Which language is the most onomatopaeic?

Question

I teach ESL, and I'm struck by the different linguistic representations of natural sounds. In English a dog 'woof, woof's', in Chinese he 'Wa'wa's (which in English is what babies do). I can't begin to imagine other linguistic representations of this simple natural sound. I'm sure dogs are more unilingual than we humans, or not? Duh?

Answer 1

Amazing question!
It looks like none of the languages can be singled out as more onomatopaeic or less onomatopeiac, at least in its current, modern state. Each language has a unique phonemic set, so here comes such a variety of sound symbolism. Onomatopoeia has always been one of the connecting links in different linguistical concepts, from de Sassure to Derrida.
As a tool, it is a very popular and rewarding tool in language teaching.
I came across this summary from a colloquium (last link):

Noriko Iwasaki
Assistant Professor of Japanese, UC Davis
Exploring non-arbitrary relationships between form and meaning in Japanese
4:45pm 53a Olson

The pairing of linguistic forms (e.g., sound, length of words, word order) and meanings is generally considered to be arbitrary. However, linguists recognize certain relationships between form and meaning: those called sound symbolism and those that exhibit iconicity (i.e., forms resemble their referents). Some languages exhibit more non-arbitrary form-meaning relationships than others: i.e., sign languages and certain Asian and African languages that possess large repertoire of onomatopoeia. Questions arise as to what extent such non-arbitrary relationships are language-specific.

In this talk, I will explore non-arbitrary relationships between forms and meanings in the Japanese language, focusing on a class of words called onomatopoeia or mimetic words. The Japanese language has a large number of mimetic words (2000 or more), whose forms are considered to be closely related to their meanings (through various senses including the auditory, visual and tactile as well as to emotions and pain). I will report on the results of experiments in which English speakers without any prior experience of learning Japanese were asked to guess the meanings of four types of Japanese mimetic words (sounds, pains, laughing, and manners of walking) on semantic differential scales. It was found that English speakers could grasp various semantic aspects of mimetic words representing sounds, laughing and pains by hearing the words, but they had little understanding as to the types of manners of walking that each mimetic word refers to. The results of this research reveal both language-specific and cross-linguistic (possibly universal) aspects of the form-meaning relationship in Japanese mimetic words; pedagogical implications will also be discussed.
There are also a few links that are pretty curious.

Answer 2

I'm going to make an argument for Cantonese here. Because of the existing tonality to the language, many words come with their own inherent rhythm, which often reflects the nature of the word itself. For example, "stinky" is "chow" (descending tone), which is delivered heavy on the "ch" and has a naturally disagreeable sound coming out of the mouth.
Money - or "cheen" - always a desirable commodity in Chinese culture, has an upward rising tonality, which can't help but sound hopeful and positive. I have often been able to find my way through conversations by listening to the tones of the words themselves, as some sounds have up to 9 tonal variations. It isn't onomatopaeic in the Western meaning of the word, but there you have it: something is always lost and gained in translation.

Answer 3

Sounds which suggest its sense? Hmmm. Gibberish or perhaps Pig Latin? LOL...I surely do not know; perhaps Hebrew might come a wee bit closer than English; but that is just a quick thought; Im trying to teach myself HEBREW, and I think this question is really good! Now I want to go find out. But will have to do so later, or check back here!
GOD BLESS U, smartie pants! :)
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Answer 4

The sound of a cat mewing seems to be much more universal than that of a dog barking - I offer the following variants in several languages.

miav miauw meow miau miaou miau miaou miyau miau miau nyan nyan/nyaa nyaa miyau miao mjan mjan miyav

For other animal noises is several languages, try this link:

http://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/Personal/dabbott/animal.html

Answer 5

French is the most metaphorical language in the world.

Answer 6

Korean has manny words of this kind like they say
"to do ddung ddung" meaning being fat
animal sunds are too........
but I think this is also onomatopeia........
it seems Japanese also...