Why do a lot of English words sound like what they describe?
>Squelch
>Plaudit
>Fart
>Eviscerate
>Finagle
>etc
What is this called? Why does this occur? Do other languages have this?
Why do a lot of English words sound like what they describe?
Nolan Green
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Joshua Martin
>What is this called?
Onamonapia
Brayden Gonzalez
Onomatopeea
Colton Gomez
im so fuking triggered
Thomas Gutierrez
onomatopoeia you FUCKING mongrels
William Murphy
I thought that was more like sound effects, I.e. "BAM!" "Pow!", or "SMACK."
I think I worded the question poorly.
James Flores
>Why does this occur?
imagine your a languageless caveman trying to communicate
Gavin Perez
It's purely cultural. If you were to ask Chinese/Indians/Arabs/etc they'd almost certainly disagree (in favor of words in their own language).
Grayson Cox
those are merely primitive onomatopoetics
most common usage words have an onomatopoetic element to them
the term literally means something like 'word-making'
Camden Watson
>Fart
nigga if ur farts sound like the word fart then u fucked up
Aiden Nelson
This pic has so much reaction image potential
Hunter Gray
fun fact: the word "onomatopoeia" is also an onomatopoeia because it's derived from the sound you get when you say the word out loud.
Lincoln Campbell
Japs actually coin new words based on sounds things make
Aaron Murphy
The japs truly are a meme
Dylan Baker
>cultural
indeed. i don't know if this is considered onomatopoeia but in english we process frog sounds as "ribbit" while the japanese hear it as "gero"
Jaxson Roberts
Squelched the impulse.
Sebastian Lopez
...
Nathaniel Sullivan
"Kikiriki! Kikiriki!"
Christian Phillips
Partly it's confirmation bias. Your brain has learned to associate certain words with certain ideas, so they "feel" like that idea.
Other part of it is a more general human thing, where we can see certain cross-cultural trends in language, with i and ee sounds feeling pointy whilst o and ou sounds feeling big and blobby. Even so there are cultures where the inverse is true.
Michael Kelly
Kek, it's ''krekek krekek'' in Serbian.
Chase Harris
They do vaguely but not really You're just brought up with the language and project it onto them, in part. Other languages have their own senses of description that can differ greatly.
Lucas Thomas
If farts were brrts
Nathan Cooper
Brekekekex, coax , coax.
Landon Foster
kväk
Josiah Green
Krooks
Sebastian Morales
>with i and ee sounds feeling pointy whilst o and ou sounds feeling big and blobby
That's because bigger things make deeper sounds and vice versa, a quirk of the natural laws.
David Morgan
That sounds more like a duck.
I don't know what most of those words mean (esl), and their sounds say nothing to me about their meaning...
Chase Fisher
>eviscerate
what the fuck?
Samuel Nguyen
>His guts don't make an "eviscerate" sound when they're ripped out
What a weirdo
Connor Peterson
>Thought
you're wrong
Aiden Brooks
Kek.
My personal favourite: bubble.
William Gray
As someone who speaks another language, I think each has a tendency to do what op is talking about.