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THE USE OF ONOMATOPOEIA IN LITERATURE
Norova Mavluda Fayzulloyevna
associate professor of the department of Uzbek Language and Literature, Russian and English
Languages at Bukhara State Medical Institute named after Abu Ali ibn Sino
Jalolova Gulbakhor Farkhodovna
1
st
year Master’s degree student of the Faculty of Foreign languages,
Asia International University
Abstract.
Onomatopoeia is a linguistic phenomenon where words imitate natural sounds, such as
the ringing of bells or the chirping of birds, creating a sound that reflects the meaning. This article
explores the relationship between onomatopoeia and arbitrariness, focusing on how poets
incorporate onomatopoeic words into literature. It also examines the reasons behind poets’ use of
these words and the methods they employ. The study concludes that onomatopoeia is a fascinating
phenomenon present in all languages, with new examples emerging regularly as new objects and
inventions are created. Additionally, poets utilize onomatopoeia to engage the reader’s auditory
sense and to craft vivid and harmonious soundscapes.
Key words:
оnomatopoeia, arbitrariness, linguistic signs, sound symbolism, echoic words,
primary onomatopoeia, secondary onomatopoeia, phonetic sequences, iconicity, imitative sounds.
ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕ ОНОМАТОПЕИ В ЛИТЕРАТУРЕ
Аннотация.
Ономатопея — это лингвистическое явление, при котором слова подражают
природным звукам, таким как звон колоколов или щебетание птиц, создавая звук, который
отражает значение. В статье рассматривается связь между ономатопеей и арбитрарностью,
с акцентом на то, как поэты используют ономатопеические слова в литературе. Также
исследуются причины, по которым поэты прибегают к использованию этих слов, и методы,
которые они применяют. Исследование приходит к выводу, что ономатопея — это
увлекательное явление, присутствующее во всех языках, и с каждым годом появляются
новые примеры, связанные с новыми объектами и изобретениями. Кроме того, поэты
используют ономатопею для вовлечения слухового восприятия читателя и создания ярких
и гармоничных звуковых пейзажей.
Ключевые слова
: ономатопея, арбитрарность, лингвистические знаки, символизм звука,
эхо-слова,
первичная
ономатопея,
вторичная
ономатопея,
фонетические
последовательности, иконичность, имитативные звуки.
INTRODUCTION.
Language is a powerful tool that allows writers to evoke vivid imagery and
sensory experiences for their readers. One of the most fascinating features of language is
onomatopoeia, a phenomenon where words imitate the natural sounds they describe. From the
chirping of birds to the rustling of leaves, onomatopoeic words bring the world of sound into the
realm of language, allowing readers to almost hear the action or object being described. In
literature, onomatopoeia serves not only to enhance the sensory appeal of a text but also to deepen
its emotional impact. Whether it’s the buzz of a bee, the crash of thunder, or the whisper of a
breeze, these words create a direct connection between sound and meaning, making the text more
dynamic and immersive. This study examines the role of onomatopoeia in literature, focusing on
how poets and writers utilize these words to capture the essence of natural sounds and convey
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deeper meanings. It delves into the relationship between onomatopoeia and the arbitrary nature of
language, exploring how such words both challenge and reinforce traditional linguistic structures.
The use of onomatopoeia in literary works is not just about mimicking sounds but also about
creating soundscapes that resonate with the reader’s auditory senses. Through careful analysis,
this article highlights the ways in which onomatopoeic words are employed to enrich the reader’s
experience, offering a more immediate and sensory connection to the narrative.
METHODS.
The most striking characteristics of language, compared to other codes or
communication systems, are its flexibility and versatility. There are four properties of language,
and one of them is arbitrariness. The term arbitrary is used to mean something like “inexplicable
in terms of some more general principle” (Lyons, 1990:19). It is generally the case that there is no
natural connection between a linguistic form and its meaning. For example, the word (qitta) in
Arabic has no relation to its shape. The arbitrary relationship between linguistic signs and the
objects they represent is called arbitrariness (Yule, 1985:18-19).
Onomatopoeic words are considered part of the natural sounds “theory of language” origin. There
are sporadic instances in all languages of what is traditionally referred to as onomatopoeia: the
non-arbitrary connection between the form and meaning of such onomatopoeic words as cuckoo,
peewit, and crash in English. However, the vast majority of words in all languages are non-
onomatopoeic: the connection between their meaning and form is arbitrary. That is, given the
form, it is impossible to predict the meaning, and given the meaning, it is impossible to predict the
form (Lyons, 1990:19).
