The Kana Blur Has a Grammar

KOTOBA BREW

第039号 · Issue 039

{{first_name | みんな}}さん、こんにちは ☕

ゆっくり。ちゃんと。しっかり。きちんと。

Four words you have used this month without thinking about them once. 👀

Japan's national language institute files all four in the same drawer as きらきら and どきどき. You have been speaking onomatopoeia since your first textbook, and nobody mentioned it.

Know someone whose eyes slide off the kana runs? Send them this. Share this issue →

Not a genre. A word class.

Here is the number that settles it. 💡

Researchers counted mimetic words across the minutes of 403 Japanese local assemblies, roughly 293 million words of the least playful Japanese on earth. The most frequent one of four or more mora was しっかり, at 77,464 occurrences. どんどん came second, はっきり third.

Not manga. Minuted municipal government. 📊

So if these are not decoration, what are they?

The part nobody teaches: the ending is not part of the word you memorise. The ending is a slot, and the slot tells you the shape of the event. How many times it happens, how fast, and how it finishes. ⚡

The ending tells you the shape of the event, not the meaning of the event. That one sentence is the whole issue.

There are four rows worth knowing.

→ A small っ in the middle, then り. One bounded thing, settling quietly, with that middle っ adding tension or degree. ゆっくり · はっきり · しっかり. Also うっかり, すっかり, ぎっしり, ぐっすり, こっそり. 🎯

→ 〜っと. Sudden, sharp, one direction, over in an instant. さっと · ぱっと · きらっと.

→ A repeated pair. More than one, or ongoing. きらきら · ごろごろ · のろのろ.

→ 〜ん. It happens once and the sound keeps ringing. There is energy left over. ぱたん · どすん · ころん. 🔔

Note which っ is which, because they are two different jobs wearing the same kana. A っ at the end means abrupt. A っ in the middle means tight, firm, intense. That is exactly why しっかり支（ささ）える can hold for an hour without breaking the system. 📌

Watch one root take three shapes.

→ 星（ほし）が空（そら）にきらきら光（ひか）っている。Continuous sparkling.

→ 指輪（ゆびわ）がきらっと光（ひか）った。One sharp flash.

→ 才能（さいのう）がきらりと光（ひか）る。One vivid gleam that settles, and the figurative one: a glimpse of the real thing. ✨

Same きら every time. The ending did all three jobs.

One piece of housekeeping: the one-off forms want と behind them. 〜っと has it built in, as in きらっと光る, and the 〜ん and single 〜り forms take it too, as in ぱたんと閉（し）まる and きらりと光る. Repeated pairs can take it or leave it. The everyday ゆっくり · はっきり · しっかり group is happiest bare, and と is optional there. 📝

危険	⚠️ Abunai 危（あぶ）ない ❌ ドアがぱたぱた閉（し）まった。 ✅ ドアがぱたんと閉（し）まった。ぱたぱた says the door flapped, more than once. If it shut a single time, ん is the shape you want. The first one is not broken Japanese, it just describes a different event, which is the more useful thing to know. 👀

一
言

☝️ Chotto ちょっと

Now the uncomfortable half, because you will find it yourself otherwise. The words you use most are the ones where the picture has worn away: しっかり食（た）べる just means "eat plenty". And 〜っと has four loud exceptions, all common. じっと待（ま）つ is motionless duration. ずっと is continuous. そっと is gentle rather than fast. ぱっとしない means unimpressive. These are the most worn-down members of the class, and worn-down words keep their shape while losing their picture, the same way "goodbye" kept nothing of "God be with ye". Expect this to read cleanest in words you have never met. Which is exactly when you need it.

This Issue's Japanese

Word

様子（ようす）Neutral, everyday

Means: how something looks, the state it is in, how things are going. 📌

Use it: 様子（ようす）を見（み）る, to wait and see, is everywhere. Also 子（こ）どもの様子（ようす）and 様子（ようす）がおかしい, something seems off. ⚡

Why this one: the institute defines 擬態語（ぎたいご）as 「人や物の様子を表す言葉」, words expressing the 様子 of people and things. It is the word Japanese uses for what this entire issue is about. 🎯

Kanji 漢字

様

Meaning: appearance, state, manner. Also the 様 you already bow to in お客様（きゃくさま）.

Reading to learn first: ヨウ, the one in 様子.

Also reads: さま · 様々（さまざま）various

Common words: 同様（どうよう）the same · 模様（もよう）pattern · 様式（ようしき）style

Reading trap: 様子 is ようす, never ようし. Here 子 uses a third reading, ス, the same one hiding inside 椅子（いす）and 扇子（せんす）. Not a sound change. It is 唐音（とうおん）, a rarer Sino-Japanese layer that arrived centuries after the readings you already know, and nobody points it out. ⚠️

This issue's connection: you have owned this kanji since お客様 and never met its other half. Same shape as ゆっくり. 🍵

Renshuu Time 練習（れんしゅう）📝

Ten minutes, two stages, and the second one is the real exercise.

Sort these twelve into the four rows. No looking anything up. Six you know, six you do not.

ゆっくり · さっと · きらきら · ぱたん · こっそり · じっと · のろのろ · どすん · ぎっしり · ぱっと · そろそろ · ころん

Now take only the six you did not know. Write one line each predicting the shape, not the meaning. How many times? Fast or slow? Does it end sharp, settle, or bounce? Then look them up. 🔍

You will know you did it when: you got the shape right on at least four of the six, even where the meaning surprised you. Predicting that こっそり is one sustained thing done with tension, then learning it means "secretly", is a win. 🙌 The shape was in the ending. The meaning never was.

✨ Yatta やった

If you only did stage one, you still proved it. You sorted ゆっくり and きらきら into different boxes without anyone ever teaching you a rule. 💪

The tiny win

Next time your eye starts to slide off a run of kana, read the last two first. You will not always land the word. You will land its shape, and that is usually enough to keep reading instead of stopping. 🎴

One reply back

Hit reply with the mimetic you have never managed to pin down. One word is plenty.

We are collecting them, and the most-nominated one is getting taken apart in a future issue. 👀

Stay connected 🙌

We are around during the week if you want to talk shop, share a win, or just lurk. Both are completely fine.

KOTOBA BREW

これからも一緒（いっしょ）に頑張（がんば）りましょうね〜 🍵

Kotoba Brew Editorial Desk

Not a genre. A word class.

Renshuu Time 練習（れんしゅう）📝

The tiny win

One reply back

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