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Onomatopoeia and Language

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Onomatopoeia refers to words that phonetically imitate or resemble the sound they describe. In the study of language, it explores how these sound-symbolic words contribute to linguistic expression, enhance meaning, and influence auditory perception in communication.
lightbulbAbout this topic
Onomatopoeia refers to words that phonetically imitate or resemble the sound they describe. In the study of language, it explores how these sound-symbolic words contribute to linguistic expression, enhance meaning, and influence auditory perception in communication.

Key research themes

1. How are onomatopoeia and related sound-symbolic phenomena formally differentiated and classified within language systems?

This research area focuses on the rigorous distinctions and classifications among onomatopoeia, alliteration, and imitative harmony, clarifying their conceptual boundaries and acoustic-phonetic foundations. It is crucial for resolving terminological confusion and understanding the mechanisms of iconicity and sound symbolism in language. Moreover, it encompasses phonosemantic analyses that relate specific phonological properties to categories of sound-symbolic words across languages, supporting universal classification frameworks.

Key finding: This study rigorously distinguishes among alliteration, onomatopoeia, and imitative harmony, demonstrating that these are frequently conflated but conceptually distinct phenomena. It provides an analytic framework showing... Read more
Key finding: This article presents and critically evaluates Voronin’s phonosemantic universal classification of onomatopoeic words, based on iconic relations between acoustic parameters and linguistic forms. It identifies five key... Read more
Key finding: This work addresses the semantic complexity of onomatopoeic words concerning polysemy and homonymy, emphasizing that despite their iconic sound bases, onomatopoeic lexemes can possess multiple related or unrelated meanings.... Read more

2. What roles do onomatopoeia and sound-symbolic words play in early language input and acquisition?

This theme investigates the prevalence, salience, and cognitive function of onomatopoeic words in early speech perception and production, particularly in infant-directed speech and child language development. It examines how the acoustic and prosodic properties of onomatopoeia in caregiver input make them salient and conducive to early word learning. Understanding these processes is critical for theories of language acquisition, sound symbolism bootstrapping, and early phonological development.

Key finding: This empirical study demonstrated that onomatopoeic words in infant-directed speech (IDS) are produced with enhanced prosodic features—higher mean pitch, wider pitch range, longer duration, repeated units, and longer... Read more
Key finding: The research identifies universal patterns in prelinguistic babbling across typologically diverse languages, highlighting shared segmental preferences (e.g., stops, nasals), syllable structures (CV patterns), and temporal... Read more
Key finding: This paper presents evidence that infant phonological development emerges from the interaction between prelinguistic vocal patterns and ambient language input, with infants tuning their early word productions based on... Read more
Key finding: By contrasting cognitive linguistic and behavior-analytic perspectives, this theoretical work underscores the critical role of experience, social feedback, and automatic reinforcement in shaping early speech perception and... Read more

3. How are sound symbolic and onomatopoeic words neurally represented and processed in language users?

This theme explores the cognitive neuroscience of sound symbolism, focusing on the neural substrates activated by onomatopoeic and mimetic words during language comprehension and production. It addresses whether these words engage typical left-hemisphere language areas alone or additionally recruit sensory-motor and multimodal integration regions due to their direct sensory-meaning mappings, thereby elucidating dual linguistic and iconic neural representations.

Key finding: Using fMRI, this study revealed that Japanese sound-symbolic mimetic words activate bilateral brain regions associated with nonverbal cognitive functions in addition to traditional left-hemisphere language areas. This dual... Read more

All papers in Onomatopoeia and Language

En este artículo se ofrece una crítica argumentada sobre el uso de onomatopeyas en el tratamiento de alteraciones del habla o afectaciones en el desarrollo del lenguaje. Aunque son herramientas bastante comunes, pueden desencadenar una... more
Glasovi imaju tri vezujuća aspekta koja ne mogu biti jedan bez drugog; shodno tome, to su: 1- fiziološke perspektive: gdje treba proizvesti zvuk 2- fizička perspektiva: koja se odnosi na prenos oscilacija i talasa u vazduhu, poznata kao... more
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Admittedly Japanese onomatopoeic words are hard to teach to L2 learners of the language. Gitaigo (mimetic words for conditions or states) are especially tricky since they have hardly any counterparts in Indo-European languages. The author... more
"Occurrence and use of phonaesthetic lexemes in Swedish: a diachronic corpus analysis" The present work is specifically dedicated to the realization of lexemes that are formed with the swedish phonesthemes /sm-/, /gl-/, /spj-/, /sn-/,... more
- The man speaks a conventional word. - This word is structured. - The first structuring that exists is the binary structuring; below, that is to say outside structuring, the sound uttered" is unary; it is realized like a cry, an... more
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