American Journal Of Philological Sciences
27
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ajps
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue02 2025
PAGE NO.
27-28
10.37547/ajps/Volume05Issue02-07
Syntactic features of onomatopoeic words in the Chinese
language (based on GENG ERLING'S views)
Tashmuxamedova Dildora Aziz qizi
Teacher at Oriental University, Uzbekistan
Received:
07 December 2024;
Accepted:
09 January 2025;
Published:
11 February 2025
Abstract:
This article discusses the role of onomatopoeic words in Chinese sentence structure. It presents the
views of prominent Chinese linguists on onomatopoeic words and illustrates their syntactic functions with
examples. The study analyzes perspectives from the book Modern Chinese Grammar.
Keywords:
Onomatopoeia, sentence components, subject, predicate, modifier, adverbial.
Introduction:
Linguists have expressed different
opinions regarding the syntactic role and function of
onomatopoeic words in Chinese, based on their
theoretical perspectives. Below, we analyze the
syntactic role of onomatopoeia based on collected
empirical materials.
Chinese linguist Geng Erling emphasizes that the
primary function of onomatopoeia is to serve as an
independent sentence. In this case, the onomatopoeic
word itself constitutes a single sentence, followed by a
period, question mark, or exclamation mark.
1.
Functioning as an independent sentence
:
当！
当！当！上
课铃响了。
Jiring! Jiring! Jiring! The class
bell rang.
2.
Functioning as an independent component
:
Here, the onomatopoeic word appears at the beginning
of the sentence, separated by a comma and intonation,
withou
t syntactic connection to the main sentence. “
汪
汪汪
”
，淘气狗
叼着一根肉肠，得意地跑来了。
Woof-woof-woof, the mischievous dog ran happily
with a sausage in its mouth.
3.
Functioning as an adverbial
: As noted by Liu
Yuehua (
刘月
华
) and his team, onomatopoeia may
appear with or without the particle
地
.
高玫瑰咯咯地
笑起来，他要年
过了才能回来。
Gao Meigui burst
into giggles; he could only return after a year.
In this example,
咯咯
modifies the verb
笑
(to laugh) as
an adverbial. The
地
particle can be omitted after two-
and four-syllable onomatopoeic words but must be
used after one- and three-syllable ones to maintain
tonal balance in Chinese.
4.
Functioning as a predicate
: Onomatopoeic
words often serve as predicates, sometimes with the
particle
的
.
他生气了，咕
嘟着嘴半天不说话。
He
was angry and muttered for a long time without
speaking.
5.
Functioning as a modifier
: Here, an
onomatopoeic word modifies a noun, requiring the
particle
的
if it is monosyllabic.
罐
头飞呀飞，最后
“
咚
”
的一声，
砸到野猪的头上。
The cans flew and flew,
and finally, "thud!" they hit the wild boar’s head.
If the onomatopoeic word is polysyllabic, it connects
directly to the noun without a particle.
咕
噜噜声中，
还直将那女儿红喝个精光见底。
Amidst the gurgling
sound, he drank the entire Nu'er Hong.
According to Geng Erling, during the Tang and Song
dynasties, the particles
低
or
地
were used to link
onomatopoeic words with nouns, while by the Yuan
dynasty,
的
became standard and gradually solidified.
6.
Functioning as a complement (
补语
)
:
Onomatopoeic words, linked to verbs with
得
, describe
the sound resulting from an action.
我苦笑着
说：你到
今天还没改老习惯。。。嘿，听你吭哧吭哧的，我
没心情说了。
I said with a bitter smile, "You still
haven’t changed your old habits…" Hey, hearing your
American Journal Of Philological Sciences
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American Journal Of Philological Sciences (ISSN
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2771-2273)
mumbling, I don’t feel like responding.
7.
Functioning as an object
: In Chinese,
onomatopoeic words do not directly function as nouns.
However, in some cases, they become nominalized and
act as objects.
先生又来了一个
“
嗤
”
。
The gentleman
let out another ‘ha
-ha-
ha’.
Here, the onomatopoeic word forms a phrase with a
numeral, nominalizing the sound expression.
8.
Functioning as a subject
: When an
onomatopoeic word is the subject, the predicate is
typically a verb such as
是
,
表示
,
像
, or
好像
.
滴答滴答
是雨声，叭叭叭叭叭是汽
车喇叭声，噼里啪啦是鞭
炮声。
Tick-tock tick-tock
–
that’s the sound of rain;
pa-pa-pa-pa-pa
–
that’s the car horn; crackle
-pop
–
that’s the sound of firecrackers.
9.
Used
in
question-answer
forms
:
Onomatopoeic words can be short answers, forming
standalone sentences.
–
青蛙
鸣叫用汉语怎么说？
–
呱呱。
–
How do you say a frog’s sound in Chinese? –
Ribbit-ribbit.
Ma Zhen (
马真
), who referred to onomatopoeia as
象
声
词
, identified three main syntactic roles:
1.
Functioning as an independent sentence. “
丁
铃铃铃。。。
”
突然
电话铃响了。
Ring-ring-
ring…
Suddenly, the phone rang.
2.
Functioning as an adverbial.
机器
轰轰响。
The machine made a loud bang.
3.
Functioning as a modifier with
的
.
噼噼的鞭炮
响。
Crackle-pop of firecrackers.
Similarly, Lu Jianming (
陆俭明
) and his team classified
onomatopoeic words into four syntactic roles.
CONCLUSION
From the analysis of onomatopoeic words in Chinese,
we conclude that their syntactic function depends on
their connection to other sentence elements: they may
act as adverbials when linked to verbs, modifiers or
complements when connected to nouns, independent
components, or even standalone sentences in
dialogue.
The idea that words which primarily convey sounds
rather than meaning are not subject to grammatical
study is, in our view, insufficient justification for
excluding them from morphological analysis. Every
word, regardless of its meaning or function, holds a
place in the language. If a word can be semantically
analyzed, it belongs in the category of independent
words; if it only serves a grammatical function, it should
be classified as an auxiliary word. If it fulfills both roles,
it should be studied as an intermediate category within
linguistics.
Although stylistics explores the psychological impact of
sounds and their linguistic representation, it does not
fully reveal their grammatical properties. Even if
onomatopoeic words do not directly answer questions,
they convey meaning and contribute to word formation
in Uzbek and other languages. Since they carry
meaning, we believe they should be included in the
grammar of every language.
Onomatopoeic words, regardless of language, do not
possess nominative characteristics or semantic
meaning in the traditional sense, making it difficult to
assign them a fixed syntactic role. However, they can
be integrated into sentences with various functions
depending on their connection to other elements.
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