✨💓 Where do 'Kirakira' and 'Dokidoki' come from? — The secrets of Japanese onomatopoeia | A mysterious mechanism unique to Japanese that depicts a soundless world with sound

'Kirakira' (sparkling) and 'Dokidoki' (heart-pounding).
We use them as a matter of course, but when you think about it, they are strange words.
Light makes no sound, and the pounding of a heart cannot be heard by others.

Even so, Japanese depicts a soundless world with sound.
Moreover, its vocabulary is richer than almost any other in the world.

Where do these onomatopoeias come from, how did they develop, and why has only Japanese nurtured them to this extent?
In this article, we will unravel their secrets from the perspectives of sound symbolism, history, culture, and manga that support Japanese mimetic words.

1. What are mimetic words? — A technique for depicting a soundless world with sound

Mimetic words are
words that symbolically express soundless states, emotions, and textures through sound.

• Fuwa-fuwa (light and soft)

• Shito-shito (quiet rain)

• Moya-moya (vague feelings)

• Kira-kira (reflection of light)

While English and French have onomatopoeia,
the systematization of mimetic words (words that depict soundless phenomena with sound) is a major feature of Japanese
.

2. Japanese sound symbolism — The deep structure where sound and meaning connect

What supports Japanese mimetic words is sound symbolism.
The sound itself carries the nuance of the meaning.

● Symbolism of consonants

• k: Sharp/Hard (kira, kotsu-kotsu)

• s: Light/Thin (sara-sara, su-tto)

• p: Bouncy/Small impact (pon, pyon)

• g: Heavy/Dull (goro-goro, gatan)

● Symbolism of vowels

• a: Large/Bright

• i: Small/Sharp

• u: heavy/dull

• o: round/thick

● The meaning of voicing (dakuten)

Voiceless sounds → Voiced sounds make the meaning heavier.

• Kirakira (sparkling) → Giragira (glaring)

• Sarasara (smooth) → Zarazara (rough)

● The meaning of the geminate consonant (tsu)

Momentariness, tension, and sharpness.

• Dokitto (startled)

• Satto (quickly)

The shape of the sound becomes the shape of the meaning.
This is what makes Japanese mimetic words intuitive and rich.

3. Historical development — A long evolution from ancient times to manga

● Ancient period (Man'yoshu)

Onomatopoeia already appeared, and the seeds of sound symbolism can be seen.

● Heian period

In 'The Tale of Genji' and 'The Pillow Book', mimetic words that depict emotions and scenes through sound increase.

● Edo period

Mimetic words exploded in rakugo, gesaku, and merchant culture.
They grew naturally in daily conversation.

● Modern era

Soseki, Akutagawa, and others refined them literarily, and
the classification of 'onomatopoeia/mimetic words' was established in national language education.

● Modern Era

And the decisive factor is manga culture.

4. Why manga caused an 'explosive development' of mimetic words

Manga was the greatest turning point in the history of mimetic words.

● ① Visualizing mimetic words

• Dokidoki (heart-pounding)

• Kirakira (sparkling)

• Gaan (shocked)

• Zoon (depressed)

Phenomena without sound began to reach readers as 'visible sound'.

● ② Creating a massive amount of new mimetic words

• Kyun (heart-tugging)

• Jiwaa (welling up)

• Niyari (grinning)

• Dosatsu (thud)

Manga artists freely created new words, and they became established as everyday language.

● ③ Spreading them overseas

Mimetic words were left as they were even in translated versions, and words like
doki-doki / kira-kira spread throughout the world.

Manga elevated mimetic words to become 'cultural icons of the Japanese language'.

5. Why did they not develop overseas?

It is not that Japanese is special, but rather that
the conditions for development did not align in other languages.

● Complex sound systems (English, French)

With many consonant clusters, sound symbolism is difficult to establish.

● Tones determine meaning (Chinese)

Tones take precedence over sound symbolism.

● Only Japanese has productive reduplication

Repetitive words like 'kirakira' (sparkling) and 'dokidoki' (heart-pounding) support vocabulary formation.

● Differences in literary culture

Japanese has a strong tradition of 'painting scenes with sound'.

● Writing systems

Hiragana and Katakana have encouraged the visualization of mimetic words.

6. Conclusion: Japanese mimetic words are a crystallization of culture and history

Japanese mimetic words are an extremely unique vocabulary system born from the overlapping of multiple elements:
sound symbolism, word formation, literature, colloquial culture, and manga
.

• Sounds carry meaning

• Forms depict emotions

• Characters visualize them

• Culture nurtures them

• Manga spreads them to the world

Mimetic words are
a presence that symbolizes the 'beauty of sound' and 'richness of sensibility' in the Japanese language.