Therefore, it makes me predict that onomatopoeia has role in forming new words. All words which are created from sounds of animal, mechanical sounds and fighting sounds really help human in using that language. However, the sounds which created by some objects will have different interpretation in language. So it makes me draw that actually onomatopoeia has role and big influence in forming new words by imitating the sounds and it will have different interpretation in Indonesian and English. In this paper, I will make comparison between onomatopoeia in Indonesian and English. I also try to find the tendency of the word class they belong to. To find the data, I search some onomatopoeia words in English and Indonesian and the use of those words in film, poetry and comic.
Method
The next step after defining the hypothesis is looking for some data from books and internet. I try to find some onomatopoeia words in film, poetry and comic. The words are either from animal sounds, fighting sounds, or mechanical sounds. I also make a list some onomatopoeia words in Indonesian and English. Then, what word class they belong to.
Result
By observing some resources, I got many onomatopoeic vocabularies which are formed by imitating animal sounds, fighting sounds, mechanical sounds. Besides that, I also found the use of onomatopoeic words in batman film, the poetry and comic. In the Bat Man movies and TV series, when Robin and Bat Man would fight their enemies, onomatopoeia words would be used to express their actions. Words like: KABOOM, BANG, POW, WHACK, WHAM, BOINK, POP. Those words are example of fighting sounds and their word class is noun.
Besides that, the onomatopoeic words are found in a poetry which entitle is Baa Baa Black Sheep. This is the poetry:
BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP
Baa Baa black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes merry have I
Three bags full,
In English, the sound of sheep is baa baa! While in Indonesian, we are familiar with mbeeekk,,mbeekk. It is so unique then, because actually the object is same but the onomatopoeic word is different. It means that one sound will be interpreted differently in various languages.
Onomatopoeia, long to spell and fun to write, is often times used by writers unconsciously. Onomatopoeia is when a word sounds like its definition. Comic books are filled with onomatopoeia and the action/sound words: Boom! Pow! Pop! Authors and poets use these types of words to add to their auditory imagery, for example: "The doorbell rang;" "the suitcase landed with a thud;" or "the beep of the alarm clock." Onomatopoeia is frequent in both prose (novels/stories) and poems.
Besides strict onomatopoeia, there are a lot of words which stem from words that were originally imitative, but they are no longer in their current form. For example, according to Etymonline, "buffoon" comes from the Italian word "buffare", meaning "to puff out the cheeks," which in the 16th may have been a comic gesture and therefore of echoic origin. Nowadays, buffoon still means "a ridiculous but amusing person; a clown", but we don't associate it with puffing out the cheeks anymore, nor do we find puffing out the cheeks all that hilarious.
The comparison of onomatopoeia words in Bahasa and English
The examples above are only samples from onomatopoeia words that I got. Most of them have word class ‘noun’. It is proved that by imitating the sounds, it can form new words. Those words are usually used in film, poetry and comic.
Discussion
According to the observation from some resources about onomatopoeia words, I believe that onomatopoeia words have role in forming new words. Human language has key feature and one of them is productivity. Human has tendency to form new words either it is from animal sounds, human action, or even mechanical sounds. It is also supported by Bow-wow theory. This theory proposes that people imitated sounds they heard around them, thus creating first onomatopoeic words from which the rest of the language evolved (Wiśniewski, 2007). This theory seems to be supported by the fact that the majority of modern languages have onomatopoeia expressions. Language began as imitations of natural sounds -- moo, crash, clang, buzz, bang, meow. This is more technically referred to as onomatopoeia.
Furthermore, I also found that most of word class for onomatopoeia words is noun. It can be verb too. Because the words like bark, buzz, zip, knock can be noun or verb. However most of human actions have word class like verb. The result that I got from searching some data support my thesis that onomatopoeia has a role in forming new words and tendency to have what word class they belong to.
Learning the onomatopoeia words is useful as teacher candidates. We can introduce those words through watching film, reading comic or poetry. By doing that, students will know the words which imitate the sounds of animal, human action, or even mechanical sounds. They can use those words in making a story or poetry. So it will make the story and poetry is more interesting. English teachers in Indonesia are not familiar with the onomatopoeia. Therefore, by reading this research paper, it can trigger them to learn about those interesting words and let students know about it.
References
Examples of Onomatopoeia Poetry. Retrieved from , Januari 20, 2012
Ferreire, C., Madalina & Abraham, S.A. (2006). The Language of Language: Core Concepts in Linguistic analysis. Prentice Hall: Singapore
Hayden,K. (2008). Onomatopoeia Lesson. Retrieved from ., January 21, 2012
Jackson,H., & Ze Amvela,E. (2000,2001,2004). Words, Meaning and Vocabulary: An Introduction to Modern English lexicology. New York: Cassell.
Wiśniewski, K. (2007). Origin of Language. Retrieved from , January 20, 2012
Name : Rina Febrina Sarie
ID : 2010120018
Section D