Sounds alone are the basis for a limited number of words, called echoic or onomatopoeic, such as
bang, burp, splash, tinkle, pig, and bobwhite. Leonard Bloomfield (1933:156) distinguishes
between words that are actually imitative of sounds, like meow, moo, and bow-wow, which vary
from one language to another. To the speaker, it seems as though the sounds are especially suited
to the meaning, such as bump or flick. Such words frequently show doubling, sometimes with
slight variations, as in bow-wow, choo-choo, and pe(e)wee. The last, by its sound, is merely
suggestive of tininess—a quality that could hardly be limited in sound, save by a reduction in
volume—and is hence symbolic. However, as the name of a bird, it is, like its variant peewit (or
pewit), actually a fairly accurate imitation of the bird’s cry (Pyles, 1971:276).
RESULTS.
Onomatopoeia can be defined as the formation of words whose sound imitates the
noise or action designated, such as hiss, buzz, and bang (Harper, 2010:1). Such words are often
used for poetic or rhetorical effect. Additionally, it can be defined as the imitation of natural
sounds, such as the ringing of bells, the singing of birds, or the voices of animals. In a broader
sense, it refers to any combination of imitative sounds and rhythms used to reinforce the sense or
mood of a passage in poetry or prose. Notari (2015:1) states that onomatopoeia is one way a poet
can create sounds in a poem. These words actually resemble the sounds they represent, and one
can almost hear those sounds as one reads, such as slam, splash, bam, babble, warble, gurgle,
mumble, and belch. On the other hand, Goodword (2015:2) defines it as the status of a word
whose pronunciation imitates its meaning, e.g., buzz, crack, clink, clank, clang, fizz, thump, slurp,
sizzle.
Furthermore, Harper (2015:1064) adds that onom refers to words containing sounds similar to the
noises they describe, such as hiss, bang, and pop. Additionally, Nordquist (2017:1) clarifies that
onomatopoeia is the use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions
they refer to. According to him, onomatopoeia is sometimes called a figure of sound rather than a
figure of speech.
ANALYSIS.
It is a Greek word meaning “name-making,” as the sounds literally create the
meaning. They are sometimes called echoism (Abrams, 1993:138). Greek onomatopoeia comes
from onoma (name) and poiein (to make). It refers to the formation of words from sounds that
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seem to suggest and reinforce their meaning. This accounts for words like murmur, cuckoo,
buzzing, and twitter when applied to the choice of words in poetry, where the sound is made an
echo to the sense. Onomatopoeia, therefore, has real value. The most obvious examples are those
in which the sense to be echoed is itself a sound (Scott, 1980:200-201).
According to Goodword (2015:1), “onoma” comes from the Proto-Indo-European root nomen
(name), with a fickle initial that came and went over the course of Indo-European language
history for no apparent reason. Rundgren (2015:5) states that the word onomatopoeia comes from
the combination of two Greek words, one meaning “name” and the other meaning “I make,” so
onomatopoeia literally means “the name (or sound) I make.” That is to say, the word means
nothing more than the sound it makes. For example, “booing” means nothing more than it sounds.
It is only a sound effect. Many onomatopoeic words have come to mean other things related to the
sounds they make. For instance, “slap” not only means the sound made by skin hitting skin but
also refers to the action of hitting someone (usually on the face) with an open hand. “Rustle” is
the sound of paper brushing together, but it also refers to the action of someone moving papers
around, causing them to brush together and make that noise. And of course, “twitter” is now much
more than just the sound birds make.
Kinds of Onomatopoeia
: According to Ullmann (1962: 84-85), there are two types of
onomatopoeia: primary onomatopoeia, which refers to the imitation of sound by sound—truly an
echo of the sense, as in buzz, crack, growl, whiz, etc.—and secondary onomatopoeia, in which the
sound evokes not an acoustic experience, but a movement (e.g., dither, slither, wriggle) or some
physical or moral quality, usually unfavorable, such as gloom, slimy, slick, sluggish.
Bloomfield (1933:156) distinguishes between words that are actually imitative of sounds, like
meow and moo, and those that are symbolic, illustrating the meaning more immediately than do
ordinary speech forms, such as bump and flick. Additionally, Lyons (1977: 102-105) uses the
terms “primary iconicity” for onomatopoeia and “secondary iconicity” for sound symbolism.
On the other hand, Cruse (1986:34) remarks that there are some phonetic sequences that do not
correspond to grammatical elements. Such elements are of two types: the first is onomatopoeic
phonetic sequences that “resemble their referents auditorily,” like hum, buzz, meow, gang, etc.
