Japanese/Korean Linguistics

This study examines how motion events in the English original version of Harry Potter are translated into Japanese and Korean, with a focus on the encoding of Manner, the use of Deictic verbs, and ideophones. Following Talmy’s typology, the analysis compares 180 motion event descriptions in the English original with their translations in Japanese and Korean. The results show that while both languages generally preserve motion events, they employ different strategies to encode Manner: Japanese frequently uses ideophones and visual motion expressions, while Korean relies more on complex verbs incorporating Deictic elements. Although ideophones appear in both translations, their semantic roles differ; Japanese ideophones tend to represent detailed visual imagery, while Korean ideophones represent the overall intensity or emotional quality of the Motion. The findings highlight significant differences between two typologically similar V-languages, demonstrating how language-specific resources shape motion event descriptions in translation.