LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13:5 May 2013
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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The Study of Onomatopoeia in the Muslims’ Holy Write: Qur’an

Hessein Seyyedi, Ph.D.
Elham Akhlaghi, Ph.D. Candidate

Abstract

Onomatopoeia, the imitative making of words from natural sounds, is a common phenomenon found in all languages of the world. The study of onomatopoeias is, however, inadequate considering its importance in the development of language. The present study provides a descriptive account of onomatopoeias in Muslim’s sacrosanct book, Qur’an. Qur’an is important for Muslims, because as per Islam it is the holy book of Islam religion and Allah’s words revealed to prophet Muhammad (PBUH) through the Angel Gabriel (Jibril). It has 114 surah and 77701 words. The results show that there are just 9 onomatopoeic words in Qur’an.

We can argue that this is because of the diversity of the tribes in the time of Islam’s advent and the dialectical differences between them. And also translating onomatopoeia is hard work. Usually omission or extra explanation happens in translating them. Therefore, Allah used a few onomatopoeias in His words.

Key terms: onomatopoeia, Qur’an, Arabic, Muslims

Introduction

In the realm of linguistic study, it is commonly accepted that the sound for the word of a particular meaning is arbitrary; therefore, there is generally no connection between sound and meaning. This, however, is not absolutely correct, as we have neglected the existence of a class of words, namely onomatopoeias, which do appear in the everyday use of language quite often. These are sound symbolism - that is, words whose pronunciations suggest the meaning, like meow for cat’s voice (Fromkin & Rodman & Hyams, 2003: 7 & 589).

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Hossein Seyyedi, Ph.D.
Arabic Department
Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
P.O. Box 91779-48974
Park Square
Mashhad
Iran
hosein_seyyedi@yahoo.com

Elham Akhlaghi, Ph.D. Candidate
Linguistics Department
Ferdowsi University of Mashhad
P.O. Box 91779-48974
Park Square
Mashhad
Iran
el_ak864@stu-mail.um.ac
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