A Comparative Study of Use of Japanese and Sinhala Onomatopoeia

Abstract

Onomatopoeia is defined as a word, which imitates the natural sounds of a thing. It creates a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description more expressive and interesting. Onomatopoeia is one of the words that represent the sound appearance and state of a thing. A language rich with Onomatopoeia is convenient and also facilitates to understand the transmission of the content to the native speakers. Japanese is a one of the language that rich with Onomatopoeia. It is a difficult area for Japanese learners, as onomatopoeia is used frequently in Japanese conversations. Japanese learners cannot ignore learning and using onomatopoeia. Therefore it is important to make learners aware that this is a vital area to master for a successful communication. It is important for Japanese learners to have a clear understanding about the Japanese Onomatopoeia. The purpose of this research is to investigate (the frequency) the usage of Onomatopoeia and the areas where Japanese people use Onomatopoeia in day to day life. Further it compares the situation of the Sinhala language, where the use of Onomatopoeia is lesser than Japanese. Maeda (2008) verify the need to teach Japanese onomatopoeia to L2 learners. Inose (2007) have identified a method that use to convert Japanese literary Onomatopoeia to Spanish and English. That centering of the Onomatopoeia coming out in Literary works. This paper demonstrates how the meanings Japanese Onomatopoeia used in Sinhala. There are different Onomatopoeia that gives the same meaning and also the different meanings of the same Onomatopoeia. Japanese Onomatopoeia is divided into several types. For a smooth communication in Japanese it is important to understand the onomatopoeia. Depending on the language each phenomenon, the expression method is different. Similarly even in the same sound meaning and the usage may be different.