Thread: Onomatopoeia

If you're wondering what in the world that title means, you're not alone. I myself had to do a little research to find the English word for what I meant.
So, "onomatopoeia", is basically a word that denotes a sound. Things like: splash, roar, ouch, oink, etc.
When I'd just started learning English in my early teens, I took special delight at discovering the fact that an English dog says "bow wow!" when he barks (an Iranian dog says "vagh vagh!", and sometimes "hap hap!").
Apart from animal sounds, human sounds are also interesting. An English-speaking person says "ouch!" when he unexpectedly hurts himself, an Iranian says "akh!" in the same situation, while this same "akh!" ("ах!") is approximately like the sound when a Russian sighs. [Аааах, красавица, душа-девица, полюби же ты меня!]
Other examples, anyone?! It's not exactly language learning, but it's kinda fun!

I had a discussion about this the other day with a Russian friend, she said that Russian dogs say "гав, гав" instead of "woof, woof". We both agreed that "woof" is no sound that any normal dog would make, but we disagreed as to whether "гав" or "ruff" was more accurate. I convinced her by making "ruff, ruff" noises like a dog

Russian cats, on the other hand, apparently make the same sound as English ones... "мяяяяуууууу"!

There's also the semi-onomatopoeic word "hiccough" (or "hiccup" in the American spelling). The Russian word for hiccough is "икать" (verb) or "икание" (noun). Personally, I think "ыкать" would be more appropriate!

We had somewhere a topic for onomatopoeia=звукоподражание of animal sounds.
Here is a list of Russian interjections from Wiktionary:
http://ru.wiktionary.org/wiki/Категория:Русские_междометия


As for human interjections (like ouch!) I don't feel like this is the same phenomenon.
Namely:
ouch! - ай! (sudden hurt)
wow! - ого!- admiration

Here is a list of animal sounds in different languages:
http://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/P...tt/animal.html

Originally Posted by Demonic_Duck

Russian cats, on the other hand, apparently make the same sound as English ones... "мяяяяуууууу"!

Not exactly! They use simple sound instead of diphthong "ia" in English!

http://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/P...tt/animal.html

Great idea, but the Russian section does not seem entirely correct.
For example, Dog (gnawing bone) = chua-chua. (?) I guess, it was supposed to be чав-чав - a sound of messy eating, from "чавкать" (to champ). But it's a universal "sound" and does not have anything to do with dogs.
Camel = ga-a-a (?) Oh, really? It's nice to know, I've never heard about that.

I was surprised that a cock sounds similar in so many languages, except English, of course.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Camel = ga-a-a (?) It's nice to know, I've never heard about that.

The only camel that I've had the pleasure of meeting (during a trip to some southern province) was actually as silent as a mouse! I did everything to provoke him (her?) but he wouldn't make a sound. All the time he just kept sitting there and staring at me. I even doubt that they make any sound at all. And "ga-a-a" just seems too sophisticated a sound for a camel to make!

Originally Posted by it-ogo

Here is a list of animal sounds in different languages:
http://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/P...tt/animal.html

I don't know about other languages, but as for Russian this page is very inaccurate. More than 50% is wrong.

Originally Posted by Basil77

Originally Posted by it-ogo

Here is a list of animal sounds in different languages:
http://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/P...tt/animal.html

I don't know about other languages, but as for Russian this page is very inaccurate. More than 50% is wrong.

Yep, sorry for this link. I didn't check it.

[quote=it-ogo]

Originally Posted by "Demonic_Duck":2y8s7d5g

Russian cats, on the other hand, apparently make the same sound as English ones... "мяяяяуууууу"!

Not exactly! They use simple sound instead of diphthong "ia" in English! [/quote:2y8s7d5g]


well now you're just being pedantic!

Originally Posted by Demonic_Duck

well now you're just being pedantic!

Not me but Russian cats.

Originally Posted by Misha Tal

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Camel = ga-a-a (?) It's nice to know, I've never heard about that.

The only camel that I've had the pleasure of meeting (during a trip to some southern province) was actually as silent as a mouse! I did everything to provoke him (her?) but he wouldn't make a sound. All the time he just kept sitting there and staring at me. I even doubt that they make any sound at all. And "ga-a-a" just seems too sophisticated a sound for a camel to make!

+1. That's why I thought it to be so funny.
The camels I've met were always silent too. I bet 99% of Russians don't know how camel sounds, or if they make any sounds at all.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Originally Posted by Misha Tal

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Camel = ga-a-a (?) It's nice to know, I've never heard about that.

The only camel that I've had the pleasure of meeting (during a trip to some southern province) was actually as silent as a mouse! I did everything to provoke him (her?) but he wouldn't make a sound. All the time he just kept sitting there and staring at me. I even doubt that they make any sound at all. And "ga-a-a" just seems too sophisticated a sound for a camel to make!

+1. That's why I thought it to be so funny.
The camels I've met were always silent too. I bet 99% of Russians don't know how camel sounds, or if they make any sounds at all.

I am laughing at all this camel talk.... I can't find the DVD right now... but one of my younger daughter's first "big" jobs was as the voice of three camels on the kid's cartoon show, Go Diego Go! I will try to find the DVD tomorrow and upload part of it so you can hear her making the sound of camels and "talking" as them!!

Хохотать.
Гоготать.
хихикать. ???

Here's one thing I don't understand:

The Russian spelling for "Aha!" is "Ага!". How come? "Аха!" would be much closer to the actual sound...

I guess most Russians can say "h", even though the consonant doesn't exist in their language.

Originally Posted by Misha Tal

Here's one thing I don't understand:

The Russian spelling for "Aha!" is "Ага!". How come? "Аха!" would be much closer to the actual sound...

I guess most Russians can say "h", even though the consonant doesn't exist in their language.

I think most Russians pronounce "voiced х" sound here. In standard Russian letter "г" mostly denotes "voiced к" sound but in South Russian pronunciation as well as in Ukrainian accent (rather common) this letter is pronounced as "voiced х" sound. Moreover, even in standard Russian letter "г" in some words (like interjections "Ага"=Aha, "угу"=uh-huh, "Ого"=wow) in fact is pronounced as "voiced х".

So "voiced х" sound is usually associated with letter г, not х.

The word onomatopoeia doesnt just mean a word that denotes a sound. It is a literary term and means a word chosen by a poet to create an image. It is often used with 'alliteration' where the poet chooses words that all start with the same letter. ' the babbling brook bubbled below' instead of 'the sound of the stream could be heard below'

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

I bet 99% of Russians don't know how camel sounds, or if they make any sounds at all.

Here:

Вот пуля пролетела - и ага.

Может быть и глаголы "ойкать - ойкнуть" ?