Onomatopoeic words in Tuvan

Abstract

Onomatopoeia is generally defined as the words reflect the sounds in the nature imitatively. Turkic has a wide vocabulary and word formation process in this area. Onomatopoeic words have typical features in terms of their meanings and forms in Tuvan language as well. With regard to their meanings, it is seen that these words have a wide scope including various appearances and situations along with sounds. Therefore, in this study, onomatopoeic words in Tuvan have been analysed in those three groups: “words imitating sounds”, “words imitating appearances and actions” and “words imitating emotions and situations”. After classifying them according to their meanings, we examined them in terms of phonetic and morphological features in each section. Finally, usage features of onomatopoeic words in sentence have been mentioned. © 2019 Hacettepe University 1. All rights reserved.