Similarities and Differences of onomatopoeia between Chinese and English

【Abstract】Due to different cultures， there are many similarities and differences between Chinese and English onomatopoeia. This paper mainly focuses on rhetoric functions， characteristics of absolute structures， syntactic functions， motivations and changes in usage between two cultures.

【Key words】similarity； difference； onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia originates from a word of Greek onomatopoeia， which means that the appearance of words comes from the imitation of the sound given out from some object or movement， or at least has some connection with it. There are some differences in applied scope between English and Chinese onomatopoeia， and they each have their common usage.

On the one hand， there are similarities of English and Chinese onomatopoeia. In the first place， they have similar rhetorical function. No matter English or Chinese onomatopoeia， it is a means of word-building as well as an important rhetorical means， making people feel as if they are participating and hearing. In the second place， the characteristics of absolute structure are similar. The same things in nature and humans common feeling make different nations language have same onomatopoeia. Some of them are very obvious such as baba （papa）， mama （mamma）， ping pang （ping pong）， pipa （pitpat）， dingdong （dingdong）， and ha-ha （ha-ha）. In addition， they often appear in over lapping sound. In mutual translation of English and Chinese， we only need to translate the onomatopoeia which is used as independent component in original sentence into the corresponding one in target language. For example：

（1）媽媽， 我回來了！Mamma！ Im home now.

（2）叮咚！叮咚！泉水在不停得流淌著。Dingdong！ Dingdong！ The spring is flowing.

On the other hand， there are differences of English and Chinese onomatopoeia. Firstly， we can see the differences in syntactic function. English onomatopoeia is much more active than Chinese onomatopoeia， and it is used more widely. The most obvious aspect is that it has more syntactic functions than Chinese onomatopoeia. Most of them are verb and noun， and used as subject， predicate and object， while most Chinese onomatopoeia only has the nature of adjective， and it is mostly used as attribute and adverbial， sometimes predicate. For example （Leki 117）， The beam sinks earthwards， taut and protesting， its creaks blending with the squeaking and rumbling of the grinding-wheels and the occasional grunts and signs of the camels. 大梁壓向地面， 絞緊了繩子， 發出吱吱嘎嘎聲與磨滾的軋軋隆隆聲， 以及駱駝偶爾發出的呼嚕嘆息聲響成了一片。

Secondly， the motivation of using onomatopoeia is also different. From the point of the inner organization of it， language is a kind of sign system. Every sign has two aspects： use what to show and to show what， which are style and content of sign. We have two kinds of it： direct onomatopoeia and indirect onomatopoeia. The former one can arise the association between sound and meaning because they are quite similar. Chinese onomatopoeia often copy sounds directly， which belongs to direct onomatopoeia while English onomatopoeia usually use some verbs and nouns to describe sounds belongs to indirect onomatopoeia. For Example：

（1）雨吧噠吧噠地落在屋頂上。The rain patters on the roof.

（2）她們嘰嘰喳喳地說話。They spoke in whispers.

Thirdly， there are also some changes in usage. Dogs signified meanings in English and Chinese language do not have substantial difference， but they are very different in the intensive meaning. In western countries， dogs are peoples pets. They take dogs as companion and friends. While in China， the treatment the dogs receive is quite different. They are usually kept for watching the house， and they are humans servants. From the English idiom “Love me， love my dog.” And the Chinese one “gou ji tiao qiang” （a cornered dog will do something desperate）， we can get a hint of different cultures. In addition， in English the same word for expressing animals sound can be used for different animals. For example， “howl” can be used for lions， tigers， jackals and wolves at the same time； while in Chinese animals sound is basically one for one. For example， gou fei， lang hao， he li， que zao， ma si， hu xiao， shi hou， niao zhuan， ji ti. Certainly it does not mean that there is no situation of one for two， but very few.

To sum up， in order to taste refined literature works and appreciate different poems， understand the greatest delight of the diction， enjoy aesthetic perception， mole the sentiment， and guarantee the accuracy of the accuracy of the poetry translation practice and examination， it is very necessary for us to pay attention to contrastive study on Chinese and English onomatopoeia.

References：

[1]Leki，Ilona.Twenty-five Year of Contrastive Rhetoric：Text Analysis and Writing Pedagogies[J].Beijing：TESOL Quarterly Vol.26，No1.1991.

作者簡介：張藝玲（1979-）， 女， 遼寧大連人， 大連海洋大學講師，研究方向： 應用語言學、外語教學， 跨文化交際。