Mason Blake
Humans make a variety of instinctive noises and sounds, and these differ across languages. For example, when expressing pain, English speakers might say ouch!, whereas a French speaker might say aïe!. The word boom is onomatopoeia for an explosion in English, but in French, it's boum, in Swedish, it's bom, and in Italian, it's bum. Animal sounds are another example of onomatopoeia, and these also vary across languages. For instance, the noise a pig makes is oink! in English, but chrum in Polish. These differences in onomatopoeia across languages raise interesting questions about how the phonemes and syntactical structures of a language might influence how we perceive and describe the world.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Onomatopoeia in different languages | Boom in English is boum in French, bom in Swedish, bum in Italian |
| Dogs say woof in English, gav gav in Russian, ouaf ouaf in French, bjäbb bjäbb in Swedish, guau guau in Spanish, and wang wang in Chinese | |
| The word for drinking in Japanese is goku goku, glyok glyok in Bulgarian, and bulk in Russian | |
| Words that sound similar in different languages may have different meanings, known as false friends | |
| Most languages use the simplest sounds infants can make for mother and father, such as "m" | |
| Some languages have unique phonemic vowels, such as Central Chadic languages with only one phonemic vowel: /a/ |
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What You'll Learn
Animal sounds
The variety of dog sounds in English is reflected in words like "woof-woof", "ruff-ruff", "yap-yap", "arf-arf", "bow wow", "yelp", and "yip". Other languages have fewer words for dog sounds: Greek has just one ("gav-gav"), Dutch has two ("waf-waf" and "woef-woef"), and Swedish has "hov-hov". The diversity of dog sounds in English could be due to the significant role that dogs have played in English-speaking cultures. Similarly, Swedish is the only language with a word for the sound a moose makes ("broel") because of the high population of moose in Sweden.
Some animal sounds are surprisingly similar across languages. For instance, the sound of a cat is expressed similarly in most languages, except for Korean. The sound of a sheep also starts with either an "m" or a "b" and contains "a" or "e" vowel sounds in multiple languages.
The way a language represents animal sounds is influenced by its phonemic system and the role that the animal plays in the culture. For example, French has a large inventory of nasal and guttural sounds, which results in the visceral "Groin-Groin" for a pig.
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Human instinctive noises
Humans make a variety of instinctive noises. Some of the most common ones include laughing, crying, screaming, moaning, roaring, and sighing. These non-linguistic vocalizations are often associated with specific emotions or states of arousal. For example, laughter is typically associated with joy or amusement, while crying can indicate sadness or distress. Screaming and roaring can signal intimidation, aggression, or fear, and moaning can convey pleasure or pain.
The study of onomatopoeia, which refers to words that mimic natural sounds, also provides insight into human instinctive noises. For instance, the sound of a dog barking is rendered as "woof" in English, "gav gav" in Russian, "ouaf ouaf" in French, "bjäbb bjäbb" in Swedish, "guau guau" in Spanish, and "wang wang" in Chinese. These variations across languages illustrate how humans from different cultures can perceive and describe the same sounds in distinct ways.
In addition to these conscious and unconscious vocalizations, humans also exhibit non-verbal reactions to specific trigger sounds due to a condition known as misophonia. Individuals with misophonia experience unusually strong emotions, physical changes, or impulsive behaviors in response to certain noises. Their reactions can range from irritation to anger, and they may include self-protective processes and violent behaviors. While not everyone experiences misophonia, it is a condition that warrants understanding and accommodation.
While humans have a diverse range of instinctive noises, some researchers have speculated that there may be a default or primitive noise used for intimidation, akin to the hiss of a cat or the roar of an alligator. However, this idea remains a subject of exploration and debate.
In summary, human instinctive noises encompass a wide array of vocalizations, from emotional expressions like laughter and crying to more complex non-verbal reactions triggered by specific sounds. These noises, whether conscious or unconscious, play a significant role in human communication and interaction.
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Onomatopoeia
While the concept of onomatopoeia is universal, the specific sounds used to represent these noises vary across languages. For example, the sound of a dog barking is "woof" in English, "gav gav" in Russian, "ouaf ouaf" in French, "bjäbb bjäbb" in Swedish, "guau guau" in Spanish, and "wang wang" in Chinese. These differences highlight the unique phonemes and syntactical structures of each language, which may influence how speakers of that language perceive and describe the world.
Another example is the sound of drinking, which is "gulp" in English, "goku goku" in Japanese, "glyok glyok" in Bulgarian, and "bulk" in Russian. Interestingly, it has been suggested that making loud noises while drinking enhances the perceived taste of the beverage.
