[Lexicog] sounds animals make

Fritz Goerling Fritz_Goerling at SIL.ORG
Sun May 23 10:02:45 UTC 2004


Wayne,


The words I inserted in caps show how close English and German are.

Fritz
  Some languages, like English, have an extensive lexicon for characteristic
  sounds made by different animals, e.g.

  neigh, whinny  (WIEHERN) , snort  (SCHNAUBEN)  : horse
  bark, growl: dog
  howl  (HEULEN) : dog, coyote, wolf
  grunt  (GRUNZEN) , snort: hog/pig
  chirp  (ZIRPEN) /sing  (SINGEN) : bird
  meow  (MIAUEN) : cat
  cackle  (GACKERN) : chicken
  crow  (KRÄHEN) : rooster
  laugh  (LACHEN) : hyena
  low: cow
  gobble: turkey
  quack: duck
  honk: goose

  Other languages, such as Cheyenne, have very few words for the sounds made
  by specific animals. I only know of the word emaa'e 'he is barking' used
of
  a dog, for Cheyenne. Otherwise, other sounds of animals are covered by the
  generic word enestoohe "he is making the sound."

  How about for one or more languages you have researched? How extensive is
  the vocabulary for characteristic sounds made by different animals? At
this
  point, I'm not asking for the onomatopoeic words mimicking the sounds made
  by animals (e.g. English woof woof, cockle doodle doo) but that would be
  another interesting collection.



  Wayne
  -----
  Wayne Leman
  Cheyenne website: http://www.geocities.com/cheyenne_language

    a..

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