A Comparative Study of Persian and English Onomatopoeia Based on Primary Onomatopoeic Theories

Applying descriptive-analysis method, this study aims to examine English and Persian onomatopoeia, sixty of which are described in terms of meaning and usage, and then classified into certain groups using the three following theories, ding-dong, pooh-pooh, bow-bow. Furthermore, analogy has been drawn to identify their contrast and comparison. Findings of this research indicate that different phonology (phoneme limitation), different syllable pattern and different interpretation of onomatopoeia as well as different reduplication are determining factors which make contrasts while similar/common phonemes act as comparison between the two languages. The results illustrate that despite of the same sound source (nature, animals and emotional sounds) and the common arguments supporting a natural relation between sound and meaning, remarkable differences can be found in cross-linguistic studies of English and Persian onomatopoeia.