The aim of this paper is to explore how identity is constructed in interactional discourses, e.g. in conversations with the help of onomatopoeic words (henceforth ono-words). The focus will be to discuss as to what extent the concept of ‘self’ as individual and ‘self’ related to culture is portrayed and negotiated within the setting of a conversation. Given below is a list of partially reduplicated onomatopoeic words in Hindi and Hadoti:
sər sər à sər sərata (Hindi)/ sər sərato (Hadoti) “movement of snake”
kəɽ kəɽ à kəɽkəɽata (Hindi)/ kəɽ kəɽato (Hadoti) “sound of lightning”
- In complete or partial reduplicated ono-words the final syllable changes its form according to the word formation rule of the particular language but the change differs in the two languages being discussed here. The point remains as to whether this change follows the core lexicon rules or there is a new change occurring only in ono-word formations.
- It is a noted fact that ono-words are generally adverbs and adjectives but these also become adverbs with addition of the word /sər sər/ in Hindi and /sər səra/ as a verb in Hadoti.
Hadoti is a language spoken in Kota Division (Kota, Baran, Bundi and Jhalawar) of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Generally, there are two kinds of ono-words found in Indian languages, one occur with reduplication and second without reduplication. Most of the onomatopoeia ‘have a simple structure composed of one or two syllables’ (Bhaskararao 1977:14). Hadoti has four kinds of ono-words i.e., one without any addition to the ono-words, second with reduplicant with the base word, third with suffix in reduplicant and forth is with deletion of the segment either in base or reduplicant.
Thus, the comparison of data among two Indo-Aryan languages namely Hindi and Hadoti facilitate the observation of interesting facts about the onomatopoeic formation rules in the two discussed languages and the formation of identity during interactional discourse settings.
Reference:
Bhaskararao, P. 1977. Reduplication and onomatopoeia in Telugu, Deccan Collage Poona.
