A sign in a shop window proclaims these silent clocks make "NoTic Tac", in imitation of the sound of a clock.
Onomatopoeia (or rarelyechoism)[1] is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, thatphonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such asoink,meow,roar, andchirp, among other sounds such asbeep orhiccup.
Onomatopoeia can differ by language: it conforms to some extent to the broaderlinguistic system.[2][3] Hence, the sound of a clock may be expressed variously across languages: astick tock inEnglish,tic tac inSpanish andItalian (see photo),dī dā inMandarin,kachi kachi inJapanese, orṭik-ṭik inHindi,Urdu, andBengali.
Etymology and terminology
The wordonomatopoeia, with rarer spelling variants likeonomatopeia andonomatopœia, is an English word from theAncient Greek compound ὀνοματοποιία,onomatopoiía, meaning 'name-making', composed of ὄνομα,ónoma, meaning "name";[4] and ποιέω,poiéō, meaning "making".[5][6] It is pronounced/ˌɒnəmætəˈpiːə,-mɑːt-/ⓘ.[7][8] Words that imitate sounds can thus be said to beonomatopoeic,onomatopoetic,[9]imitative,[10] orechoic.
According toMusurgia Universalis (1650), the hen makes "to to too", while chicks make "glo glo glo".A bang flag gun, anovelty item
In the case of a frog croaking, the spelling may vary because different frog species around the world make different sounds:Ancient Greekbrekekekex koax koax (only inAristophanes' comic playThe Frogs) probably formarsh frogs; Englishribbit for species of frog found in North America; English verbcroak for thecommon frog.[11]
Some other very common English-language examples arehiccup,zoom,bang,beep,moo, andsplash. Machines and their sounds are also often described with onomatopoeia:honk orbeep-beep for the horn of an automobile, andvroom orbrum for the internal combustion engine. In speaking of a mishap involving an audiblearcing of electricity, the wordzap is often used (and its use has been extended to describe non-auditory effects of interference).
Human sounds sometimes provide instances of onomatopoeia, as whenmwah is used to represent a kiss.[12]
For animal sounds, words likequack (duck),moo (cow),bark orwoof (dog),roar (lion),meow/miaow orpurr (cat),cluck (chicken) andbaa (sheep) are typically used in English (both as nouns and as verbs).
Some languages flexibly integrate onomatopoeic words into their structure. This may evolve into a new word, up to the point that the process is no longer recognized as onomatopoeia. One example is the English wordbleat for sheep noise: inmedieval times it was pronounced approximately asblairt (but without an R-component), orblet with the vowel drawled, which more closely resembles a sheep noise than the modern pronunciation.
An example of the opposite case iscuckoo, which, due to continuous familiarity with the bird noise down the centuries, has kept approximately the same pronunciation as inAnglo-Saxon times and its vowels have not changed as they have in the wordfurrow.
Verba dicendi ('words of saying') are a method of integrating onomatopoeic words andideophones into grammar.
Sometimes, things are named from the sounds they make. In English, for example, there is the universal fastener which is named for the sound it makes: thezip (in the UK) orzipper (in the U.S.) Many birds are named after their calls, such as thebobwhite quail, theweero, themorepork, thekilldeer,chickadees andjays, thecuckoo, thechiffchaff, thewhooping crane, thewhip-poor-will, and thekookaburra. InTamil andMalayalam, the word forcrow iskākā. This practice is especially common in certain languages such asMāori, and so in names of animals borrowed from these languages.
An onomatopoeic effect can also be produced in a phrase or word string with the help ofalliteration andconsonance alone, without using any onomatopoeic words. The most famous example is the phrase"furrow followed free" inSamuel Taylor Coleridge'sThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The words "followed" and "free" are not onomatopoeic in themselves, but in conjunction with "furrow" they reproduce the sound of ripples following in the wake of a speeding ship. Similarly, alliteration has been used in the line"as the surf surged up the sun swept shore..." to recreate the sound of breaking waves in the poem "I, She and the Sea".
Comic strips and comic books make extensive use of onomatopoeia, often being visually integrated into the images, so that the drawing style emphasizes the sound. Popular culture historian Tim DeForest noted the impact of writer-artistRoy Crane (1901–1977), the creator ofCaptain Easy andBuz Sawyer:
It was Crane who pioneered the use of onomatopoeic sound effects in comics, adding "bam," "pow" and "wham" to what had previously been an almost entirely visual vocabulary. Crane had fun with this, tossing in an occasional "ker-splash" or "lickety-wop" along with what would become the more standard effects. Words as well as images became vehicles for carrying along his increasingly fast-paced storylines.[14]
In 2002,DC Comics introduced a villain namedOnomatopoeia, an athlete, martial artist, and weapons expert, who is known to verbally speak sounds (i.e., to voice onomatopoeic words such as "crash" and "snap" out loud to accompany the applicable event).
