History and etymology of Japanese onomatopoeia


I've been wondering about the patterns of Japanese onomatopoeia and their
etymologies. Perhaps you could help me figure it out or link me to a useful
bibliography that might.

The first of these onomatopoeia follow the following pattern: **_っ_り** , like:

> にっこり
>
> さっぱり
>
> すっかり
>
> びっくり

The second example of Japanese onomatopoeia repeats the preceding component,
often adding a _dakuten_ (゛) in the latter part, i.e.:

> わくわく
>
> ぼろぼろ
>
> しらじら

The third type of onomatopoeia seems to take the sound that things make and
adds っと to it:

> ぎゅっと
>
> ざっと
>
> どんと

Another question would be, why do some of these onomatopoeia take the に
particle, while some use the と particle?




These adverb classes are all related. At their root is the singular form,
usually two morae in length, such as the にこ in にこにこ and にっこり, or the ぎゅう in
ぎゅっと and ぎゅうぎゅう, or the ほそ in ほそぼそ and ほっそり. Some of these singular forms also
comprise the roots of other words, or are cognate with those roots, such as ほそ
also appearing in 細{ほそ}い, 細{ほそ}める, etc., or にこ also appearing in 和{にこ}やか,
和肌{にこはだ}, etc.

There is some more information about the derivation of _っ_り adverbs [in this
other
thread](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/18729/%E3%81%A3-%E3%82%8A-form-
adverbs).

( **Note:** I cannot find any examples of these classes of adverbs taking に;
they all appear either to modify verbs directly, as in わくわくする, or to take と
instead, as in ほっそりとした.)




These adverb classes are all related. At their root is the singular form,
usually two morae in length, such as the にこ in にこにこ and にっこり, or the ぎゅう in
ぎゅっと and ぎゅうぎゅう, or the ほそ in ほそぼそ and ほっそり. Some of these singular forms also
comprise the roots of other words, or are cognate with those roots, such as ほそ
also appearing in 細{ほそ}い, 細{ほそ}める, etc., or にこ also appearing in 和{にこ}やか,
和肌{にこはだ}, etc.

There is some more information about the derivation of _っ_り adverbs [in this
other
thread](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/18729/%E3%81%A3-%E3%82%8A-form-
adverbs).

( **Note:** I cannot find any examples of these classes of adverbs taking に;
they all appear either to modify verbs directly, as in わくわくする, or to take と
instead, as in ほっそりとした.)

