Ideophone
In many languages, ideophones form a class of words that have phonological and morphological peculiarities (for example reduplication and consonant sequences that are otherwise unusual in the language) and refer to their meaning in an onomatopoeic way , for example Ewe lilili , "pleasant smell".
An often cited definition can be found in Doke (1935, p. 119): “A vivid representation of an idea in the form of a sound. A word, often an onomatopoeia , describing a verb, adjective or adverb in terms of manner, color, sound, smell, action, state or intensity. "
Ideophones are mainly known from Africa, but languages from other continents (Australia, East and Southeast Asia, South America, Finno-Ugric languages ) also have them. In the German colloquial language there are also words that resemble ideophones, such as B. zigzag, holterdiepolter, ratzfatz, pill-palle or plemplem.
Example Kenga
The dictionary by Palayer (2004) lists 150 ideophones for the Kenga language in Chad . All entries have one thing in common: they end in a consonant, while nouns and verbs all end in a vowel. Many can be duplicated.
| Kenga | use | Kenga | use |
|---|---|---|---|
| ɓ ɛ rt ɛ t | big (of eyes) | culuk culuk | Sound of water drops |
| Dan | bang (in relation to red) | cape cape | completely (smashed a vessel) |
| gurlul | showing a big belly (of toads) | kar kar | radiant (in relation to white) |
| kalak | vertical (of trees) | takal takal | dirty |
| l ɔ d ɔ giñ | soft, gentle | yel yel | pure (from the water) |
The ideophones in Kenga are mostly used like adverbs, that is, together with a verb, compare the following example with the meaning "The calabash has gone completely to pieces".
| kaa ɗ a | t ɔ ɔ k | cape cape |
| Calabash | broke | IDEOPHONE |
Ideophones and Onomatopoetics
The delimitation to the onomatopoeia is unclear; their areas of meaning overlap. The following features can be compared:
| Ideophones | Onomatopoeia |
|---|---|
| One speaks of ideophones especially in non-European languages, especially in Africa. | Onomatopoeia are available in every language, including the well-known European national languages. |
| Ideophones often form a class of words in the language defined by common phonological features. | Onomatopoeia also have phonological features, but no common features. |
| Ideophones are also available for semantic areas that are not audible (e.g. colors). | Onomatopoeia are limited to audible sounds and noises. |
| The number of ideophones in a language can be up to several thousand. | The number of onomatopoeia drugs is estimated to be limited to a few hundred. |
Both have in common a phonologically noticeable sound form and the possibility of appearing in different parts of speech - especially in adverbs, but also in nouns and verbs.
See also
- Japanese onomatopoeia
- Idiophone , not to be confused category of musical instruments
literature
- Clement M. Doke : Bantu linguistic terminology . Longmans, Green, London / New York 1935
- Pierre Palayer: Dictionnaire kenga (Tchad) . SELAF, Paris 2004
- William J. Samarin. Field procedures in ideophone research. In: JAL 9.1, 1970, pp. 27-30.
- F K. Erhard Voeltz, Christa Kilian-Hatz (ed.): Ideophones . John Benjamin, Amsterdam / Philadelphia 2001 ( review )
- Jana Kellersmann: Hindi Ideophone. Paul Schmitt, Berlin 2017
Web links
- Christian Lehmann: Ideophon . University of Erfurt 2009. (definition and classification)