Advertising uses onomatopoeia formnemonic purposes, so that consumers will remember their products, as inAlka-Seltzer's "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz. Oh, what a relief it is!" jingle, recorded in two different versions (big band and rock) bySammy Davis Jr.
Sounds appear in road safety advertisements: "clunk click, every trip" (click the seatbelt on after clunking the car door closed; UK campaign) or "click, clack, front and back" (click, clack of connecting theseat belts; AU campaign) or "make it click" (click of the seatbelt; McDonalds campaign) or "click it or ticket" (click of the connecting seat belt, with the implied penalty of a traffic ticket for not using a seat belt; US DOT (Department of Transportation) campaign).
In many of the world's languages, onomatopoeic-like words are used to describe phenomena beyond the purely auditive. Japanese often uses such words to describe feelings or figurative expressions about objects or concepts. For instance, Japanesebarabara is used to reflect an object's state of disarray or separation, andshiiin is the onomatopoetic form of absolute silence (used at the time an English speaker might expect to hear the sound ofcrickets chirping or a pin dropping in a silent room, or someone coughing). In Albanian,tartarec is used to describe someone who is hasty. It is used in English as well with terms likebling, which describes the glinting of light on things like gold, chrome or precious stones. In Japanese,kirakira is used for glittery things.
Whaam! (1963) byRoy Lichtenstein is an early example ofpop art, featuring a reproduction of comic book art that depicts a fighter aircraft striking another with rockets with dazzling red and yellow explosions.
In the 1960s TV seriesBatman, comic book style onomatopoeic words such aswham!,pow!,biff!,crunch! andzounds! appear onscreen during fight scenes.
Ubisoft'sXIII employed the use of comic book onomatopoeic words such asbam!,boom! andnoooo! during gameplay for gunshots, explosions and kills, respectively. The comic-book style is apparent throughout the game and is a core theme, and the game is an adaptation ofa comic book of the same name.
The chorus of American popular songwriterJohn Prine's song "Onomatopoeia" incorporates onomatopoeic words: "Bang! went the pistol", "Crash! went the window", "Ouch! went the son of a gun".
The marble gameKerPlunk has an onomatopoeic word for a title, from the sound ofmarbles dropping when one too many sticks has been removed.
TheNickelodeon cartoon's titleKaBlam! is implied to be onomatopoeic to a crash.
Eachepisode of the TV seriesHarper's Island is given an onomatopoeic name which imitates the sound made in that episode when a character dies. For example, in the episode titled"Bang" a character is shot and fatally wounded, with the "Bang" mimicking the sound of the gunshot.
Mad Magazine cartoonistDon Martin, already popular for his exaggerated artwork, often employed creative comic-book style onomatopoeic sound effects in his drawings (for example,thwizzit is the sound of a sheet of paper being yanked from a typewriter). Fans have compiledThe Don Martin Dictionary, cataloging each sound and its meaning.
A key component of language is its arbitrariness and what a word can represent,[clarification needed] as a word is a sound created by humans with attached meaning to said sound.[17] It is not possible to determine the meaning of a word purely by how it sounds. However, in onomatopoeic words, these sounds are much less arbitrary; they are connected in their imitation of other objects or sounds in nature. Vocal sounds in the imitation of natural sounds does not necessarily gain meaning, but can gain symbolic meaning.[clarification needed][18] An example of thissound symbolism in the English language is the use of words starting withsn-. Some of these words symbolize concepts related to the nose (sneeze,snot,snore). This does not mean that all words with that sound relate to the nose, but at some level we recognize a sort of symbolism associated with the sound itself. Onomatopoeia, while a facet of language, is also in a sense outside of the confines of language.[19]
In linguistics, onomatopoeia is described as the connection, or symbolism, of a sound that is interpreted and reproduced within the context of a language, usually out of mimicry of a sound.[20] It is a figure of speech, in a sense. Considered a vague term on its own, there are a few varying defining factors in classifying onomatopoeia. In one manner, it is defined simply as the imitation of some kind of non-vocal sound using the vocal sounds of a language, like the hum of a bee being imitated with a "buzz" sound. In another sense, it is described as the phenomena of making a new word entirely.
Onomatopoeia works in the sense of symbolizing an idea in a phonological context, not necessarily constituting a direct meaningful word in the process.[21] The symbolic properties of a sound in a word, or aphoneme, is related to a sound in an environment, and are restricted in part by a language's own phonetic inventory, hence why many languages can have distinct onomatopoeia for the same natural sound. Depending on a language's connection to a sound's meaning, that language's onomatopoeia inventory can differ proportionally. For example, a language like English generally holds little symbolic representation when it comes to sounds, which is the reason English tends to have a smaller representation of sound mimicry than a language like Japanese, which overall has a much higher amount of symbolism related to the sounds of the language.
