3. MANDARIN DISYLLABIC AND TRISYLLABIC ONOMATOPOEIA
3.1 Mandarin Disyllabic Onomatopoeia
3.1.2 The description of reduplication data of Mandarin disyllabic
3.1.2.1 AA Mandarin onomatopoeia
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
CHAPTER 3
MANDARIN DISYLLABIC AND TRISYLLABIC ONOMATOPOEIA
3.1 Mandarin Disyllabic Onomatopoeia
3.1.1 Some background informationMandarin onomatopoeia can be separated into four categories— monosyllabic, disyllabic, trisyllabic and quadrisyllabic patterns. According to Li (2007: 114-115), the disyllabic ones are the largest group1. The reason for this disyllabic tendency is that the basic prosodic unit (i.e., foot) in Modern Chinese is formatted by two syllables (Feng 2005: 61). Wang (2008:124) and Duanmu (2000, 2007) also take the disyllable as the basic metrical unit in Modern Chinese. When the disyllable is the most unmarked choice in Mandarin lexicon, this preference is also found in peripheral lexicons such as onomatopoeia.
The rest of this chapter is organized as follows. Section 3.1.2 overviews Mandarin disyllabic onomatopoeia and manifests its phonological character. Section 3.1.3 will show the category information of Mandarin disyllabic onomatopoeia. Section 3.1.4 will propose an OT analysis of Mandarin disyllabic onomatopoeia with monosyllabic input. Then, Section 3.1.5 begins an analysis of how disyllabic inputs generate Mandarin disyllabic onomatopoeia. Finally, Section 3.1.6 gives a summary.
3.1.2 The description of reduplication data of Mandarin disyllabic onomatopoeia There are two major patterns in Mandarin disyllabic onomatopoeia— AA and AB styles.
3.1.2.1 AA Mandarin onomatopoeia
Half of disyllabic Mandarin onomatopoeia is AA patterns. Li (2007: 117) and Ma
1
In Li‘s investigation, disyllabic onomatopoeias comprise nearly 40% of all Mandarin onomatopoeia
while monosyllabic, trisyllabic and quadrisyllabic ones comprise under 20% each, respectively.
‧
(2002:244) both state that the AA pattern is the duplicating way Mandarin monosyllabic onomatopoeia to express the richer sound. AA pattern Mandarin onomatopoeia will state its general use on Google and its historical source in this table.
bo About 488,000 results, from Tang Dynasty (A.D
618-907).
sound of bubbles popping/knocking/pecking woods naboboshengjiuxiangduishuimianchuiqifachudeshengyi n。‗That sounf just like the water blowed on the surface‘
baba(叭叭)
About 929,000
results
ba About 661,000 results honk of automobiles
damalushang changtingdao labadebabasheng。
‗Sounds of honks are usually heard on the road‘
papa(啪啪)
About 5,000,000
results
pa About 2,210,000 results
sound of flapping
houmenchuanlai papadepaimensheng。
‗There is sound of knocking on the back door‘
pengpeng(
砰砰) About
3,900,000 results
peng About 1,850,000 results, from Western Jin
Dynasty (A.D 265-317).
bang
youtingdaopengpenghaojishengqiangsheng。
‗Several gun shots can be heard again‘
pupu(噗噗)
About 2,810,000
results
pu About 2,270,000 results, from Ming Dynasty
(AD 1368-1644)
sound of air going out
paiqiguan paiqishifachude pupusheng。
‗The sound of exhaust pipe‘
mimi(咪咪)
About 14,000,000
results
mi meow
xiaomaomimijiao。‗Little kitty meowing‘
miemie(咩 mie About 2,040,000 baa
‧
results xiaoyangmiemiedejiao。‗Lambs are baaing‘
miaomiao(
喵喵) About
7,320,000 results
miao About 1,730,000 results
meow
maomi duizhe jingzi miaomiaojiao。
‗Kitty meows at the mirror‘
moumou(
哞哞) About
515,000 results
mou About 129,000 results, from Tang Dynasty
(A.D 618-907.).
ding About 1,520,000 results, from Tang Dynasty
(A.D 618-907.).
sound of a little bell ringing
diancheqidongshi lingdangfachudedingdingsheng。
‗The sound of tram‘s bell‘
dongdong(
咚咚) About 5,490,000 results
dong About 1,550,000 results, fromYuan Dynasty
( A.D 1271-1368).
sound of knocking/drumming tingdaodongdongdegusheng。
‗The sounds of drumming are heard‘
dudu(嘟嘟)
About 8,680,000
results
du About 1,750,000 results,, fromYuan Dynasty
( A.D 1271-1368).
honk/ Sound of monotone
laidiandalingbuzhishichuantongdedudusheng。
‗The telephone back tone is more than the old monotone‘
dada(答答)
About 8,870,000
results
da About 11,200,000 results, fromYuan Dynasty
( A.D 1271-1368.)
sound of water dropping/ticking
tingdaodadadeluoyusheng。 ‗I heard the sound of rainning‘
dede(得得)
About 407,000
results
dede From Song dynasty ( A.D 960-1279.)
