By James Shakow
People don’t talk about Ideophones because they can’t fully comprehend them. It can be scary to hear a word and feel something innate without knowing why. With all the connotations associated with language, people, especially English speakers have a hard time seeing a word for anything but the sense that we have ascribed to it. Most of the words in any language, and almost all the words in the English language, are not ideophones but instead simply arbitrary sounds that do not have any inherent meaning other than their defined sense. In his journal Armoskaite explores other languages, especially non-romantic languages such as Ewe from Ghana, Navajo from the American west, Japanese and Basque, that have evolved in a way more ideophonic and less abstract than the English language. Ideophones are words that carry objective significance to any given listener regardless of language, cultural background, or personal experience. Similar to onomatopoeic words, gestures, and some universal human noises, (i.e. crying or laughter), ideophonic words are comprehensible across language barriers. Ideophones push the limits of human communication by incorporating sound sensory into language; they enforce Stearns notion that words have more meaning behind them than their simple definitions.
Ideophones are inherently subconscious. Because each one is relatable on a visceral primordial level, they can be understood regardless of what language they’re spoken in. As Armoskaite describes it, “ideophones lead speakers to unconsciously endow particular sounds with specific sensory meanings”. In the way that a ‘K’ or ‘T’ sound could feel inherently sharp, the heaviness of a ‘G’ or a ‘B’ is palpable to the ear. He claims that ideophones “play a central role in very large theoretical questions about the parallels between verbal and nominal domains”. The line between verbal communication and non-lingual conversation is blurred. Ideophones carry an intuitive meaning that does not need to be auditory to be understood. While they do carry specific meanings in the language they are native to, a non-speaker could still comprehend the objective sense of an ideophone. Robson uses the Japanese examples of “wakuwaku” as an evocation of excitement, “nunurunu” as sliminess, and “gorogoro” as heaviness. Because of the different vowel and consonant sounds present in these words, on a subconscious level, we automatically comprehend them as something more ‘exciting’ or ‘slimy’ or ‘heavy’ rather than ‘dull’, ‘dry’ or ‘light’. The way we perceive the sounds in these words tricks our brain into giving them specific descriptive characteristics because of their ideophonic properties.
The easiest way to comprehend ideophones is to look at them in the context of another language. If we ignore the preconceived notions we have about English we are able to look at language in a solely vocal lens and gain more from the concept of the ideophone. The Basque language has more than 4,000 ideophones that follow the same vocal principals that Robson examines in his article. Similar vocal sounds connote similar meanings in Japanese and Basque, Ewe and English alike. This is not due to change. In his topical essay, Iraide Ibarretxe-antuñano claims that “recent research on this topic has shown that these elements are pervasive in all languages and that they might share some linguistic characteristics across languages.” Ideophones are universal communicators, and the English language doesn’t take as much advantage of them as many others do.
Ideophones can communicate feelings across languages, but famously they have been able to convey feeling through invented words. In Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky, he juxtaposes his own fantasy words with a story in English. Even though these words have never appeared anywhere else and we have no prior connotations with them, we are able to ascribe meaning to them through ideophonic notions.
Having never heard of a “Jabberwock”, we can assume from the hard ‘R’ and ‘K’ sounds it is something dangerous. To describe something as “mimsy” the light ‘I’ and ‘Y’ front vowel sounds would persuade us to think that it is a light, silly word. These words out of context continue to communicate their meaning through their ideophonic properties. The unfamiliarity of the words forces the audience to read them out loud in their minds and prescribe their own meaning to each one. They may draw some small features from context, but like a child learning a language for the first time, Robeson’s concept of “sound symbolism” can help an unfamiliar audience comprehend what is being said. From the Caimbridge University Journal, Lupyan and Casasanto explain that in the context of ideophones, “nonsense words function indistinguishably from conventional words” when considering their sound symbolism.
Though ideophones are primarily interpreted vocally, they are often developed into multi-sense scenes. Take the Ewe word for duck, “ɖaboɖabo” for example. Another word for duck in Ewe, “kpakpa” onomatopoetically imitates the sound of a quack, while “ɖaboɖabo” evokes a sensory scene to define duck by its waddling. In the speaking of the word a visible imitation of a duck’s waddle is essential to its communication (Westermann). Ideophones do not have to be imitations of sounds, but they can imitate entire “sensory scenes” as well (Robeson). While gestures have always been able to aid communication on some level, they are only considered to be ideophonic when they are paired with an existing ideophone. In Ndebele, a Zimbabwean language, “gesture almost always accompanies an ideophone”, and in many other languages around the world, pronounced ideophones are often related to visual or tactile gestures (Dingemanse).
