Do animals speak different languages? The following essay tells us about onomatopoeic words in Polish, Russian and English languages Cover Image

Говорят ли животные на разных языках? О звукоподражаниях в польском, русском и английском языках
Do animals speak different languages? The following essay tells us about onomatopoeic words in Polish, Russian and English languages

Author(s): Dorota Dziadosz
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Semantics, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego
Keywords: onomatopoeia; psycho phonology; sound symbolism

Summary/Abstract: The work is dedicated to the analysis and comparison of animal onomatopoeias in Polish, Russian and English languages. Its aim is to reveal the similarities and differences in the speech and structure of onomatopoeic words which imitate animal voices in the three studied languages and their psycho phonological analysis. The studied material has been chosen from Polish, Russian and English children’s literature. The conducted analysis allows to draw some conclusions: onomatopoeias in different, even not related languages, often have similar structure and sound. The differences between them are the result of different perception of animal voices and language limitations. Animal onomatopoeias are an excellent illustration of the theory of sound symbolism – the sounds appearing in them are closely related to the animal character, its size and its habits.

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 9
  • Page Range: 57-72
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Russian