Onomatopoeia: The Colorful World of Sounds

by Lívia Körtvélyessy

Overview

How do languages capture and represent the sounds of the world? Is this a universal phenomenon? Drawing from data taken from 124 different languages, this innovative book offers a detailed exploration of onomatopoeia, that are imagic icons of sound events. It provides comprehensive analysis from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, and identifies the prototypical semiotic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, word-formation, and socio-pragmatic features of onomatopoeia. Supported with numerous examples from the sample languages, the book highlights the varied scope of onomatopoeia in different languages, its relationship to ideophones and interjections, and the role of sound symbolism, particularly phonesthemes, in onomatopoeia-formation. It introduces an onomasiological model of onomatopoeia-formation, identifies onomatopoeic patterns, and specifies the factors affecting the similarities and differences between onomatopoeias standing for the same sound event. Filling a major gap in language studies, it is essential reading for researchers and students of phonology, morphology, semiotics, poetics, and linguistic typology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781009438018
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/30/2025
Pages:	394
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 1.50(h) x 9.50(d)

About the Author

Lívia Körtvélyessy is Professor of Linguistics at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Košice. Her notable publications include Creativity in Word-formation and Word-interpretation (2022) and Onomatopoeia in the World's Languages (2024).

Table of Contents

List of figures; List of tables; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; 1. Introduction; 2. Defining Onomatopoeia; 3. Onomatopoeias as linguistic signs; 4. Prototypical features of Onomatopoeia; 5. Onomatopoeia and sound symbolism; 6. Cross-linguistic Onomatopoeic patterns; 7. Richness of languages in Onomatopoeias by sound type and source; 8. Onomatopoeias vs. Ideophones; 9. Conclusion; Appendix 1 – DATA SHEET 1; Appendix 2 – DATA SHEET 2; References; Author index; Language index; Subject index.