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Animals and onomatopoeia

From:John Fisher <john@...>
Date:Monday, November 23, 1998, 1:49
In message <Pine.3.89.9811201300.C9356-0100000@...>, JOEL
MATTHEW PEARSON <mpearson@...> writes
>On Fri, 20 Nov 1998, Carlos Thompson wrote: > >> Has any conlang used onomatopeyics for genera vocabulary? > >Tokana has a number of onomatopoetic verbs for animal calls and >other sounds:
Many Elet Anta animal names are onomatopoeic or are thought to be by speakers. Their names are used also for the sounds they make: maral tiger cawru lion orongc pig bua cow le sheep mehen goat ihu donkey brath horse shik peregrin ("k" is a velar fricative) curic chicken wac duck gart seal harak crow tuburubu turkey brarc frog nark gull uri curlew awlu wolf bezen bee simi mouse Gorof "dog" is thought to be onomatopoeic and also means "bark", but is probably connected with grof "bite". More exotic animals tend to have names which are loans: shirafa, cimel, elfas, lepard, chimpan, penggwin. Drok "dragon" probably has a celtic origin. Others are not clear: licar "cat", cheneca "monkey", mallo "badger", cufar "fox", crisha "snake", eleved "lizard", boc "wren", spang "starling", myupaf "rabbit", saysh "hare". Others are compounds: manamacawr (nose-horn) "rhinoceros", coyladrok (river-dragon) "crocodile", lhenggeleved (fear-lizard) "dinosaur", brantorlu (wide-wing) "eagle". Several animals end in -ic, a non-productive suffix of unknown origin: clasantic robin (clasant "red") pleninic wasp (plenin "yellow") laytanlinic nightingale ("night-sing") dastic bird of prey (dast "attack suddenly") misfic amphibian (misif "wet") Other words which are onomatopoeic or regarded as such are words like these ("k" = velar fricative): awva howl murur purr kek hiss (of cats, etc) bol bleat, low kafa laugh fenef whisper faf sigh umud mutter, mumble thif whistle sayk scream num groan, moan, grunt ngahag hiccup kart phlegm ucak cough brok vomit puraash burst, explode dranch crash to earth dup thud, thump, plop tulp hammer, bash yich creak, squeak taclac rattle clac break rumbo thunder cracs hail zdash heavy rain uhu hoot Layuhu "owl" means something like "night-hoot". And I haven't got a word for "miaow" (Sp?). Bother. -- John Fisher john@drummond.demon.co.uk johnf@epcc.ed.ac.uk Elet Anta website: http://www.drummond.demon.co.uk/anta/ Drummond ro cleshfan merec; fanye litoc, inye litoc