"Detective! Night Scoop" (ABC TV, Fridays at 11:17 PM) is a popular variety show where "detectives" tackle bizarre requests and worries submitted by viewers. On May 15th, Detective Kanpei Hazama investigated "Let's rethink the common sense of onomatopoeia." Special Director Osamu Suzuki, Assistant Director Takanori Takeyama, and Secretary Saori Masuda appeared on the show.
The request came from a 19-year-old female university student in Osaka Prefecture, regarding onomatopoeia, or "characters that represent sounds." She explained that we naturally use the character "パン" (pan) when clapping our hands and "こんこん" (konkon) when knocking on a door. While sounds in the world can be represented by characters, she wondered if there might be even more suitable characters than those currently in use.
The other day, while talking with a friend, a question suddenly occurred to me: "How would you represent this in writing?" We tried making various sounds together right then and there. It made me feel like there might be a more fitting word than the ones we already have. I was wondering if you could help me find that "more fitting word."
Detective Kanpei boasts that he's an expert at creating onomatopoeia, having made many in the past. Joining him are onomatopoeia researcher Yoshitaka Fujino and Mutsumi Muraoka of the Chiba Sound Research Institute, as they work to represent the sounds made by the client and his friend using new written words. They experience sounds ranging from "finger snapping," "dog barking," and "farting" to "slurping noodles," "wooden fish drumming," and "explosion," but each person's perception and sensibility differ. Will they be able to create a new onomatopoeia that's "even more fitting"?