One step beyond foreign language ideophones, performative ideophones are words that are designed and used to make you feel a specific way. Performative ideophones can also be paired with iconic gestures. Jordan Scott notably uses idiophones in his live performance of blert, Stanley Kubrick and Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange coins almost an entire language of ideophones to portray a dystopian dialect, but Eddie Izzard’s ‘learning French’ comedy routine ties together gesture and language perfectly. (The applicable clip ranges from 1:45-2:42) (Warning, said clip may include profanity)
While Izzard addresses an English-speaking audience, the entire comedy of the routine is in French. By pairing an unfamiliar language with recognizable gestures, Izzard confirms the direct translation of his words are not essential to his comedy. There exists an innate comedy of noise and gestures and timing that is something universal. Like ideophones, his act transcends language barriers, and proves that words can have innate connotations regardless of their defined sense.
Research from Marcus Perlman’s experiment shows that ideophones are the connection between vocal sense and emotion. In his 2018 study, he concluded that the use of ideophonic ‘nonsense words’ could “enable interlocutors (subjects) to establish understanding in the absence of conventions.” Essentially, in an experiment where subjects created nonsense words to describe a simple emotion, action, or object, they were able to use ideophonic norms to effectively communicate their messages. A random chance rate for a subject to pick the right definition for the nonsense word was 5.6%. Perlman found that correct guesses were “highest for emotions (~60%), next for actions (~40%), and lowest for objects (~10%).” His research not only proves the existence of ideophones but introduces the notion that ideophonic words are more apt at conveying emotion than other forms of words. This remains true even if they are not part of any language at all. This is demonstrated aptly in the Four Horsemen’s “Emotional Poetry”. The concept that nonsensical words can convey deep feelings is essential to their work.
The guttural “ei ei ei” words add a sense of urgency, the rolled ‘r’s and deep throaty ‘ack’s in the evoke a sense of fear. While these made up noises do not communicate specific meanings, they are definitely able to conjure up certain emotions. Robeson claims that ‘ideophonic language is embodied’, something more physical and sensory than intelligent. The human physicality of “Emotional Poetry” is vibrantly visible. Robeson’s concept of “sensory scenes” has no better example of vocal and visual absurdity than this group of men standing around screaming into their microphones.
Ideophones are central to the idea that the words we speak have some greater meaning. That meaning may be artistic, it could be used intentionally by an author or vocal artist to make us feel in a certain way. The meaning may be practical, allowing basic human conversation to exist without a shared language. No matter what they are used for, Ideophones speak to us in ways that we cannot understand. They are one step above onomatopoeia or simple mimery, their innate meanings have “an effect on our brains even when we don’t fully understand their lexical or syntactic significance” and some scholars tend to shy away from addressing them because they are too hard to define (Lamb, McCormick – 54:15). In a modern context, when most words are arbitrary sounds that do not have inherent meanings, there is something comforting about the certainty of an ideophone. Though they are not perfect, they are the form of communication most instinctual and primordial to the human race. While one might not guess that “errinozeronte” means ‘Rhinoceros’ in Basque, they might catch on that it is heavy and dangerous and know to avoid it. Lovers of words should remember every once in a while to drop the conventions of their language, bypass their prior knowledge, and appreciate something as simple and idiosyncratic as an ideophone.
Bibliography:
Armoskaite, Solveiga. “Structuring sensory imagery: ideophones across languages and cultures.”Canadian Journal of Linguistics, vol. 62, no. 2, 6 Mar. 2017, pp. 149-53.
Robson, David. “Words as Feelings.” Edited by Sally Davies. Aeon.co, aeon.co/essays/in-the-beginning-was-the-word-and-the-word-was-embodied.
Ibarretxe-antuñano, Iraide. “Basque ideophones from a typological perspective.” The Canadien Journal of Linguistics, June 2017, pp. 196-220.
“Jabberwocky By Lewis Carroll – Read by Benedict Cumberbatch.” Youtube.com, 7 July 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_Um3787fSY&t=14s. Accessed 22 Mar. 2019.
Lupyan, Gary, and Daniel Casasanto. “Meaningless words promote meaningful categorization.”Language and Cognition, vol. 7, no. 2, 13 June 2014.
“Two classic papers on ideophones and iconicity by Westermann.” The Ideophone, 8 July 2017, ideophone.org/two-classic-papers-on-ideophones-and-iconicity-by-westermann-pdf/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2019.
Dingemanse, Mark. (2013). Ideophones and gesture in everyday speech. Gesture. 13. 10.1075/gest.13.2.02din.
“Eddie Izzard – Learning French.” Youtube, 12 Apr. 2006, www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1sQkEfAdfY. Accessed 22 Mar. 2019.
Lupyn, Gary, and Daniel Casasanto. People Can Create Iconic Vocalizations to Communicate Various Meanings to Naïve Listeners. 8 Feb. 2018.
“”The Four Horsemen’s” emotional poetry.” Youtube.com, 21 Nov. 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=843O0bTVKHQ. Accessed 22 Mar. 2019.
Lamb, Robert, and Joe McCormick, producers. “Ideophones: How does this word feel?” Stuff to Blow Your Mind, 19 Feb. 2019, www.iheart.com/podcast/stuff-to-blow-your-mind-21123915/episode/ideophones-how-does-this-word-feel-30583496/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2019.
