On the Semantic Aspect of Some Types of Gujarati Onomatopoeias

Summary

H.C. Bhayani’s concise study examines a class of Gujarati words that, while formally onomatopoeic, imitate sensations other than sound. After noting that many languages contain words whose phonetic form suggests tactile, visual or emotional qualities, Bhayani lists examples from Gujarati where consonant clusters and vowel choices evoke the feeling of softness, brightness or heaviness rather than a particular noise. He categorises the examples into groups such as touch‑imitative, motion‑imitative and light‑imitative and analyses their etymological origins. The author argues that the semantic richness of these expressions arises from cultural associations and the linguistic creativity of speakers. By comparing similar phenomena in other Indo‑Aryan languages, Bhayani suggests that such onomatopoeias reflect a shared cognitive process in which speakers map sensory experiences onto sound patterns. He also discusses how writers and poets exploit these words for stylistic effect, adding vividness to descriptions. The article concludes by encouraging further research into the semiotics of sound symbolism and its role in lexical innovation.