This is one area that sometimes dings me on tests. While I can generally figure out what is meant from context, I only know a handful offhand.
The question here is twofold:
- Is there a specific name for this category of words?
- Are there any references that specialize in this vocabulary?
Answer
There are actually two types of words here. One is [擬音語]{ぎ・おん・ご}
which are onomotopoeia: words representing sounds. Some examples of this are ワンワン
(dog barking), ガリガリ
(scratching, crunching - like ガリガリ君 popsicles), and ころころ
(sound of something rolling).
The other type is [擬態語]{ぎ・たい・ご}
which "depict non-auditory senses". Your examples fall into this category.
Note that both categories contain many other examples that are not repeated, such as じっと(見る)
(stare, look intently) or どしん
(fall and thud).
As for references, check out our resources post on meta.
No comments:
Post a Comment