Onomatopoeia and Universality of Sound Symbolism:A Phonological Comparison between Animal Sounds in Korean and English

김우정 대한영어영문학회 2024 영어영문학연구 Vol.50 No.2

In contrast to the mainstream arbitrariness of sound-meaning relationships in modern linguistics, sound symbolism manifests a direct resemblance between sign and referent. Cross-linguistic observations have indicated that onomatopoeia, the direct representations of natural sounds in an iconic way, are spread worldwide and may provide a scaffolding mechanism for children in the early stages of language acquisition. Focusing on the universality and language-specific idiosyncrasy of sound symbolism in onomatopoeic forms, this study compares and contrasts the phonological features of animal sounds in Korean and English. A comparative analysis based on articulatory criteria is performed to describe the features of consonants and vowels in onomatopoeic words. The results suggest that even though the onomatopoeic animal sounds of Korean and English manifest themselves differently according to their phonotactics and phonological systems, these highly dissimilar languages with distinct phoneme inventories employ conventionalized forms that bear certain phonetic similarities. Both demonstrate similar patterns in the distributions of segments and share analogous representations for animal sounds to some extent. Along with cross-lingual phonological alikeness, sound symbolic correspondences between sound and size are observed in the animal sounds of both languages. Such findings support the universality of iconic links and sound symbolism in language. (Korea University)

A Survey of Sound Symbolism: Synesthetic Effects of Sound Symbolism on Perceptions of Korean Ideophones

Lee, Jeongyi 한국어학회 2022 한국어학 Vol.94 No.-

Ideophones, vivid iconic words with clear sound symbolism that explicate how a speaker perceives a situation with the senses, are abundant in the Korean lexicon. Drawing on a brief overview of Korean sound symbolism literature, this paper investigates the synesthetic effects of the acoustic qualities on native and non-native speakers' evaluations of Korean ideophones. Grounded in the empirical data from 54 respondents' judgements on semantic differential scales, this paper argues that ideophones with liquid consonant and dark vowels are perceived more favorable evaluations by all the respondents. Unlike native raters who tend to rely on the semantic information with sound effects of the ideophones in their judgements, for non-native respondents, the effects of acoustic features of ideophones identified by the phonation types of vowels and consonants are the cues in perceiving their connotative meanings without any references of denotative meanings. These results support the prevalent view of sound symbolism as the associations between sound and meaning and further suggest that sound symbolism may play a potential role in learning Korean ideophones for non-native speakers.

한국의 소리 커뮤니케이션

김성재(Seong-Jae Kim) 한국언론정보학회 2005 한국언론정보학보 Vol.31 No.-

이 연구는 우리민족이 인간세상의 뜻을 천신에 전달하고 문화적 감수성을 표현하는 징소리 커뮤니케이션 현상을 최한기의 ‘음악기학론’과 미드의 ‘상징적 상호작용주의’에 따라 분석하려는 시도다. 우리의 문학작품 속에 나타난 징소리는 기층민중들의 놀이판에서 발놀림에 따라 호흡을 조정함으로써 노동의 고통을 극복하는 신명의 기화와 인간 감성의 온갖 맺힘인 한의 기화가 상징화된 메시지를 전달해 왔다. 문순태의 『징소리』에 등장하는 징소리는 기가 통하지 못하는 실향민들의 기쁨, 분노, 욕심, 두려움 그리고 슬픔의 한을 풀어내는 기화의 메시지를 전한다. 조정래의 『이리랑』에 나타나는 징소리는 일제 하에 신음하는 농민들의 슬픈 한을 풀어주고, 식어버린 민족혼을 다시 일깨우는 기화의 메시지를 담아낸다. 유정자의 시집 『징소리에 실려올 꽃의 숨소리』에 나오는 징소리는 ‘심령의 간절한 울림’과 봄꽃의 숨소리로 기화되는 메시지로 작용한다. 결론적으로 우리의 징소리는 하늘을 향해 열린 공간에서 일어나는 소리 커뮤니케이션을 통해 인간에게 하늘과 함께 호흡하는 법을 일깨워줌으로써 신명과 한의 기화가 상징화된 메지지를 담아내는 숭고한 하늘의 소리라고 할 수 있다. This paper aims at dealing with the communication of Korean gong sound. It is based on 'music-spirit theory' of Han-Gi Choi and Mead's 'symbolic interactionism', and does this by interpreting the message of gong sound that is mentioned in Korean literature. The gong sound brings out the message of symbolizing evaporation of Korean people's joy and regrettable matters in the playing yard by regulating of breathing according to the steps. By the novel "Gong Sound" of Sun-Tae Moon Korean gong sound has a message of people's joy, anger, avarice, anxiety and sorrow. In Jeong-Rae jo 's novel "Arirang" the Korean Gong Sound includes a message of evaporation of people's regret and raises the national spirit during the Japanese imperialism. By Jeong-Ja Yoo's collection of poems, "The sound of flower breathing carried by gong sound", the Korean gong sound carries a message of a roar of spirit and breathing of the spring flower. In conclusion, the Korean gong sound is a sublime sound of sky which carries the message of symbolizing evaporation of people's joy and regrettable matters through the sound communication in the open space, and awakes us to a method of breathing with sky.

