Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it describes e.g. ‘Crash’ , ‘Miaow’ etc. and as such are possibly the origins of spoken languages being the simplest form of communication – imitating an object to communicate meaning ( for instance in Chinese ‘Mao’ 猫 has become the word for a cat, based originally on it’s sound). Onomatopoeic words are some of the most recent additions to languages, incorporating direct imitations of the post industrial world, ‘Beep’, ‘Zap’, ’squeak’…occasionally becoming nouns; ‘ratchet’, ‘Crank’ etc. Curiously onomatopoeic words vary considerably across the globe; different cultures seem to hear differently. Languages themselves once established obviously restrict and distort the ability to form ‘pure’ onomatopoeic words but cultural variations also play a part – in the same way that the perception of musical tone and harmony vary across cultures. As an experiment i propose a WIKI Onomatopoeia library which would allow anyone to describe their literal interpretation of sound – not the accepted cultural/linguistic form (e.g. ‘woof’ for a dog) but what the individual hears. This would form a living recording of audio interpretation and the cultural variations and distortions that occur in different regions.
As an example and a starting point for the project here’s an incomplete table of Onomatopoeic words in Chinese, Japanese (very keen on Onomatopoeia), Hindi and Arabic:
| English | Chinese | Pinyin | Japanese | Japanese | Arabic | Hindi |
| Atishoo! (sneeze) | gohhon | – | – | |||
| Baa (of a sheep) | 咩 | miē | mee mee | メーメー | – | – |
| Bang | 啪 | pā | – | – | ||
| Bang | 砰 | pēng | – | – | ||
| Bang (as on a door) | 嘭 | pēng | ton ton | – | – | – |
| Bang or boom | 轰 | hōng | – | – | ||
| Bark (of a dog) | 汪汪 | wàngwàng | wan wan | わんわん | Howhow | b’AU-b’AU |
| Buzz | 嗡嗡 | wēngwēng | ||||
| Chirp or squeak | 吱吱 | zhīzhī | ||||
| Chuckle | 咯咯 | gēgē | ||||
| Clack | 呱嗒 | gūdā | ||||
| Click | 咔哒 | kādā | ||||
| Click or snap | 咯噔 | gēdēng | ||||
| Click or tick | 哒哒, 嗒嗒 | dādā | ||||
| Cluck (of a chicken) | 咕咕 | gūgū | ku-ku-ku-ku | |||
| Crash or bang | 哐 | kuāng | ||||
| Creak | 嘎吱 | gāzhī | ||||
| Creak | 咯吱 | gēzhī | ||||
| Gurgling sound | 咕噜 | gūlū | ||||
| Ha ha (laughter) | 哈哈 | hāhā | ahaha | – | – | – |
| Heartbeat (excitement) | – | doki doki | どきどき | – | – | |
| Heartbeat (nervousness) | – | hara hara | はらはら | – | – | |
| Hee hee (laughter) | 嘻嘻 | xīxī | ||||
| Heh heh (laughter) | 嘿嘿 | hāihāi | ||||
| Hiss (of a snake) | 咝 | sī | ||||
| Hiss, fizz | 噗哧 | pūchī | ||||
| Huh huh (chuckle) | 呵呵 | hēhē | ||||
| Hum | 哼哼 | hēngheng | ||||
| Meow (of a cat or kitten) | 咪咪 | mīmī | nownow | |||
| Meow (of a cat) | 喵 | miāo | nyaa nyaa | ニャーニャー | – | myAAUU |
| Moo (of a cow) | 哞 | moū | mou-mou | もうもう | ma ma | ba:N ba:N |
| Patter (as of rain) | 稀里哗啦 | xīlǐhuālā | zaa zaa | ざあざあ | – | – |
| Quack (of a duck) or croak (of a frog) | 呱呱 | gūgū | couak couak | baak-baak-baak | ||
| Rattle or clatter | 嗒 | dādā | ||||
| Roar (of a crowd) | 哄 | hōng | ||||
| Rumble (e.g. an earthquake) | 轰隆 | hōnglōng | ||||
| Sound of (small) bells; sound of jingling | 叮当 | dīngdāng | – | – | ||
| Sound of a big door closing | 咣 | guāng | – | – | ||
| Sound of a doorbell (ding dong) | 叮咚 | dīngdōng | – | – | ||
| Sound of a heavy object falling into water | 噗嗵 | pūtōng | – | – | ||
| Sound of a large heavy object rolling | 咕隆 | gūlōng | – | – | ||
| Sound of a small bell (ding) | 叮 | dīng | – | – | ||
| Sound of birds chirping | 叽叽喳喳 | jījichāchā | piyo piyo | – | – | – |
| Sound of breaking or snapping | 咔嚓 | kāchā | – | – | ||
| Sound of crashing or rustling | 哗啦 | huālā | – | – | ||
| Sound of dripping water | 嘀嗒 | dīda | bisho bisho | びしょびしょ | – | – |
| Sound of slurping or snoring | 稀里呼噜 | xīlǐhūlū | – | – | ||
| Sound of trickling down | 噗噜噜 | pūlūlū | poro poro | – | – | |
| Sound of water flowing | 哗哗 | huāhuā | tush | – | ||
| Splash (water) | pocha pocha | – | – | |||
| Squeak or creak | 咿咿呀呀 | yīyīyāyā | mishi mishi | – | – | |
| Thud | 噗咚 | pūdōng | – | – | ||
