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ONOMATOPOEIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 112 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ONOMATOPOEIA , literally the making or formation of words (Gr. ovoµarozroua, from 6Po/2a, name, word,7roeeiv, to make), hence a See also:

term used in See also:philology for the formation of words by See also:imitation of natural sounds, e.g. hiss," " hush," " click." See also:Modern philologists prefer the term " echoism," " echoic " for this See also:process, as suggesting the imitative repetition of the sounds heard. At one See also:time there was an exaggerated tendency to find in echoism a See also:principal source in the origin and growth of See also:language, ridiculed as the " See also:bow-wow " theory of language; it is now recognized that it has played only a limited See also:part.

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