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Particularities of onomatopoeic lexicon studies in modern Korean
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Okhrimenko Vitaliy Aleksandrovich, Kiev National Linguistic University, Postgraduate student, Department of Eastern Philology
E-mail: [email protected]
Particularities of onomatopoeic lexicon studies in modern Korean
Abstract: this article offers a study of onomatopoeic lexis in modern Korean. The author attempts to make a comprehensive analysis of existing studies of sound symbolism in the Korean language. Models of onomatopoeic words were analyzed, and types of words from each class provided.
Keywords: onomatopoeia, sound-imitating words, image-imitating words, Korean language.
The Korean language is extremely interesting from the viewpoint of studying its onomatopoeic lexis. In theoretical respect, this lexical layer draws attention due to existence of a number of features that place it into a separate lexical class; at the same time, it is far from being limited by words signifying imitation of sounds in extra-linguistic reality, also including lingual depiction of visual and other sensory perceptions, mechanical effects, dynamic conditions, psychological and other characteristics of the human being.
Modern Korean language study considers onomatopoeic lexis within the framework of the notion of sound-imitating words [6, 179]. The lexis of this type is exceptionally widely represented in the Korean language, and for the time being, it has not been subjected to a detailed study by the Korean language researchers.
It is fair to say that situation in modern Korean linguistics proves the lack of clearly defined criteria for separation of onomatopoeic lexicon. One of the vivid examples of that is the experts' inconsistency when selecting particular Korean onomatopoeias and including them to the register of onomatopoeia vocabularies.
Matters related to the nature and principles of onomatopoeic lexis functioning in the Korean language have been partially studied in works by Korean linguists [9; 7] and by foreign Korean language researchers [1; 4; 5; 6]. Occasionally, these matters were studied in the former Soviet Union as well [2; 3]. Problems related to the functioning of Korean onomatopoeias have been studied, along with other matters, in light of their role in communication of Koreans and participation in the formation of especially stable combinations at the lexical level.
Separate works were devoted to the study of Korean ono-matopes. These works deal with their pragmatic aspect and functioning [5], structural [1], phonetic and semantic particularities [6], and search of equivalents when translated in foreign languages [8].
Inside the integral category of onomatopoeic lexicon, the Korean language has two semantic groups: image-imitating words () that imitate the object's movement and appearance, and sound-imitating words ( ° ) that imitate sounds emitted by humans, animals, birds, etc. Both categories are represented in the Korean language exceptionally widely, but for the time being, have not been subjected to a detailed study even in the Korean language studies. Information available from certain linguists on this subject is somewhat patchy and cannot fully compensate the absence of a specialized study.
The difference between sound imitating and image-creating words in the Korean language is as follows: image-imitating words imitate the object's movement or appearance, such as, for example: i#0| ^
aa^' (literally: stars were shining in the night sky, where the image-imitating word ^W^W imitates the twinkle or shining of stars), or: 3 H|#H|
S s^' (literally: that man was drunk and walked wobbly, where H imitates and acoustically conveys the move-
ments of an unsteady walk of a drunk man). The other group of onomatopoeic lexis is composed of sound-imitating words that imitate sounds emitted by humans, animals, birds, objects of inanimate nature, etc. For example, §o0 □ Saa Mi^ (literally: brother
got sick and had a heavy, gruff cough all night long, where the sound imitating word conveys heavy, gruff cough).
Section 5. Philology and linguistics
Therefore, sound-imitating words are the words that imitate sound: sounds of animals, objects, natural phenomena, etc. In other words, this is a sound imitating lexis with the so-called acoustic denotation, for example: oo (mong mong) — bow-wow, ^^ (tteng tteng) — ding-dong, o^o (thang thang) — bang-bang.
Image-imitating words are the words that convey image, sound and type of action, i. e. sound-symbolic words with non-acoustic denotation. The following are the examples of these words: (ajang ajang) — to limp, o^ o^
(ungum ungum) — to crawl slowly.
With rare exceptions, image-imitating words may turn into sound imitating, because sound imitation is conditional. Image-creating words have distinctive acoustic structure and are prone to vowel harmony, alternation of sounds and duplication of word stems.
Both groups of onomatopoeic lexis have common and at the same time distinctive features. Both image-imitating and sound-imitating words express, but not name acoustic and motional images. The difference between them is that sound-imitating words convey sounds of living beings or natural phenomena, while image-imitating words give perception of movements and actions of these beings or phenomena.
A substantial part of sound imitating and image-creating words represent complex formations. However, the composition of complex sound-imitating and image-imitating words has its own specifics that reflect their particular morphological development. The unique structure of these words provides a significant reason for their classification into a separate lexical category. Information regarding the structure of ono-matopes in the Korean language appears to be quite contradictory, and therefore, in order to build our own concept, we have to take a look at the most general structural particularities of the Korean language's sound-imitating lexis.
Korean onomatopoeic system has a rich choice of instruments to vary the shades of a meaning in terms of the structure of onomatopoeias. In the Korean language, onomatopoeic words are created around the so-called base — the initial base to
which new formations — build-ups — are attached. The buildups may come in the form of either separate vowels/consonants or syllables. They are divided separately for sound imitating, verbal and adjective bases, and may vary as well.
Derivative suffixes are typical for the majority of Korean onomatopes that have more than one syllable. These onomatopoeias may include rhymed reduplications, paired combinations and special morphemic compounds that may convey an accelerated action. All other, smaller structural particularities of onomatopes are considered within the framework of general variation category. For example, it concerns the continuation of consonants that convey a more lasting action or phenomenon, e. g. o^ (kkang chung-kkang chung), (kkulkkok-kkulkkok), l^fflW mj. O^O^Of (cholssok-cholssok swaaa).
Variation of vowels in Korean onomatopes means not relation with other words but only nuances of meaning, which means that they have lexical, not syntactical nature.
In conclusion, I'd like to note that almost all Korean scholars researching onomatopes attach to this linguistic phenomenon and the corresponding term (or terms) symbolizing this phenomenon the same meaning as their European and Ukrainian colleagues, i. e. logical, phonetically motivated relation between the word's sound composition and acoustic feature of the corresponding denotation, conditional imitation of various sounds of nature using phonetic means of this particular language. However, thanks to the prevalence of the sound imitation phenomenon in contemporary Korean language and the richness and diversity of lexical units which are traditionally classified as onomatopoeic words, it is being considered and interpreted in Korean linguistics much wider and deeper than in European and Ukrainian counterparts.
The Korean language has various-type means of reproducing acoustic realities. They are part of Korean people's culture, stemming from phonetic, lexical and grammatical particularities of contemporary Korean language and being determined by associations between sounds and their reproduction in speech.
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