kira () – glittery shiin () – silence niko niko () – smile jii () – starerun run () – cheerful Tamil The Tamil language uses a lot of ideophones, both in spoken (colloquial) and in formal usage. Ideophones are called irattaik kilavi (இரட்டைக் கிளவி) in Tamil grammar. sora sora () – rough (the sound produced when rubbing back and forth on a rough surface) vazha-vazha () – smooth, slippery mozhu-mozhu () – smooth (surface) kozhu-kozhu () – plump kozha-kozha () – slimy, gooey busu-busu () – soft and bushy giDu-giDu () – quickly, fast maDa-maDa () – quickly, fast masa-masa () – sluggish, lethargic viru-viru () – energetically (also, spicy) choda-choda () – marshy, waterlogged paLa-paLa () – glittering, shiny veDa-veDa () – shaking, trembling chuDa-chuDa () – piping hot mAngu-mAngu () – laboriously gara-gara () – crunchy, gravely (as in voice) doLa-doLa () - hanging loose (as in loose fitting) taLa-taLa () - lush (as in a lush plant/orchard) toNa-toNa () - annoyingly incessant Xhosa In Xhosa, as in closely related Zulu, ideophones can convey very complex experiential impressions or can just strengthen meanings of other words. The ideophone is often introduced using the verb thi 'say'. Using thi: cwaka – to be silent Lixesha lokuthi cwaka. 'It is time to be silent.' [literally: 'It is time to say cwaka.'] gqi – to suddenly appear Bathi gqi abelungu eAfrika. 'The white people suddenly arrived in Africa.' [Literally: 'The white people said gqi in Africa.']) Without using thi: ncam – exact bhuxe – to stand motionless Further reading Dingemanse, M. (2011). Ezra Pound among the Mawu: Ideophones and Iconicity in Siwu. In P. Michelucci, O. Fischer, & C. Ljungberg (Eds.), Semblance and Signification (pp. 39–54). John Benjamins. Dingemanse, M. (2011). The Meaning and Use of Ideophones in Siwu [PhD dissertation, Radboud University]. Dingemanse, M. (2012). Advances in the cross-linguistic study of ideophones. Language and Linguistics Compass, 6(10), 654–672. doi: 10.1002/lnc3.361 Dingemanse, M., Schuerman, W., Reinisch, E., Tufvesson, S., & Mitterer, H. (2016). What sound symbolism can and cannot do: testing the iconicity of ideophones from five languages. Language, 92(2), e117–e133. doi: 10.1353/lan.2016.0034 Dingemanse, M. (2023). Ideophones. In E. van Lier (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Word Classes. Oxford University Press. Howard, A. W. H. (2021). Sound Symbolism in the Turkish Tongue [MA thesis, Radboud University]. Nuckolls, J. B. (2001). Ideophones in pastaza quechua. Typological Studies in Language, 44, 271-286.