Even instinctive reactions to pain vary across languages. English speakers might exclaim "ouch!" or "aarrgh!" when hurt, while a Spanish speaker might say "uy!" or "ay!". French speakers react with an "aïe!", Germans an "aua" or "autsch", Arabs an "akh!", and Russians an "oi!".
These examples demonstrate the intriguing ways in which onomatopoeia differs across languages, offering a glimpse into the unique characteristics and expressions of each linguistic tradition.
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Vowels
The sounds of vowels vary across different languages and dialects. For example, the Chinese vowel /a/ can move back and forth and up and down, but it remains distinct from other vowels. An English speaker may hear it as /a/, /ɑ/, or /ʌ/, depending on their accent. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) has a set of 28 symbols representing the range of essential vowel qualities, along with diacritics to denote variations from the basic vowels. However, not all languages use the IPA, and some languages, like Hebrew and Arabic, do not mark all vowels in their writing systems.
Different languages have different sets of vowels, and the exact vowels may not always match when comparing two languages. For instance, the second syllable of "fei-chang-hao" ("very good" in Mandarin) may sound closer to various English vowels depending on the speaker's accent. Some languages use vowel letters with modifications, such as ⟨ä⟩ in Swedish, or add diacritical marks like ogoneks to represent different vowel sounds. Scandinavian languages have constructed additional vowel letters by modifying standard Latin vowels, such as ⟨æ⟩ or ⟨ø⟩.
The quality of vowels can be analyzed by plotting F1 against F2 in a vowel diagram. This method has been used to study a range of languages, including various English dialects, Turkish Kabardian, and indigenous Australian languages. R-colored vowels are characterized by lowered F3 values, and rounding is generally realized by a decrease in F2, reinforcing vowel backness. As a result, back vowels are typically rounded, while front vowels are unrounded. Prosodic variables like pitch, loudness, and length also influence vowel sounds.
Vowel tenseness is a feature of some languages, particularly Germanic languages like German. In English, tense vowels typically occur in words with a final silent ⟨e⟩, as in "mate," while lax vowels occur in words without the silent ⟨e⟩, like "mat." In American English, lax vowels [ɪ, ʊ, ɛ, ʌ, æ] are absent from stressed open syllables. Germanic languages generally restrict lax vowels to closed syllables.
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Consonants
While no single sound is universal across all spoken languages, there are certain phonetic features that can be considered universals. For example, every spoken language has consonants and distinguishes at least six of them. All spoken languages have stop consonants (consonants that involve blocking airflow, such as "p", "t", "k", "b", "d", and "g" in English) and distinguish at least two of them. Additionally, every spoken language distinguishes consonants by the place of articulation, such as bilabial (both lips), alveolar (tongue against the gum ridge), and velar (tongue against the soft palate).
However, the distinction between consonants and vowels is not always clear-cut, and there are languages that challenge traditional definitions. For example, some languages, like Nuxalk, have syllabic consonants, where it is unclear what the nucleus of a syllable is or if all syllables have nuclei. In Nuxalk, the word for "cotton" is phonemically /ggmj/ with zero vowels. Similarly, Miyako in Japan has words like /f̩ks̩/ 'to build' and /ps̩ks̩/ 'to pull', which contain syllabic consonants.
Additionally, some languages have a different distribution of consonants and may be missing certain consonant sounds that are common in other languages. For example, several languages in the vicinity of the Sahara Desert, including Arabic, lack the consonant /p/. Languages of North America, such as Mohawk, lack both of the labials /p/ and /m/. The Wichita language of Oklahoma and some West African languages, such as Ijo, lack the consonant /n/ on a phonemic level but use it as an allophone of another consonant.
The concept of "consonant" can also vary between languages. For instance, in English, the letter "Y" can represent both a consonant (/j/ in "yoke") and a vowel (/ɪ/ in "myth"). In Spanish, the consonant in the middle of the word "México" is a voiceless velar fricative, symbolized as /x/, while the consonant in the word "año" ('year') is a palatal nasal, symbolized as /ɲ/.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, other languages do have sound words. These are called onomatopoeia and are used to mimic sounds made by animals, machines, and the human body.
Languages have different rules about how to combine sounds and where they can go in words. This influences the way speakers of that language perceive and describe the world around them.
No, there is often a lot of variance in onomatopoeia across different languages. For example, the sound of a dog barking is "woof" in English, "gav gav" in Russian, "ouaf ouaf" in French, "bjäbb bjäbb" in Swedish, "guau guau" in Spanish, and "wang wang" in Chinese.
The sounds /i/ and /m/ are very common around the world, but there are still languages that lack them.
