|
The Institute for Japanese Studies will present a lecture by Shoko Hamano, George Washington University, on Tuesday, October 18 from 2:20 p.m. to 3:40 p.m. via Zoom (registration required). Prof. Hamano will present "From Pan ‘Bang’ to Kitto ‘Surely’: Mimetic Expressions in Japanese (and Korean)."
Abstract: Most intermediate Japanese students will learn some Japanese mimetic expressions such as bikkuri-suru ‘to be surprised’ and niko-niko suru ‘to smile’ as lively and interesting expressions. However, the systematicity of Japanese mimetics is hardly ever presented in language classes even though a considerable understanding of Japanese mimetics has accumulated and is available now. Decades ago, the perception of Japanese mimetics in linguistics was also like this. Mimetics were curious peripheral oddities in the minds of many linguists. In this lecture, I will describe how the perception has changed in linguistics and how systematic and worthy of serious study Japanese mimetics are. In this process, I will also briefly touch on the similarities between Japanese mimetics and Korean mimetics and their implications. Lastly, I will point out the need to teach Japanese mimetics as a system rather than as a collection of disparate vocabulary.
|
