Abstract
To investigate how mimetic words are related to conventional medical terms, types of diseases, and the severity of symptoms, 40 consecutive patients with dizziness symptoms were interviewed and asked to describe their dizziness. Mimetic words were recorded from each patient, while conventional medical terms used to describe their symptoms, clinical diagnosis, and subjective symptom severity were also noted. Thirty-five of the 40 patients spontaneously used mimetic words. Although no significant relationships were observed between mimetic words and disease groups, consistencies between the word “guru” and rotatory vertigo and between the word “huwa” and disequilibrium were suggested. The severity of the symptoms was correlated with the specific word that the patients use. Particularly, “guru” was never used by patients who rated their symptoms as mild. Overall, 130 of the 134 syllables that were collected had either an /a/ or an /u/ vowel sound, whereas an /e/ vowel sound never appeared. Sixty of the 71 first syllables contained one of the three consonants /g/, /h/, or /k/. In the severe-symptom group, the first consonant that appeared most frequently was /g/, while the second vowel was more often /u/ than /a/. Clinicians may need to be aware of the properties of sound symbolism, an essential linguistic method for Japanese-speaking patients to describe dizziness.
