13 Sound symbolism
Korean is noted for its rich and vivid sound symbolism – the use of speech sounds to mimic the sounds of nature and to capture subtle impressions about appearance, texture, and other sensory experiences. It may not be enough to say Ṗ㔊㧊 ⌊⩺ 㞟㞮㠊 ‘My heart sank,’ when Ṗ㔊㧊 “㻶⩗” 䟞㠊 is so much more descriptive thanks to the way 㻶⩗ dramatically portrays a sinking feeling. Why say 䞮⬾㫛㧒 㤙⓪ 㠒Ὴ㧊㟒, when 䞮⬾㫛㧒 㕇⁖⻯⁖㧊㟒 better describes a face that is ‘all smiles’? And of course nothing captures the image of a child’s angelic smile better than ⁖⁖. The vivid and graphic image of these expressions can only be imagined and visualized; it is often difficult to adequately translate them into English.
13.1 How sound symbolism works Sound-symbolic expressions typically function either as adverbs or as verbal nouns (in combination with a noun suffix -㧊 or with special verbs such as -㧊┺, -䞮┺, -╖┺, and -ỆⰂ┺). • 㹢ṲṖ ⽊⁖⽊⁖ ⊩⓪┺.
The stew is bubbling.
• ₲㧊
car signal light
• 㔶䢎❇㧊 ₲㧎┺.
The traffic light is blinking.
• ₎㧊 ⹎⊢⹎⊢䞮┺.
The road is slippery.
䇛䞮⓪ ㏢ⰂṖ ⌂㠊㣪. • ⶎ㧊 㧦∎ ▲䅏╚┺/▲䅏ỆⰆ┺.
There was a thud. The door rattles repeatedly.
When one hears a sound-symbolic adverb, one can predict what type of verb is to follow. If you hear ⻢⟷, for instance, you know it’s the image of someone swiftly getting up or standing up, so it can only be followed by a verb such as 㧒㠊⋮┺. 䎛 describes how utterly empty something is, so the verb that follows must be ゚┺. 㚻㚻 is the sound/image created by something growing by leaps and bounds, so it is followed by verbs such as 㧦⧒┺, 䋂┺, or 㢂⧒Ṗ┺. It is therefore often unnecessary to end the sentence with a verb. When you hear ⣳, you know it’s the sound of something suddenly stopping or dropping. If a mom tells a crying baby ⣳!, the omitted verb is ⁎㼦 ‘stop.’ And if the news headline says 㩚ῃ₆㡾 ⣳ ‘the nation’s temperature ttuk,’ the missing verb can