한국어 음성상징어의 자음 분포 특성

김선회 한국음운론학회 2019 음성·음운·형태론 연구 Vol.25 No.3

This paper takes a corpus-based approach to Korean sound-symbolic words, focusing on the relative frequencies of consonants across different groups of words. Through athe quantitative analysis of the data, it is shown that Korean sound-symbolic words exhibit athe skewed consonantal distribution. The characteristics of consonantal distribution in Korean sound-symbolic words are as follows. First, by and large, the relative frequencies of syllable-onset tensed obstruents in sound-symbolic words are higher than those in the other groups of words. Second, in sound-symbolic words, the frequencies of syllable-onset tensed obstruents are much higher than those of syllable-onset aspirated ones. Third, sound-symbolic words favor velars and the lateral /l/. Particularly, in the syllable-coda position the frequencies of /k, ŋ, l/ are much higher than those of the other consonants.

Исследование символических значений элементов звуковой организации романа А. Белого『Серебряный голубь』

카파루쉬끼나디아나이고레브나 한국노어노문학회 2018 노어노문학 Vol.30 No.1

This article is devoted to the study of the symbolic meanings of the sounds that form the basis of the structure of Andrey Bely's novel 『The Silver Dove』. The study reveals a variety of sound modifications and sound complexes, repeated throughout the narrative, they are grouped according to color and thematic characteristics. In the study reveals the mechanisms of sound-symbolic semantification and their role in creating certain associations of the reader. Based on analysis, it is proved that having a wide range of symbolic meanings and performing several semantic functions simultaneously, the sounds in the novel play a leading role in creating the primary structure of the work. It is shown that this sound symbolic basis becomes the starting point for the subsequent development, ‘spiritualization’, images and plot of the work, which fully corresponds to the theory of ‘god-creativity’ and ‘life-creation’ of A. Bely. Статья посвящена исследованию символических значений звуков, составляющих основу структуры романа Андрея Белого 『Серебряный голубь』. В исследовании выявляются различные звуковые модификации и звукокомплексы, повторяющиеся на протяжении всего повествования, осуществляется их группировка согласно цветовым и тематическим характеристикам. Выявляются механизмы звукосимвлической семантизации и их роль в создании у читателя определенных ассоциаций. На основе подробного анализа доказано, что, обладая широким спектром символических значений и выполняя несколько смысловых функций одновременно, звуки в романе играют ведущую роль в создании первичной структуры произведения. Показано, что данный звуковой символический базис становится отправной точкой для последующего развития, «одухотворения» образов и сюжета произведения, что вполне соответствует теории боготворчества и жизнетворчества А. Белого.

『시경(詩經)』 의성어 음성상징 연구

홍현지 ( Hong Hyun Ji ),이현진 ( Lee Hyun Jin ) 한국외국어대학교 중국연구소 2019 中國硏究 Vol.81 No.-

This paper analyzed sound symbolism in 42 onomatopoeia that appeared in 'shijing'. Firstly we summed up the annotation of previous scholars and reconstructed old chinese. Then, based on the annotation and sound reconstructed, analyzed sound symbolism. The results showed a partial but graphic relationship between the 'sound' represented by the onomatopoeia and the phonetic properties of a particular phoneme.Chinese is a phonetic alphabet that conveys sound and meaning together, and as Lim Dong-seok (1996) and Choi Young-ae (2007) have already pointed out, they are often involved in meaning even if they want to express sound purely. For this reason, it can be a difficult task to understand the tone of the onomatopoeia in old literary works, including 'shijing'. In addition to the existing literal or morphological studies, this paper has the meaning of introducing a new perspective of phonetic symbolization. Of course, some examples would not generalize the tone of a particular phoneme and we well recognize the study of sound symbolism is fundamentally convergent and has a tendency to discuss trends rather than conclusive conclusions. This being so we expected that various analysis of language corpus in subsequent studies will reveal the tendency more than the deterministic conclusion.

