "kasa kasa" (higher pitch) or "gasa gasa" - soft sound made by dry objects rubbing against each other - ex. pieces of paper ("kasa kasa")
• "pan" (higher pitch) or "ban" (lower pitch) - something exploding. Example: a balloon ("pan"), a gun ("ban")
• "poki" (higher pitch) or "boki" (lower pitch) - breaking something long, hard and thin - ex. a pair of chopsticks, bones
• "koro koro" (higher pitch) or "goro goro" (lower pitch) - rolling

Collision between soft objects and hard objects

• "peta peta" - Soft noise made when an adhesive solid material - stickers, stamps - sticks to something else.
• "pecha" (higher pitch) "becha" (lower pitch) - Soft noise made when semi-solid material - ex. apple sauce - hits a solid surface.
• "gucha" - When you smash something - ex. a bug - and the soft material inside comes out. The object may or may not have a hard outer surface.
• "gusa" - hard elongated shape (e.g. an arrow) sticking into a soft object (e.g. a person).

Soft objects moving

• "kunya kunya" - Soft sound made when a flexible shape - ex. a large thin sheet of plastic - bends in a wavy manner.
• "puyo puyo" - Sound used to describe a soft mound with lots of surface tension shakes - ex. a mound of jello.

Weather

• "gara gara" - sound of distant thunder
• "gassha--n" - thunder strikes!

Around the home

• "koto koto" (higher pitch) or "goto goto" (lower pitch) - a pot boiling
• "ri--n ri--n" - a phone ringing
• "chi--n" - microwave's done!

Miscellaneous

• "shi--n" - the sound of silence

Preface

Japanese words have been romanized throughout this writeup.

In Japanese, phonoaesthetics are almost always written in hiragana. Among other things, this indicates their Japanese linguistic roots. They have been found as early as the Manyoushuu (万葉集) and early Heian women's literature. (Kaiser)

To quote Kaiser:

"In modern Japanese, phonoaesthetic Japanese (PJ) expressions are common in the informal register of speech; they are much less used in formal language. In writing, they are widely found in literature, but less in essays and even less in specialist articles, and are virtually absent from law codes and legal documents. In newspapers, they are infrequent in the politics and economics sections, but appear more often in the social pages. PJ items stike a chord with people's feelings, and are therefore widely used in the language of advertisements, but are also ubiquitous in comics, including many newly invented ones (for instance, to imitate the laughter or sound of anger of an extraterrestrial being) to supplement the pictures."
Kaiser, pp. 37

Phonoaesthetic Japanese

For the language learner, among the most confusing of phonoaesthetic Japanese is the use of the phenomime, a type of onomatopoeia which does not specifically refer to any audible or otherwise perceptible sound. How can one understand the meaning of a sound one cannot truly hear? And how can that inaudible sound be represented by language?

The phenomime is often used as an adverb in Japanese, sometimes using the special adverbial marker to (と) as a suffix. This form of adverbial use is unfamiliar to the native speaker of English, because English uses a myriad of verbs, many themselves onomatopoeiac. Japanese, on the other hand, tends to use one common, base verb and an assortment of phenomimes as adverbs.

Consider different kinds of the English verb walk below. (Koujien)

Kinds of walk

   Japanese      Japanese          English
  Phenomime        Verb             Verb                 

tobotobo         aruku          trudge		  
chokochoko       aruku          trot		  
noronoro         aruku          inch (along)
yoroyoro         aruku          stagger, stumble, shamble
furafura         aruku          shamble, teeter
burabura         aruku          stroll, loiter
zorozoro         aruku          swarm (in/out), cluster

In his textbook, Kaiser (2001) describes another type of phonoaesthetic, the psychomime. Although the difference between the above phenomime is fuzzy, and it is often considered to be a sub-type, psychomimes are used to express states of mind or emotion, while phenomimes are used to express an action, movement, or state. The simplest type of phonoaesthetic, the phonomime, mimics a natural sound. Most of the examples given by jprockwell above are phonomimes.

Here are examples of psychomimes being used as Japanese adverbs to express facial or body expressions, as well as emotional states and feelings. They often take the standard Japanese verb suru (する), do, and I have attempted to provide suitable verbs for their usage. Note that while the psychomimes are all linguistically adverbs, they often translate into different forms in English.

Facial / Body Expressions and Reactions

   Japanese      Japanese            English
  Psychomime       Verb             Expression                         

angurito           akeru         be open-mouthed with amazement
                                 eg. kuchi wo angurito akeru
bonyari            suru          be vacant, dull, sleepy
boutto             suru          be absent-midned
buzutto            suru          be sulky
deredere           suru          be spoony
doronto            suru          be dull (esp. eyes)
fufunto            suru          be huffy, turn up one's nose
gessori            suru          be disenheartened
gyotto             suru          be startled, shocked
gyorogyoro         saseru        roll one's eyes, glare
herahera           warau         gloat, smirk
jirijiro           miru          stare
kerotto            suru          behave as if nothing had happened,
                                 forget one's grievance
magomago           suru          get confused, be at a loss
majimaji(to)       suru          gaze at
muttsuri           shita         look sullen
                                 eg. muttsuri shita kao = a sullen face
nikoniko           warau         smile, beam
nyanya             warau         smirk, look pleased
nitanita           warau         grin
ninmari            warau         grin from ear to ear, look satisfied
pokanto            shita         blank-looking, vacant-looking
poutto             shita         depressed, disappointed, sad-looking

Emotional States or Feelings

   Japanese      Japanese            English
  Psychomime       Verb             Expression            

akkerakanto        suru          be vacant, distracted
dokidoki           suru          be anxious
gakkari            suru          feel downcast, dejected
hiyahiya           suru          be frightened, scared
hotto              suru          feel relieved
iraira             suru          be irritated, aggravated
jirijiri           suru          be irritated, impatient
mutto              suru          be annoyed, be angry
ukiuki             suru          feel elated
uttori             suru          be fascinated, rapt
wakuwaku           suru          be excited

Another common usage of the psychomime is to express different types of pain. The verb "itamu" (to be painful) may also be used in place of "suru".

Types of Pain

   Japanese      Japanese          English
  Psychomime       Verb             Expression                  

chikichiku        suru            sting, prick
gangan            suru            pounding, splitting (headache)
hirihiri          suru            tingle
jiinto            suru            numbing pain
kirikiri          suru            stabbing pain
piripiri          suru            sharp, biting pain
shikushiku        suru            gripping pain
zukizuki          suru            throb, smart

Being able to "hear" these inaudible sounds is probably a sign of having mastered the Japanese language.

If nothing else, being able to understand the concept of the Sound of Silence is very zen.

Afterword

I suppose it bears mentioning that the Japanese word for onomatopoeia is giseigo, based on three characters which mean "imitate", "voice", and "word".

Sources:

Genius Japanese-English Dictionary. Tokyo, Japan. Taishukan.
Kaiser, Stefan. (2001) Japanese Language II. Tokyo, Japan. Council of Local Authorities for International Relations.
Koujien, 5th ed.