Evolution of language
In ancient Greek philosophy, onomatopoeia was used as evidence for how natural a language was: it was theorized that language itself was derived from natural sounds in the world around us. Symbolism in sounds was seen as deriving from this.[22] Some linguists hold that onomatopoeia may have been the first form of human language.[19]
Role in early language acquisition
When first exposed to sound and communication, humans are biologically inclined to mimic the sounds they hear, whether they are actual pieces of language or other natural sounds.[23] Early on in development, an infant will vary his/her utterances between sounds that are well established within the phonetic range of the language(s) most heavily spoken in their environment, which may be called "tame" onomatopoeia, and the full range of sounds that the vocal tract can produce, or "wild" onomatopoeia.[21] As one begins to acquire one's first language, the proportion of "wild" onomatopoeia reduces in favor of sounds which are congruent with those of the language they are acquiring.
During the native language acquisition period, it has been documented that infants may react strongly to the more wild-speech features to which they are exposed, compared to more tame and familiar speech features. But the results of such tests are inconclusive.
In the context of language acquisition, sound symbolism has been shown to play an important role.[18] The association of foreign words to subjects and how they relate to general objects, such as the association of the wordstakete and baluma with either a round or angular shape, has been tested to see how languages symbolize sounds.
The Japanese language has a large inventory of ideophone words that are symbolic sounds. These are used in contexts ranging from day-to-day conversation to serious news.[24] These words fall into four categories:
Giseigo (擬声語): mimics sounds made by living things including humans. (e.g.wan-wan for a dog's bark)
Giongo (擬音語): mimics sounds in nature made by inanimate objects. (e.g.zā-zā for heavy rainfall)
Gitaigo (擬態語): describes states of the non-auditory external world. (e.g.bisho-bisho for being soaking wet)
Gijōgo (擬情語): describes psychological states or bodily feelings. (e.g.kuta-kuta for being exhausted)
The two former correspond directly to the concept of onomatopoeia, while the two latter are similar to onomatopoeia in that they are intended to represent a concept mimetically and performatively rather than referentially, but different from onomatopoeia in that they aren't just imitative of sounds. For example,shiinto represents something being silent, just as how an anglophone might say "clatter, crash, bang!" to represent something being noisy. That "representative" or "performative" aspect is the similarity to onomatopoeia.
There is a documented correlation within theMalay language of onomatopoeia that begin with the sound bu- and the implication of something that is rounded, as well as with the sound of -lok within a word conveying curvature in such words likelok,kelok andtelok ('locomotive', 'cove', and 'curve' respectively).[26]
Arabic
The Qur'an, written in Arabic, documents instances of onomatopoeia.[19] Of about 77,701 words, there are nine words that are onomatopoeic: three are animal sounds (e.g.,mooing), two are sounds of nature (e.g.,thunder), and four that are human sounds (e.g.,whisper orgroan).
Albanian
There is wide array of objects and animals in theAlbanian language that have been named after the sound they produce. Such onomatopoeic words areshkrepse (matches), named after the distinct sound of friction and ignition of the match head;take-tuke (ashtray) mimicking the sound it makes when placed on a table;shi (rain) resembling the continuous sound of pouring rain;kukumjaçkë (Little owl) after its "cuckoo" hoot;furçë (brush) for its rustling sound;shapka (slippers and flip-flops);pordhë (loud flatulence) andfëndë (silent flatulence).
Hindi-Urdu
InHindi andUrdu, onomatopoeic words likebak-bak, cūr-cūr are used to indicate silly talk. Other examples of onomatopoeic words being used to represent actions arephaṭāphaṭ (to do something fast),dhak-dhak (to represent fear with the sound of fast beating heart),ṭip-ṭip (to signify a leaky tap) etc. Movement of animals or objects is also sometimes represented with onomatopoeic words likebhin-bhin (for a housefly) andsar-sarāhat (the sound of a cloth being dragged on or off a piece of furniture).khusr-phusr refers to whispering.bhaunk means bark.
^James Joyce (1982).Ulysses. Editions Artisan Devereaux. pp. 434–.ISBN978-1-936694-38-9.... I was just beginning to yawn with nerves thinking he was trying to make a fool of me when I knew his tattarrattat at the door he must...
^abLaing, C. E. (September 15, 2014). "A phonological analysis of onomatopoeia in early word production".First Language.34 (5):387–405.doi:10.1177/0142723714550110.S2CID147624168.
^abOsaka, Naoyuki (1990). "Multidimensional Analysis of Onomatopoeia – A note to make sensory scale from word".Studia phonologica.24:25–33.hdl:2433/52479.NAID120000892973.
^WILKINSON, R. J. (January 1, 1936). "Onomatopoeia in Malay".Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.14 (3 (126)):72–88.JSTOR41559855.
