Certain words in the
English language
English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
represent animal sounds: the noises and
vocalizations of particular animals, especially noises used by
animals for communication. The words can be used as
verb
A verb is a word that generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual description of English, the basic f ...
s or
interjection
An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling, situation or reaction. It is a diverse category, with many different types, such as exclamations ''(ouch!'', ''wow!''), curses (''da ...
s in addition to
noun
In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...
s, and many of them are also specifically
onomatopoeic
Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as ''oink'', '' ...
.
List of animal sounds
See also
*
Animal communication
Animal communication is the transfer of information from one or a group of animals (sender or senders) to one or more other animals (receiver or receivers) that affects the current or future behavior of the receivers. Information may be sent int ...
*
Animal epithet
An animal epithet is a name used to label a person or group, by association with some perceived quality of an animal. Epithets may be formulated as similes, explicitly comparing people with the named animal, as in "he is as sly as a fox", or as ...
*
Animal language
Animal languages are forms of animal communication, communication between animals that show similarities to human language. Animals communicate through a variety of signs, such as sounds and movements. Sign language, Signing among animals may be c ...
*
Bioacoustics
Bioacoustics is a cross-disciplinary science that combines biology and acoustics. Usually it refers to the investigation of sound production, dispersion and reception in animals (including humans). This involves neurophysiology, neurophysiological ...
*
Cat organ &
piganino
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Cross-linguistic onomatopoeias
Because of the nature of onomatopoeia, there are many words which show a similar pronunciation in the languages of the world. The following is a list of some conventional examples:
Human sounds
Consuming food or drink
Bodily functions an ...
*
Field recording
Field recording is the production of audio recordings outside recording studios, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds. It can also include the recording of electromagnetic fields or vibrations using diff ...
*
List of animal names
In the English language, many animals have different names depending on whether they are male, female, young, domesticated, or in groups.
The best-known source of many English words used for collective groupings of animals is ''Book of St. Alba ...
*
List of onomatopoeias
This is a list of onomatopoeias, i.e. words that imitate, resemble, or suggest the source of the sound that they describe. For more information, see the linked articles.
Human vocal sounds
*Achoo, Atishoo, the sound of a sneeze
*Throat clearing#On ...
* "
Old MacDonald Had a Farm
"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" (sometimes shortened to Old MacDonald) is a traditional children's song and nursery rhyme about a farmer
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The ter ...
"
* "
The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)
"The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)" is an Electronic dance music, electronic dance novelty song and viral video by Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis. The top trending video of 2013 on YouTube, "The Fox" was posted on the platform on 3 September 2013, a ...
"
References
External links
List of animal sounds to download, listen and use for free.Derek Abbott, University of Adelaide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Animal Sounds
Linguistics lists
Zoosemiotics
Sound-related lists