Языки стран Дальнего Востока, Юго-Восточной Азии и Западной Африки

32 Языки Стран Дальнего Востока, Юго-Восточной Азии и Западной Африки | LESEWA-XIII on the koto . The e vowel gives verve that then is restrained by the initial t and the additional effect of the hikiiro , thus mellowing the effect of the initial tone of the melody. With thefinal n the tone starts sinking toward the end of the second beat. Standing on the firm foundation of the kuchishōga tradition in musicology established by Kikkawa (Kikkawa 1973) and Kawada (Kawada 1986), I would like to go a step further and suggest looking at the issue from a linguistic perspective. Hughes (Hughes 1989, 1991, 2000) puts forward a similar idea but the novelty of the approach I suggest lies in my examination of kuchishōga via the mimetic words used in Japanese. I analyze the secret of kuchishōga ’s effectiveness through various data borrowed from linguistic research. I firmly believe that the abundance of onomatopoeic words in Japanese has influenced kuchishōga in terms of choice and construction of the syllables. Unfortunately, it is hardly possible to trace the roots of kuchishōga because the musicians who use this teaching device are vaguely, if at all, aware of the underlying sound-symbolism and its principles. . Thus, examined in a wider context, especially within the network of synaesthetic interrelations between different sensory spheres, and between different verbal and non-verbal sounds, as well as some other sonic and non- sonic spheres, kuchishōga reveals itself as an important aspect of the sound in Japanese culture (Kawada 1998:166). To draw a parallel, we could say that in the language gitaigo and giongo are used to verbally express non-verbal phenomena, while kuchishōga is used to do the same in the music teaching. In the course of their usage, these words grow fixed to certain contexts, forming intrinsic interrelations for the native Japanese speakers, allowing them to find or recognize the appropriate feeling for certain situation. Such words tend to be highly-contextual. The consideration of mimetic words in language and as solfege device and my own inclination to consider image-aptness as one of the most typical features of Japanese culture gave rise to the claim that onomatopoeic words can be taken as an example of the Japanese predilection for image-generating expressive means. I regard these words as phono-semantic symbolizations of feelings, sounds, or modes of action that are otherwise hard to depict in detail. Thus, onomatopoeic words can be said to evoke attitudes by the sound qualities of their elements (vowels and consonants), and to reflect fixed relationships between phonological units and abstract semantic units. Such relationships are reconstructable and rest on the experience of the speaker in using the language.