sound of clip-clop
tatingdaobeihouxiangqidededematisheng。
‗He heard the clip-clop sounds from his back‘
lingling(鈴 ling About 218,000 sound of a phone ringing
‧
results, from Han Dynasty
(206 BC-AD 195)
shoujikaishilinglingxiang。‗The cell phone start ringing‘
longlong(
隆隆) About
874,000 results
long About 12,300 results, from Han Dynasty
(206 BC-AD 195)
sound of thunder or very loud sound
xiatiandewuhouleishenglonglong，bujiuhoujiuhuixiayu。
‗There are sounds of thundering at the summer aftertoon and it will raining afterwards‘
langlang(琅 琅) About
286,000 results
langlang From Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 195)
sound of reading books/ metals or rocks crashing togetther
zaoshangdejiaoshichuanlailanglangdedushusheng。‗The sounds of studying come from classroom in the
morning‘
zhizhi(吱 吱) About
18,300,000
results
zhiAbout 2,150,000 results
sound of bird/squeak
xiaoniaozaishushangzhizhidejiao。‗A bird sounds on the tree‘
zhazha(喳 喳) About 6,120,000 results
zhazha FromJin Dynasty (A.D 1115– 1234)
xiaoniaozhaichuangwaizhazhadejiao。
‗The bird twittering out of the window‘
gugu(咕咕)
About 13,400,000
results
gu About 2,060,000 results, from Ming Dynasty
(AD 1368-1644)
sound of bird sounding/stomach rumbling duziedeshihouhuifachugugusheng。
‗When feeling hungry I will hear my stomach rumbling‘
guagua(呱 呱) About 7,170,000 results
gua About 330,000 results, from Han Dynasty
(206 BC-AD 195)
croak/sound of crying/ laughing qingwazaichitangliguaguajiao。
‗Frogs croaking in the pond‘
jiujiu(啾啾) jiu About 658,000 chirp
‧
results, from Han Dynasty
(206 BC-AD 195)
xiaoniaojiujiudejiaoshenghenqingcui。
‗Chirps from birds are very liightful‘
jianjian(濺 濺) About
52,600 results
jianjian From Nan Dynasty (AD 420-581)
sound of brook
jianjiandeshuishengtinglaihenqingliang。
‗The sounds of brook cooling people‘
koukou(叩 叩) About
1,490,000
results
kou About 1,730,000 results
sound of knocking
takoukoudeqiaomen，danwurenhuiying。 ‗He knocked on the door with the sound but nobody responsed‘
honghong(
轟轟)
About 1,510,000
results
hong About 4,870,000 results, from Song dynasty
( A.D 960-1279.)
sound of thunder/very loud sound paoshenghonghongdexiangqilaile。
‗There are sound of artillery occurs‘
huohuo (霍 霍) About 284,000 results
huohuo From Nan Dynasty (AD 420-581)
sound of sharp knives hurantingjianhuohuosheng，
yuanlaishiyourenzaimoudao。 ‗Suddenly I hear the sound of rubbing and there is someone sharpping his knife‘
chichi(嗤 嗤) About
715,000 results
chi About 398,000 results, from Qing Dynasty
( A.D 1644-1911.)
sound of tittering
tingjiantachichidexiaosheng。‗I heard his laughing‘
chanchan(
潺潺) About 8,280,000 results
chanchan From Wei
Dynasty (AD 220-265)
sound of brook
tazuozhelingtingxiaoxichanchandeliushuisheng。
‗He sit by brook and listen to the sound of water flowing‘
‧
shasha FromYuan Dynasty ( A.D 1271-1368.)
very low sound such as wind blowing leaves
fengchuiguolinzi，shuyefachuleshashasheng。‗A breeze blow over the woods and there are sound of leaves occur‘
many sounds occur at the same time
lengqifachudecaocaoshengjiaorenxinfan。
‗The sounds of air conditioning are annoying‘
congcong(
淙淙) About
264,000 results
congcong From Tang Dynasty (A.D 618-907.).
sound of water flowing
tazhuanxintingzhecongcongliushuisheng。
‗He listen to the sound of water flowing very carefully‘
sisi(嘶嘶)
About 411,000
results
si About 1,830,000 results, from Tang Dynasty
(A.D 618-907.).
neigh／sound of (air) leaking louqideqiqiufachulesisisheng。
‗The punctured ballon has the sound ofbleaking air‘
sese(瑟瑟)
About 608,000
results
sese From Wei Dynasty (AD 220-265)
sound of wind blowing
tingdaofengshengsese，zhidaoqiutianyijinglailin。
‗I heard the sound of wind and knew autum already came‘
sasa(颯颯)
About 279,000
results
sasa From Warring States Period (475 BC -
221 BC)
sound of blast
kuangfengzaishulinlisasazuoxiang。
‗The blast blow over the woods and had loud sound‘
susu(簌簌)
About 433,000
results
susu From Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-1644)
very low sound
shuyepiaodongfachuleqingweidesususheng。
‗Leaves floating in the wind and have very low sound‘
wengweng(
嗡嗡) About
weng About 87,200 results, from Qing Dynasty
buzz/ sound in very low tone
mifengpaichishihuifachuwengwengsheng。
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
The Mandarin disyllabic onomatopoeias follow a certain pattern of reduplication..
However, Mandarin disyllabic onomatopoeias can be separated into two different groups by their input structure, and it is the most special character can be found in AA Mandarin onomatopoeia. Some AA onomatopoeia derives from the monosyllabic input A and others have disyllabic sources. Monosyllabic and dyllabic input of AA Mandarin onomatopoeia which hold ancient example in this table will illustrate its evidence in the note part after this thesis.