Исследование символических значений элементов звуковой организации романа А. Белого 『Серебряный голубь』

Капарушкина Д.И.(Kaparushkina D.I.) 한국노어노문학회 2018 노어노문학 Vol.30 No.1

This article is devoted to the study of the symbolic meanings of the sounds that form the basis of the structure of Andrey Bely"s novel 『The Silver Dove』. The study reveals a variety of sound modifications and sound complexes, repeated throughout the narrative, they are grouped according to color and thematic characteristics. In the study reveals the mechanisms of sound-symbolic semantification and their role in creating certain associations of the reader. Based on analysis, it is proved that having a wide range of symbolic meanings and performing several semantic functions simultaneously, the sounds in the novel play a leading role in creating the primary structure of the work. It is shown that this sound symbolic basis becomes the starting point for the subsequent development, ‘spiritualization’, images and plot of the work, which fully corresponds to the theory of ‘god-creativity’ and ‘life-creation’ of A. Bely.

가짜흉내말과 준흉내말 범주 설정에 대한 연구

박동근 한말연구학회 2018 한말연구 Vol.- No.48

This study is about establishing the category of 'pseudo-symbolic word' and 'quasi-symbolic word' to clarify the identity of Korean symbolic word category. The symbolic words in Korean language are generally seen as the a realization of sound symbolism. But there are some words clearly derived from verbs among the words that was regard as symbolic words. Other words are directly related to nouns. That is, the symbolic words in Korean language are distributed across a wide spectrum from pure symbolic words to general words-looking symbolic words. Therefore, due to the similarity of form, it is not uncommon to misclassify obvious general words as symbolic words. In this study, we set the principle of identifying pseudo-symbolic words and set up a 'quasi-symbolic word' as an intermediate category between pure symbolic words and pseudo-symbolic words. We can see more accurately the typical characteristics of pure symbolic words in the future by establishing the category of 'pseudo-symbolic word' and 'quasi-symbolic word'.

Commonality in Sound Branding: A Comparative Study of the Perception of Obstruents in Korean and English

Axel Altmann 세종대학교 언어연구소 2023 Journal of Universal Language Vol.24 No.1

Correspondingly to overexposure to advertising and oversaturation of sales markets, companies are required to explore ways to protrude. One way to enhance and differentiate oneself from competitors is sound branding. Part of sound branding refers to the sound-symbolic perception of certain linguistical features. This article examines the relationship between obstruents and a perceived sound-symbolic harshness. Based on a study done by Pathak et al. (2020), three separate research had been conducted. Firstly, twenty-one hypothetical brand names (HBNs) containing voiced obstruents (/b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, and /v/) and twenty-one HBNs containing voiceless obstruents (/p/, /t/, /k/, /s/, and /f/) had been shown to native Korean speakers in English. A second group was shown the same brand names but transliterated. Lastly, the same HBN in English had been presented to a control group (n = 20) consisting of native English speakers. It was shown that sound symbolism is not culturally agnostic, although universal tendencies have been found and significant differences in perception had been proven.

포켓몬 데이터를 통해 살펴본 한국어 음성-의미 대응 양상 연구

장하연 서강대학교 언어정보연구소 2020 언어와 정보 사회 Vol.41 No.-

This paper investigates biases of Korean sound-meaning associations, i.e., sound symbolisms, using Pokémon data. The statistical analysis confirms significant correlations between the properties of Pokémons and the following factors in the Korean names: the number of syllables, and the ratio of the number of positive vowels, tense consonants, round vowels and nasal coda consonants to the number of syllables. This study reaffirms the well-known Korean sound symbolic effects. The sound symbolism of the phonological strategies used in aegyo expressions (i.e., baby-talk register expressions) is also confirmed in the data from a virtual world created in a different culture. In addition, both counting cumulativity and gang-up cumulativity of the Korean sound symbolism are found in the current study.