Korean ideophones 의성어·의태어

uiseongeo, uitaeeo · from Korean

What are Korean ideophones?

Korean ideophones are sound-imitating words (uiseongeo) and shape or manner words (uitaeeo), often reduplicated and varied by vowel to shift nuance.

Korean has thousands of them, and changing bright to dark vowels or plain to tense consonants systematically alters size, weight or intensity. They are pervasive in conversation, webtoons and children's songs. They are a living remnant of Korean vowel harmony.

Examples

반짝반짝 banjjakbanjjak (twinkle twinkle); 멍멍 meongmeong (woof); 두근두근 dugeundugeun (heart pounding); 졸졸 joljol vs 줄줄 juljul (trickling vs streaming)

Kungfucius says: Korean can tell a trickle from a stream by changing one vowel. English needs two different words and a thesaurus.