ONOMATOPOEIA

Welcome to this lecture headed “ONOMATOPOEIA”. We will be discussing all about onomatopoeia. Enjoy your lecture.

Onomatopoeia is defined as a word, which imitates the natural sounds of a thing.

It produces a sound effect that mimics the object described, making the explanation more significant and interesting.

For example, saying, “The gushing stream flows in the forest” is a more momentous description than merely saying, “The stream flows in the forest.”

The reader is made to hear the sound of a “gushing stream” which makes the phrase more effectual.

Added to the sound they stand for a number of onomatopoeic words have developed meanings of their own.

For instance, “whisper” not only stands for the sound of people talking quietly, but as well stands for the action of people talking quietly.

Frequently used Examples of Onomatopoeia

The buzzing bee flew away.

The sack fell into the river with a splash.

The books fell on the table with a loud thump.

He looked at the roaring sky.

The rustling leaves kept me awake.

The various sounds of animals are as well taken as examples of onomatopoeia. It makes it easy to comprehend the sounds like in the following examples:

Meow

Moo

Neigh

Oink

arf

baa

bark

bray

buzz

cheep

chirp

chortle

cluck

cock-a-doodle-doo

cuckoo

hiss

meow

purr

quack

ribbit

warble

Collection of Onomatopoeic Words

Onomatopoeic words appear in combinations as they stand for various sounds of a single object. For instance, a group of words reflecting various sounds of water are; plop, splash, gush, sprinkle, drizzle, drip etc.

In the same way, words like growl, giggle, grunt, murmur, blurt, chatter etc. stands for various forms of human voice sounds.

In addition, we can recognize a group of words connected to various sounds of wind, like; swish, swoosh, whiff, whoosh, whizz, whisper etc.

Examples of Onomatopoeia in Literature

Onomatopoeia is every now and again used in literature. We have provided below some instances of the use of Onomatopoeia in literature. They are highlighted in bold letters:

“The moan of doves in immemorial elms,

And murmuring of innumerable bees…” from (‘Come Down, O Maid’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson)

“Hark, hark!

Bow-wow.

The watch-dogs bark!

Bow-wow.

Hark, hark! I hear

The strain of strutting chanticleer

Cry, ‘cock-a-diddle-dow!'” by (Ariel in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Act One, scene 2)

“He saw nothing and heard nothing but he could feel his heart pounding and then he heard the clack on stone and the leaping, dropping clicks of a small rock falling.” By (For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway)

“It went zip when it moved and bop when it stopped

And whirr when it stood still.

I never knew just what it was and I guess I never will.” (“The Marvelous Toy” by Tom Paxton)

“I’m getting married in the morning!

Ding dong! the bells are gonna chime.”

(“Get Me to the Church on Time,” by Lerner and Loewe)

We observe, in the examples above, the utilization of onomatopoeia offers rhythm to the texts.

In addition, it makes the description livelier and fascinating, engaging straight away to the senses of the reader.

Onomatopoeia Vs Phanopoeia

Onomatopoeia, in its more complex use, takes the form of phanopoeia. Phanopoeia is a type of onomatopoeia that illustrates the sense of things instead of their natural sounds. D.H Lawrence in his poem “Snake” shows the use of this form:

He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom

And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down, over the

edge of the stone trough

And rested his throat upon the stone bottom,

And where the water had dripped from the tap, in a small clearness

He sipped with his straight mouth.

The rhythm and length of the above lines, along with the use of “hissing” sounds, create a picture of a snake in the minds of the readers.

Uses of Onomatopoeia

By and large, words are utilized to tell what is happening.

Onomatopoeia, on the other hand, assists the readers to hear the sounds the words they reflect and so, the reader cannot assist but enter the world produced by the poet with the help of these words.

The beauty of onomatopoeic words lies in the fact that they are bound to have an effect on the readers’ senses irrespective of the fact that they are understood or not.

Furthermore, a uncomplicated basic expression does not have the same emphatic effect that passes across an idea powerfully to the readers.

The utilization of onomatopoeic words assists to produce emphasis.

Onomatopoeia and its derivative words

The adjective onomatopoeic is employed in the sentence as in this example: “Woof is an example of an onomatopoeic word.”

The adverb onomatopoeically is used in the sentence like: “She lived her life onomatopoeically …whoopy!

Onomatopoeia in jokes

Onomatopoeia can be used as a literally device in a lot of writing forms including jokes.

For example, the old Knock-Knock jokes, even the name of this type of joke is another example of onomatopoeia.

What about the joke:

Knock-knock Who’s there?

Boo

Boo who?

Don’t cry, I was only joking

Onomatopoeia in poems

Onomatopoeia is also used by poets to depict their subject to the reader. For instance, in the last lines of Sir Alfred Tennyson’s poem ‘Come Down, O Maid’, and n sounds create an atmosphere of murmuring insects:

… the moan of doves in immemorial elms,

And murmuring of innumerable bees.

Onomatopoeia in nursery rhymes

Onomatopoeia is as well utilized in children’s nursery rhymes. Onomatopoeic words create strong images that can both pleasure and amuse kids when listening to their parents read poetry.

Some instances of onomatopoeia poems for children are:

Baa Baa Black Sheep (with every “Baa Baa” of the sheep onomatopoeia is used in this nursery rhyme)

Old Macdonald (similarly, every “Moo Moo” and “Neigh Neigh” in this nursery rhyme shows an example of onomatopoeia)

Both of these poems make use of onomatopoeic representations of animal noises to entertain.

There are a lot of other examples of onomatopoeia present in kid’s poetry, try to observe them next time you listen to a nursery rhyme.

Onomatopoeia Letter Combinations

Often times, you can know what an onomatopoeic word is describing based on letter combinations in the word.

These combinations normally come at the beginning, but a few as well come at the end.

The following instances have been classified according to how they are utilized.

Words connected to Water

These words frequently start with sp- or dr-. Words that show a small amount of liquid frequently end in -le (sprinkle/drizzle).

bloop

splash

spray

sprinkle

squirt

drip

drizzle

An onomatopoeia poem by Lee Emmett of Australia as well depicts a lot of onomatopoeia connected to water:

water plops into pond

splish-splash downhill

warbling magpies in tree

trilling, melodic thrill

whoosh, passing breeze

flags flutter and flap

frog croaks, bird whistles

babbling bubbles from tap

2. Words connected to the Voice

Sounds that come from the back of the throat tend to begin with a gr- sound while sounds that come out of the mouth through the lips, tongue and teeth begin with mu-.

giggle

growl

grunt

gurgle

mumble

murmur

bawl

belch

chatter

blurt

3. Words linked to impact.

bam

bang

clang

clank

clap

clatter

click

clink

ding

jingle

screech

slap

thud

thump

4. Words Related to Air

flutter

fisst

fwoosh

gasp

swish

swoosh

whiff

whoosh

whizz

whip

whisper

Thanks for reaching to this point marking the end of this lecture.

Your Lecture Master:

Mst. Ugonwanne Joshua