noun
sound-meaning theory
A linguistic hypothesis that each Japanese sound (phoneme) inherently carries a specific meaning or nuance. Often discussed in the context of sound symbolism and onomatopoeia. This is a technical term used in Japanese linguistics.
音義説は、日本語の音象徴を説明する理論の一つです。
The sound-meaning theory is one of the theories that explain sound symbolism in Japanese.
この論文では、音義説に基づいて
In this paper, we analyzed onomatopoeia based on the sound-meaning theory.
Compound of 音 (on, 'sound'), 義 (gi, 'meaning'), and 説 (setsu, 'theory'). The term is a modern linguistic coinage.