Zvukomalebná pojmenování ptáků v angličtině

Abstract

The paper aims to analyze onomatopoeia in bird names in English. Three basic types of onomatopoeic bird names are distinguished: pure onomatopoeia, in which the names reflect the birds’ vocalizations without any other subsequent morphological changes; onomatopoeia with added meaning, in which the names sound as if the birds were saying human utterances, and morphologically motivated onomatopoeia, in which the onomatopoeic bases take part in other word-formation processes, namely compounding and suffixation. The phonological analysis of purely onomatopoeic names searches for tendencies in their syllabic structure and in the make-up of the onset of the first syllable. The last section deals with arbitrariness in onomatopoeic names.