Onomatopoeic words in early vocabulary

[Gisela Szagun]

Our German data were similar in many respects to what Liz Bates
wrote: children started out with onomatopoeic sounds which were
more frequent than animal names. Gradually animal names became
more frequent. Sometimes it was very hard to tell if a child was
referring to the animal or the sound. But in German, children also
use articles with the onomatopoeic word, and in this case it is clear
that the word is treated as a noun.
>
> (1) Is there any evidence that when a child is given both the
animal's
> name and the sound it produces, she will show preference for one
of them?

Apart from onomatopoeic sounds being transitional I think there may
be a preference which has to do with how easy it is to pronounce a
particular animal name. For instance, in German "hund" (dog) is
more difficult to pronounce than "wauwau" - which is the
onomatopoeic equivalent. The same may go for "katze" (cat), where
children may find "meouw" easier to say.

>
> (2) What happens iif the child is given only names of animals?

It might prove difficult to create that situation. Parents seem to enjoy
producing onomatopoeic sounds for children.

Gisela Szagun


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Prof. Dr. Gisela Szagun
Institut fuer Kognitionsforschung
Fb 5, Psychologie, A 6
Carl-von-Ossietzky Universitaet Oldenburg
Postfach 2503
D-26111 Oldenburg
Germany
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