ONOMATOPOEIA: CHARACTERISTICS, FUNCTION, TYPES, EXAMPLES - LITERATURE - 2025

The onomatopoeia is a rhetorical device that is expressed by the oral or written language sound in order to represent or imitate any object, animal or phenomenon of reality. In other words, onomatopoeia is used to describe a sound by means of a word that is similar to it within a certain language.

Some examples of onomatopoeia might be "bang" to describe a shot, "boom" for an explosion, "knock knock" to knock on a door, "ring" to simulate the sound of a phone call, or "quack" to imitate the squawk of a duck.

Examples of onomatopoeia. The comic relies heavily on them to give dynamism to the comic.

As you can see, onomatopoeia is characterized by almost always using monosyllable words to imitate sounds. In addition, it can change according to the language in which it is expressed.

On the other hand, this literary element can be presented in two ways: visual and auditory. The comic or comic is usually a good visual reference, since its vignettes are constantly filled with onomatopoeias to give the comic more dynamism.

In relation to the etymological origin of the word onomatopoeia, it comes from the Greek word onomatopoeia, which in turn is composed of onoma that comes to be "word or sound" and by poeo that is translated as create. So, this linguistic resource is the creation of a sound through the word.

Characteristics of onomatopoeias

Onomatopoeia is characterized by the following aspects:

Variability

Although onomatopoeia is the representation of a sound through the word, it is also true that the writing and its pronunciation can vary in each language or language. In this sense, the onomatopoeia of the dog's barking is imitated in Spanish with a “wow”, while in English “woof” is used.

Monosyllable

An outstanding feature of onomatopoeia is that it is generally monosyllable. This means that the sound that is represented is made up of a single syllable. For example: the "quack" emitted by the duck.

Diversity

Onomatopoeia has the characteristic of being diverse. This is said by virtue of the fact that sounds of nature, animals, people or objects can be represented or imitated. Thus you have the "meow" of the cat, the "achis" of a person when sneezing, the "gluglú" of the water bubbles or the "ding" of a bell.

Rarity in spelling or pronunciation

A unique feature of onomatopoeia is the rarity or unusual character of the words or spellings used to represent sounds. Example: the "shhh" to indicate that silence is required.

Expressiveness

An onomatopoeia is expressive because it can manifest certain emotional states. At the same time, this literary device can be used through repetitions and exclamations to give more dynamism to the text. Example: Beep, beep! that simulates the sound of a car horn.

Extension

Although onomatopoeia are short words, it is also true that they can be lengthened within the text or statement with the intention of giving more force to what is expressed. Example: “Yuuuujuuuu!”, This sound manifests an intense joy.

Ambit

Onomatopoeias are a resource frequently used in everyday life, in the communication process of children when they are learning to speak and in comics. They are also applied by the authors in stories and poems. Example: The only sound that was heard was the "ring, ring" of the phone.

Syntactic function

An onomatopoeia can have a syntactic function within a sentence. This means that the word used to imitate a sound can be classified as a subject, predicate, or adjective. Example: The "ha ha ha" echoed in the room. In this case the sound that simulates laughter (ha ha ha) becomes the subject of the sentence.

Function

Onomatopoeia has the function of increasing expressiveness within texts and in spoken language to give it greater intensity and strength.

At the same time, the use of this literary resource endows the contents with dynamism, emotions, liveliness, precision and conciseness. Hence, this tool is used in all literary genres and in daily communication.

Types of onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia can be of two types:

Visual onomatopoeias

This variety of onomatopoeia consists of representing by means of images formed by letters, words or phrases the content of which the statement is about.

Visual onomatopoeias were common in the literary avant-garde movements and were manifested through calligrams (text that forms a figure with the words that make it up).

For example, with the onomatopoeia "meow" you can make a calligram that describes the face of a cat. To this they can incorporate words of the behavior of this animal.

Currently, as we have indicated previously, the use of visual onomatopoeia is very common in the world of comics. This resource gives creativity to the texts that accompany it. In turn, another channel where the use of onomatopoeia is frequent is through the well-known stories of platforms such as Instagram, Giphy or Snapchat.

Auditory onomatopoeias

Auditory onomatopoeias are the most common, since they are used to imitate through the word the sound made by an object, animal, person or phenomenon of nature.

This type of onomatopoeia awakens the senses and emotions of the recipients as the narratives and descriptions gain meaning, rhythm, strength and intensity. In this sense, auditory onomatopoeias are used both in poetry, as well as in stories and novels, this without forgetting everyday use. Some of the most common are: meow or wow.

Examples of onomatopoeia

Zas (hit)

- The boy was running and, wham, that tremendous blow was heard.

Plas, plas (applause)

- The artist approached the stage and only heard the plas, plas, plas of the public's hands.

Mmmm (to express that something is tasty)

- Maria tried the soup and only one mmm could be heard.

Quack, quack (duck squawk)

- The duck squawked so loud that his quack, quack broke a glass in the kitchen of the house.

Quiquiriquí (the crowing of the rooster)

- I no longer want to hear that quiquiriquí. Tomorrow, if it continues like this, we'll run out of rooster.

Glu, glu (the sound of drinking water)

- Do you have to make so much noise when you drink water, José? Your glu, glu, glu has me fed up!

Mmmmuuuu (mooing of the cow)

- I knew she was my beloved cow, her mmmuuu is unmistakable.

Croa, croa (the croaking of frogs)

- It's always the same when the full moon rises… croak, croak, croak all blessed night… I hate those toads!

Tic, toc (the sound of the clock)

- I didn't want to believe it, it seemed like a lie to me, but yes… just at 3:00 am, after the tick, knock, the spectrum appeared.

Knock, knock (the sound of knocking on the door)

- And that's how it stayed… knocked, knocked, knocked all night, but I never opened it.

References

1. Tatatachán: 95 onomatopoeias! (2011). Spain: Fundéu BBVA. Recovered from: fundeu.es.
2. Interjections versus onomatopoeia. (S. f.). Spain: Junta de Andalucía. Recovered from: juntadeandalucia.es.
3. What is an onomatopoeia? (2019). (N / a): Banner. Recovered from: estandarte.com.
4. (2020). Spain: Wikilengua. Recovered from: es.wikilengua.org.
5. (2020). Spain: Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.