| Thump or thud | 噔 | dēng | – | – | ||
| Thump, thud, or plop | 咕咚 | gūdōng | – | – | ||
| Whisper or murmur | 唧唧咕咕 | jījigūgū | ghamghama غمغم | – | ||
| Whoosh | 咻 | xiū |
Musical Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia also occurs in music. In the Gamelan tradition, each note is given a ’sound word’ which describes the pitch (and tone) of the note and the instruments themselves are strongly Onomatopoeic; Ceng-Ceng (a small cymbal instrument giving a clashing, shimmering tone), ‘Gong’ (deep resonant large metallic sound), ‘Kempli’ (a pot-gong that gives a metronomic beat), ‘Suling’ (a vertical reed flute). In India the Tabla has it’s own ‘language’, as system of notation and mnemonic learning called ‘Bol’ (’bolna’ to speak), each stroke or sound of the drum has a corresponding onomatopoeic word which builds up into phrases, sentences and entire compositions:
Basic North Indian Tabla Bols:
“GE”; Bass drum, resonant stroke, played with the finger tips. The wrist bends the pitch of the drum.
“KE”; Bass drum closed stroke, played with the whole hand flat
“TE”; Treble drum closed sound with flat fingers. Staccatto
“NA”; Treble drum, edge rim sound with index finger; Characteristic ringing tone of Tabla.
“TIN”; Treble drum, inner rim sound with index finger; Similar to na but with slightly more bass qualities.
“THUN”; Open resonant sound on treble drum
“TI”; Second finger on treble drum, third and fourth fingers down, index finger raised. Soft version of TE.
“NE”; Ring finger on edge of treble drum
Similarly Japanese Taiko Drumming has it’s own spoken system ‘Kuchi shōga’ (口唱歌):
| Taiko | Shimedaiko | Atarigane, Canon | Meaning & Musical Value |
| Don (Kon) | Ten | Chan | A single loud beat to the center (hara) of the drum. The left hand on a taiko is sometimes called “kon.” This could be considered the equivalent of a quarter note; but could also be a half note, etc.. |
| Do (Ko, Ro) | Te (Ke, Re) | Chi (Ki) | A single firm beat to the hara, but with a value 1/2 that of “don” (i.e.: twice as fast). The left is sometimes called “ko” or “ke.” This would be an eighth note, if “don” is a quarter note. |
| DoKo | TeKe | ChiKi | 2 Fast beats of equal sound, and power. This would be the equivalent of 2 eighth notes. |
| DoRo | TeRe | ChiRi | 2 Fast beats, but with a slight “rolling” feel to the beats. Played “right, left.” |
| Tsu | Tsu | Tsu | A note played softly. The value of the note is variable. |
| TsuKu | TsuKu | TsuKu | 2 Fast beats played softly (the left hand is “ku”). |
| Ka (Ta) | Ka | n/a | A beat played on the edge of the drum (fuchi), sometimes on the body (ko). The left hand is sometimes notated as “ta.” |
| KaRa | KaRa* | n/a | 2 Fast beats played on the fuchi, with a slight “rolling” feel to the beats. Played “right, left.” |
| Su | Su | Su | A rest. The value of the rest is variable, but usually it is one beat of the pulse of the meter. |
| Zu | Zu | n/a | Another term for a soft beat, sometimes played with a slight “drag” to the beat or used for notating a triplet. |
This tradition blurs into ‘Solfege’ a musical notation tradition based on words representing pitch. In Europe this takes the octave form of “Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti” (originally based on the Arabic alphabet), In India as “Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni, Sa” known as Sargam. A similar system called ‘Canntaireachd’ (pronounced “cownterochk”) is used in Celtic culture to teach bagpipe music:
Canntaireachd example:
“hin-o tra-o ho dro, hio-dro ro-din hio din, hin-to dare-a che-bendre-o”
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Sources:
Chinese onomatopeia http://www.sinosplice.com/lang/vocab/onomatopeia/
Tabla Bols http://www.chandrakantha.com/tablasite/bsicbols.htm
“language of the tabla”: http://www.sandip-tabla.com/tabla_pages/tabla_language.html
“Sargam notation”: http://ragapedia.com/raga/composition/list
“Japanese Sound effects and what they mean” http://www.oop-ack.com/manga/soundfx.html
Seed: Simon Crab
Juan Cantizzani 