The second type of “meaningful phonetic sequence” is what he calls “sound symbolism,” where
there is no question of auditory resemblance. He exemplifies this phenomenon with initial
consonant clusters in glitter, glimmer, slither, slouch, etc.
DISCUSSION.
The sounds of words sometimes support the sense. They can be of two types:
onomatopoeia and phonetic intensives. Onomatopoeia may be used in both a narrow and a broad
sense (Abrams, 1993:138):
1.
In a narrow sense
, it designates a word or a combination of words whose sound closely
resembles the sound it denotes, such as hiss and buzz. The seeming similarity is due as much to
the meaning and the feel of articulating the words as to their sounds.
2.
In the broad sense
, onomatopoeia is applied to words or passages that seem to correspond
to, or strongly suggest, what they denote in any way, such as in size, movement, or force, as well
as sound.
Phonetic intensives, on the other hand, are another group of words “whose sound, by processes as
yet obscure, connects with their meaning.” An initial fl- sound, for example, is often connected
with the idea of moving light, as in flame, flare, flash, flimmer, and gl- sounds also frequently
accompany the idea of light, usually unmoving, as in glare, gleam, glint, glow (Arp, 1998: 760).
Hugh Bredin (1996:2, 3, 4) points out that there are three types of onomatopoeic words:
1.
Direct onomatopoeia
: The denotation of a word is a class of sounds, and the sound of the
word resembles a member of that class. To explain it simply, the sound of the word resembles the
sound that it names, such as hiss, moan, whirr, and buzz. However, he also suggests that none of
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these words is exactly like the sound it denotes. There are higher and lower degrees of
onomatopoeic word resemblance, and the number of words with a high degree of resemblance is
relatively small, such as hiss.
2.
Associative onomatopoeia
: This occurs whenever the sound of a word resembles a sound
associated with whatever it is that the word denotes. Some examples of this are cuckoo, bubble,
smash, and whip. None of these words has a sound that resembles the objects or actions they
denote. For instance, cuckoo is the bird’s name, but its acoustic resemblance is to the song it
produces, not the bird itself. The word barbarian, by which some foreigners called ancient
Mongolians, is an example of this type. Its root, the Greek word barbaroi, was devised as a name
for non-Greeks because their strange languages sounded to Greek ears like the stuttered syllables
ba-ba. Association is just as much a matter of degree as acoustic resemblance. There is a close
association of sound and object in the case of cuckoo, but a very slight association in the case of
scratch or spatter.
3.
Exemplary onomatopoeia
: Its foundation rests upon the amount and character of the
physical effort used by a speaker in uttering a word. Words such as nimble and dart require less
muscular and pulmonary effort than do sluggish and slothful.
Also, their stopped consonants encourage a speaker to say them sharply and quickly, whereas the
latter two words can be drawn out slowly and lazily. The word nimble does not sound like
anything that can be denoted by the word, and it cannot resemble the idea connected to it, since
concepts have no sound. Instead, the word nimble instantiates or exemplifies nimbleness, since it
is itself a nimble sound (Bredin, 1996:1).
Bredin (1996:555-569) points out that there are two kinds: the strict or narrow kind of
onomatopoeia, which is said to occur whenever the sound of a word resembles or imitates a sound
that the word refers to. The terms “strict” and “narrow” suggest that the sense in question is a kind
of original usage or practice, in respect of which other senses of onomatopoeia are metaphorical
or perhaps an extensional enlargement. He adds that according to Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria,
which laid the foundations for all subsequent descriptions and theories of figurative language, an
onomatopoeic word refers here to what its etymology implies: namely, the creation of a word.
Quintilian remarked in passing that the Greeks regarded word creation as a virtue, whereas among
the Romans, it was rarely acceptable. This provides a fascinating glimpse into the contrast
between the two great cultures of classical Europe.
CONCLUSION.
In language, there are a number of literary devices frequently categorized as
figures of speech, such as onomatopoeia, which is defined as a word that imitates the natural
sounds of a thing. It creates a sound effect that mimics the thing described, making the description
more expressive and interesting. For instance, “the gushing stream flows in the forest” is a more
meaningful description than just saying, “the stream flows in the street.” The reader is drawn to
hear the sound of a “gushing stream,” which makes the expression more effective. In a broader
sense, it refers to any combination of imitative sounds and rhythms used to reinforce the sense or
mood of a passage of poetry or prose. Onomatopoeia is the sounding word that depends on
imitating the movement of something that has a relation to the object being imitated. It may refer
to animals, machines, water, etc. For example, the movement of the tongue inside the bird’s
mouth leads to the sound of twitter, which is the onomatopoeic word.
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