Current State of Research on Sound Symbolism in Japanese

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to offer an overview of previous research on Japanese sound symbolism. Previous research on Japanese sound symbolism has focused on obstruent, resonant, and bilabial sounds with many using character names and spells of Japanese anime as data. Previous research has found that obstruent sounds is associated with negative images such as largeness, heaviness, strongness,villainousness, and dirtiness. In contrast, resonant and bilabial sounds evoke positive images such as babyishness and cuteness. This paper argues that while most research has investigated the sound symbolism of obstruent, resonant, and bilabial sounds, many other consonants remain unexplored. Further research is thus needed to examine the sound symbolism of these other consonants.