JAPANESE ONOMATOPOEIC SEMANTIC STRUCTURES A NATURAL SEMANTIC METALANGUAGE APPROACH

Abstract

Onomatopoeia is a product of language and culture. Although almost all languages have an onomatopoeia, they are different in application. Japanese onomatopoeia is more like French onomatopoeia in that it not only imitates the sound that is heard, but also that which the senses do not hear. This research aims to describe the original meaning of Japanese onomatopoeic verbs into a simple one so that they are easily understood by the cross-language community. The method used is the technique of observing and recording data obtained from written media such as textbooks and websites. The findings obtained from this study are that several semantic structures show similarities and differences, namely the differences of intention and desire from state verbs, process verbs and action verbs.