Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia - a word that represents a sound. Take “meow,” “bam,” or “tick-tock” for example. These words are meant to sound like the words they represent - “meow” is our attempt at mimicking the sound a cat makes. Since these sounds are all universal, it's natural to assume that the words used to replicate them would all be similar. After all, cats don’t suddenly start sounding different when they’re in France. Yet, interestingly, these words are different in different languages.

Some words are similar. “Meow” goes to “miau” in German and Spanish and “miaou” in French. These variations can be chalked up to different spellings and pronunciations of the same base words. However, other words are more intriguing. Take the sound used to mimic a baby crying. In English, “wah-wah” is used, in Spanish “bua bua” and in Korean “Eung’ae Eung’ae.” These bear less resemblance to each other compared to the words in the previous example.

So, how did this happen? Shouldn’t it sound the same across every language? Well, perhaps this idea is similar to my blog about colors. Possibly, our ears are culturally “trained” to pick up on different sounds more clearly, which causes this variation.